“Have you wondered how I came to be at Luna Park last night? How Lengard found out about the Speaker there?” he asks.

I turn a fraction more toward him. “I presume you learned about the breakout the same way we did, and you were under orders to add him to the Exodus initiates. Growing Vanik’s army, one Speaker at a time.”

Ward cocks his head to the side. “You and I both know he’s not a breakout.”

I shake my head, despite having already figured out as much, and reach for the rungs again. “Whatever you say.”

“I haven’t had a chance to relay what I’m about to tell you to my master yet. If I had, I doubt I’d be allowed to tell you any of this. And you’ll want to know. Because it’s very interesting.”

That has me pausing once more, but I don’t turn around.

“It’s interesting, Six-Eight-Four, because I learned the whereabouts of the breakout from an anonymous tip. Interesting, because he didn’t end up being a breakout at all. Interesting, because during his interrogation, he was genuinely shell-shocked—all he would say was, ‘She’s alive. My sister is alive.’ And when he eventually succumbed to the drugs and revealed his name, it was even more interesting to discover he was talking about you.”

I’m frozen with my hands on the ladder, scarcely drawing breath.

“But do you know what was the most interesting, Alyssa Scott?”

I say nothing, but I do lower my arms and turn back to Ward, facing him fully this time.

“Turns out, Riley Scott is the one who sent the anonymous tip. He wanted to be captured by us.” Ward lets that process for a moment. “And I’d wager that he did it knowing he’d be rescued by your Remnants. So that’s something you might want to keep in mind around your new friends, around these people you think you can trust.” His lip quirks up at the corner. “That leads me to the bonus I promised, and here it is: everyone is lying to you, Six-Eight-Four. Everyone.”

The silence that follows his declaration is absolute, his words ringing in my ears.

Everyone.

Is.

Lying.

To.

You.

I’m done. I won’t listen to any more. I can’t listen to any more, not without first having a chance to compartmentalize what I’ve discovered this night.

Ward has been a fountain of knowledge, but everything he’s shared has only made me feel more hopeless. I know that was his aim—that he was following orders to do exactly that, but still … I’m so nauseous right now that I’m at risk of bringing up the soup I ate hours ago. The urge is so overwhelming that when I reach the top of the ladder and close the trapdoor behind me,