“I can see that you’re having trouble trusting me. Which I can respect,” Kaine said. “The best way to deal with this is to have you think about everything. I’m going to send you all a link—it’s heavily protected. If you want to contact me, it will work one time. When you’re ready, we can work together and stop this madness.”

Not a second after Kaine stopped speaking, the giant square of light flashed, then vanished, and the shapes reappeared beneath their feet, silently dancing. All was as before.

“What in the world is he talking about?” Bryson asked the silence.

2

After they Lifted out of the Coffins, Helga was a flurry of motion. She moved through the barracks briskly, checking in with her people, finishing up any last-second tasks. Then she ordered Michael and his group to get in the cars that were leaving—three off-road four-wheelers that had been hidden behind the barracks. Yet when Michael tried to ask her where they were going, she wouldn’t answer.

And then there was the problem with Sarah. Her parents, understandably, refused to give her permission to leave. When Michael confronted her about it, she was angry. She snapped at him in front of Gerard and Nancy, which embarrassed him and made him just as angry.

“Then I’m staying, too,” he said stubbornly.

This time, Sarah yelled at him. “Would you just go? You’re making it worse every second you’re still here. I’ll be fine!” She stormed out the back door of the building and slammed it behind her.

There had been something there, in her eyes, but Michael couldn’t read it. So with actual physical pain thumping in his chest, he turned away from Sarah’s parents, and without saying another word, he walked out, too.

3

“She’s really not coming?” Bryson asked. “Really?”

Michael sat between him and Helga in the backseat of one of the four-wheel-drives. The vehicle churned up a sheet of mud, spitting rocks and gravel as it turned out of the damp parking area—nothing more than a trampled expanse of weeds and brush. The engine roared and they set off, driving down the long dirt road they’d taken to get there. Walter was at the wheel, and Amy sat in the passenger seat. Both were very quiet.

“Yes, really,” Michael answered his friend, not bothering to be nice about it.

“How can we just leave her there?” Bryson said. “We’re nothing without her.”

“Yeah, well, her parents make her rules, not us. By the time I left, she was acting like she didn’t want to go anyway.”

“We’ll be back for her,” Helga said. “Don’t worry. We can do what we need to now, and then we’ll have her join us again when we go back into the Sleep.”