“I almost didn’t,” she replies gravely. “I almost ended up at Lengard.”

The truth of her statement and all that it implies hits me. Pandora was a breakout, and the Remnants found her first. No wonder she’s so eager to save this one—to save every one.

“What I don’t get,” says Cami nervously, “is why it’s only us here. Why not include someone like Jet or Dante? Or someone … I don’t know … older. More experienced.”

A snort interrupts us and I turn to see Keeda standing behind me, with her having left Arryn and Kael to join us. “Jet would kill to be here,” she says, rolling her eyes. “Give her a few more years and she’ll be the first one on the boat.”

“But for now,” Pandora cuts in firmly, “Arryn says she’s too young—much to Jet’s annoyance.” She pulls a pair of gloves from her too-small pocket; they’re different from the ones the rest of us are wearing, more metallic than material. “But Arryn’s right. She’d be great to have with us, but the risk of losing her is too high.”

My stomach drops.

“Not,” Pandora hastily adds, tugging the gloves onto her fingers, “that we’re likely to lose anyone.”

“What about Dante?” Cami asks, her face paler than normal. “Wouldn’t his mind reading ability help with a new Speaker? He’d be able to figure out what’s going through their head and convince them that they’re safe. Surely that’d help?”

Keeda nods. “He does come, sometimes. And so do other Speakers with different abilities, depending on what Liana advises may be needed. But tonight, for the first time, she wasn’t sure. So Kael and Arryn said we should err on the side of caution.” She grins wolfishly. “Don’t worry, we’re good at improvising.”

Improvising.

The confidence that I began to feel from Pandora’s encouragement is swiftly fading. But I remind myself that I’m a Creator, that I’m powerful, that I can do anything I set my mind to. And right now, my mind is set to finding this breakout, then getting back to the catacombs so we can move our focus to freeing our friends from Lengard.

“Right. Shall we do this, then?” I ask, straightening my spine.

“Hold your horses, Creator girl,” says Keeda, amused. “We need to dock first. Unless you feel like going for a swim?”

Heat touches my cheeks, but thankfully, at that moment, the yacht gives a gentle bounce that indicates we’ve stopped alongside the jetty.

“Keeda,” Arryn calls, tilting her head pointedly toward the captain. “Can you …?”

Turning to face him, Keeda says, “You want to wait here until we return.”

Light flashes with her Spoken command and the captain gives a nod, his hands still resting on the steering wheel, his eyes gazing blankly through the windows. It’s eerie, seeing how easily he yields to her command. But despite how uncomfortable it makes me feel, I’m grateful to know we’ll have a quick getaway if we run into any trouble.