I stood and pushed my chair back, but when Mitch tried to stand, I shook my head, and he sank back into his seat with a scowl. “Is that what you all think?” I glanced from face to face, wordlessly demanding the truth. “That I’m some helpless, useless little twit who can’t protect herself or her family, or enact her own justice?”

Kris shook his head and Ian frowned, but Kori only pressed her lips together and crossed her arms over her chest.

That was what they thought. And why shouldn’t they? I’d lived when my entire family died because I’d hidden. I was still hiding.

“That’s what Julia Tower’s counting on,” Kris said softly, and Kori and Ian nodded in agreement.

“Well, then, she’s wrong. And she’s going to figure that out the hard way.” Kris smiled, but everyone else flinched when I held Mitch’s gun up to get a better look at it. A better feel for it. “If you guys can teach me how to use this and show me what I don’t yet know about my own Skills, I think we can bring the fight to her. And along the way, we can release every Tower employee we come across, until there are too many for her to hunt down.”

“Won’t work,” Mitch said, and I ignored him.

“Won’t matter,” Kori added. “If Julia isn’t already binding more to herself directly—making Kenley’s bindings obsolete—she will be soon.”

“You can’t release them all, Sera,” Kris insisted. “You can’t even let her think you’re going to release them all, because then she’ll have no reason to keep Kenley alive.”

For a moment, there was only a fragile quiet, as what he’d said sank in.

“Fuck me.” Kori was the first to break the silence, raking one hand through her pale hair. “We’re screwed either way.”

“No, we’re not.” I had an idea, but if I was going to live long enough to put it to use, I’d have to get smart. I’d have to let them teach me. Kori was right—I didn’t know how to use the bindings I’d inherited, and until I learned the ins and outs of direct orders and loopholes, those bindings would do me no good.

And I was far from sure I wanted to use them anyway. If I took Julia’s employees as my own instead of setting them free, I’d be no better than she was. Right?

I held Kris’s gaze for a long moment, hoping he understood my silent plea to stop me if I messed this up, then I turned to Mitch, who still sat in the chair at the corner, considering my words more carefully than I ever had before. “You will never tell anyone anything that you heard here today, except for the fact that I am Jake Tower’s biological daughter.”

Kris frowned at that, but I’d already thought it through. Julia was killing the people whose bindings she’d lost, but the solution wasn’t to stop telling people she was a pretender to the throne. The solution was to tell everyone. She couldn’t afford to kill them all. In fact, my guess was that she couldn’t afford to kill many more than she already had, without undermining her own power base.

“Do you understand?”

Mitch nodded slowly, but he still looked angry. And maybe scared. “Releasing me won’t help. She’ll find me.”

“That’s up to you.” I sat in the chair next to him and set the gun on the table without letting go of it. “The best I can give you is a head start. I release you of all obligation to me and to the Tower syndicate, except for your silence about what you’ve heard here. If I were you, I’d find a darkroom and start running.”

Mitch’s eyes widened. He looked at his gun. When I made no move to return it, he glanced at each of us, as if we might take it all back and keep him imprisoned forever. Then he stood and headed through the dining area into living room, and when he glanced back from the hall, he looked almost panicked. As if maybe he’d been enslaved for so long he didn’t know what to do with his freedom. Then he stepped into the darkened bathroom.

I couldn’t hear him leave through the shadows, but I could practically feel it.

“We should get out of here,” Kris said, once we were sure Mitch was gone. Kori put the bottle back where she’d found it, then took Ian’s hand. I took Kris’s hand and in the second before he walked us into the shadows, I realized that with his hand in my left one and Mitch’s gun in my right, I’d never felt so secure in my life.

Seconds later, we all bumped shoulders in the crowded hall closet of what I’d long ago dubbed the House of Crazy.

“Was she there?” Vanessa asked, lowering a small handgun when she saw us step out of the closet in pairs.

“No, but we’re going to find her.” Kris sounded so sure.

“I’m going to find her,” I corrected, and they both glanced at me in surprise. “As soon as you teach me how to use this.” I held up Mitch’s gun. “And the Skills Julia doesn’t know I have.”

“I’ll teach you whatever you want to know,” Kris said. “But not until you tell me what you’re plotting.”

“I’m going to turn myself in.” I sounded more confident than I actually felt.

“No.” Kris dropped my hand and stomped into the kitchen, dismissing both me and my intentions.

My temper flared and Kori lurched out of my way as I stomped after him. “I’m not asking for your permission—I’m asking for your help. But I’ll do it on my own if I have to.”