The first light of dawn reaches over the ocean.

Not now.

I’m trembling and my cheeks are wet.

Please, not now.

“You need more sleep, West” says Ana in a low voice. Her Portuguese accent thickens when she’s tired. Somehow, despite the scene of ruin around us, her green eyes are still bright. Like all the death we’ve been surrounded with wasn’t completely pointless.

As the tip of the sun breaks over the horizon, I see the smoke again. The sky is blanketed from the flames that still burn in the jungle. The air is saturated with the smell of cinder, sap and soot. This beach is safe . . . at least from the flames. But the Shadows are still out there, hunting us. The Whispers are still waiting to creep into our minds, to control us. They’ve killed so many. My family. They’ve killed my family.

At a sandbar not far from us, a hologram flashes in and out midair like a ghost on the waves. Bleeding shades of blue and gray flicker like a classroom projector. These have been appearing all night, but I have no idea why or what they are. This one is a projection of Jael. Her raven hair is tangled and wild. I stand up and walk toward it, stopping at the water’s edge. Her projection is running through an arched gate. Her face is bloody. She collapses. The projection loops the scene.

The sun continues to rise. Jael’s projection cries out for help. My stomach rolls as my fists clench. Water wells under my eyes and I race out to the waves, pounding them with my fists, murdering them like the Whispers are murdering her. I scream when she does, but I know she doesn’t hear. It’s just a projection.

I crash my back against a curling wave. Its power sucks me farther from the shore. Like I care.

“West!”

Ana’s shout shakes me, brings me back to where we are: A beach, it’s sunrise, nearly everyone I love is dead, Dovehaven is in flames, Jael is alone and dying or she’s already dead. Ana is alive. I’m alive.

I’m alive.

I have to find her.

Dead or alive, I have to find Jael.