I’m just about to reach for Kael and ask if his ability can help cover us until we escape, when Cami throws my hand aside and, before I can stop her, lunges straight out into the alley.

“Cami, no, stay close, or I won’t be able to—” I feel Pandora scramble over me as if to run after Cami, but a flash of light cuts off her warning and she utters a small cry. Our invisibility dissolves as her body turns limp and she collapses on top of me, unconscious.

Kael curses and helps move her off me. I’m torn between staring at her and staring at the now fully visible Cami, unsure which is the greater horror.

It all happened so fast.

Dread ripples through me, freezing me to the spot. I don’t know what to do—whether to jump out and pull Cami back to the relative protection of the ice cream stand, or whether to wait and see what’s about to happen.

The choice is taken from me when a strong hand latches onto my wrist, and I turn to find Arryn giving a warning shake of her head, her message clear. I press my lips together but swing back around, just in time to watch as Cami tentatively calls out loud enough to be heard over the circus music echoing all around us.

“Landon?” she says, stepping slowly forward, her confidence growing when no further attacks come. “Are you—Are you okay? Did Vanik hurt you?”

Ward doesn’t say anything. He just keeps moving our way, with Crew and the three other Speakers at his sides. If Cami hadn’t run out, I would have asked her who those Speakers are and what they can do. She would know, having grown up at Lengard. But instead of warning us, she’s out there, facing them. Alone.

“Landon?” Cami tries again. “It’s me. Can you hear me?”

Still, Ward says nothing. But then he’s right in front of her, his blank eyes looking at his sister and then over to where the rest of us remain peeking out from behind the stand.

Finally, Ward speaks. “Deal with her.”

One of the unknown Speakers says something too low for me to hear, prompting a flash of light that has Cami diving to the side, but she’s too slow and, with a cry, crumples into a heap on the ground.

My body turns cold, then hot, then cold again. Only Arryn’s pincer-grip on my arm stops me from rushing out to my friend.

“Kael!” Arryn hisses at him. “Why aren’t you—”

“I’m trying!” Kael says, shooting her a glare before focusing on our attackers again, who are walking past Cami as if she’s nothing more than a piece of trash on the sidewalk.

I can see it now—the moving lips and flaring lights of the other Speakers who are sending more commands toward us, all of which Kael must be trying to destroy.

“Now the others,” Ward says, his tone as detached as the rest of him.