“Not yet. Honestly, it was like pulling teeth. Like he was doing me a favor. With a lot about ‘the protocols, young lady, the protocols.’ But he told me where it is. Staatsgalerie museum, in Stuttgart.” She checked the time. “He’s asked to meet us there. We should just make it before they close. Oh, hello, Phil. Good to have you back with us. How are you feeling?”

“Weak but well,” he said. “Getting stronger.”

Alex was happy to note Metz seemed calmer, more assured. His grandfather and Harry reappeared. The old man clutched a bulging paper bag that turned out to contain chocolate-coated marshmallows. Harry brandished two cheap new phones, handing one to Alex.

“Harry tells me you can put the something-or-other from your old phone into this new one,” Alex’s grandfather said through a full mouth.

“Just need to find a place to charge ’em,” Harry muttered.

“Oh,” Kingdom said. “I had a couple of outlets added to the dashboard.”

“You modified a Silver Phantom?” Harry gasped. “That’s sacrilege. But ’andy.”

Alex’s grandfather fished a new road map from his pocket and folded it to show a particular area. “Could you mark where your ruined old Castle Boll is?” he said, offering Kingdom the map and a pen. She hunted around, made a spot, and handed it back.

“And here’s the Kandel, where our pulpit collapsed,” Alex’s grandfather said, adding another dot. “They’re around, ah, twenty-two miles apart, as the crow flies.” Using the blunt edge of a blade from his Swiss Army knife as a ruler, the old man drew a diagonal between the two points. They all crowded forward, staring down at it, as if something might become clear. The enigmatic line glistened blackly across the landscape.

“Clear as mud,” Alex’s grandfather eventually said. “So, Evelyn. Do we know where we’re going?”

“Stuttgart,” she said, starting the engine. “Staatsgalerie.”

“Oh, lucky us.” The old man hummed happily, folding the map away.

As the car moved into traffic, they fell silent, everyone following their own thoughts. Alex left his new phone charging and leaned against the window.

He considered what he had done at the château—not only calling up the blast of power but directing it just as he had wanted. Protecting them. It had exhausted him to the point where he could barely stand, but he had done it, and he had succeeded in making the connection faster than ever, even though it had taken more effort. His technique was working. He could learn more, he was sure. For the first time, he felt they had something on their side.

He jumped when his grandfather suddenly spoke.

“And . . . we’re back in Germany . . . now.”

Alex hadn’t realized he’d been dozing. He opened his eyes to find they were crossing a huge concrete bridge spanning a wide bend of river. The landscape on the other side seemed much the same.