Katie scoffed, but Eleanor saw the brief flash in her eyes—old fear, old hatred. This Katie had never escaped the Pallid Kingdom, but she’d wanted to. They all had, once. The difference was, this Katie remembered what it had been like to be free. If only for a little while. A few hours of kindness.

Maybe that was enough. Maybe Thea wasn’t completely gone, Eleanor thought—maybe she could still be saved.

“It’s no matter,” Mrs. Prosper said, rolling her neck. “If we must move on, we will. We’ll find some other way.”

“Says the woman who already squandered her chance. I’m still in the game,” Mr. January said.

“I’m only saying it doesn’t hurt to start thinking of next steps,” Mrs. Prosper said.

“You made a deal,” Eleanor said, drawing their attention to her. Her voice was hoarse, her neck still sore from Katie’s fingers. “You promised you wouldn’t try to open that door again, if we won.”

“That door. I’m sure we can find another way in,” Mr. January said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

“And in the meantime, I have always enjoyed a touch of vengeance,” Mrs. Prosper said, her smile small and cruel. “We never promised not to harm your friends and family, did we? Oh dear. You really should have been more thorough when you struck that deal.”

Eleanor shuddered. There were so many things they hadn’t thought of. But if they’d had a month to craft the perfect bargain, she was certain the People Who Look Away still would have found a way to worm through some loophole.

She could feel the gray all around her. Everything she would have to strip out of this place. She could do it even if she was inside, she was sure of it.

She would be destroyed, too. But there was no way around it. She couldn’t let the People Who Look Away hurt her family, or Pip’s and Otto’s families.

“None of this matters, because we haven’t lost yet. I am going to find a way out of here,” Mr. January said. He looked expectantly at his sisters. “If anyone cares to help.”

“I will. Our sister can guard the one prisoner she managed to capture,” Mrs. Prosper said, voice dripping with scorn. She stepped toward him, arms crossed.

Together, the two of them set off into the gray. Eleanor could hear them long after they disappeared—they were still arguing over whose fault this whole thing was.