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“I’m fine. I’m just really fond of this wall.”

Vidocq crosses to me with a bottle of blue amber. He gives me the once-over. Opens my coat and closes it again.

“Listen to me. You can’t keep going like this.”

“I’m almost done. Just one thing left.”

“Leave it. Let me put you in the Winter Garden.”

The garden is a kind of hoodoo coma. It slows everything in your body, even death.

I shake my head.

“You haven’t found anything yet, have you?”

“I believe we are very close.”

“You thought you were close before. You put me in the garden and I could be there for years. I’ve already been on ice lately. I’m not doing it again.”

“At least let Allegra help you.”

“In a minute. I have something to do first.”

I get out the black blade and cup it in my hand so it’s out of sight, then push past Vidocq and hobble over to Howard.

He’s sitting in a chair by himself near the window and looks up when I get there.

“How are Eva and Barron?” he says.

“They’re not riding to the rescue. I can guarantee you that.”

He sits back.

“I know you didn’t kill them because that’s impossible. What did you do?”

“Not all that much really. When it came down to it, Eva shot Barron. He’s not dead, but he’s got a bullet in his brain. His eternity is going to be fun. After that, I left Eva for the faction to find. The rest of the faction is running wild in the streets, so if you think there’s someplace you can escape to, there isn’t.”

He looks out the window.

“You’re here to kill me, aren’t you?”

“You’re the last connection to the rebel angels.”

He takes a deep breath. His nostrils open wide, like he’s taking one last sniff of the world.

“You know about that,” he says.

“Eva and Barron gave you up. It was a nice deal. But it’s over.”

“And you really think you can kill me?”

“I’ve killed plenty of angels. You can’t be any harder than that.”

I get the knife ready. Howard sees it. He tries not to show fear, but his pupils expand to the size of basketballs.

“I’ll do it,” he says.

“Do what?”