“I can see five.” Nico shifted, still hugging himself, and added, “Sorry. It’s just, I thought of you being a fugitive, and then I thought of your hair, and it got away from me, and then I couldn’t stop it.”

“It’s ok,” Somers said. “The hair’s really bad, huh?”

“I don’t want to be around when Emery sees it.”

In spite of himself, Somers grinned. “If you’re anywhere inside twenty miles, you’ll probably hear him.”

Nico laughed. “Probably.”

“I know it’s not going to be easy,” Somers said, “but I need you to tell me what happened.”

“I don’t know. I mean, I don’t remember anything after leaving my apartment.”

“When did you leave your apartment?”

“Wednesday morning. I was going to get Marcus, and then we were going to pick up the moving truck and meet Gray at his apartment.”

“And then?”

“I kind of remember going downstairs, bumping into someone.”

“And after that?”

“I told you, I don’t remember. I’m not even sure about going downstairs; I feel like I might have imagined that.”

“I don’t think you did. Did you see anyone you recognized? Did you notice anything unusual?”

“No. I’ve been thinking about this non-stop. It’s pretty much the only thing I do besides sob and beg and go crazy.”

“What happened next, then? What do you remember next?”

“Being here. Being cold and wet and terrified. I had no idea where I was. I found the door, and I hammered on it and shouted. It felt like I did that for a day. Hours, anyway. And nobody came. Nobody came. And then I kind of . . . I don’t know, I went crazy, I guess. I’ve been talking to myself. I lose track of time. I thought I’d been here a week. When I saw that first camera, I begged. Just begged him to let me go. I said stuff, such fucking humiliating stuff. And then I got so mad I was going to break it, only it came right off the wall when I grabbed it. And then it all felt kind of surreal, like, fake cameras, fake everything. I swear to God I’m dissociating. I swear to God.”

“Fake cameras?”

“Yeah.” Nico took the camera from Somers and turned it. “This is totally fake.”

“You mean—”

“I mean fake. This isn’t recording anything. It’s not transmitting anywhere.”

“It looks real,” Somers said, taking back the camera and studying it. Even up close, even with Nico’s assurances, it still looked real. “That was a stupid way to mount it, especially in a place like this with high humidity, but I think it’s real.”

“Which one of us spends every summer in front of cameras?” Nico said, but he had a tiny smile when Somers looked at him. “It’s not real. I think the asshole just put them here to . . . to mess with us.”

Somers didn’t say anything.

“Oh my God,” Nico said with a laugh. “You don’t believe me.”

“It’s not that I don’t—”