For a moment, I wonder if the new Speaker group is working for Vanik. Or, worse, if Ward was right with his warning that Vanik has completed his Creator-making serum, then Riley and the other camouflaged unknowns could be part of Vanik’s new army.

But—no. If that were the case, I can’t imagine that Riley would have ended up captured by Lengard. I can’t imagine that the camouflaged Speakers would have let any of us leave Luna Park, since with the numbers they had and Ward focusing his protective ability on nullifying my words, it would have been within their power to stop all of us. Plus, they wouldn’t have fought against Ward, but with him.

So that means I still have no idea who they are. What role they play in all of this. What role Riley plays, and why I seem to be his target. Arryn, too, though he didn’t claim to be her forgotten sibling.

“I hate this,” I whisper, unable to keep the words in.

Arryn’s face softens and she pats the water beside her in invitation.

I return to her side and lean against the rough stone, tipping my head back and staring into the darkness above us. Steam wafts past my face, hypnotic enough to lull me into a semi-relaxed state.

We don’t say anything for a long time, as if Arryn also needs the silence after the day we’ve had.

Eventually, I ask quietly, “Why ‘Arryn’?”

I can hear the confusion, the tension, in her voice when she replies, “Why, what?”

“Arryn—your name,” I clarify. “It’s not one I’ve heard before.”

Whatever tension was there a moment ago is gone when she laughs and says, “Yeah, it’s not too common.” She shifts in the water, massaging her neck. “In the language of my ancestors, it means ‘echo.’ According to my parents, I screamed so loudly when I was born that my cries echoed throughout the whole hospital. They thought the name was fitting.”

I catch her grin, returning it with my own. Then I think about it further and say, “That’s also interesting, considering what you said about how your Speaker ability works.”

“With it being like an echo of others?” She snorts. “Talk about a weird coincidence, right?”

I chuckle along with her. Raising my hands out of the water, I rub my wrinkled fingertips together and let out a long sigh.

Arryn comprehends without me saying anything. “Time to go?”

“As much as I’m enjoying this moment of tranquility, I won’t be able to rest properly until Ward is himself again.”

“You really care about him, don’t you?”

I start at the question, water sloshing around me. “It’s … complicated.”