“I’ve got the keys,” Levi shouts gruffly over the wail of the alarm, forcing me to wrest my eyes from Ollie’s face. Levi runs to where I stand and begins fiddling with the padlock on the cage. “Glad you’re all right, brother,” Levi says, working hard on the lock. At the sound of that word—brother—I feel a pang of remorse, acutely aware of last night, and how Levi and I spent it together. I flush deep in my bones at the memory of it. Of how he made me feel. When Ollie’s been in this cage, suffering so much. When I love him too. Maybe not in the same way. But I do.

There’s no time to acknowledge what’s happened or anything except this moment right now, getting out of here alive. Levi’s opened the cage, and we rush inside to tend to as many of the DNA parents as we can. I scan the ground for my father—is he here? Everyone’s so emaciated, it’s hard to distinguish who’s who. I gasp when I notice Frederica Leroy, usually so sophisticated, languishing on the ground, incapacitated next to Tessa, who is equally thin and unresponsive.

“What’s wrong with everyone?” I shout to Ollie.

“Starvation, or nearly. Lack of water, fresh air. And the portal,” he explains. “Every day, for hours on end. No one’s been spared. I’ve gotten the least of it, since I’m his biological son. Everyone else…” he trails off, looking pained, like it physically hurts him to talk about it.

I finally spot my father, restrained in cuffs across the pen. When his eyes land on mine, I feel a rush of adrenaline and relief. I have to get him out of here.

“Dad,” I shout, my heart raging in my throat. I run to his side, ripping the tape off his mouth.

Suddenly, the alarm stops its blaring, plunging the room into unexpected silence. The absence of that noise scares me. What now? Is this the end of the road? Are the guards going to lock me and Levi in this cage along with my dad and the others? My friends are streaming in, wielding guns—not to use, but to threaten—and shouting orders at each other to rip away the cuffs and drag the originals out of here. I spot Jane now, finally. She doesn’t look as weak as the others, probably because she hasn’t been here as long. My heart surges at the sight of her. She’s alive.

“Get everyone to the perimeter of the building, using any means necessary!” Maude screams. “Then find the boats. We have to get off this island!”

I cry out for someone, anyone, to help my dad. Ansel moves up and swiftly yanks my father’s cuffs, ripping him free, though the shackles still dangle from his wrists.