Emily spoke up first. “Someone should go after her.”

“Maybe she just needs some time alone.” Lainey said. “God knows, that was a hell of a bombshell.”

“And it wasn’t for any of us?” Emily said. Her usually calm green eyes flashed with emotion. “It was hell on all of us, but we all had someone else there to help us through. Now it’s Sienna’s turn. I’m going after her.”

“No.” Jace’s voice was quiet but firm. “I am.” He stood, pushing his hand through his hair. Thanks to Lainey, the tension in the room was a palpable thing. He could feel the storm coming, and Sienna needed him. She’d barely opened up to him last night when they’d been alone. He was sure they meant well, but if the girls descended on her now, all she would do is run again. She wasn’t ready to talk about her slap-you-in-the-face family secret to anyone, but she had to anyway—to someone—or she was going to become her own worst enemy. Jace was going to be that someone. She could hit out at him, scream, even knock him down. He’d get right back up again and hold her together until she was ready to do it herself.

Payton nodded. “Too right. She’s out front.”

He strode toward the door. “Stay inside, all of you.” He turned back toward the group. “Please. Payton, where is she?”

Payton’s eyes drifted shut, her forehead crinkling with concentration before her eyes flew open, wide. “I don’t know!”

Jace’s hands gripped the door frame. He had to get moving, before Sienna really did run without even giving him a chance. “What the hell do you mean, you don’t know?”

Payton pushed the heel of her hands onto her forehead. “I don’t know! I can’t read her. It’s like she’s disappeared.” She turned to Keila, rubbing hard at her eyes. “Can you find her?”

Keila shook her head, her face going unusually pale. “No.” Her voice grew thin, afraid. “I can’t sense her.” Her mouth set in a hard line. “Did she leave already? How the hell did she get out of here without us hearing a car?”

Jace shook his head, his face grim. The hospital lobby! Sienna hadn’t left the room then either, not physically at least. But she had sucked him into a whirlwind of chaotic memories mixed in with fear and grief, so strong she couldn’t escape it on her own. If she’d gone there again, she needed someone to help her out—someone who could get past her shield. He had a feeling he was the only one that could accomplish that today. He turned again, rushing to the front door. “Payton, what’s the last thing you saw?”

“There’s a path in the grass, beyond a gravel driveway. The grass is patchy and there’s yellow flowers growing by the side.”

Jace knew exactly where she was. “Stay here,” he said, and then walked out the door.

He moved swiftly around the house and then down the path Payton had seen inside her mind. God, Sienna must be locked in incredible pain. To see someone you love die over and over again, and be able to do nothing to stop it. It was no wonder she had so many walls built up around her. He was sure most people wouldn’t even survive as long as Sienna had.

A fleck of light in the distance caught his eye and Jace went from a jog to an all-out run. Sienna was there! She was sitting out in a field, all on her own, and she was suffering. As he got closer, he could see the wisps of gray surrounding her. They flew about her head like a large cloud, growing darker and thicker until she was almost locked away entirely behind a cloud of dense smoke. He had to get in there, push his way through, before she closed it off entirely. He added another burst of speed, leaping over rocks and nearly crashing into a cactus. Damn, he was close—so close he could see a few strands of blonde hair, creeping out through the mental fog. “Sienna!” Just a few feet more.

At the sound of his voice, Sienna jolted. The fog moved with her, swirling and moving in his direction. She could hear him! He moved around to the front of the gray swirls and pushed, expecting it to part like fog on the road on a cold night, but his hand almost bounced back at the force. Fuck, this thing—whatever the hell it was—was solid. He moved around to the front and pressed both palms up against it. “Sienna, you can’t do this to yourself. You’ve got to stop.” He had to find a way to calm her down. “Let me in, please. Before you kill yourself.” The fog pushed back and Jace felt a thin shiver of electricity run over his fingers. “Sienna, please.” He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter what you’re seeing in there. I’m still here, and I’m not leaving. Remember? I’ll never leave you.”

The fog opened up for a split second and Jace felt a sort of sucking on his mind before everything closed up behind him again. He raised his eyes. Where the fuck had the field gone? He was on his hands and knees, but instead of rocks and grass beneath him, there were wooden floorboards. In front of him was a set of stairs, with a small latch on the storage door. But no Sienna.

Jace moved forward, pushing open the door. He knew where he was. Inside there was her mind’s home, her sanctuary. But when the door swung open, there were no tea parties or coloring. Instead the floor, the walls—everywhere was covered in a thick pool of blood. Maggie’s blood. He knew it instinctively, as if it were his own memory. But this wasn’t a memory. Not entirely, at least. Stained crayon drawings floated in puddles of red and the walls were scored with claw marks. It was as if a small child had died there, like someone had ripped an infant from her mother’s arms and destroyed all that was good about the world. Sweat ran down his neck and his hands clenched. That’s exactly what had happened. Sienna’s mom may have thought she was doing the right thing, and maybe she had been when Sienna was young. But for her this was nothing but a betrayal from the one she loved most of all—the very essence of pain. It was sticking at him, stinging so badly that he could barely force himself to his feet and wade through the fog that was locking itself around his ankles. He did it anyway. Sienna was inside there—somewhere—drowning in the thick sludge of her memories and grief.

