Koda:
"That's him," Zephan says, and I feel something inside me twist at the horror in his voice. "Koda. That's where the bond is coming from."
I stare at the orb.
The blue-white light pulses inside what looks like glass, faint at first, then stronger, as though whatever is trapped inside is struggling to reach us. I can feel it now, that strange pull that has been tugging at the back of my mind since I entered this place. It is familiar enough to make my instincts respond, yet distant enough that I cannot understand it. The person in my arms is supposed to be Elián. I have spent every moment since finding him trying to convince myself that we can get out of this place, that whatever the Sect has done to him can be undone, that I can hold him long enough for him to recover.
But something is wrong. I know it. I have known it since the moment I reached him.
