There’s no answer aside from the echo of my own words coming back to me.

“You must be scared,” I try again, thinking about how I would feel in their shoes—how I did feel when my power first manifested. “My friends and I have come to help you. To explain what’s happening to you. We’re just like you—when we Speak, things happen. You don’t have to be afraid of us.”

Silence.

I continue forward, turning in place, my eyes and ears straining for the smallest hint of movement.

“I don’t want to scare you, but there are others here, too. Others who mean you harm,” I call out. “We need to get you to safety so we can explain everything. If you’re here, please come out. I promise—I promise we’ll look after you.”

Still nothing.

But then—

I spin around when I hear a door creaking from upstairs, and I hobble-sprint toward the nearest staircase and up to the second floor.

“Hello?” I call again as I hurry along the hallway as fast as my injured leg will allow. “Where are you?”

I skip over moving planks that are designed to trip me up and weave through dangling ropes that are sure to feature in my nightmares later, before I reach a long, empty corridor. I pause only briefly when I find open-air windows looking out over the park beyond, where I can see the Speakers still aiming words at each other, lights flaring. It’s impossible to tell who is winning, impossible to make out any faces. I have no idea where Kael is, if Ward and Crew are on his tail, if he’s been caught in the crossfire between Lengard and the unknown Speakers.

I have no idea about anything.

I don’t even know if the breakout Speaker is here. What if Liana was wrong? What if—

Another creaking door makes me jump in fright and I wince when I land on my sore leg. The noise is much closer this time. But it’s more than that—it’s the sound of running footsteps echoing on the wooden floorboards that has me rushing forward, again calling out, “I’m not going to hurt you! I’m here to help!”

I hurry around a corner that leads me to an internal balcony. From there, I stare down at the large floor space on the ground level where I finally catch sight of my quarry. All I can see is the back of a tall boy with dark hair. He’s wearing jeans and something with long sleeves—maybe a jacket, maybe just a shirt; it’s too hard to tell while he bolts down the staircase as fast as his long legs will carry him.

“Wait!” I cry.

He doesn’t wait. He doesn’t even look at me.

I groan, knowing what I have to do. I open my mouth to Speak him to stillness, when suddenly, he makes a quick turn and disappears beneath one of the metal slides.

Recalling what Kael said earlier about needing to see my target, I hiss out an annoyed breath and tear off after him, nearly rolling my ankle on the stairs in my haste to catch up. A moan leaves me as my wound gives a flare of pain, but I grit my teeth and continue on. My compassion for this breakout Speaker is diminishing by the second—next chance I get, I’ll use my ability on him and get us both the hell out of here.