“Excellent.” Jack turned to the others. “Your services are not currently required. Upstairs on the third floor, you’ll find a room with a brown door. That’s storage. Dr. Bleak and I moved the wardrobe up there when I began requiring my own workspace here. I suggest you go up and find yourselves something to wear, to make you slightly less conspicuous when we head to the priory. A band of hired heroes is tedious but mundane. Adventurers come from nearby protectorates to march on the castle all the time. A band of heroes from another world, however—that’s certain to draw attention.”

Sumi calmly tipped her remaining tomatoes onto an open patch of counter and made for the stairs. Christopher followed her. She had a good instinct for when it was time to get out, and more, Jack was reaching for a tray of knives, scalpels, and what looked suspiciously like a bone saw. Making a quick exit seemed like the better part of valor.

The stairs were narrow but sturdy. Christopher saw something dangling from a rafter, and decided not to tell Sumi about the windmill’s apparently sizeable bat population. It would just be one more complication, and they had plenty of those already.

He glanced down only once before following Sumi into the room Jack had indicated. She and Alexis were moving around the body of Dr. Bleak, tightening straps, inserting tubes, silent and comfortable in their work. He watched them for a moment. Then he turned, and stepped through the door, closing it firmly behind him.

The room was small, made smaller by the wardrobes and chests along the walls. They were made of sturdy cedar, and there was no dust, no cobwebs, even though both would have suited the overall aesthetic of the Moors. Christopher ran a finger over a piece of decorative molding, smiling when it came up clean.

“I guess having Jack as an apprentice is sort of like having a live-in housekeeper who sometimes gets pissed and throws stuff,” he said.

Sumi cocked her head, considering him. “You’re awfully hung up on the mundane things,” she said. “Is this because you traveled through Logic, or are you afraid?”

“Aren’t you?” asked Christopher.

“No.” Sumi’s smile was bright as the absent sun. “I don’t die here. I make it back to Confection. One day I die there, and my body goes into the ground for the gummy worms to eat. But even if I did die here, I wouldn’t be afraid. This is new. I’ve never fought a vampire before, or tried to steal someone’s body back. New things are the best kind of magic there is. I can’t waste time being afraid when there’s newness to roll around in, like a dog in a puddle of syrup.”