Alice gnaws on her thumb. “Jonas knew about the serum because Gill and Samira told him about it. Are we sure we can trust them?”

Sel taps his fingers on the hilt of a dagger. “I trust Gill.”

I nod. “And I trust Samira.”

“You’re certain?” Sel asks.

I think of Samira giving me the slip of paper still in my back pocket. Her pride in me, her hope. “Yes.” He nods once in acceptance.

“What about the Lieges watching our parents?” Alice asks apprehensively.

My heart tightens at the thought of my dad, the worry for him freshly renewed after Jonas’s betrayal. “Can we ask Gill and Samira to watch our parents themselves? Or bring in Lyssa and Ophelia? People who have already put themselves at risk to help us.”

Sel nods. “Good idea. We’ll ask.” He pulls the phone out again. “I think you both should contact your parents tomorrow. I’ll make the call to Gill.” He crosses one arm over his chest and holds the speaker end out with the other so we can all hear.

A voice comes across the line that I don’t recognize. “Passcode?”

“It’s Selwyn. I need to talk to Gill.”

“Passcode.”

Sel inhales through his nose. “Kane. Southpaw. Horizon.”

“Thank you. Connecting.”

Alice turns to me, whispering loudly, “Do we get passcodes? Why does he get a passcode?”

When I look up, her eyes are strained at the edges, and shiny with unshed tears and worry, but she’s forcing a smile. She’s doing her best with all of this. Trying to draw me back to the familiar: our banter, our inside jokes. The way we were before demons and assassination attempts. I lean in with my own exaggerated whisper. “I guess because Merlins get trained for field missions?”

She smiles to herself. “Chen. Mickey. Snorkel.”

I grin weakly. “Not something literary?”

“You’re right.” She pauses. “Chen. Faustus. Nevermore.”

“I like that.” She presses her chin to my head and squeezes my shoulder. I hold her hand back in gratitude.

A buzzing sound from Jonas’s phone, then: “Hanover.”

“Gill, this is Sel.” He clicks the speaker off and wanders down the hall.

“Done for now,” William announces. He rotates his wrists, snuffing the aether out. Fatigue shows in the circles under his eyes, in the hunch of his shoulders. The only person here who looks remotely clean is Alice. “I apologize. If I had more energy, I could get you to one hundred percent, but…”

“It’s fine, William.” I put a hand over his. “I’m good.”

Alice hovers over me, eyes traveling from my face to my stomach. “Wish I could see whatever it is that just happened.”

Sel returns, tapping the phone against his palm. “That went about as well as one might expect, when one is informing someone that their mentor is a traitor who broke his Oaths and aligned himself with a demon.”

“So… horribly?” I say.