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We stood frozen, listening to Clint’s grunts and cries for what felt like an eternity until all returned to silence.

Moon stood at the edge of the hole, peering down. Karen clutched me so hard my ribs hurt. My hand was pressed over my mouth. Was Clint dead? He had to be, didn’t he? My heart was pounding so hard I thought it might explode.

“Jesus, babe.” Sol continued to point the gun in our direction. “Go get the knife.” He sounded weary and unhappy but not in the least surprised.

Moon traipsed down the steps.

Behind Sol, Catherine’s and Joe’s eyes bulged, their faces pale. Even Steven was looking up, his brown eyes round. I considered trying to catch Catherine’s gaze, but there was no point. She was a lost cause.

Moon reappeared a minute later. She held the knife in her right hand, the blade clean. There were large dark marks on the stomach of her gray sweatshirt, where for whatever reason she’d wiped the knife off. She returned to Sol’s side, looking calmer, though still perturbed. “He’s gone.” The accent was back.

“It’s okay, hon.” Karen raised a shaking hand. “Let’s just stop this before anyone else gets hurt.”

“He’s a bad person, Karen.” Moon slipped the knife in her back jeans pocket. Her eyes looked a little too wide. “Let’s leave them here for now. I need to go meditate on this.”

Once they’d locked us in, Karen eased me to the floor. She and Mikki grabbed their lanterns and disappeared down the stairs.

As much as I didn’t want to go back down there, I had to see too. On unsteady legs, I went to the stairs. About a third of the way down I had to sit and rest. If I ducked down, I could see the circles of light at the bottom. Clint lay on his back, his left leg twisted underneath him at an odd angle. His blue shirt was black with blood. Mikki was pressing her fingers to his throat.

“Is he okay?” I called absurdly.

Slowly, Karen rose. “No.”

“Fuck!” Mikki cried. She jumped and thundered up the stairs past me into the studio. Maybe it was the exhaustion or the hunger, but I felt completely numb. I climbed back up and settled onto the floor, my back against the wall. Mikki paced around the room like a trapped tiger.

“There has to be a way out of here.” She spoke quickly. “Karen? Where the fuck is Karen?”

“I think she’s coming back up.” I put a hand on my stomach. The hunger pains were coming back, sharp as knitting needles.

“Shit.” She rubbed her eyes. “This is bad. We’re screwed.”

“Did you tell anyone you were coming back here?” I asked.

“Yeah. My editor and my sister. But I told them to call the police if I didn’t get back to them in twenty-hour hours. It’s been, what, four?” She crouched next to me, studying me. “You okay? You don’t look good. What was it—a small cave?”

I nodded.

“How small?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Eight by eight? But half of it was underwater.”

“God. And Grace…”

I fixated on a long scratch on the wooden floor. “She was there too.”

Mikki shook her head. “That must’ve been…”

“I think she hit her head on the way in. Or drowned. And there was some dead animal in there too. A dog.” Maybe that dog Sol kept bringing up—Dionysus?

“Christ.” Mikki exhaled. “I never would’ve come here if… I had no idea it would go this far. Karen said Grace went in of her own volition.”

“Yeah, because she was brainwashed.” I shifted. My hips still ached from lying on the rock ledge. “How long was I down there?”

“I guess this is the third night.” Mikki shook her head. “It shouldn’t have taken this long. But the first night, Karen waited until late to turn on the Wi-Fi and call Clint, who called me. We were going to try last night, but Karen wasn’t able to slip the drug into their wine. So we waited until tonight. It was so horrible… I wanted to call the police, but Clint said he tried last time. They took it as a prank call, literally didn’t even come out here. So he thought we should get you guys out first and then go to the cops.” Mikki rubbed her eyes. “Maybe I should’ve called them anyway, I don’t know. But he and Karen just seemed so confident about what to do. And to be honest, I didn’t totally believe it was happening. It just seemed too wild. But then I couldn’t get ahold of you…”

“You’re going to have a hell of an article.” I leaned the back of my head against the wall. This still felt surreal, like I’d been pulled into a TV show or movie—the colors too bright, voices too loud.

Karen came through the doorway, her face ashen.

