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There was a pause before Mr. Byrne spoke again. “Where did I take you for your seventh birthday?”

Jo winked at Josie. “That’s a trick question. You never took me anywhere for my birthday. Parties make you weak.”

“Very well,” he said slowly. “If you want the boy, you can have him. Meet me at my office at dawn.”

THE PLAN WAS RELATIVELY SIMPLE. JOSIE WOULD pretend to be Jo and confront Mr. Byrne in his office, and Jo would try and find the hostages and lead them to safety. It wasn’t a great plan, but at least the blush of sunrise was starting to spread its way westward across the sky. That meant they wouldn’t have to worry about the Nox. Point in their favor.

“There’s a massive lab complex on the third floor,” Jo said as she drove her BMW to her dad’s office, proving to be more helpful than Josie could possibly have imagined. “If he’s got them working on the antidote, that’s where they’ll be.”

“Perfect.” Josie handed her Nick’s gun. “You get them out of there, and I promise I’ll save Nick for you.”

Jo looked at the gun in her lap, then up at Josie. “For me?”

Josie’s heart felt like it was being squeezed by a vise. “He’s part of your world, Jo,” she said, her mouth dry. “Not mine.”

Jo nodded but didn’t say a word.

They pulled into the brightly lit parking lot where Nick’s SUV was parked between two large, black Suburbans. “Any idea who that might be?” Josie asked.

“They’re company cars,” Jo said. “One might be my dad. Not sure about the other.”

Josie sighed. She’d known this was a long shot, but she’d been hoping to find Mr. Byrne alone. Oh well. If she was going down, she was going down fighting. She just prayed her dad and Penelope had managed to free the mirror. At this point, it might be their only way home.

“My dad’s office is on the fourth floor,” Jo said. “Northeast corner.”

Josie nodded. “You go first. If he’s watching security footage, hopefully he’ll stop once you enter the building. I’ll follow right behind. You head straight for the lab and I’ll deal with your dad.”

“But how am I supposed to fit all those people in this car?”

Josie had no idea. She didn’t even know if there’d be anyone in there to save. Instead of answering, she gave Jo a weak smile. “Good luck. I’ll meet you back at the house.”

Josie watched from inside the car as Jo walked to the front door. Blood thundered in Josie’s ears. They were walking into a trap—that she knew. But even if she didn’t make it out, she hoped the others—Madison and Jackson, the Kaufman twins, even Josie’s mom—might make it to safety.

Jo had a conversation with someone over the intercom, the door buzzed, and she pushed it open. As she walked through, she jammed a wad of paper into the locking mechanism as she and Josie had discussed.

As soon as Jo was out of sight, Josie sprinted across the parking lot to the front door, praying the wad of paper had prevented the lock mechanism from latching back into place. She tensed as she pushed the handle.

The door swung open without a sound.

Well, at least that had worked.

Josie held her head high and tried to look as arrogantly sure of herself as possible as she pushed the elevator button, just in case anyone was watching. Maybe having two Jo Byrnes in the building would at least confuse people long enough to give Josie a chance to get away. Maybe. The door slid open immediately, and Josie stepped inside, pressing the button for the fourth floor just as Jo had told her.

Mr. Byrne’s office was at the end of the hall. Josie had half expected him to meet her at the elevator door, but the hallway was deserted. She walked slowly down the hall; the squeak of her Converse against the highly polished floor echoed through the deserted corridor. At least she wasn’t trying to surprise anyone. That wouldn’t have worked out so well.

She knocked on the door at the end of the hall and waited. No answer. She was about to knock again when she realized that Jo wasn’t exactly the polite type. And she was Jo, after all. Josie took a deep breath, threw her shoulders back, and marched into the office.

Josie wasn’t sure what, exactly, she thought she’d see in Mr. Byrne’s office. An oversized wooden desk with a leather executive chair, awards and degrees mounted on the wall, and photos of Mr. Byrne with dignitaries and celebrities displayed on a bookcase. That seemed like standard high-powered executive digs to her. But what she found was a laboratory, all high-tech and stainless steel, with a modest architect’s desk facing the window and a cluster of white armchairs in the corner, set up around a short conference table.

