“So the Recruiters took Gabry when she crossed into the Neverlands?” he asks, and I nod.

“One of them said she’d be taken to the Sanctuary,” I add.

Elias kicks at the wall, growling with frustration.

“But aren’t you a Recruiter?” I ask him. “Can’t you just demand to see her?”

Elias takes a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. “This isn’t what I expected to happen. It’s just that if we go to the Sanctuary …” He pauses and looks at Catcher. “We’ll be trapped.”

I frown, confused. The Sanctuary is a smaller island out in the river, and because of its size and location it’s safer and easier to protect and defend. The Protectorate used to control it, and it’s where the most important people lived until the Rebellion, when the Recruiters infiltrated and took it over.

Only the most elite members of society have ever been allowed on that island, even now. “What do you mean, trapped?” I ask, the possibility of going someplace safe making my heart pound with hope. “Wouldn’t the Sanctuary be safer than the Dark City? We’d have a better chance there.”

Calmly and evenly, Elias says, “The only way we’d be able to get on that island is if we had something to trade.”

I look back and forth between Catcher and Elias. Something’s going on that I don’t understand; some sort of silent battle of wills.

“I have some tokens,” I start to say, “and I might have some other valuable stuff if I just—”

Elias shakes his head. “That’s not what they want.”

“I don’t understand,” I tell him, frustrated. “What else could they want?”

Elias just looks at Catcher and finally Catcher says, “Me. They want me.” He turns back to the window, placing his hands on the sill. His fingertips dig into the rotten wood.

Elias slumps to the bed, distractedly rubbing one of his legs as if it bothers him. Their silence is too much.

“Someone has to explain to me what’s going on here,” I demand.

Catcher doesn’t move. Doesn’t say anything.

“How much do you know?” Elias asks.

“Nothing!” I snap back at him.

He sighs, stretching his neck in an attempt to relax the muscles. “Catcher’s very valuable,” he says. “The Recruiters desperately want him because he’s immune, which means he can go anywhere. Do anything. Get anything.”

I nod. “He told me about that.”

“Right. Well, they were chasing us—me; Catcher; Gabry; her mom, Mary; and her friend Harry—because they wanted Catcher. But it’s not just him they want because they can’t really control him. His whole value is in going out and getting supplies, but they need a reason for him to come back. So the way they’d control him is by imprisoning people he loves. It’s a guarantee that he’ll always return.”

I stare at Catcher’s back. His shoulders are hunched, his body curved over itself. Once again I realize how much of a burden his immunity really is.