“Wasn’t an option.”

“Couldn’t you have just done whatever you did to find this place, except first?”

“Verus,” Haken said. “Not now, all right?”

Another brief silence. Off in the darkness, a nightbird called and went quiet. The wind blew, rustling the leaves of the trees.

“So,” I said, “was there a reason you only brought me?”

Still no answer.

“I mean, yes, this is supposed to be subtle. But if we’re trying to stay hidden, it would have made sense to bring along Cerulean.”

“You know exactly why I haven’t brought Cerulean.”

“Sure,” I agreed. “But it would have been useful, wouldn’t it? I mean, illusionists are handy guys to have around. They can show you things that aren’t really there, hide their spells so that no one else can see what you’re really doing. Oh, and they can turn invisible. He could be right here, and we wouldn’t have any way of knowing.”

Haken looked at me silently. “So did you know he was working for White Rose?” I said. “Or did it come as a surprise?”

“That hasn’t been confirmed.”

I sighed. “You know the most annoying thing about you Keepers? It’s that habit you have of shutting everyone out. This whole thing would have gone so much faster if you’d just been up front.”

“You think I’ve been lying to you?”

“No, I just think you’ve been leaving out some really relevant information.” I studied Haken. “But you didn’t know about Cerulean, did you? Must have been a nasty surprise. You’d been trying to resolve the whole thing with Vihaela peacefully, then for a few minutes you thought you’d killed her.”

“Yes,” Haken said, an edge to his voice. “That was a surprise. Somewhere you’re going with this?”

I shrugged. “Just making conversation.”

Haken looked at me. I looked back.

“Vihaela’s in there, by the way,” I said.

“. . . Good.”

“So, we clear to go back?”

“Not yet.”

“I think it’s about time.”

“First I want you to—”

“Maybe I didn’t make myself clear,” I said. “I’m about to take out a gate stone and use it to go home. Are you going to do anything to stop me?”

Haken hesitated. It was only a very tiny pause, but it was long enough. The futures in which he said something reassuring flickered and vanished. The silence stretched out.

“Well,” I said at last. “This is awkward.”

“Something you’re implying?” Haken asked. His voice was flat.

“It’s not easy to keep secrets from a diviner.”

“Sometimes you don’t get a choice.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” I said. “I’m sort of inclined to the philosophy that there’s always a choice. Just not necessarily one you like.”

“If you know so much,” Haken said, “what are you doing here?”

I shrugged. “Honestly? I wanted to see which way you’d jump.”

Haken didn’t answer. Still on the fence? Maybe I could find out a little more. “So, there’s something I’d like to know,” I said. “What happened to Leo?”