She rolled her eyes. “Really? You don’t want to go home and deliver a letter to this elder of yours? I knew you were young and silly, but this is ridiculous.”

“What kind of letter?” he asked hesitantly.

“An offer of terms.” She paused. “You need it more than we do, I hasten to add. Now we can get into your world—” He flinched—“and there are many more of us, and there’s the other world you saw, the one the Clan’s power is based in. Did you see much of America?” His eyes went wide: He’d seen enough. “From now on, in any struggle, we can win. There is no ‘maybe’ in that statement. If the eldest orders your family to fight it out, they can only lose. But I happen to have a use for your family—I want to keep them alive. And you. I’m willing to settle this thing between us, the generations of blood and murder, if your eldest is willing to accept that declaring war on the Clan was wrong, that his ancestor was not deliberately abandoned, and that ending the war is necessary. So I’m going to do everything I can to convince the committee to send you home with a cease-fire proposal.”

He stared at her as if she’d sprouted a second head.

“Will you carry that message?” she asked.

He nodded, slowly, watching her with wide eyes.

“Don’t get your hopes up,” she warned. She turned to the door. “Take this one back to his cell,” she said. “I want you to make sure he’s given food and water. And take good care of him.” She leaned toward the sergeant. “There is a chance that he is going to run an errand for us. I do not want him damaged. Do you understand?”

Something in her eyes made the soldier tense: “Yes, ma’am,” he grunted warily. “Food and water.” His companion pulled the door open, staring at the wall behind her, trying to avoid her gaze.

“See that you do.”

She came out of the cellars shivering into the evening twilight, and headed upstairs as fast as she could, to get back to a warm fireplace and good company. But it was going to take more than that to get the chill of the dungeon out of her bones, and out of her dreams.

Part 5

Meltdown

Escape Plans

He’s done what?” demanded Matthias, in a tone of rising disbelief.