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“They’re on the list of unforgivable contraband,” Ren said. “Possessing one is a step short of murder in our judicial system. How did you even learn how to make it?”

“It doesn’t matter now. I couldn’t risk messing up my practical. I worked too hard. There was no way I was going to accidentally slit an artery and lose my place. The exam went well, though, and I didn’t have to use it. That’s why it was still in my bag.”

At least she could understand Cora’s reasoning. She’d demanded perfection from herself at Balmerick because even the slightest mistake felt like it might be enough to end her chances. Still, the lengths to which Cora had gone were beyond even her own imagination. Ren knew that devoriums worked on stolen time. And time could only be stolen from other beings who understood their temporal existence. It was a notoriously difficult process, unless you had express permission from the victim. Ren was still too unsettled to piece the riddle together. She focused on what she’d already learned about Cora instead.

“The amber orb,” she said. “You hid it with your foot when we were all sorting through what we should bring with us. I wondered what it was, but I didn’t want to embarrass you.”

“I knew you saw it, but I wasn’t sure if you recognized what it was. Devoriums can be stored in a lot of different ways. It’s activated—”

“By the gem in your eye piercing. I know. I saw they matched.”

She heard Theo sigh. “How do I not notice any of this?”

Because you’ve never had to really pay attention. It didn’t take much for Ren’s thoughts to wade into darker currents. She wanted to focus on what they should do next. Make a plan. But another obvious truth was blooming out of the first revelation, like a flower with hidden thorns. Ren gritted her teeth in the dark but couldn’t fend off the anger rising in her chest.

“You could have saved Timmons,” she said. “Or Avy. All of it, Cora. You could have taken us back to Balmerick when we first got lost out here.…”

Those words were met with silence. Her eyes were pinned to the shadow she knew was Cora. She saw the way the girl’s head bowed under the weight of all that guilt. Ren had noticed how distracted she’d been after each incident. She’d assumed it was simply because of the horror of what they’d witnessed.

Cora finally answered. “You can’t activate a devorium to access the waxways. They are two separate, powerful items that use different temporal theories to power what they do. The results of such an attempt would be catastrophic. Besides, it’s not like… I wasn’t trying to advertise what I had with me. I didn’t know how lost we were yet, and I had no personal connection to Clyde Winters. No offense, Theo.”

The other shadow shook its head. Ren still wasn’t satisfied.

“What about Avy and Timmons?”

Cora’s voice was a whisper. “When Avy died, we were still running. There was a lot of adrenaline and panic. I forgot what I had until we stopped. Until it was too late. If I’d used it then, I’d have risked wasting it and still not saving him. I felt horrible. If only I’d remembered in time, I could have stopped Clyde.… Avy would be alive. Trust me, it’s all I’ve thought about since it happened.”

Ren recalled the girl scratching her eyebrow. After both deaths.

“Which means you chose not to save Timmons.”

A looming silence, and then: “Yes. I could have saved her. The truth is that I was keeping it for myself. I didn’t know what we’d face in the mountains. I was afraid to die.”

The darkness spared Ren from having to hide her emotions. The thought of Timmons, brought back to life by magic in their possession, was too much. If she’d known, she would have forced Cora to use the devorium. But she also knew that if it had been her secret, she’d have at least considered holding on to the device as well. A fail-safe as they crossed into the dangerous mountain passes. Balmerick had taught them that lesson. They knew what it meant to be chosen, and once they were up in those sunlit heights, surviving was the only instinct that could take root. That didn’t mean she would forget this confession. Cora would answer for what she’d done eventually.

For now Ren needed to focus. It was the only way forward.

“How far back will it take you?”

“An hour,” Cora answered. “But my methods for creating it were likely far from perfect. I have no idea how much time it will actually give us.”

“What are you waiting for, then?” Ren asked. “Every second counts.”

She imagined Cora traveling back through time to when they’d been standing on the path, looking at the farm from a distance. It would be easy to escape if she could go that far.

“The orb is out of range.”

Ren felt the hope in her chest die a second death. Fear crept over its corpse. The chains around her wrists felt like they were getting tighter. Theo’s voice barely managed to break through.

“Vega is hunting for the bag,” he said. “If she can fly it closer to us, Cora can activate the orb. When she does, we’ll all go back in time. Only Cora will know what happened. She’s going to do her best to—”

The door opened with a groan of rusted metal. Della was there, framed by the night sky. Her eyes traced the room, flicking from face to face, before settling on Ren.

“Take her first.”

The Mackie brothers lumbered forward. Theo tried to kick them. Cora was shouting for them to stop. Ren felt a quiet relief as the chains fell from her wrists, as they stood her up and marched her out into open air. Her skin drank in that coolness before she realized they were guiding her toward another shed. There was a single lantern dangling. It cast shadows across a wall of glinting tools.

“No, wait, please, no…”