Annika’s face softens. “You don’t have to be special to be important. There are so few of us left; sticking together is how we survive.” She glances around the room. “The Colony makes it a priority to try to save as many people from Orientation as we can, though it’s been a long time since a human stayed aware long enough to see our call.”

I remember the lights in the room, urging me to follow them. To show me the way.

“That was you?” I ask breathily.

She smiles. “That was Ahmet, our best engineer. He’s quite handy with tweaking the foundations of Infinity.”

Ahmet runs a hand against his neck. “I’ve always been good with computers, I suppose.”

I glance at Theo, remembering how he knocked those vehicles out of the sky, and then at Shura, who hid us beneath a veil long enough to get us to safety.

My eyes flick to Gil. I wonder what his abilities are, and if they’re as dangerous as Theo’s.

I look down at my own hands, trembling slightly beneath the overhead lights.

Does this mean I have powers too?

The thought fizzles quickly. Because I don’t feel powerful. I feel like I’m falling through the sky, frantic and alone and bracing for the inevitable impact.

I feel my O-Tech watch like a phantom grasp closing over my wrist, and I’m ashamed that my instinct is to ask Ophelia for help. I relied on her so much. Maybe more than I should have. And I don’t feel her loss the way I feel the loss of my family and Finn, but I feel her absence. It’s like being stranded in the middle of nowhere and discovering you forgot your cell phone.

She was my safety net, and now, according to the Colony, she’s the reason I’m in danger.

I ball my fists. They say information is power, but I no longer have access to Ophelia’s knowledge. I can’t reach her with a voice command. All I can ever know is what these people tell me.

All I have is trust, which I’m still not sure they deserve.

Beyond that, I’m just a girl who ended up at a gas station at the wrong time on the wrong night because I was afraid of letting a bunch of half-drunk teenagers down. That isn’t a superpower—it’s a faulty personality trait.

Everyone is still watching me, waiting for me to speak. They may have seen my dreams, but they don’t know me. Not really. And yet they risked the safety of the Colony to save me from the Residents.

So maybe trust is all they have too.

“Why am I here?” I ask slowly, bringing my eyes back to Annika’s. “What do you want from me?” It’s not an accusation. I just want to know.