“No family you could go to?” Caldera asked.

Leo shook his head.

“You were at Pudding Mill Lane station two nights ago, weren’t you?” Caldera asked.

Leo hesitated, then nodded.

“Did you go there alone?”

Another nod.

“What happened when you got there?”

Leo’s eyes flickered from me to Caldera. He hunched his shoulders. He’s scared, I thought. Scared of what?

“It’s all right,” Caldera said, and her voice was reassuring. “I’m not going to get angry.”

Leo didn’t answer. Caldera kept trying to talk to him, and I searched through the futures, trying different lines of questioning. Most petered out in silence, others led to nothing. One approach caught my attention. “Leo?” I said. “Where did you stay before?”

Caldera shot me a warning look. “At Phil’s,” Leo said.

“But that was connected to a group, wasn’t it?” I said. “An organisation. What’s their name?”

Leo was silent. “It’s okay,” Caldera said. “You can tell him.”

Leo looked down at the floor. “White Rose.”

I felt Caldera go still. Leo didn’t meet our eyes. “You mean the ones here in London?” Caldera asked. “Around Leicester Square?”

Leo nodded.

Caldera got to her feet. “I’ll be back in a second, okay?”

“How did—?” I started to ask Leo.

Caldera walked past me, grabbed my arm, and towed me out the door. “Come with me a sec.”

Once we were out in the hall, Caldera let go. “You could have asked,” I said. She hadn’t been trying to crush me, but my arm still hurt. Earth and force mages tend to forget their own strength.

“We might be in over our head,” Caldera said quietly.

I blinked at that. “Wait. Who are these White Rose people?”

“Independent group based out of London,” Caldera said. “Did you check this place out?”

“I think it’s a safe house. Supplies, gate wards, shroud wards. No one lives here.”

Caldera frowned. “That woman, the one you said divined this address. She tell anyone else?”

“She didn’t divine it—” I saw Caldera’s expression and decided this wasn’t the time to get into technicalities. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

Caldera shook her head. “I’m calling for backup.”

“Wait.” I caught Caldera’s shoulder as she started to move past. “Why? Who are these guys?”

“They’re a brothel.”

“You’re scared of a brothel?”

“I’m not scared of them, and if you knew more you wouldn’t be arguing. These people are bad news.”

I looked towards the room where we’d left Leo. He hadn’t moved. “So he’s . . .”

“The kid’s a sex slave.”

I stared at Caldera. “How did—?”

“If he’s with White Rose, that’s what they use him for,” Caldera said. “Look at the way he sits and the way he answers. He’s used to adults telling him to do a lot worse than that.”

I looked towards the room again. Now that Caldera had said it, it fit in an unpleasant way. “I didn’t spot that,” I admitted.

“You run a shop,” Caldera said. “If you were an expert on sexually abused ten-year-olds I’d be a bit worried.” She shook her head. “But I’m not an expert either. I’ll try and get someone from the psych unit.”