So instead, we repeat our actions that got us onto the boat: Cami and me hauling Ward between us, Arryn staggering along with the breakout. Before we leave the ferry, Cami gives her a pointed look, and Arryn sighs, pulls some cash from her pocket, and leaves it on a seat as we teeter toward the exit.

Everything is going smoothly, just like when we boarded the ferry. Despite the heavy weights we’re lugging, we make it over the gangplank and onto the jetty, then follow the disembarking crowd. Most people head to the left, hoping to catch a ride on the Sky Safari up to the zoo’s main entrance before it shuts down for the night. A handful wave at cars that have been driven down to collect them.

We wait until almost everyone is gone before we start along the road, heading toward the footpath that will lead us to the back entrance of the zoo, close to where the main tunnel into the catacombs is located.

We’re just about to cross the street when a low male groan causes us to freeze.

I stare intently at Ward’s lolling head, worried that he’s somehow managing to fight off Cami’s order to sleep. If he wakes up enough to use his ability, we’ll never get him back to the catacombs. There’s no way he’ll fall for the same trick twice.

But … when I hear the noise again, louder this time, I realize it’s not coming from Ward.

I turn just in time to see the breakout’s bright blue eyes flutter open, just in time to see the panic enter them as a wave of disorientation hits him.

He lashes out, acting on what seems to be autopilot, shoving Arryn away from him and scrambling to get his balance. She stumbles, crashing into Cami, Ward, and me, crying out as the four of us go down in a tangle of limbs.

We’re still on the ground when the breakout opens his mouth and utters a single word.

“Arryn?”

Her name is said with wonder clear in his voice. But then his eyes flick to me, and his tanned features drain of all color.

“It is you,” he whispers. “I thought—I thought I must have imagined it. I thought it must have been a dream. An impossible dream.”

I’m pinned under the weight of both Ward and Arryn. I try to wriggle my way out, pushing and shoving until I’m free enough to rise to my feet.

“Who are you?” I ask him, my voice oddly shaky. “How do you know me?”

A crease forms between his brows and he takes a step closer to me. “What—Lyss, it’s me.”

I’m vaguely aware of Arryn and Cami standing again behind me, trying to haul up Ward between them. But my focus remains on the breakout.