“What?” I step out from under her. “No! There’s no way I’m staying back. Kai knows the way. And I know how Doug operates. All I have to do is make it to my smaze.”

Amber’s mouth falls open. “Yeah, no. That’s definitely not a smart plan, Jack. That smaze is a wild card. We have no idea how it will react if you try to take it back—or how you will react, for that matter. It’s a risk we can’t afford right now.”

“So that’s it?” I shout. “You’re just going to stick me in a room and make me watch from the sidelines while you rescue my girlfriend?”

Amber folds her arms around herself, her brows pulled low. “I’m sorry, Jack.”

Julio doesn’t even have the balls to look at me.

“I told them,” Kai says in a low voice, “we were doing just fine on our own. We have weapons, and we have a plan. You’re going to find Fleur, and I’m going to find my sister. We don’t need anybody else’s help.”

Julio rolls his eyes. The others ignore her.

“I need to take a leak,” I mutter. I don’t. I’m just tired and frustrated and I need a minute to think.

Julio inclines his head toward a tunnel at the end of the chamber. “Need me to go with you?”

“Thanks,” I bite out, “but I can piss by myself.” I touch the knot on the back of my head, careful not to pull my stitches as I limp between the coffins. Kai’s eyes flick up to mine as I pass where she sits. There’s an urgency in them, or maybe it’s rage. But no sympathy. And I’m surprised by how grateful I am for that.

I melt into the darkness of the tunnel and slump back against the wall, listening to the others argue in hushed whispers.

“If Sampson’s not screwing with us, then the Autumn wing isn’t far,” Julio says. “The northwest tunnel should take us close to Amber’s room. We can leave the Handlers there.”

“Jack lost a lot of blood. We should let him rest here for a while first.” Dammit, Poppy. No.

“I agree,” Amber chimes in. “He’s in no shape to be navigating the catacombs. What if he has a concussion?” Like she ever worried about my head injuries before. She was the one who gave me most of them.

“We can wait here another hour, then take him to Amber’s room,” Julio says. “He’ll be safe there with the two of you while Amber and I search for Chill and Fleur.”

The hell you will, Verano.

I push off the wall, ready to storm out of the tunnel and start a fight, when I catch Kai staring right at me, her eyes burning a hole through the dark.