“Sienna!” he called out. It was so dark he couldn’t see much of anything. “Please, grab onto me.”

There was no answer. He pushed in further, ignoring the way the blood sloshed up against the walls. A doll crunched under his feet, already broken, her dress torn. A bear pushed up against the wall was holding a butcher’s knife. “Sienna, please! It doesn’t have to be this way.”

“But it does.”

Her voice echoed in his mind, thin and low. He couldn’t see her, but he could feel the blood under his shoes, squelching with every step he took. “Where are you?” She didn’t answer, but a bright light flared across the room, lighting his path for moments. He was in the near center of a vast space. He held his hands out, feeling for the edges. The space was black and looked endless, but when he took a step, his fingers brushed against something. It felt rough, almost like canvas.

“Stop.” Her voice was quiet and high, as if he were talking to a small, scared child.

Jace ran his hands along the fabric, finding an edge. It was slanted, like a play tent. “You don’t want me to come in?”

Sienna whimpered. “No. No one’s allowed in here.”

He moved his hands along the edges. Definitely a tent, and yet he could see nothing. Was the entire thing, the tent, the darkness—everything—constructed within Sienna’s mind? “Will you come out for awhile and talk to me?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t want to leave,” she said. “This was our place. It was our place and now it’s ruined.”

He heard a rustle, as if she were moving. Were they moving in the real world? He had no idea, but if he didn’t figure out how to get them both out here soon, well—it couldn’t be good. The rest he’d figure out once he’d helped Sienna find herself in the darkness. “What ruined it, Sienna?”

“She did!” Her voice boomed in his mind. “She lied to me! She had years to tell me the truth and she never did.” Her voice dropped again and she snuffled. “Now she’s dead.”

Jace’s heart cracked at the tone of her voice. She sounded so lost, so alone. Could she even see him? A warm drop of liquid landed on his forehead. He reached up. It smeared thickly across his skin. Blood? In answer to his question, whatever was on the floor now sloshed about his ankles. His eyes went wide. Just how real was this? “Sienna, we have to go!”

“I can’t leave her here. She’s all alone.” Her voice was quiet again, but different. Like she was moving away.

Another drop, then another, until they were coming in torrents, coating his face. He had to get them the fuck out of there. He reached into the tent, his hands searching through the blackness. Desperate, he called out again. “Sienna!” He heard nothing, but his fingers brushed against something again. Soft this time, a shirt! He grabbed hold of it and pulled as hard as he could. For a moment it was as if the entire world jolted. He landed on his back, hard, and closed his eyes against the sudden blinding light. His arm instinctively went up to protect his head until he realized that what he was seeing was sunlight. The hard surface beneath him was the earth. Jace exhaled loudly. They were out! Or at least, he was.

His eyes flew open as he sat up, searching wildly. Had he been able to drag Sienna out of her own mind’s trap with him? He almost collapsed again in relief when he spotted her, lying a few feet away. She was still, but her chest rose and fell. She was breathing, thank God. He rolled over and scrambled over to her. As he leaned over her, Sienna’s eyes fluttered open. “Jace?”

He pulled her up and against him, resting her back on his chest. He wrapped her in his arms, holding her around the waist. One of her hands rested on his knee. He’d handcuff himself to her if that would prevent her getting stuck somewhere like that again. “Are you okay? Where the hell were we?”

Her head dropped back against his shoulder. “It was my place to hide. In the file, my mom said she hid me away from the bitch that did this to us, in a closet. When I was a kid, she made a space in the under-stair storage where I could hide away. She told me that any time I felt unsafe, or there was someone in the house I didn’t know, I could run in there and hide away.” The hand on his knee tightened, until he could feel her nails digging into his skin. He didn’t move. “If she’d only told me what was going on! If I’d known what that space was really for, I might have been able to protect her. Instead, I was left completely in the dark.” She hiccupped, the tears beginning again. “She didn’t tell me, Jace, and then they killed her.”

God, would she ever stop breaking his heart? “It’s done, Sienna. I know it hurts, but you can’t relive it over and over like that.” He hunched over, resting his cheek against hers, the wetness from her tears slicking against his skin. “Damn it, that was as real as it gets. You keep this up, it’s going to kill you.”

Sienna sucked in a harsh breath. Every muscle in her body tensed. “No, Jace. This power, I have it for a reason. My mom gave her life for this, so I could stop Isobel. It’s not going to kill me, but I’m going to use it to kill her.”