“We got reckless, and one of my friends paid the price. We’re having to rethink our strategy now that the authorities know magisters might be involved.” With a shaky smile, he added, “And you withheld information from the authorities for me.” He stopped the roadster on the side of a residential street. After a long, serious look at me, he said, “To be honest, I initially hired you because I thought it wise to keep you under my power. You’d be dependent on me for a job and think twice about turning me in if you did figure it out.”

“You were right.”

He smiled again. “But I also liked your spirit. You were the first person to fight back, in all the robberies we’d done. I had no idea how wise a decision hiring you would turn out to be.”

He got out of the roadster and came around to my side to help me out. “I doubt we can get much farther on the road. The barricades will be much tighter. We’ll have to figure out a way to get there on foot.”

“Leave that to me,” I said, taking his hand to lead him. We reached Fourteenth Street and crossed it, then I looked for a familiar door and hoped it would be unlocked. If it wasn’t, I had plenty of hairpins. But it opened, and we made our way through the basement, which was even darker at night—that is, until Henry lit our way magically. He doused his light when we reached the yard. The next door wasn’t locked, either, and soon we were within the rebels’ zone.

There were sounds of fighting and the flicker of flames in the distance, closer to the university, but this area seemed to be relatively peaceful. Then we rounded a corner and saw a group of British soldiers approaching. Henry pulled me into a doorway, where we hid in the shadows as the soldiers banged on a door across the street and shouted. When there was no response, they kicked the door in and rushed inside. While they were in the building, we left our hiding place and ran. We saw several more groups of soldiers making a systematic search of the area. They were coming uncomfortably close to the theater.

When we reached the theater, I knew I’d never get Henry past the lookouts at the main entrance. Instead, I led him around the building, looking for the alley where Alec and I had escaped from the raid that never happened. I’d been blindfolded then, but now that I knew where the theater was, I was able to find it. Deep within the alley, I spotted the open basement window and peered through to ensure it was the room I remembered. “I’d better go in first,” I said.

“That looks like a long drop. I should go first and assist you.”