Mr. Byrne was a scientist? That seemed so out of character.

She scanned the room, looking for any sign of Mr. Byrne or Nick. She stepped farther into the room. “Daddy?” she said forcibly. “Where are you?”

A sound from the back of the room made Josie turn. There were three doors, and beside each was a large viewing window. Two of the windows were completely dark; the third was lit from within. Through the window, slumped forward in a metal chair, she saw Nick.

Josie wasted no time. She sprinted down the length of Mr. Byrne’s lab-slash-office and yanked at the door. She hadn’t expected to find it unlocked, but the door whipped open.

Nick’s face was scratched and bruised. His right eye was already half-closed with heavy swelling, and his lower lip was cut in two places. Blood stained his shirt, but when his head snapped up as the door opened, Josie saw that his face was defiant and angry. As soon as he saw Josie, a look of fear washed over him.

“Josie,” he said. “Get out of here. It’s a trap. It was Mr. Byrne all along.”

A lump rose in Josie’s throat. He’d been beaten and tortured, all because she insisted they trust Mr. Byrne. She ran to him, caressing his cheek, then ducked behind him to try and untie the ropes that bound him to the chair.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, struggling with the knots.

“Leave me,” he said. “Just get out of here. He’s got Nox in the other rooms. He likes to watch through the windows while they torture and kill people.”

“Almost got it.”

“He can’t catch you here, Josie. He can’t. I couldn’t bear it.”

With a final tug, Josie loosened the ropes and Nick tipped forward in his chair. She grabbed him around his waist and held him back, keeping him from falling on his face. He was so weak. Whatever Mr. Byrne had done to him, it was all Josie’s fault.

Nick sat there panting for a moment, then caught his breath. “I’m okay.” He pushed himself into a standing position, and grabbed Josie’s hand. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

They stepped out of the cell and froze.

Mr. Byrne stood in the doorway, blocking their only exit. He held Nick’s gun in his hand, pointed right at them.

MR. BYRNE’S ENTIRE DEMEANOR HAD CHANGED, and Josie wondered how she had ever seen kindness in that face. The soft eyes and sad smile had been replaced by a steely glare and lips pressed firmly together in a determined line. There was a gauntness about his cheeks, sunken and sallow; yet far from appearing tired or drained, he had an uplifted energy about him, as if the death and destruction he’d put into motion in the last twenty-four hours actually invigorated him.

The silence of the room was oppressive as Mr. Byrne stood before them, coolly assessing the situation. The hum of the overhead lights seemed louder now, more intense. Everything was heightened around her. Even the sound of Josie’s own breathing sounded like it was amplified through a loudspeaker.

“It was a nice try,” Mr. Byrne said at last. “Using my daughter as a decoy. For a moment, I almost thought she was you.”

Josie tried to sound brave. “Where is she? What have you done with her?”

Mr. Byrne clicked his tongue. “I’ll deal with her later.” He nodded at Nick. “And your brother. Right now it’s your turn.”

Nick stepped to his right, attempting to shield Josie from the gun pointed at her. For a moment, Josie almost laughed. It hadn’t been that long ago that Nick had been the one holding her at gunpoint with that exact same weapon.

“What do you want?” Nick said. He reached behind his back and grasped Josie’s hand firmly.

Mr. Byrne smiled without a hint of mirth. “That’s funny.”

Nick squeezed Josie’s hand. “We’re just trying to get Josie home. That’s all.”

“Of course you are.” His words dripped with sarcasm. “You’re not trying to smuggle the vial out of here at all, right?”

Nick squared his shoulders, as if preparing for a blow. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Sure you don’t.” Mr. Byrne reached his free hand to the wall and pressed a button. Above the exterior windows, a blackout curtain slowly descended. “I can just shoot you both and rifle through your bodies later. Or let the Nox have at you like I did with your friend and her father.” There was a cold-bloodedness in his voice that made Josie’s skin crawl. “Her death was anything but quick and painless.”

Josie started, but Nick tightened his grip on her hand. If Mr. Byrne was going to shoot her, she at least wanted to get a running start and maybe get one decent swipe at his face before the life drained out of her body. That would almost be worth it.

