Even if that were to happen, Edward’s knowledge would always hover above them like the blade of a guillotine, and they’d never know when it would fall.

“So we’re just supposed to let him out?” Ian demanded. “Send him on his way and let the chips fall where they may?”

“Well, we can’t actually kill him, Ian, and we can’t keep him locked up in there forever, either. And as far as I know, we don’t know how to turn back time and make him forget everything he’s seen today.” Jamie’s voice was low, his rage rigidly contained. “So yes, it does seem like the only thing we can do is let him out and send him on his way.”

“Or we could give ourselves an hour or two to come up with a way out of this. This is our family, James. We have to fight for it.”

Mika stopped listening, stuck once more on the hamster wheel of her thoughts, only this time it was just a few of the words Jamie had said, turning over and over and over.

Turn back time and make him forget everything.

There was a way out of this, but it was one that was akin to summoning a gorgon to defeat a gargoyle. The gorgon would certainly defeat the gargoyle, but when the battle was over, who would defeat the gorgon?

“One battle at a time, Mika,” she said under her breath.

“What was that?” Ken asked her.

“There’s only one way to fix this,” she said. “You won’t like it, but it’s all we’ve got.”

She explained and they listened. They didn’t like it, and neither did she, but not one person hesitated, either. Better this, better anything, than setting Edward loose with all their secrets in his pockets.

So Mika took her phone out of the pocket of her jeans and pressed the green call button beside one particular name. And when a voice on the other end answered, she said, “I need your help.”

It was like a little girl had once said. Sometimes you had to do whatever was necessary to protect the people you loved.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Mika was sitting cross-legged on her former bed in the attic, plucking absently at the loose threads at the end of her yellow jumper and staring into the middle distance, when Jamie came to find her. He sat down on the edge of the bed, drawing one knee up to nudge hers, and there was so much compassion and so little judgement in his eyes that she leaned on his shoulder and traced distracted lines along his palm.

“Is this a terrible idea?”

“You didn’t think so an hour ago,” Jamie said reasonably. “You thought this was our only way out of this mess.”

“Altamira’s very cross with me.”