Tessa. Her dark curls are tangled around her face. She rubs her forehead.

“Saskia? What happened?”

Competing memories war in my mind like two people arguing—I can hear them both shouting over each other but I can’t make out the details of either one. Tessa and I were just in the library studying a bone map for an upcoming exam.

And yet …

I was also just on the floor of Latham’s workshop, attempting to heal Gran’s broken bones. In a fight with Latham for who would control the past. And Tessa was lying at my feet, dead.

It’s like waking up from a particularly vivid dream—daylight washing away an invented life in favor of the real one.

Except I’m not sure which memories belong to the dream and which don’t.

“Tessa? Is it really you?”

Her brows pinch together. And then I watch her face transform. “A Breaker grabbed me,” she says. “I almost …”

I jump to my feet and throw my arms around her. “You’re alive,” I say. “Oh, thank the bones. You’re alive.”

A bright glimmer of hope lights inside me. Could my mother and Gran be alive too? But there are no competing memories of them. The pain of their deaths is still a raw wound inside me. Did I only change one thing, then? Did I manage to bring Tessa back, but nothing else? And what does that mean for Latham?

A throat clears behind me, and I turn. “Did it work?” Talon. “Did you change the past or did Latham?” His ginger hair sticks up in all directions and his pale cheeks are colored with splotches of bright red.

“I’m not sure,” I say, distracted.

My gaze sweeps over the rest of the room. Jacey is lifting herself from the floor, and behind her, Niklas brushes the dust from his pants.

“Where’s Bram?” I can’t help the panic that seeps into my voice.

Talon’s brows pull together. “Who?”

I make a strangled sound. My heart seizes in my chest, and then shatters into sharp, jagged pieces.

Talon takes in my expression and his face goes instantly repentant. “Saskia, I’m only teasing.” He dips his head to the side. “He’s fine.”

I have to crane my neck to see Bram, but finally my eyes find his, and I choke back a sob. I run to him and fling myself into his arms. My whole body trembles. A tear trails down my cheek, and he wipes it away with his thumb. He holds me close and his breath is a soft sigh against my neck.

“I’m here,” he says, stroking my hair. “I’m right here.”