“Mum?” I whisper. The word comes out choked, barely audible.

A pause on the other end, before she responds in a hard tone, “Who is this?”

I clear my throat—or try to. It’s like swallowing sandpaper. “It’s—It’s me. Alyssa.”

If anything, her tone is even harsher this time. “That’s not funny. Put my son on the phone. Right now.”

My eyes remain locked on the building, but the image of Riley bruised and bloody flashes before my eyes. “I … I can’t.” I draw in another breath before she can say anything else, and continue, “I’m not lying to you—it really is me. There’s so much to explain, but for now, I’m begging you to listen. Riley’s in trouble, Mum. He and Arryn and my other friends have all been captured by Vanik. I don’t know why; I don’t know what he wants. All I know is—”

“That was a mistake.”

The words don’t come from my mother.

They come from Ward, who materializes out of thin air right in front of me.

A squeak leaves me before I can stifle it. I realize my mistake immediately—I underestimated Vanik, who must have lost patience and cloaked Ward to sneak up on me.

I don’t get the chance to tell my mum that Vanik is a Creator, that she needs to send help to Quarantine Station.

I don’t get the chance to say anything before Ward elbows me in the temple, the phone slipping from my fingers as I crumple to the ground.

Chapter Twenty-Six

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

I’m not unconscious.

I’m also not completely conscious.

I’m somewhere in between as Ward drags my limp, unresisting body toward the building, up the rickety stairs, and inside.

I’m dazed, dizzy, unable to keep my legs under me. I feel like vomiting up everything I’ve ever eaten, but I try my best to focus my blurry eyes, to take note of the room around me and the people in it.

My friends look as alarmed to see me as I am to see them. I know I must be quite a sight, my face caked with dried blood from the cave-in, the rest of me covered in dirt from worming my way through the hole, my clothes damp with sweat from the race to get here.

I try to open my mouth—not to Speak, just to tell them that I’m okay, to ease the fear I see on their faces, even if it’s a lie. Because I’m not okay.

None of us are.