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Kaelen's claws slowly receded until his hands looked human again.

Jax searched the tall escort's coat, found my phone inside an inner pocket, and tossed it to me.

Silas held out his hand.

"Give me your phone," he said. "I know the number for one of Oda's men. He can get to Daniel and Marion without leading the Council back to her."

I handed it over.

Silas dialed from memory and spoke in short, efficient sentences, giving Marion's address, describing the Council car, and explaining what had happened in the parking garage. Then he went quiet and listened.

"He's twelve minutes away," Silas said when the call ended. "He'll get her out if he can."

It wasn't enough to make me feel safe, but it was something.

"What about them?" I asked, looking at the four men sprawled across the concrete.

"They'll be collected," Kaelen said. "Don't worry about them."

"We need to go back now," Silas said. "To the island."

"Back to the Council's own school?" My voice cracked despite my effort to keep it steady. "After this?"

Kaelen looked at me. "Under Ironmoor's Charter, they can't remove a student from the island without that student's consent unless the student forfeits the Charter's protection. Off the island, all they need is a van."

And as such, I listened.

We left the escorts' car where it was and took the one Kaelen's father had provided.

"Tracker?" Silas asked.

"My father had it removed years ago," Kaelen said. "He doesn't permit the Council to know where he goes. The plates belong to Fenhall's Council pool, so they'll know which car we took, but they won't be able to follow it."

It was the sort of car I had only ever seen in movies, long and black and almost unnervingly quiet, with cream-colored leather seats and enough room in the back for three people to sit without touching.

Kaelen drove. Nobody discussed it. He got behind the wheel, started the engine, and stared through the windshield at the rain while the rest of us climbed into the back. Then he pulled out of the parking garage and headed north without saying a word.

Jax texted his friend in the oilskins and told him to have a boat waiting at the fish market jetty by midnight.

"I don't know if I can leave like this," I said before Kaelen had even finished pulling onto the road. "I have to see Marion. She's five minutes away. She's—"

"They're already using her as leverage," Kaelen said without turning around. "They'll be watching the house. If you walk through that door, they'll close in on both of you. You won't save her. You'll just give them two people in the same place." His hands tightened around the steering wheel. "Believe me. I know how he uses the people you love."

I wanted to argue with him, but I couldn't come up with anything that made sense.

"Then drive past," I said, my voice smaller than I wanted it to be. "Please. Just drive past."

Kaelen looked at me through the rearview mirror.

Then he did.

He took the long way up the hill, along the road only the salt truck ever seemed to use on purpose, past the terrace of eleven and the dead hanging basket. He didn't slow down much, but he didn't need to.

The kitchen light was on at number three.

For perhaps two seconds, through the steamed-up window, I saw Marion. She was standing at the kettle with her back to the street, barely five foot one in her purple robe with the cigarette burn on the cuff. She looked completely fine. Completely ordinary. Completely unaware that anything had changed.

I pressed my palm against the car window until the house slipped out of sight behind us.