I nodded. Haken walked away.

Chatter and voices washed around me from the police and the Council personnel. The people at the police tape and the windows were still there, taking photos and watching. From inside the house, I felt a gate spell. I couldn’t see through the screens, but I knew they were transporting the remains of the golem away.

So much movement, so much activity. In a way it was all because of me, and yet everyone was ignoring me. It was good, I supposed—safer that way—but it felt weirdly isolating. I pushed myself up, holding the side of the car until the wave of dizziness passed, and headed for the ambulance that Caldera had been moved into.

I heard the sound of laughter as I drew closer. Walking around the back, looking into the brightly lit interior, I saw Caldera lying on one of the stretchers. She hadn’t been bandaged, but her hands were clasped over her stomach and she was smiling. Landis was sitting on a chair by the stretcher, long arms and legs sprawled out like an ungainly spider, and he was in the middle of a story. “So then the fellow gets indignant and tells me, ‘I don’t know what you mean, I haven’t anything like that in my family tree.’ Well, as I’m sure you know, I wasn’t going to stand for that. I got up and told him—”

“Hey, Verus,” Caldera said, glancing up at me. “Thank God you’re here—maybe you can shut him up. Nothing I do seems to work.”

“You wound me, dear lady.” Landis clasped a hand to his chest. “Can I not ask for a token of your favour?”

“Oh, bugger off,” Caldera said, but she was laughing. “I swear, you’re lucky I’m not allowed to get out of this bed . . .”

I had to grin. There’s a weird rush from making it through a combat. When you come out of one alone, then it doesn’t last, but when you have friends around it turns into something happier. A celebration, I guess. You’re alive, your friends are alive, and all of a sudden you’re intensely aware of it. “Let me guess,” I told Landis. “You’re on duty to make sure she doesn’t try to run off for another round?”

“A fearsome duty, ’tis true, but needs must, eh? You hear that, my girl? Bed rest, that’s the ticket.”

“Oh, you wish.”

“Well, well, one can hope. Ah, Verus, Vari and I had no joy, I’m afraid. Gave the place a good old search and quarter, but the boy’s vanished into the ether.”

I nodded. It wasn’t really a surprise. “Thanks for showing up so fast.”

“A bit of a sticky situation, eh? No need to worry, happens to the best of us. I remember this time out in Guernsey when—”

“Okay,” Caldera interrupted, “before you start another of your endless stories, how did you show up so fast?”

“Oh, just a friendly request from your new junior.” Landis leant back against the wall, nodding at me. “He mentioned you two might have a spot of bother, so I had Vari toodle over and take a look at the place so he could open us a gate. Better safe than sorry, eh?”