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“Hey. It’s all right. You’re okay.” A male voice with an Australian accent, a heavy hand on my shoulder, warm breath on my face.

“Clint?” It was the faux therapist who’d shown up at the hospital: Mikki’s Reddit contact. Former member. Here to save the day?

A ripple of relief, of joy—but I wasn’t yet ready to believe this was happening. I’d had enough vivid dreams in here to know I could be ripped into wakefulness at any time.

“Yes, I’m Clint. Good to see you.” He paused. “That’s Grace, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

Another pause. “All right. Can you open your eyes for me?”

It took a minute or two, but finally I was able to manage the light from the headlamp strapped to his forehead. I had to force myself to pay attention as he handed me a respirator and showed me how to grab onto him with my arms and legs. He explained something about pulling us via small handholds in the tunnel while also being pulled by a rope attached to his harness, but the sound of his voice was like a barrage after the silence of the past few days, and I could barely process it.

“Just keep your eyes closed,” he instructed.

And then the respirator was over my mouth, and we were entering the tunnel. It was slow going; we were basically trying to push our way up a waterfall. Clint’s wet-suited body moved and shifted below my chest. I couldn’t feel my legs, but I was determined to keep them clamped around his hips. I shoved my respirated face against his neck, sure the equipment was going to fly off my head at any second, that the air would be replaced by cold water. I squeezed my eyes tight, my mind blank, not yet ready to accept that this was really happening.

After what felt like hours, but must’ve been only minutes, the tunnel ended and we broke through the surface. Hands pulled us out, unlatched us, and set us down. On my back, I let my jaw relax and my eyes open. The vastness of the cave stretched above me. I’d never physically felt this much open space.

“Okay, let’s get her out of these.” Karen was above me, unzipping my sweatshirt. I’d left my damp coat behind. I realized I’d also left the key chain flashlight in its little cubby and felt a small, inexplicable stab of loss.

“Oh my god.” Mikki crouched above me, eyes wide. “Thea. Holy shit.”

“Let’s hurry.” Karen pulled at me to sit up and lifted my shirt over my head. “Clint, you ready for round two? How is she?”

“I’m sorry, Karen.” He was pulling off his harness. “She didn’t make it.”

Karen continued to stare at him, perplexed.

“You mean…” Mikki trailed off. “Grace—”

“Listen, our first order of business is to get Thea to a hospital.” Clint straightened. “We call SOS as soon as we get upstairs. Karen, I’m sorry, we’ll have to recover her body later.”

Karen nodded, her expression fixed, but tears flowed down her cheeks.

“I’m sorry.” My voice sounded scratchy and gruff. I wanted to tell her it had happened quickly, but after the deprivation tank–like time in the cave, all of this—the harsh yet soft words, the two women taking off my clothes and putting dry ones on, the light of the lanterns—felt completely overwhelming.

Mikki was also stoically crying, wiping away tears as she worked sweatpants onto my legs. Karen slipped wool socks over my feet, which were tingling and coming back to life. Ahh. Nothing had ever felt so good. The warmth was sensuous, luxurious. Mikki fitted a knit cap over my head. I wanted to thank them but suddenly had to vomit. Nothing but bile came out.

Clint hunched down. “Thea, we’re going to go piggyback. Ready?”

Karen and Mikki helped me to my feet. My legs were weak and wobbly, but I remained upright. Clint hefted me up and started swiftly over the rocky terrain. Mikki and Karen followed, lighting our way with lanterns, Mikki hauling a duffel bag.

I glanced back, but the gurgling hole was now in darkness.

Clint didn’t stumble once. I had the dazed feeling that I was riding a horse, feeling a strong body’s mechanics between my legs. We got to the entry chamber, went straight to the stairs. Clint climbed the steep steps like a machine. His confident physicality felt calming. But I couldn’t relax until we were in his car, barreling away from this wretched place.

We reached the top of the stairs, up into the little closet-like room. Clint pushed the door open. The studio was dark, and the familiar scent of paint and ceramic dust reached my nostrils.

