Not so, for the others. The two women grunted protests. Happyland slept, unaware.

No more objections.

Rain had the controller, and Rain was the one to hit the button, with Kenzie pulling his arm down to check settings before nodding.

The portal opened. A narrow, distorted doorway, in the lobby of the Wardens’ temporary headquarters.

“Happyland. Drug given, he should wake up in five with a hangover,” Anelace said. “Sent to spot H, for future reference.”

“Noted,” Signal Fire said, writing it down on a pad of paper that he’d laid on the unoccupied secretary’s desk.

Happyland was rolled through, and the portal closed. A moment later, it opened again.

“Copse. We are placing a tool in your hands. It should take you a few minutes to free yourself of your bindings.”

Copse fought every inch of the way. She ended up dropping her tool, and so the others kicked it through, where it disappeared into the grass.

“It’s three feet to your left,” the Patrol officer said.

Copse screamed through her gag.

The portal closed.

Sveta nodded, seemingly satisfied with it. Copse had kidnapped a Case Fifty-Three. Let her master dehumanize him.

“Sent to spot I. Coordinates are in the logbooks.”

“Noted.”

The next portal ripped open.

“Sightly. Are you going to cooperate? If you lose this tool, your life over there gets a hundred times harder.”

Sightly didn’t scream or fight. Officers seized her by the armpits. Her head hung, and tears streaked down.

“I’m putting the tool into your hand. Cut the wrist-bindings that way.”

She nodded. She was helped through, and turned around to stare at us with one eye slanted by the skin that didn’t sit right around it.

The portal ripped its way closed.

“Site J.”

“Noted.”

Drillbit lurched to his feet without help. His head hung like Sightly’s had. He didn’t cry. His gag was off, and he didn’t speak.

When the portal appeared, he walked through it. Someone had to stop him from going too far, passing him the tool because he’d been so quick to leave. The officer stood on the far side of the portal with Drillbit, by the little four-foot cube of packed up supplies we’d already deposited there.

Drillbit didn’t look back or do anything except nod to himself, tool clasped in his hand, as the portal roared shut.

“Site K.”

“Wrote it in.”

“Patrol vans will leave as if they’re carrying the prisoners. Standard evasion, cover, shuffling the seashells approach. If there’s an attack, surrender immediately. This batch should be fine, I don’t think they had many friends.”

“Yessir.”

I exhaled, a heavy feeling in my stomach.

We’d chattered and chatted and talked drama and war wounds earlier, and now… now nothing.

Well, not quite. Kenzie was naturally the first to break silence, nudging me.

“You like it?”