“Do you want one or not?” Snag growled.

“Give me one. I might need to make a run for it.”

Snag passed one piece of glass over to Cradle.

Mama Mathers, Rain thought. He braced himself for the appearance, and saw nothing. He scanned the room, looking. Too much to hope that it would have brought her in, for the same treatment the one-toothed woman had been given.

Emotionally, after his visit with Mama Mathers, after the dream, he felt raw. There was a part of him that wanted to break down in tears. But to show weakness?

Blood still worked its way down the invisible barrier. It was responsible for some of the altered color in the room. Where others’ spaces had been cast in shades of blue and purple, it was now redder.

The others would discuss, they’d share out powers, while leaving Rain out of the loop, and then they would go back to trying to kill him. Rain, meanwhile, would wake up and find himself where he’d been the night before. Mama Mathers would watch his every move.

“I need help,” he said.

The looks on their faces. Hate, hate, and a cold stare through scratched-up glasses. His heart sank.

“There are people with the Fallen who need help. Innocents. The Fallen—they use powers to force us to act a certain way, keep us from leaving. There are—” Rain started. He looked at Love Lost. “There are kids at risk.”

Love Lost’s hand went out. She punched the barrier between them with enough force that something in her hand audibly broke. She trembled with a mixture of pain and sheer loathing as she lowered her hand.

The hand would heal when they woke up, but still—to go that far.

“There are kids who are being forced to comply with powers. The ones who aren’t brainwashed the usual way are made to obey with powers.”

“Convenient excuse,” Cradle said.

“In that dream, I wasn’t under the influence of any powers except for a watchful eye,” Rain said. “She was observing me back then, but it doesn’t appear in the dream.”

“Shut up,” Cradle said. “Stop. We hear this every five—”

“I’m desperate!” Rain raised his voice, advancing. “It’s bad.”

“Good,” Snag said.

Love Lost nodded.

“Suffer,” Snag said.

“Innocents are going to die, or worse! I can give you information on the Fallen. You can use it to stop them.”

“We’re not going to cooperate with you,” Cradle said. “Anyone else, but not with you.”

“I can tell you where they are, I can tell you how they operate.”

“No.”

Emotionally ragged, Rain almost opened his mouth to mention Erin.

“I’ll—if you cooperate, if you save these people—”

Save Erin. Save her brother. Save Lachlan.

They’re going to force me to go to the team. They’ll find out about them. If they get their hooks in Tristan—in Sveta? Kenzie?