The cell is small, ten feet by ten feet, and contains the bed I’m sitting on, covered in yellow stains, and a metal toilet and sink. Nothing else. Three of its four walls are solid concrete, and there’s a small window at the very top of the back wall.

Despite the filthy mattress, I lie down, close my eyes, and wait for my mind to slow down.

“John!” Sam’s voice yells out.

My eyes snap open. I rush to the front of the cell, grabbing hold of the bars. “Right here,” I yell back.

“Shut up!” the larger of the two guards yells, pointing his nightstick at me. Down the corridor, somebody yells at Sam, too. He doesn’t say anything else, but at least I know he’s close.

I reach my hand through the bars of my cell and press my palm against the flat metal surface of the lock. I close my eyes, focus my telekinesis to feel its inner workings, and yet I feel nothing other than a vibration that hurts my head the harder I concentrate.

The cell—it’s electronically controlled. I can’t open it with telekinesis.

I run as fast as I can back to the orphanage, the hood ballooning with air behind me, and as I gain speed the clouds and blue sky above me melt into a bright white.

I burst through the double doors and run to the sleeping quarters. Adelina’s sitting on my bed, the note folded on her lap. A small suitcase sits at her feet. When she sees me, she jumps up and hugs me.

“You have to look at this,” she says, handing me the paper. I unfold it to see that it’s not my note after all but a photocopied picture.

It takes me a second to realize what the picture is of, and when I recognize it my heart sinks. Someone has burned an enormous and intricate symbol into the side of a nearby mountain. With its careful lines and sharp angles, it’s an exact replica of the scars around my ankle.

The sheet falls from my hand and slowly floats to the ground.

“That was found yesterday, and the police are handing these copies out looking for information,” Adelina says. “We have to go now.”

“Yes, absolutely. I need to talk to you about Ella first,” I say.

Adelina tilts her head. “What about Ella?”

“I want her to come with—”

Before I can finish my sentence, I’m rocked off my feet by a thundering crash. Adelina falls as well and slams her shoulder into the ground. There’s been an explosion, somewhere within the orphanage. Several girls run into the room screaming; others run past the doorway looking for refuge elsewhere. I hear Sister Dora yell for everyone to go to the south wing.