Then the light went on. I cried out, pushing my face into Clint’s shoulder. He stopped short.

“What a nice surprise.” Sol’s voice was conversational. “Clint, you didn’t want to stop and say hi to us?”

Something broke in my chest, and I yelped. No. Not when we were so close to getting out.

“Hi, Sol.” Clint let go of my legs, and I slid to the ground, blinking my eyes open. Karen slipped an arm around my waist; she was surprisingly strong too. Mikki was on Clint’s other side. Sol and Moon stood in the middle of the room, with Joe and Steven flanking them. Behind, Catherine leaned against the open doorway. She stared at me, her eyes round and blank. The diamond necklace from the cave altar was back on her neck, glittering in the light.

Joe looked uncomfortable, his gaze darting around.

“Hey!” Mikki struggled to hold on to the duffel bag Steven was pulling away from her. With a final yank, he had it, and backed towards the front of the room.

“Shit,” Karen muttered, so softly only I could hear.

“So what brings you here, man?” Sol grinned. Moon was silent, staring at Clint, her expression unreadable. “I guess I don’t actually need to ask. You must’ve done this before, huh? It’s how you got Cath out. With your scuba gear.” He let out a sharp laugh. “The cave diver, of course! I can’t believe I didn’t think about that. I figured Cath found some kind of aqueduct and crawled back up. Nope. ” Sol reached into the back of his waistband and pulled out a gun. “Stop right now.”

Clint’s phone was in his hand. Moon darted forward and snatched it. She turned to Mikki, palm out. Mikki’s eyes were trained on the gun. It looked like Joe’s—was it the same one? Mikki pulled her phone from her back pocket and gave it to Moon with shaking fingers. Still holding me with one arm, Karen used her free hand to do the same.

“You did it last time, right? You drugged us.” Moon shook a playful finger at her, backing away. “The former nurse. I wonder what you used in the wine? I remember waking up feeling groggy. Good thing Steven caught you last night. We were able to swap out the bottle without you realizing.”

“This has gone too far, Moon.” Karen’s wobbly voice strengthened. “Your past life self has taken you over. She’s controlling you. She’s making you do horrible things. Like—Gracie…” The tears started once again.

“Karen, I know this is hard for you to understand.” Moon’s voice softened. “But this is the way it has to be.”

“It’s doesn’t!”

“It does,” Moon said. “You of all people should understand martyrdom.”

“Hi, Mikki,” Sol said. “I shouldn’t be surprised to see you here. The girl with no impulse control.”

“What are you planning to do?” Mikki asked quietly. “Shove all of us into that hole, one after the other?”

Don’t give them any ideas , I wanted to say.

“Guys,” Joe said in a low voice. “Why don’t we take a beat? Go discuss?”

“I’m sorry, are you in charge here?” Sol asked over his shoulder. “Or can you just shut the fuck up for a second?”

Joe looked away. “Sorry.”

“Listen, mates, we can figure this out.” Clint held out his arms. “Grace chose to go in, right? Everyone else is alive and well.” He indicated me, leaning on Karen. “So let’s just take a breath and de-escalate.”

Moon sighed. “You messed it up, Clint.”

“I’m trying to help you guys.” He pointed at me. “If we hadn’t gotten her out—”

“This would all be over. My life’s purpose completed. Do you know how different things would be?” She continued to smile, but her eyes hardened.

“It’s time to give it up, Moon.” Clint raised his voice. “A woman is dead because of all this!”

“I should’ve known.” Moon shook her head. Her accent was gone, her voice flat. “That you’re on the side of darkness. I should’ve felt it the moment I met you.”

“For god’s sake, just stop! Please!” Clint’s voice was both sharp and pleading. “It isn’t real .”

Moon launched off her left foot and flew across the room, so quickly she was a blur. It was only at the last second that I saw the flash of silver in her hand.

If she had just pushed him, he could’ve held his ground. After all, she was much smaller.

But first she plunged a kitchen knife deep into his belly.

He let out a strangled squawk, looking down, and in that confused moment she pushed his chest with all of her might.

He staggered back through the doorway and fell backwards down the stairs.