Niklas goes first, reaching through the window to anchor one of the descenders to the wall before climbing out. He starts to descend, sliding the claws down one at a time, moving faster than I would have thought possible for such a long distance. He drops to the ground below and he’s so small, I can barely see his hand moving as he waves up at me.

My mouth goes dry. His quick descent made it look easy, but every time I glance out the window, I feel like I might be sick. But I have to go next. I can’t ask my friends to put themselves in danger if I’m not willing to do the same. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Then I try to imitate Niklas as precisely as I can, placing one of the tools on the wall before carefully lifting myself through the window.

But I make the mistake of looking down.

The ground spins beneath me and I gasp. My sweaty palm slips on one of the claws and I lose my grip. It stays attached to the wall while my body flings outward. I’m dangling by one hand. I’m going to plunge to my death. My vision goes blurry and I squeeze my eyes closed. My heart slams against my rib cage.

“Hang on,” Bram says. “You’re doing fine.”

I pull in a deep breath, and with all the force I can muster, I swing my body back toward the window. My fingertips graze the tool stuck to the wall, but I can’t quite reach it. I try again. This time I get closer and my fingers close around claw, but my torso slams against the wall with a thunk. It hurts, but still a wave of relief goes through me. I press my entire body against the bone facade, but I don’t move. I don’t dare. What if my hand slips again? My pulse pounds in my neck. I’m not close enough to the window to climb back in, but the ground is so distant that one wrong move would end me. So I cling to the side of the building, frozen.

“Saskia, look at me.” Bram’s voice is gentle but commanding. I lift my eyes to his. “Good,” he says. “Now slide your right hand down just a bit.”

I bite the inside of my cheek and inch my hand down without ever taking my gaze from him.

“Yes. Now your other hand.”

Soon I find a rhythm—one hand and then the other—until my toes touch the ground. I sink onto the grass and pull my knees to my chest, shaking as I watch the others scramble down the wall.