Santi had watched the discussion silently, with bleak, calm eyes. Finally, he said, “I don’t think less of any of you if you want to take your chances with the Artifex. He’s a powerful man, and behind him stands the Archivist, who makes the Artifex look as friendly as a pet. If you decide to rescue Thomas, if you even help rescue him, you forfeit everything you’ve worked toward. I won’t lie about that. They will do anything to keep this invention secret. They have already killed, and will kill again.”

“I’m in,” Glain said. “I’m a fighter at heart. I’ll fight for what the Library should be.”

“It’s the only logical way the Library itself can survive.” Khalila nodded. “I value the future. That means I must do it or live a lie. Dario?”

He looked sorely tempted to back away, but the young man sighed, shook his head, and said, “All right. But if you get me killed, I’ll never let any of you rest. My ghost will be very persistent.”

Jess looked at Santi. “You know where I stand. And yes. My family can hide us.” He didn’t know that, but he knew that he would make it happen somehow. No matter what it cost him. His father was cold, but he was not completely cruel. Promise him anything, anything at all. Promise him Thomas’s press. Just get him on our side.

“This is all well and good, but we still don’t know how to get to Thomas,” Glain said. Khalila, in answer, dug in a satchel that she wore over her shoulder and pulled out loose sheets of paper that she passed to Glain, Jess, and Santi.

“I may not be able to get you in, but I can help with the exit from the prison. You remember what we said to you before?”

“Something about the old gods having deep roots in Rome?”

She moved next to Jess and tapped a spot on the drawing. It was a carefully inked diagram of the Forum, and each of the buildings and statues within the precincts. “Here,” she said, and pointed. “Below Jupiter’s throne—”

“These are ancient tunnels,” Santi said, and looked up. “How did you find this?”

Khalila nodded at Dario with a little smile. He raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t,” he said. “It wasn’t me. It was Scholar Prakesh; she left the information for me before she was killed. Both the records and the tunnels are ancient and very obscure, dating from early Roman religious practices. Unused for a thousand years, at least, but one thing about the Romans—”

“They built things to last,” Santi finished. “You know how to access them?”

“I found references. I think I could figure it out.” Dario grinned humorlessly at Jess. “Or our resident criminal could. The tunnels are a warren below, but from all the best information I could find, they connect to a sewer that is just below the prison. Not a working sewer, mind you—I’m not that dedicated. Its position in the Forum gives us a chance to melt into a crowd.”