Variam pointed at the sword at my belt. “So what’s with that?”

“Because right now I’m through with running,” I said. I nodded towards the entrance. “Ready?”

Variam rose and we began walking up the tunnel towards the surface. “Luna and Anne were asking about you,” Variam said.

“Are they okay?”

“It’s whether you’re okay that they’re worried about.”

I sighed. “Yeah. I guess I haven’t been doing that good a job of taking care of myself lately, have I?”

We left Arachne’s cave and sealed it behind us. It was midmorning and the sunlight was filtering down through a bank of grey-white cloud. The air was humid and a little oppressive but I could still hear the chatter and calls of people around us. “We clear?” Variam asked.

I scanned ahead. The futures of the nearby people on the park weren’t intersecting ours, at least not yet. “Clear.”

Variam got to work on his gate. It was messy and although he tried to hide it I could tell that having an audience was making him nervous. I waited patiently; nothing’s more annoying than having someone distracting you when you’re doing a difficult spell. On the third try the orange flame solidified into an oval of light and an image of trees and grass appeared through it. I stepped through quickly and Variam followed, letting it vanish behind him.

Richard’s mansion looked the same as it had when I’d arrived here three days ago. In fact it looked exactly the same, which was wrong; there should have been a big hole in the wall where Caldera had done her improvised building works. Looking down the grassy slope, I saw that the wall was smooth and unbroken again. Somebody fixed it, and I was pretty sure I knew who: Deleo. Although we could see down through the trees to the mansion, we were under tree cover and the branches would hide us from any viewers. Variam had chosen his spot well. “Well, we’re here,” Variam said, walking out behind me. “You going to tell me what the plan is?”

I told him.

“That’s it?” Variam asked.

“Pretty much.”

“That’s . . .” Variam was silent for a moment.

“What?”

“I don’t know. Efficient. Cold.”

“It’s what I do, Vari,” I said. “I can’t take things on head-to-head the way you can. I have to stack the odds in my favour first.”

“I know what you’re trying to do,” Variam said, and he was watching me. “You want to set this up so none of this is our fault, don’t you?”

“Have you ever killed anyone?”

Variam looked away. “I don’t think so,” he said after a pause.

“Heat of battle is one thing. Premeditated is worse.”

“We’d fight for you. Me and Anne and Luna.”