Keeda hobbles over to us, her boot thumping on the ground. She wraps an arm around Cami’s waist, and I release my friend, only to have her lean heavily on Keeda.

I look at them all—Arryn carrying Pandora, Keeda supporting Cami—and I turn worried eyes to Kael. “Maybe I should—”

“No,” he interrupts, shaking his head. “We have to finish this.” His eyes soften as he adds, “They’ll be fine. If we hurry, we’ll be back with them before we know it, and we can leave this nightmare behind. With the breakout Speaker.”

Arryn has remained strangely silent, as if stewing over the order to retreat. But when she looks at me, there’s fire— and a warning—in her eyes as she says, “Be careful. And be quick.”

Cami gives another groan, and Keeda starts to limp away with her, Arryn following with Pandora laid like a sack over her shoulder.

I want to call out and stop them, but I know Kael gave the right order—the smart order. Cami, Keeda, and Pandora are in no condition to be with us now, but we still have a job to do. And the faster we do it, the better.

“How long can you keep the Speakers from attacking us?” Kael asks as we start running down the laneway, deeper into the park and farther away from the battling Speakers.

“Honestly?” I say, panting lightly. “I’m surprised it’s still holding.”

“You might as well let it drop,” he says. “It’ll only exhaust you faster, and there’s no need for it right now.”

Even as he says the words, I have to fight off a wave of fatigue. I glance back and see that the warring forces seem to have forgotten we’re even here, and we’re now far enough away to avoid attention. With a quick word, I cancel my command, rolling my neck at the tangible relief I feel, as if a burden has been lifted from my shoulders.

“We need to split up,” Kael says as we continue down the alley. “Now that there’s only two of us, we don’t have any other choice. There’s too much ground to cover.”

I dislike the idea just as much as I did earlier, but I also know that he’s right.

“I’ll take outside, you take inside,” he says when we come to a stop before a large shed-like building labeled Coney Island. I have no memory of it from my childhood, but I assume that if the breakout Speaker is inside, it should be relatively easy to spot them, corner them, and convince them to come with me.

Worst case, given the threat we all now face, I’m not above using my ability on them if I have to. They can forgive me later.

I look from the building to Kael and then at the space around us. On our left is a huge roller coaster with an untold number of hiding places, and on our right is Dodgem City and the Tumble Bug ride, among others. The area he has to cover is vast, much more than what I’ve been allocated.