My spirit shifted. I registered all five of their dreamscapes, tinkling and shivering like wind chimes. Zeke’s was different. He chimed on a darker note, a minor chord. I tried to catch a glimpse of him: a memory, a fear—but there was nothing. Where I’d normally see a shimmer of pictures, like a distorted old film, all I saw was black. His memories were sealed.

I jerked from the æther when a hand grasped my shoulder. Zeke was trembling, his hands over his ears. “Enough.” Nick was behind me, pulling me to my feet. “That’s enough. She’s not doing this. Jaxon, I don’t care what you pay me—you’re paying me in blood diamonds.” He threw the window open. “Come on, Paige. You’re taking a break.”

I was tired to my bones, but I would never refuse Nick. Jaxon’s eyes sent darts into my back. He’d be fine by tomorrow, once he’d finished all the wine. I swung myself out of the window and onto the drainpipe, my vision blurred.

As soon as his feet hit the roof, Nick started to run. Today he was running fast, and running hard. Fortunately there was still adrenaline in my veins, or I would never have kept up.

We’d often do this. Take a dérive through the city. In theory, London was everything I hated: huge and gray and stern, raining nine days out of ten. It roared and pumped and pounded like a human heart. But after two years of training with Nick, learning how to navigate the rooftops, the citadel had become my haven. I could fly through traffic and over the heads of the NVD. I could race like blood through the mesh of streets and alleys. I was full to the brim, bursting with life. Out here, if nowhere else, I was free.

Nick dropped down to the street. We jogged along the busy road until we reached the corner of Leicester Square. Without stopping for breath, Nick began to climb the nearest building, right next to the Hippodrome Casino. There were plenty of handholds, windowsills and ledges and the like, but I doubted I could keep up. Even adrenaline couldn’t make a dent in my fatigue.

“What are you doing, Nick?”

“I need to clear my head.” He sounded weary.

“In a casino?”

“Above it.” He held out a hand. “Come on, sötnos. You look like you’re about to fall asleep.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t know I was going to give my spirit and my muscles a thrashing today.” I let him haul me up to the first windowsill, earning a look from a girl with a cigarette. “How far are we climbing?”

“To the top of this building. If you can handle it,” he added.

“What if I can’t handle it?”

“Fine. Jump up.” He pulled my arms around his neck. “And what’s the golden rule?”