“Her ETR can interrupt the frequency of glass when she’s agitated.”

I hate the her and she of Jamie’s explanation almost as much as I hate my loss of control.

“The glass in the mess hall,” Tesla says.

“What?” Jamie turns his head.

“Davis threatened her with his baton,” Benjamin says. “She was afraid.”

“I was not.”

Benjamin doesn’t argue but matches my glare.

“So?” Jamie, his accent pronounced. “What did you do with Kitty? Use her as bait to lure your brother out of his cage?”

I can’t argue lying down; it makes me feel too vulnerable with Jamie glowering above me. I struggle to sit up but the pain is crippling. Sighing, Tesla leans down and surprises me by inclining the head of the bed. I clutch the sheet for something to hold onto. “She was safe the whole time. You know I’d never let anything happen to her.”

“You happened to her.”

“I asked her for help.”

“She thinks she owes you. You took advantage of that!”

“She was supposed to go home after the – the allergy test. I dropped her off at the train station.”

Jamie pulls his lips back from his teeth. “That’s what you call dangling my sister in front of that animal – an allergy test?”

“She was waiting in the motel when I got back with Aiden. I told her to go home but she wouldn’t leave. You know what she’s like.”

“She trusted you and you manipulated her!”

“Yes, she trusts me. Why couldn’t you? I showed you the memory!” Hot in the face, I jerk up on my elbow and collapse back, grimacing. “You felt Aiden deactivate in the KMT. Don’t pretend you didn’t.”

“It doesn’t prove he’s safe for good!” The effort of shouting nearly makes him topple.

Tesla steadies his arm. “Lie still, Evangeline. You will reopen your wounds.”

“What?” There’s a drop in Jamie’s voice and he shakes Tesla off like he’s about to move towards the bed, but then stops himself. “What wounds?”

“None of your business.”

Jamie makes a sharp appraisal of my body, his gaze searching for evidence of damage.

A three-chime alert rises from a desk behind Tesla. He swears under his breath. “We are out of time. They want you back in ReProg. Please, Evangeline. You must tell me where your brother is hiding. I will go and test him myself.”

Bolts of adrenaline chill me at the thought of going back to the chair. I want to believe Tesla. I’m desperate to believe him but what could I tell him for sure? I don’t want to even hint at Aiden’s first stop. “No.”

“Tell him,” Jamie says. “You can trust Ethan.”

“I don’t trust any of you.”

“You’ll only make things worse for yourself.”

“I’m here because you reported me.”

“You put Kitty in danger!”

“But she’s home now, isn’t she? She’s safe.”

Jamie sneers. “Like that makes up for–”

“She isn’t,” Benjamin says.

“What?” Jamie straightens. “You picked her up.”

“She ran.” Benjamin opens his hands. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t find her. We’ve been tracking your parent’s calls. They reported her missing this morning.”

“Where is she?” I can’t tell if Jamie asked the question or me. My thoughts tumble, half-formed things. I remember the flash of honey-blonde hair at the back of the 7-Eleven. She saw them take me. Did she check her car? Davis had the keys. She could have called her folks; they would have picked her up. What was she thinking?

“Where would she go?” Jamie asks me, his face stricken.

“I don’t know.”

“Would she have gone after Aiden?” Tesla asks. “To warn him?”

“Gone after …?” Jamie’s eyes roll up and he hits the floor.

PROXY

Restraints rise from the edges of the chair, clamping my wrists, ankles, chest and hips. My heart slams, my mind like a house full of poltergeists, cupboards banging, windows rattling, furniture flying. Chaos.

Tesla is back on the metal platform in the observation room, his face a hard mask. Knox and the other members of the Executive all look spent.

“It has been a long day, Evangeline. I expect your compliance.” Knox nods at Felicity.

“Activate Symbiosis,” she says from beside me, her expression bleak and unforgiving after my escape from the ward. The black chemical rises and the room closes in. “Child,” she calls and the glass shifts from shimmering to swirling shadow. She and Benjamin wheel the bed to the door. I catch a glimpse of Benjamin as he hurries out, his face taut, the shudder through his body. I take petty pleasure in his fear, though it’s stupid of me to feel betrayed by him, like he was the Affinity agent I expected to trust. Why? Because he was Jamie’s friend?

There are no more reassuring words from Knox. The head and armrests glow, the calm blocks my crippling anxiety, uncramps my muscles, I’m warm and tipsy and confused once more.

“Get me the location of the brother,” Knox’s voice, chilling, decisive and I’m distantly aware he’s not asking me a question but issuing a command to the Proxy. He wants her to take the information from me. I feel a presence in the bandwidth – an intent.

“First,” Tesla says, “show us the Deactivation.”

“Oh, for God’s sake, Ethan. You can’t seriously–”

Instantly, the intent shifts, like a predator offered a more appealing prey. I sense eagerness in the presence and a willingness that opens the bandwidth wide. A vast space. An ocean. Taken by a powerful current, I’m drawn quickly, deeply into darkness. An eruption of colour in the centre, fanning out, painfully bright, a lifetime of memory spread across a black velvet cloth. Then a dizzying zeroing in. I’m on the cold forest floor, fire in my shoulder, the throb of the psychic tether that bound me to Kitty tugging behind my belly button. The sound of Kitty’s weeping, Jamie above me, calling my name, his hands on me, his arms around me, the smell of blood and gun metal in the frosty night air. I turn my head and there, lying in a spreading scarlet pool, Aiden. The memory of his last attempt on Kitty’s life, out in the grounds of the Gallaghers’ estate.

There’s no skipping ahead or smudging of details –nothing like the first Harvest. This time it’s a systematic laying out of events, step by step. When they rush me into the operating room, park my bed next to Aiden’s, the blood transfusion, the Transfer of my Spark memory – it all plays out. Aiden’s seizure as my blood and KMT hit his system simultaneously, the shocking release as the tether breaks, the eerie absence of threat in the bandwidth. My fear for Kitty – gone. I know the sensations won’t Transfer to screen but the Proxy will feel it all and that’s where my fuzzy hope lies.

I become aware then of voices raised in anger. My consciousness bringing me almost to the surface before I’m tugged back down and then a smell, musty and pungent. Pee?

It’s definitely pee. Beyond the ammonia tang of disinfectant, or the gluey breath of recirculated air, there’s pee and sweat. Have I wet myself? In front of the Executive? I go to feel the front of my gown and realise the restraints are gone and someone is holding my hand. Cool slim fingers twine with mine, fine bones but a firm grasp.

Startled, I squeeze in reflex.

The cool fingers squeeze back.

I open my eyes and stumble – concrete beneath my feet. Before me in the middle of the ReProg room, Jamie slumps in the straps of the suspended chair, white medical scrubs from the waist down, bare chest glistening with sweat, his breathing ragged. His head hangs forwards, blood on his chin, dripping down his front, his hair short and bristling. His wrists are raw beneath the restraints and there’s a wet patch over his crotch and thigh. A trail of urine beneath the chair stains the slope to the drain and I want to look away. I want to cover him.

“Everybody pees.” The girl with silver eyes, chalky skin and white hair. The one who lay in the bed next to mine when I first woke on the ward, frightening me when she turned her head.