It was an odd choice of place for a meeting. At night the brewery’s as deserted as any other event hall, and entry would be easy enough—the brewery’s not much more than a giant concrete shed and so has pretty basic security since it doesn’t have anything worth stealing. On the other hand, if you’re looking for privacy in Central London there are better places to go and the closely packed buildings are perfect for an ambush. Ambushes aren’t much threat to a diviner, but Cinder and Deleo aren’t diviners. As we watched the building I explained all that to Luna.

“So why did they pick it?” Luna asked.

“Maybe they didn’t have time to set up somewhere better,” I said with a frown.

“So does that mean they’re busy with something?”

I shrugged. “Or they just don’t think I’m important enough to be worth the trouble. I want you to stay out here.” I pointed over the courtyard to a crumpled car on top of a storage container. “That should do—you’ll be able to drop behind the wall if something goes wrong. Watch the entrance and call me if anyone goes in.”

Luna nodded. Once upon a time she would have pushed to come in with me but she’s had enough experience with Cinder and Deleo to know that they are not people you want to mess with. “Do you think they’ll try anything?”

“I wish I knew,” I said. “If they do, run like hell and we’ll meet back at the shop.”

* * *

The inside of the brewery was wide and dark, brick walls painted white and square pillars running from the ceiling down to the concrete floor. The ground floor was empty, but glass fronting along the far side gave a view out onto a shopping street dotted with people. Cinder and Deleo wouldn’t be here: too conspicuous. I took the fire stairs up.

The second floor was made up of a main hall twice the size of a basketball court, double doors along the sides opening onto ramps which led down into other areas. The pillars were still here, surrounded with wood and metal display stands, currently empty. The roof rose and fell in peaks, corrugated metal framing frosted glass windows looking up into the black sky, and fluorescent lights hung dark and still. The building was empty and I settled down to wait.

Rachel kept me waiting almost forty-five minutes. It was on purpose; Rachel knows what I can do and she knew that as long as I could see they were coming I wouldn’t give up and leave. It was just a way of annoying me, and I rested my back against one of the pillars and made myself relax. The old brewery had the vaguely eerie feeling that all large public places have after dark, echoing and silent and empty.