A shriek from the windows behind them made Josie and Nick turn. In the darkness of the other two cells, she could just see a swirling of movement, a chaos of wings and bodies nebulous in the shadowy night.

“My army,” Mr. Byrne said with a nod toward the window. “I’ve promised them fresh meat.”

Nick sucked in a breath. “You communicate with them?”

Mr. Byrne laughed again, but this time with genuine enjoyment. “Oh yes. Our research is quite advanced. The Nox are significantly more sentient than we give them credit for. More like a dolphin than a dog in their ability to intuit our intentions. As soon as they discovered that we could come to a mutually beneficial arrangement, they naturally got on board.”

Nick tilted his head. “Mutually beneficial arrangement?”

“Of course. We have to work together, you know. They provide certain services to the Grid as required. Like your little friend. And I make sure they are healthy, prosperous”—he paused and shrugged—“and plentiful.”

The intensity of the shrieking increased, almost as if the Nox were getting impatient. Something bumped against one of the windows. Then another, harder. The Nox were trying to get out. Josie remembered the way they’d come tearing into the warehouse—a fierce, merciless attack—and shuddered.

Mr. Byrne pressed another button on the wall and this time Josie heard the sounds of two deadbolts being thrown. Her stomach flip-flopped. He’d just unlocked the two doors behind them. “Now the lights are the only things keeping them at bay. So I suppose the choice is yours. You can play nice and I’ll make sure to kill you both quickly and cleanly before I let them in. Or not, and I’ll shoot you both in the kneecaps, feed you to the Nox, and pick through your bones.”

Josie glanced around the lab, desperate for a means of escape. Bare tables, dormant lab equipment, a desk, some chairs. Her eyes drifted upward to the overhead light illuminating the room, its humming made dormant by the shrill cries of the Nox behind them. It was a single, massive fluorescent bulb that ran practically the length of the room. But just one, and it was the only light in the lab.

Josie bit her lip. They’d come so far, were so close to the finish line. Her mom, Jo, Penelope, not to mention the entire human population of both their worlds—so many people were counting on her. She couldn’t let them down. Not if she could help it.

That night in the forest, the Nox hadn’t directly attacked her—more like accidentally found her in the darkness when she cried for help. And in the warehouse, when Nick had been the focus of the attack, the Nox barely touched her—even seemed surprised and scared when she lashed out at one. It was as if they didn’t know she was there.

Like she wasn’t in their world at all.

It was a hypothesis only. A theory developed from a logical examination of the facts. But Josie was about to bet her life—and Nick’s—that she was right.

“Well?” Mr. Byrne said.

Nick squeezed Josie’s hand and turned to face her. His eyes were sad, defeated. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

Josie smiled. “We’re not dead yet.”

Nick’s brows drew together with a question he never got a chance to ask. Without warning, Josie spun around, grabbed a Bunsen burner off the table, and heaved it at the overhead light.

“No!” Mr. Byrne screamed.

Nick gasped. “What are you doing?”

For an instant, nothing moved. The burner seemed to hang in midair, locked onto the long fluorescent bulb above them. There was no sound, just a frantic blinking that happened in slow motion as the fixture swung violently back and forth on its moorings. Josie held her breath. She wasn’t sure if she wanted the light to go dark or not. If she was wrong, she and Nick were in for a horrific death. But at least they’d be taking Mr. Byrne with them.

The room went dark for a split second and Josie heard repeated thuds as the Nox propelled themselves against the cell doors. The light blinked back on, bathing the room with its sterile blue-white glow for a half second, then with a crack that Josie could feel more than hear, the bulb broke free of the fixture and plummeted to the ground, submerging the room in total darkness.

Without warning, life kicked into regular speed. She grabbed Nick by the arms and pulled him to the ground just as the muzzle of the gun flashed. But Mr. Byrne and his handgun were the least of her problems.

The sound of a crash pierced the room and suddenly the shrieks of the Nox were twice as loud. Josie felt the rush of air as they swooped into the lab.

Nick wrapped his arms around her to try and shield her from the Nox, but this wasn’t the time for chivalry. “Curl up into a ball,” she whispered.