We exit through the far end of the room and find ourselves on another underground street. We zigzag like that for the next fifteen minutes or so. And even though I’m not scared of the dark, I feel the impulse to scrutinize shadows and corners for monsters. I can’t imagine the nerve it would take to navigate this alone with nothing more than an oil lamp.

Then, suddenly, we come to a stone door and Ines leans back, using her body weight to push against it. We follow her through and Ash pulls it shut behind us. They’ve silenced their steps and I do the same. Unlike the small homes, streets, and shops that we’ve been moving through, we’re now in what appears to be an endless room of high-ceilinged arches and stone columns.

Ash whispers next to my ear. “Catacombs of an old church.”

As pretty as the stonework is, the idea that we’re walking over people’s graves is giving me the willies.

Aarya stops by a seemingly solid wall, which I know by now should not be taken for granted, and frowns at me. “Get yourself together, November. We’re about to enter the outskirts of the Market and I swear you look like you just got chased by a mummy.”

I close my eyes for a couple of seconds, focusing on all the places I’m holding tension. When I open them again, Ash nods his approval.

Ines glances at each of us, almost like she’s wishing us good luck. “In omnia paratus,” she says, which I think roughly means “ready for anything,” and presses hard on a stone in the wall about the height of her shoulder. Sure enough, another secret door opens, this one with jagged edges formed by the outline of the stones.

Aarya turns off the oil lamp, casting us into near darkness, and leaves the lamp in the catacomb. She’s the first one through the door with Ines by her side, and Ash and me right on their heels. Ash clicks the door shut in one fluid motion.

Aarya and Ines don’t speed-walk, but they do keep a brisk pace. And they’ve dropped the casual demeanor they were using on the surface streets of London for more deliberate movements and a focused stare. Next to me Ash wears the same look he did when I first met him—penetrating eyes with a dash of bravado. I lift my chest and neutralize my own expression, pulling my hood down a little farther to shadow my face in the dim torchlight.