Do you think it would help if I call for him? Linh offered.

He won’t be able to hear you until he lets me connect with his mind. Unless…

Unless what? Linh asked when Sophie didn’t finish the thought.

I have a weird idea—and I don’t know if it’ll work, but… can you think his name for a minute? Just his name—and give it your whole concentration, like it’s the only solid thing in your head.

Linh did as Sophie asked, and Sophie gathered up the sound, wrapping her consciousness around it until it felt like she’d formed an airtight bundle, with Linh’s voice echoing softly inside.

A thought bubble of sorts.

Here goes nothing, she told Linh, letting her strange mental creation drift out of her mind, like a message in a bottle, floating through the space between her and Tam, drifting across the vast nothingness.

CAN YOU HEAR WHO I’M WITH? she transmitted, shoving Linh’s plea farther and farther. LINH NEEDS TO TALK TO YOU. IT’S IMPORTANT.

More silence surrounded them, and Linh’s disappointment was almost tangible as Sophie tried to edge her consciousness away from the headache looming ahead—a mental waterfall that would drag them both down into the pain if she didn’t sever their connection before she reached it.

PLEASE, TAM—TAKE THE RISK.

TAM!

TAM!

TAM!

TAM!

TA—

A shadow darkened Sophie’s mind—the rush both icy and eerie.

Linh gripped Sophie’s wrists. Tam?

DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW DANGEROUS THIS IS??? Tam shouted.

The words were cold black stones.

Sinking through Sophie’s consciousness.

Crashing into the darkness lingering below.

But Sophie focused on Linh’s laughter, refusing to let the echoes stir.

It’s nice to hear from you, too, Linh told her brother. Good to know you’re still as stubborn and surly as ever.

Tam’s thoughts seemed to stumble over themselves—stunned by the sound of his sister’s voice.

But he recovered quickly, his consciousness tangling into another dark storm that battered around their shared minds as he thought, SERIOUSLY, LINH—WE CAN’T TALK LIKE THIS! YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING.

Actually, I do, she assured him. I know it’s a risk. But I had to talk to you—and I need you to listen carefully. I need you to tell me if it’s safe to swim in the ocean.

THE OCEAN? Tam repeated—though Sophie could feel his thoughts swarming around each of Linh’s words, beyond just those few. And several seconds later he asked—very carefully—HOW WOULD I KNOW?

Linh sat up straighter. Can’t you dip your toe in for me?

The words hung there, and Sophie held her breath—feeling Linh do the same.

And for a moment, the cold shadows turned warmer and lighter.

But the blackness came crashing back before Tam finally answered. And he simply told her, NO.

Tam, you—

NO! Tam’s shout was louder than thunder, and it drowned out every syllable of Linh’s argument. STAY OUT OF THE WATER.

I can’t, she told him. You know I can’t.

WELL, YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE TO.

Tam—

NO, LINH. YOU DON’T GET IT. I LIKE IT HERE. DO YOU HEAR ME? I. LIKE. IT. HERE.

A shudder rocked Linh’s shoulders, as if she’d been physically struck. You don’t mean that.

I DO, he assured her. I REALLY, REALLY DO. I’M EVEN MAKING FRIENDS. SO FORGET YOUR PLANS AND YOUR CODES. I DON’T NEED THEM. I DON’T EVEN WANT THEM.

But—

NO! SOMEDAY YOU’LL UNDERSTAND, he told her.

I really, really won’t, Linh countered, and Sophie wondered if she was intentionally mirroring his phrasing.

WELL… THAT’S NOT MY PROBLEM! Tam insisted, and his words formed a wall, shutting out everything else Linh tried to tell him. Leaving his mind so bitingly, painfully cold that Sophie knew they couldn’t stay any longer.

Come on, Linh, Sophie thought, letting her consciousness slowly ebb away.

NO! Linh shaped her next thought into a tidal wave and slammed it into the darkness. What am I supposed to do without you?

Sophie didn’t expect Tam to answer.

But he told Linh, GO BACK TO CHORALMERE.

Tam—

GO BACK TO CHORALMERE AND STAY THERE, he thundered. AND DON’T EVER CALL FOR ME AGAIN.

Then the shadows faded and Sophie’s mind brightened and warmth poured in, like rays of dawn melting away the night—snuffing out the stirring echoes and leaving her head still and steady and silent.

“He’s gone,” Sophie said out loud, severing the final threads of the connection in case Gethen had somehow found a way to eavesdrop on that pocket of mental conversation.

“I know.” Linh’s voice sounded both watery and wobbly, and when Sophie’s eyes came into focus, she found Marella and Maruca pulling Linh into a hug.

“Are you okay?” Sophie asked, knowing it was a pointless question. “I’m sure Tam only said that stuff because he was trying to protect you. He did the same thing last time—”

“No, he meant it.” Tears streamed down Linh’s cheeks, and she let them fall as she added, “I didn’t realize how hard it would be to hear him like that.”

“Like what?” Marella asked.

“So… stubborn and hopeless.”

“Hopeless?” Sophie repeated.

Linh stared at the sky. “I think he’s giving up.”

Maruca hugged her tighter. “Didn’t he understand that you were ready to rescue him?”

“He did. But… he didn’t want me to. He told me to ‘stay out of the water,’ which wasn’t part of our code—but it’s what he said a lot when I first manifested and he knew I was about to make a mess of everything.”

She dried her tears with her sleeve, but more replaced them immediately.

“You didn’t make a mess of everything,” Sophie tried to tell her.

Linh just looked away. “We can’t reach out to him again. He won’t respond—and he’ll never cooperate. He doesn’t want me to find him.”

Sophie kept her face angled down, trying to hide her relief.

Even with Maruca’s force fields, she couldn’t see how any rescue attempt would end in anything other than disaster, nor could she imagine any possible scenario where Sandor would let them try.

“Why would he want you to go to Choralmere?” Sophie wondered, recognizing the name of the Song family’s estate.

Tam had almost as many mommy and daddy issues as Keefe did—and he’d always been very opposed to the idea of giving his parents a single second of their time, now that he and Linh were free of them.

Linh stumbled to her feet, swiping at her smudged eyeliner. “He doesn’t. That was the code.”

“The code for when he’s in danger?” Marella asked.

Linh shook her head. “No. The code for when I am.”

TWENTY-TWO

DO YOU THINK TAM WAS just trying to scare you?” Sophie asked as she watched Linh pace around Calla’s Panakes tree, taking slow, meticulous steps—as if Linh were trying to match her previous footprints with each revolution. “That way you’d abandon your rescue plan for him? Or to make sure you wouldn’t risk reaching out to him again?”