Silver gave them four hours and four names.
"Erik, Kai, Ben, Killian," he said at the edge of the spring, counting them off on his fingers. "You carry nothing through the building. You speak to no one but Jason's family. When the gate is up, you leave." His amber eyes rested on Killian. "Killian has slept his two nights. If he says he is finished, he is finished."
"Understood," Killian said.
"Four is more than I wanted," Silver admitted. "But four bodies is also four fewer trips, and it is shorter to be seen once than twice."
They came out onto the 21st floor in the grey light of an early morning that was only a few minutes old outside. Kai unlatched the stairwell gate from the inside. Hrimnir stayed behind in his small gray form, because Erik had asked him to watch the landing and because a wolf on the stairs would be remembered.
"Nothing in our hands," Ben whispered, patting his pockets as if he had forgotten something.
"Nothing in our hands," Erik agreed. "It's all in here."
