When we reach the island, we dock behind an overgrown bush. I ignore the hand Rafe offers to help me out of the boat, then trip and sink into water up to my knees. When I’m finally on the shore, my shoes squelch with mud, and my legs are weighed down by the sodden denim. I scurry to catch up to Rafe, who is cutting quickly and silently through the overgrown path.

“How can you see where you’re going?” I whisper. My breath is ragged from trying to keep up as I continuously trip on stones and shrubs while shrinking away from twitching shadows.

“I forgot you can’t see. I’ll slow down. All my senses are heightened.”

As if I needed another reminder about the blood.

A giant white bird with a fluffy head jumps into my path and squawks at me. I yelp, and Rafe gives me a death glare for making noise.

We approach a large building, a great deal of which has been reclaimed by nature, green vines devouring brick and stone. Using Georgie’s map on my phone, we find a crumbling entrance, the door long gone, and we navigate through hallways that feel as if we’re more outdoors than in. The map indicates that we’re close to new construction, and sure enough, when we peer around the next corner, there’s a steel door barring access to whatever lies ahead. A guard is pacing the hallway, and when he turns in the opposite direction, Rafe silently darts over and makes shiin against the guard’s neck until he falls slack in his arms.

“You can’t just keep hurting people!” I whisper angrily as Rafe lowers the guard to the ground.

“Don’t worry. I only overloaded his vagus nerve.”

So that’s what it looks like when done correctly.

“It’s only a mild faint, so he’ll wake up soon. Very soon. Let’s get moving.”

I rifle through the guard’s pockets and find an orange keycard exactly like the one refused to me. Because I might have used it for this very purpose. I ignore the stab of guilt and use the card to open the door.

Inside, a staircase leads down to a dimly lit basement level. It’s been completely renovated. We pass a room that looks like a medical lab except that it’s barred like a prison cell. A middle-aged man in a white lab coat is looking through a microscope, seemingly indifferent to his imprisonment. I worry he’ll alert someone to our presence, but as we walk by his cell, he doesn’t even look up from his work.

There’s an empty lab without any bars, and I go in to look around. There are three large refrigerators, and when I open one, I find that it’s filled with… blood bags. Why would the Families need a blood bank?