“It’s a past life takeover,” Karen said again, as if it were obvious. “I should’ve known after what Moon did to Talia.” She settled heavily in the desk chair.

Steven’s girlfriend—the one Sol said Moon didn’t like.

“What did Moon do to her?” I asked.

“Killed her,” Karen replied. “Shoved her off the tower.”

“You knew she’d killed people?” Mikki stopped and stared at her.

“She said it was an accident. I—we—believed her. But we shouldn’t have.”

Mikki resumed her pacing. “We need to come up with a plan. A way out.”

Karen crouched next to me and pulled a granola bar from her pocket. I tore it open and scarfed it down.

“Are there any exits through the cave?” Mikki asked. “Like, tunnels or anything?”

“Not that I know of.” Karen handed me a second bar, which I also basically swallowed.

“You’re the only one of us three who knows anything about this place.” Mikki’s voice turned businesslike. “So think, Karen. You have to help us figure this out.”

Karen didn’t respond, just stared into space. She seemed shell-shocked.

“No more food?” I asked, and she shook her head.

“We need to get to Clint’s car.” Mikki bit at her thumbnail. “He parked about a mile out so they wouldn’t hear it. Left the keys inside. I ran track in college, so if I get the chance, I’ll make a run for it. Hmm. Maybe we can hit them with something when they come back…” She jumped up and started opening drawers.

Karen watched her. “You want to bonk them on the head? They have guns, hon. All of them. The boys liked to go out into the desert and shoot.” She sighed. “They took Clint’s too.”

“Karen.” Mikki stood and flung up her hands. “Instead of shitting all over my plans, let’s work together here. Yes, and. So: You have any ideas?”

“I don’t.” Karen gazed at me. “But maybe Thea does.”

“Why?” Mikki scoffed. “She got here when I got here. She doesn’t know anything.”

“But she has powers. Both of them do. It’s just that Catherine… well, her mind hasn’t been right since she was down there.”

“Karen, please.” Mikki dropped her head into her hands. “Please stop talking like that.”

“How long was Catherine in the cave?” I asked.

Karen looked down. “It was too long.”

“How long?”

“Nine days.” Her eyes were wide as she looked up at me. “I should’ve called Clint earlier, I know. But… I didn’t. I think I was in shock for a few days. And then finally it kicked in; I knew I needed his help. But then we wasted more time waiting for the police. They never came. So he flew in with his equipment, drove out here. That night I was able to put liquid diphenhydramine in the wine—it seemed to make everyone pass out early. But even then…” Karen shook her head. “I didn’t think we’d find her alive, to be honest with you. And we did, but she was… not okay. Not speaking. Clint didn’t even think he could get her on a plane. So he drove her all the way back to New York. To get help for her. But then at a gas station she just got out of the car. Walked out onto the highway. I don’t know why.”

Nine days. I couldn’t fathom it. No wonder Catherine had burrowed deep inside her psyche, shutting off everything around her. The food twisted in my belly, feeling like chunks of concrete.

“I can’t believe I listened to you guys,” Mikki muttered, slamming a drawer. “?‘Oh, they’ll be fast asleep. They totally won’t hear us all the way down there.’ Fucking stupid.”

“I didn’t think she’d do that to Clint.” Karen’s eyes filled again with tears.

“Really?” I scoffed. “After seeing them tie me up, keep me chained to a bed, and throw me in the hole?” The surprise gave me a boost of energy. “After seeing Talia plummet to her death?”

“I’ve been blind.” Karen shook her head. “She blinded me. All of us. I’m sorry.”

Mikki had moved on to another set of cabinets, clutching a pair of what looked like pliers.

“What should we do, Thea?” Karen whispered, a note of hope in her voice. “Use your powers.”

But I had nothing. I hadn’t figured out how to escape the cave—I’d been rescued by Clint, Karen, and Mikki. And I didn’t have any ideas that would help us now.

“I’m sorry.” I lay down on my left side, the same position from the ledge. I didn’t know if it was the sensory overwhelm or the spiking and sinking chemicals from what had just happened, but I could no longer keep my eyes open.

When I woke, though, I knew exactly what we needed to do.