“We can’t,” Dhruv said. “Not without bringing the roof down.”

“We could gate,” gold-hair girl said, nodding towards the English girl.

“No,” Will said. “We’re not taking the chance. Those walls don’t last long; we just have to wait.” He stared at me. “No train this time.”

From above, in the mansion, I sensed gate magic. The Nightstalkers didn’t notice. “Why isn’t he talking?” gold-hair girl asked.

“I don’t know,” Will said. “What’s up, Verus? Not going to tell us to go away?”

I shook my head.

“No more threats?”

“No,” I said simply.

Lee had turned and had been looking towards the stairs up to the mansion. “Uh,” he said. “Will?”

“Later,” Will said.

“Will.” Lee sounded nervous.

Will didn’t take his eyes off me. I could sense how badly he wanted to kill me, and I knew only the forcewall was stopping him from trying. “Whatever it is, it can wait.”

“Will, someone’s coming.”

A ripple went through the Nightstalkers and they traded nervous looks. I saw something flicker on Captain America’s face and on Dhruv’s, and I knew they’d just figured out the problem with their position. I had only one way out . . . but so did they.

“I warned you,” I told Will quietly.

Just for a moment I thought I saw something in Will’s eyes, then footsteps echoed from the stairs and he turned just as Cinder and Rachel stepped out into the chapel behind him.

The plan had always been very simple: get the two people who most wanted to kill me and put them next to each other. The layout of the chapel meant there was only one way into the deeper basement, and my forcewall was blocking it. Will needed to get past the wall to reach me, and Rachel needed to get past Will to reach the rest of the basement. As long as the wall held Rachel and Will would be forced to stay there.

I’d followed many different paths to this meeting, but I hadn’t been able to see beyond it. I didn’t know what would happen next or how this would play out. All I could do was wait for Will to act like Will, and for Rachel to act like Deleo.