Sehun, Rosé, Lisa, and I move through Rosé's apartment, quickly stocking weapons and assessing the ones we have for easy access. I stash appa's whittling knife and eomma's scarf in my duffel bag for safekeeping and triple-check the position of my favorite boot dagger.

I step into the bathroom and pull out my phone.

Sejeong: When you go underground you'll lose reception. I'll take my own route and follow you once you locate the bouncer.

Me: Sehun thinks he and Rosé are recognizable. So Lisa and I will track the bouncer and they'll wait near the edge of the Market. Hoping you know what that means so you don't accidentally run into them.

Sejeong: Understood.

I flush the toilet and slip out of the bathroom, joining my friends in the living room.

Sehun stands over the coffee table tying a small burlap pouches. He hands one to each of us. "There are ten darts in each, predipped in Angels' Dream," he says.

Rosé pulls out something wrapped in linen from her bag. "Here," she says, unfolding the fabric and handing me a wooden blowpipe. "I know Sehun gave you his spare, but this one is much better."

I take the blowpipe, tucking it into my coat pocket. "Thanks, Rosé," I say, and Sehun looks like he's not entirely comfortable with the gesture.

"Also," Rosé says, "about the lightning poison . . ."

Sehun's eyebrows rise, as if he knew something like this was coming.

"Do we really think it's a good idea for Suzy to have both of those darts?" Rosé shifts her eyes to me. "What if you get incapacitated? It's just poor logic."

"Let me guess," Sehun says, like he's gearing up to argue. "You think you should have one of them."

"Not me," Rosé replies with feigned innocence. "And not you, either, since we all know that if Suzy gets taken out, you're likely to be right behind her doing some inadvisable thing to save her life. I just don't think we should take any chances, considering we only have two darts of the lightning poison, which is was I'm suggesting we give one to Lisa."

Sehun looks at her suspiciously.

"I actually agree," I say responding before he can. I know Sehun doesn't trust Rosé, but Lisa is a different story. "It's too risky to have both darts in the same place. We need a contingency plan." I pull one of the small glass vials out of my coat pocket and hand it to Lisa.

"Great," Rosé says, but from the look on Sehun's face, it's clear he doesn't agree.

"Is there anything else I need to know about the Market?" I ask, putting on my coat.

"Just keep your hood up and stare ahead confidently. Strategia can smell weakness," Sehun says, pulling on his gloves. "The good news is that no one in the Market is particularly trying to attract attention; most people are conducting business or restocking supplies and don't appreciate others being overly watchful."

And just like that the conversation is over and we're headed for the door. With every step my thoughts race with hops that appa is okay and fears that he's not. Hang on Appa; we're coming.

➶ ⱠɆ₮'₴ ⱧɄ₦₮ ⱧɆⱤ ➴

Sehun and Rosé lead the way into a narrow cobblestoned alley that runs between a fancy Italian restaurant and a bookstore with colorful window displays. Even though the lights on the main street are bright, the farther we go down the alley, the darker it gets.

Me: Almost to Market.

Near the end of the alley, Rosé stops in front of an old wooden door and pulls a set of lock-picking tools out of her jacket. There's a faint click and it swings open. We all slip quietly inside. Sehun takes a fast survey of the alley and closes the door behind us.

For a second we're in complete darkness. Then a match strikes and lights Rosé's face up like a spotlight. She moves the flame toward the wall, illuminating two oil lamps, and pulls one down to light the wick inside.

Instantly the room brightens, revealing bookshelves of boxes and merchandise that suggest we're in the storage room of the bookstore. Rosé leads us to the back wall, which I can see now is paneled entirely in dark wood, with electric sconces.

Rosé presses a piece of decorative metal on the side of a sconce and one of the wall panels swings open, revealing a door. Secret doors, secret pubs, coded messages in books at the library, private inns-it's like finding out that all of your childhood suspicions that you could step through your closet into another world are turning out to be true.

Rosé pulls the panel fully open and Sehun walks through, offering me his hand. I intertwine my fingers with his and join him on the stone staircase. The steps are worn unevenly, reminiscent of the ones in the Academy. Above our heads the stone arches, and I can't see very far in front of me. The temperature reminds me of a cave, which Appa always claimed stays pretty consistently around fifty degree no matter the season.

Sehun and I stop at the bottom of the staircase and the oil lamp Rosé carries illuminates a portion of the straight stone passageway. I turn in both directions, but there doesn't seem to be a distinguishable difference.

"The labyrinth," Sehun whispers near my ear, and I swallow.

I eye the passage warily as we follow Rosé down it and through a doorway into a large rectangular stone room. I look at Sehun for an explanation.

"An old-traditional apartment," Sehun whispers, and points. "You can tell by the hearth in the wall."

My eyes widen. "People lived underground?" I say, and even though I'm not cold, the hair on my arms stands up.

He shakes his head. "This wasn't always underground. In fact the passageway we just came from used to be a street. And this was a ground-floor apartment. Over time this city has changed dramatically, and in an effort to level out some of the streets, parts of the buildings, markets, and houses got cut off and paved over. Sections of the city just got trapped down here."

I shudder at the spookiness of it all. And in the way that darkness can sometimes invite gruesome thoughts, I immediately picture someone afflicted with the plague being attended to by a doctor with one of those ghoulish beaked masks.

