“I’m not here to threaten you, Joseph,” Alastair said, taking a step toward the body of Constantine Madden.

Master Joseph frowned. “All right. Enough. Give me the Alkahest. I’d like to reward you, but don’t think for a moment that I would hesitate to kill you if you resist me. Very convenient, dying in a tomb. Won’t have to go far to bury you.”

Alastair took another careful step toward the body.

Master Joseph raised his hand and a dozen thin cords of what looked like silver sprang out of the darkness. They wrapped around Alastair, binding him the way a spider binds a fly before feasting on it. Alastair yelled in pain, struggling to free his gauntleted hand.

Call had to do something. “Stop!” he shouted. “Leave my father alone! Stanley, do something! Get him!”

Both Master Joseph and Alastair stared as it became clear that they’d mistaken Call, standing at the bottom of the stairs, for one of the Chaos-ridden. Stanley began to lurch toward Master Joseph, but Call’s command had been so imprecise that he wasn’t sure what the Chaos-ridden might actually do. Master Joseph certainly didn’t seem worried; he was ignoring Stanley as if he wasn’t there.

Instead, he began to smile.

“We’re coming down,” Aaron whispered. Call turned his head without meaning to and saw Tamara, Jasper, and Aaron moving down the stairs. He motioned them back.

“Ahhh, Callum, so glad you could make it,” said Master Joseph. “I see you brought friends, although I can’t quite see which ones. Is that loyal Makar with you? What a pleasant surprise.”

Stanley had nearly reached where Master Joseph stood. We could win the war, Call thought. If I order Stanley to kill you, the war will be won.

But would it? Could the war ever be won for the side of good if the Enemy was still alive?

“Call?” Alastair said, looking horrified. “Get out of here!”

Tamara and Jasper stumbled down to the last step. They were both clearly astonished by the sight of the Enemy’s body and who was standing beside it. Aaron tried to get past them, but Tamara and Jasper moved to block him.

“Let me through,” Aaron protested. He craned his neck to see what they were looking at.

“Not a chance,” said Tamara in a harsh whisper. “Call’s father has the Alkahest. That thing could kill you.”

“Dad’s right. You all need to leave,” Call said. “Get Aaron somewhere safe.”

He could see the indecision on their faces, and he was torn, too — he didn’t want to put them in danger, but he also wasn’t sure he could be as brave without them.

“Look,” Jasper exclaimed. Stanley had reached Master Joseph; he grabbed him by the wrists and tugged them behind his back, holding Master Joseph trapped.

Master Joseph didn’t move; he was acting like it wasn’t happening. Like he wasn’t being held against his will. Like Call hadn’t just immobilized him. Instead, he just stared across the room, his intense eyes burning holes in Call.

“There is no need for this, Callum,” said Master Joseph. “Constantine, I am your most devoted servant.”

“I heard what you said to my father,” Call told him. “And I’m not Constantine.”

“And you heard what your father said to me. What he was prepared to do. Your only true home is here, with me.”

Call moved to where his father stood. Alastair, the copper gauntlet firmly on his hand, was still struggling against the cords that bound him. He flinched away when he saw Call coming toward him. “Call!” he barked. “Stay away from me!”

Call hesitated. Was his father afraid? Did he hate Call?

“We’ll untie him,” Tamara murmured, as she and Jasper slipped away and went to Alastair.

“You should do as Call says. Leave!” shouted Alastair, as Tamara bent down to inspect the silver cord that bound him. It was magical and knotless. Call hoped she’d know how to undo it, because he didn’t have the first idea. “Take him out with you! None of you are safe here, Call least of all.”

“You mean Aaron least of all. Give us the Alkahest,” said Jasper, relentlessly practical. “Give it to us and we can all leave together.” He put a hand on Tamara’s arm. “Don’t free him until he gives it to us.”

Master Joseph’s focus remained on Call. “Did you think it was funny?” he asked. “The head of Verity Torres? The riddles? You were the one who came up with the design of this place, of the entrance. Of course, it wasn’t going to be her head back then, but it’s quite a funny improvisation, don’t you think?”

Call didn’t feel like laughing. He’d been so sure that it was a good thing he could figure out some of the riddles. But apparently he was good at these riddles because he was a guy who thought severed heads were hilarious.

“Just give Jasper the Alkahest, Dad,” Callum yelled, losing patience with all of this.

But Alastair turned his head away as if he didn’t want to look at Call. He was clutching the Alkahest to his body, wrenching himself away when Tamara tried to touch him. “Leave me with it!” he shouted. “Get yourself away from here! Take Call and the Makar with you!”

Aaron had moved to stand beside the body of Constantine Madden and was staring down at it, stricken. Call limped toward him; he could imagine what Aaron was thinking: that these were the hands that had killed Verity Torres, that had slain a thousand mages. The hands of a Makar, like Aaron’s own.

“The Enemy died thirteen years ago,” Aaron said flatly. “How can he look like he isn’t dead at all? How can they all look like this?”

“You think this is a mere tomb,” said Joseph.

“It sure looks like one,” said Call. “What with all the bodies and all.”

“This was your ultimate stronghold against death,” Master Joseph continued. “Here is where you taught yourself to use the void to preserve bodies, suspended, unliving but unchanging. Here you preserved your brother’s body for the day you would raise him again. Here I used the same magic to preserve your body —”

“It’s not my body!” Call shouted. “What is it going to take for you to give up? I don’t remember anything! I’ve never seen this place before! I’m not who you want me to be, and I won’t ever turn into him!”

Master Joseph smiled, wide. “It took me years to help you perfect your magic, back at the Magisterium. When we worked alone with chaos, together. Behind your master’s back. You used to get frustrated and shout at me just like this. I’m not what you want me to be. That’s what you said to me then. Once we put your soul back into your body, I believe you’ll remember more. Maybe this life will be the one that seems like a dream.” He tried to move forward, but Stanley hauled him back. “But even if you never remember, you can’t change your nature, Constantine.”

“Don’t call him that,” said Aaron, in a voice like ice. “People change all the time. And this is sick. This whole thing is sick. Constantine Madden put his soul into Call’s body; fine, no one can change that. Leave Call alone. Let the dead stay dead.”

Master Joseph’s face twisted. “Spoken as someone who has suffered no true loss.”