“You’re in Wayward Pines, Idaho.”

“I know that. Why is there no road out of here? Why is there a fence? Why won’t anyone tell me what’s happening?”

“I know you have questions—”

“Where’s my son?”

“I may be able to help you find Ben.”

“You know where he is?”

“No, but I—”

“Where is he?” she screams. “I have to—”

“Theresa, you’re endangering yourself right now. You’re putting both of our lives at risk. I want you to come with me.”

“Where?”

“To my house.”

“Your house?”

He takes off his rain jacket, wraps it around her shoulders, and pulls her up onto her feet.

“Why do you have a house here, Adam?”

“Because I live here.”

“For how long?”

“A year and a half.”

“That’s impossible.”

“I know it must feel that way to you right now. I’m sure everything seems strange and wrong in this moment. Where are your shoes?”

“I don’t know.”

“I’m going to carry you.”

Hassler scoops her up into his arms like she weighs nothing.

Theresa looks into his face, and despite the horror of her last five days here, she can’t deny the comfort she feels staring into familiar eyes.

“Why are you here, Adam?”

“I know you have a lot of questions. Let me just get you home first, okay? You’re practically hypothermic.”

“Have I lost my mind? I don’t know anything anymore. I woke up in the hospital here, and these last few days have been—”

“Look at me. You’re not crazy, Theresa.”

“Then what?”

“You’re just in a different kind of place now.”

“I don’t know what that means.”

“I know, but if you trust me, I swear I’ll take care of you. I’ll make sure nothing happens to you. And I’ll help you find your son.”

Despite the new protection of his jacket, she trembles violently in Hassler’s arms.

He carries her through the dark forest and the pouring rain.

Her last memory before waking in this town is of sitting in her home in Queen Anne across from a man named David Pilcher. It was the night she’d thrown a party to celebrate her missing husband’s life, and after all the guests had left, Pilcher had shown up on her doorstep in the wee hours with a mysterious offer: come with him, and she and Ben could be reunited with Ethan.

Apparently, the promise had not been kept.

Theresa lies on a sofa pulled close to an open woodstove, watching as Adam Hassler adds pine logs to the fire. The deep-down cold is beginning to retreat from her bones. She hasn’t slept in forty-eight hours—since waking up for a second time in a hospital bed to that awful, smiling nurse—but now she can feel sleep stalking her. She won’t be able to hold out much longer.