“I’ll destroy you,” I hiss, taking a step towards her and backing her against the window. “If you lay a hand on—”

A movement catches the corner of my eye. The mirror lying on Zerra’s dresser flashes. Our eyes meet, and something in her expression tells me to go and look.

I’m moving across the room before I know what I’m doing, and then I see her.

Lor.

She’s running through a forest. Her feet are bare, and her face is covered in blood and dirt. She’s crying and stumbling, shouting something I can’t hear.

“Lor!” I scream as she careens into a tree and presses her forehead to it as tears mingle with the blood on her cheeks. “Lor! Can you hear me?”

My entire body trembles as my fingers go numb. She’s there. She’s alive, but she needs me.

I whip around to look at Zerra, who’s watching me with her hands folded in front of her and that same infuriating smile on her face. I stalk over, holding up the mirror.

“What’s happening to her?” I ask.

“Oh, she’s succeeded on her little errand,” she replies with a gentle shrug of her shoulders.

“The ark?” I ask, my teeth grinding so hard that I’m worried they’ll crack out of my head.

“Yes. She’s done rather well. Better than I expected, really. The only problem is that your father showed up and is currently hunting her down.” She tips her head and pushes out her lower lip. “Pity.”

I lift the mirror and stare into it, watching Lor run through the trees. Her movements indicate that she’s trying to hide. My father can’t get his hands on her. She stops every once in a while to scan the sky, her mouth moving as though she’s trying to keep quiet, but it’s obvious she’s calling for Zerra.

“Lor!” I shout again, but it’s no use. It’s clear she can’t hear me. “Help her!” I say to Zerra. “Do something! Let me go!”

Zerra laughs, and the sound is like knives plunging into my ears.

“Come now. Surely you know better than that?”

I roar and run for her, not sure what I plan to do, but I need to do something. I slam into her, but it’s like running into an iron pillar. She tosses me aside, and I fly across the room, hitting the far wall as my head snaps against it.

I drop to the floor, groaning and clutching the back of my head, trying to catch my breath. A smear of blood coats the wall where cracks spiderweb out. She’s watching me, not a hair out of place, and I leap up, prepared to attack again, when I’m seized around each arm by two pairs of iron hands.