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NOVAK: No! Don’t. I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you, just don’t hurt them.

She crouches down. She makes soothing noises, holding each girl’s arm gently. They calm slowly, though one is still crying softly, tears running down her cheeks.

NOVAK: Listen, loves. We can’t stay together. I know it’s scary, but it’s going to be all right.

She pushes up their sleeves. Her fingers run over the bruises on one girl’s arm—the bruises from Baker’s attack. This is the girl who came home out of the mist, the one who traveled to the headland on the boat. If she was replaced the day she got lost, this is the echo.

NOVAK: The day you were lost and heard the song, you’re the one who came home.

The girl nods. She seems the far calmer of the two; the other girl is still whimpering.

NOVAK: She’s the echo.

She turns toward the other girl, cups her cheek.

NOVAK: Hush. Stop crying now, little bird. It’s going to be okay. Come here.

She hugs Sophia close, stroking her hair.

NOVAK: Auntie Vanya and Uncle William are going to take you home, okay?

KAPOOR: What?

Novak stands.

NOVAK: I’m not leaving my daughter here alone.

HARDCASTLE: She isn’t your daughter.

NOVAK: I can’t leave her here, Will. I can’t. Just... get Sophie home safe, okay? Now give me a minute. I need to say goodbye.

The scene that follows holds nothing supernatural, only a raw and terrible grief. A child taken, screaming, from her weeping mother, her cries pure terror and desolation. There is nothing unreal in it, and yet it is the most unnatural, the most horrifying thing the video log has captured.

Time does not run properly in the mist, and it is both seconds and an eternity later that those who are leaving are on board the boat. The motor is running, Hardcastle tending the rudder; Sophia huddles against the side, her tears spent, only the occasional whimper left. Vanya sits at the prow of the boat, the camera on her lap.

HARDCASTLE: Look.

Vanya’s coat rustles as she twists in her seat; a moment latershe picks up the camera and trains it on the water ahead. There is an end to the mist. The rocky spit that connects the headland to the rest of the island pierces it, offering a guide, a path back to the world they came from. Not one curl of mist touches the mainland. If they can reach the shore to the other side of the yawning bay, they will be safe.

HARDCASTLE: That’s it. That’s the way out.

He cuts the motor.

KAPOOR: What are you doing?

HARDCASTLE: It’s good that Joy isn’t here. It’ll be easier.

KAPOOR: What will be easier, Will?

HARDCASTLE: We can’t be sure. She might have been switched weeks ago. Or it might have been while we were here. We just can’t know for certain.

KAPOOR: Joy was sure.

HARDCASTLE: Joy was guessing. This has to be done. Turn off the camera.

He moves forward. Hardcastle lunges forward, grabbing Sophia by the shoulder and hauling her back.

KAPOOR: Don’t you dare.