The veteran shook his head. “Spiriting Mycroft away is no simple matter. Only Dominic will notice we took Aimer and the others, but Mycroft is part of a larger world, connected, watched. Many will notice if they vanish to the far side of the Earth.”

The boy’s blond brows stayed locked. “But they do it all the time. If Mycroft disappears everyone’ll assume they did a clever Mycroft thing and got away. All we have to do is wait until no one’s looking.”

“No.” The Major sighed, as ships sigh strained by tides too huge for eyes to spot beneath the petty waves. “If it were that simple, he would do a clever Mycroft thing and get away. You’ve seen it. Mycroft’s not trapped there by a cell, or a chain, he’s trapped by choice, his choice, something that’s keeping him from trying to leave.”

“I know,” Bridger answered, though I suspect he did not like knowing. “Mycroft disappears a lot. That’s where they go isn’t it? That house in Paris where the bad sensayer took the others?”

“ ‘Mycroft disappears a lot…’ ” the Major repeated. “They must say that in Paris, too, whenever he’s here with us.”

“Unless they know exactly where he goes.” Croucher’s voice rose cold and thin, like the glitter of his teeth, the only part of his face visible beneath his helmet’s shadow as he peeked out from his puzzle-fort. “Mycroft Canner, he knows who all these enemies are, what they want, but will he tell us anything about them? No. He’s scheming behind our backs, I’ve always said that, and now the trap is springing shut. You know it, you just don’t want to admit you were wrong.”

“Enough.”

“The great hero duped for eight years by a clever slave!”

The Major stretched back across the dominos that served him as a bench. “Don’t tempt me, Croucher! As for you, Bridger, Mycroft would take on every monster Hercules faced to get to you, but they won’t leave that house. That means whatever’s there is worse than monsters. It’s not somewhere you should even think about going. Leave it to Mycroft’s killer friend who dresses like Apollo.”

Bridger leaned on his elbows, gazing down at the tiny soldiers like some Egyptian monolith. “Mycroft’s scary friend has been gone a long time.”

The Major frowned. “It’s only been a few hours. Paris is an ocean away, and travel like that takes time, even today. Wait here and stay safe, that’s what Mycroft would want.”

“Sometimes what Mycroft wants isn’t what’s best for Mycroft.”

“True. Mycroft wants what’s best for the entire world, and most of all for you.”

The boy breathed deep. “You and Mycroft always say you have to keep me away from people until I’m big enough to decide for myself how to use my power. Well, I’ve decided. I want to do this. I should do this. You always say someday I’ll be able to use my power to save everybody in the world. Right now I want to use it to save Mycroft.”