But Simone just laughed at him. “There is nothing I need to know that badly.”

“You sure about that? Your Libération might,” Liam countered.

This was getting them nowhere, and meanwhile Siegen burned, sure to draw more Nazis like rats to garbage. These people clearly needed help, and Phillip wasn’t about to leave someone out in the cold. What was the point of any of this if he did?

“We could use their help,” he said to Simone. “It’ll make my job go faster. Give us some cover. And if they know how to deal with those things—”

“You are not in charge here. You—you Americans are not in charge.” Simone’s lip curled back. “Where were you when the tanks stormed into Paris, when Pétain rolled over and let those monsters scratch his belly—”

“Hey. We’re here now, aren’t we? We’re doing what we can,” Phillip said.

Simone swallowed and turned away from him, forcing down whatever rage she’d been about to unleash. In the little time he’d spent with her, Phillip had learned she was nothing if not a master of burying things: emotions, bodies. It made his own heart ache.

“Come on,” Phillip said. “We’re all on the same side. This is why we’re here, isn’t it? If we can’t help three people who need it, how the hell are we supposed to help millions more?”

Simone worked her jaw from side to side. “Fine. You can follow us to our safe house at the next town and explain yourselves there. If you haven’t burned it down, too.”

Liam smiled, a bared-teeth grin. “Perfect. We’ll regroup there. Figure out our next steps,” he said to the German siblings.

“Answers first.” Simone jabbed a finger eastward. “After that, I don’t care what you do.”

Rebeka glanced toward Phillip as they started their hike. The defiant glint had left her expression now that Simone had backed down, but she kept the look of someone far too used to staying behind her walls. “Sorry for running into you,” she said in English.

“I think you had bigger problems at the time.” He looked her over, the ragged dress and holey stockings. She carried herself as though she were used to being stronger, broader; he could see it in the proud jut of her chin, the determined tilt of her eyes. It made Phillip wonder what she was like before. Who she might become still.

“As long as those monsters burn,” she said, jerking her head toward the military compound, “I’ll be just fine.”

He had to agree—the demons and Nazis alike.