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toward the rope, and tried to smile at him, though she was not sure that she succeeded or even if she did, if he could see it.
    â€œJust hold on,” she said, and gave the rope two quick tugs. “Rusty and Angela will bring you up. Hold on. I’m with you.”
    He climbed as best he could, trying to haul himself up with the rope. She stood and watched his faltering progress: at the moment when she saw his hands slip, she willed him not to. She sent him with magic up along the stones, light as air, light as the rope, up to the outside world.
    He looked down at her when he reached the opening. Kami made a gesture at him to go.
    She stood there for another instant with the dead boy at her feet. If she had not come for him, if Rusty had not learned a sorcerer’s secrets and Holly guessed a sorcerer’s riddle, how long would it have been before Jared died? How long would the two dead boys have sat in each other’s silent company, turning to dust?
    â€œI’m so sorry nobody saved you,” Kami whispered.
    It was an absurd thing to say, but she said it in thanksgiving for the boy she had been able to save, in pity for this boy and those who must have loved but not saved him. She had been so terribly, frighteningly lucky.
    The rope began to lower again, but Kami heard running footsteps on the stairs. It was no time to wait for ropes. It was time to help herself.
    She set her fingers in the wall and told herself, I will not fall. I am going to climb.
    It was not quite like climbing, or like falling either. It was like being lifted by both air and her own grip on stone, by the sheer force of her determination.
    She reached the opening in the wall, one knee up on the stone, and saw Ruth Sherman throw a bolt of fire at Rusty.
    Kami quenched it with a thought, lifted a hand, and sent Ruth tumbling down the stairs.
    Angela and Jared—though Jared was not strong enough to really help—pulled her out of the space in the wall and set her on her feet. Ash was on the stairs above them, fighting with another one of Rob’s sorcerers and Sergeant Kenn. Kami pulled away from Angela’s and Jared’s hands to run up the stairs and catch the sergeant’s arm. She put the force of her rage into the touch and sent ice hurtling through his veins. She heard him gasp and stiffen, and Ash knocked him to one side and grabbed her hand, bringing her back down the stairs to the others.
    â€œWe’ve got to go, come on, now, now, now,” Kami said.
    â€œBut we’ve only just got here,” Rusty remarked as they charged down the stairs, a chaos of limbs because they were trying to keep as close together as they could and everyone was trying to give Jared a helping hand. “And I was having such a lovely time.”
    â€œHolly, you help Jared,” Kami ordered.
    Rusty and Angela could fight, and Ash and she could do magic. Holly was the only one who could be spared, and Kami could trust her to be gentle and not to leave him, not for any reason. They had always liked each other. Holly tucked the books she was carrying under one arm and put her shoulder under Jared’s, her arm around his waist: made herself a crutch for him.
    Amber yanked out of Rusty’s grasp and made for the stairs, launching herself down after Ruth. Kami grabbed her back without touching her, as if Amber was a toy in one of the fairground machines that could be picked up and let go by a metal claw. Amber looked briefly stunned to be back at Rusty’s side.
    â€œYou said you’d let me go!”
    â€œNot until you help us to get out, ” said Kami. “It’ll look like you came rushing to stop us, like the others, and we grabbed you. You’ll be fine. Or they’ll catch us all.”
    Amber’s face went grim. She ran with the rest of them, like hunted animals through the grand rooms of Aurimere. Kami had to stop and fall behind when they passed Ruth, trying to get up. Ruth gestured and