We exit through the far end of the room and find ourselves on another underground street. We zigzag like that for the next fifteen minutes or so. And even though I'm not scared of the dark, I feel the impulse to scrutinize shadows and corners for monsters. I can't imagine the nerve of it would take to navigate this alone with nothing more than an oil lamp.

Then, suddenly, we come to a stone door and Lisa leans back, using her body weight to push against it. We follow her through and Sehun pulls it shut behind us. They've silenced their ste[s and I do the same. Unlike the small homes, streets, and shops that we've been moving through, we're now in what appears to be an endless room of high-ceilinged arches and stone columns.

Sehun whispers next to my ear. "Catacombs of an old church."

As pretty as the stonework is, the idea that we're walking over people's graves is giving me the willies.

Rosé stops by a seemingly solid wall, which I know by now should not be taken for granted, and frowns at me. "Get yourself together, Suzy. We're about to enter the outskirts of the Market and I swear you look like you just got chased by a mummy.

I close my eyes for a couple of seconds, focusing on all the places I'm holding tension. When I open them again, Sehun nods his approval.

Lisa glances at each of us, almost like she wishes us good luck. "In omnia paratus," she says, which I think roughly means "ready for anything," and presses hard on a stone in the wall about the height of her shoulder. Sure enough, another secret door opens, this one with jagged edges formed by the outline of the stones.

Rosé turns off the oil lamp, casting us into near darkness, and leaves the lamp in the catacomb. She's the first one through the door with Lisa by her side, and Sehun and me right on their heels. Sehun clicks the door shut in one fluid motion.

Rosé and Lisa don't speed-walk, but they do keep a brisk pace. And they've dropped the casual demeanor they were using on the surface streets of Seoul for more deliberate movements and a focused stare. Next to me Sehun wears the same look he did when I first met him-penetrating eyes with a dash of bravado. I lift my chest and neutralize my own expression, pulling my hood down a little farther to shadow me face in the dim torchlight.

The first turn we take, the streets are eerily empty. However, the farther along we get, the more I hear the buzzing of conversation and the promise of a crowd. As we turn a second corner, Sehun reaches out, squeezing my fingers. He meets my eyes momentarily, giving me an encouraging nod; then he and Rosé breaks off from our group. My stomach churns uneasily the farther he gets away.

Lisa walks by my side as we turn away from our friends and emerge through an archway into a big courtyard made of stone. The ceiling looms high above us in a series of domed arches, and the courtyard is bustling with vendors and shoppers from all over the world. Wooden stalls display everything from rare daggers to deadly poisons. And shop windows are lit with oil lamps and candelabras. It's the dynasty era assassin's version of my town square.

I concentrate on keeping my face unreadable, but everywhere I look there's a potential threat. I move with purpose like Sehun suggested, but even so, I fear that every Strategia we pass knows I don't belong here.

Our pace doesn't slow as we weave through the busy central square and onto a cobblestoned side street that's much broader than the ones we were previously navigating. It's well lit with torches and oil lamps and is an Old World version of the lively Seoul streets aboveground. We pass several restaurants and an antique sword dealer stopping in front of a pub.

Lisa pushes the door open and I quickly scan the room. It's exactly what I think of when I picture a tavern-cozy and boisterous, with a handful of wooden table and a lively bar. The place is sparsely lit by torches, which works to our advantage because of the shadows they cast. I immediately head for a small table in the corner near the window that doesn't leave us exposed to the other customers, careful to avoid eye contact with anyone I pass.

I choose a chair that gives me a view of the pub across the street, which seems to be much bigger and fancier than the place we're in. Above the entrance to the pub there's a big wooden sign with the name THE TIGER'S DEN painted in gold letters. And outside the door are two serious men one of whom I would guess is nearly seven feet tall. I gulp. Appa was right when he described the guy as tall.

I peek at my phone in my pocket for messages from Sejeong that came in before I lost reception.

Sejeong: Be safe. See you in the Tiger estate.

I erase Sejeong's text as Lisa sits down across from me. She doesn't say a word and neither do I; we just tilt our heads down, covertly keeping track of that bouncer like our lives depend on it.

Seconds turn into minutes and I'm sweating so badly that if anyone could see my face they'd probably wonder if I was ill. Please go. Just go already. I plead and scream silently at the tall bouncer to leave his post and head for the Tiger estate, but to no avail. he just stands outside the pub with his arms crossed. So I start counting, which is the only thing I can think to do that will keep me ground.

When I've counted to exactly one hundred and forty-two I hear chairs scrape against the floor directly behind us. From the sound of it, six or so people are sitting down. And at one hundred and fifty a familiar voice booms behind me. I stop counting.

Siwon. Of all the places he would go after the ball, it had to be this tavern?

"Scooped him right up-never stood a chance." He's bragging about I can almost see him gesturing at his crew. "Tiffany and Sunny were part of organizing it from the start. And it's not the first time we've worked with the Ferryman, neither."

"Is that so?" says a voice I don't recognize. "That must have been quite the golden calf. I'm not sure we could pay as much as all that."

"Then we might not be the right crew for you," Siwon says, and it's clear by this tone that loves to negotiate.

I sit bolt upright and Lisa kicks me under the table. The Ferryman? Tiffany and Sunny? Scooped him right up? Anger swirls inside me, clenching my fists and tightening my jaw. With great effort, I exhale the tension, writing Siwon an IOU in my head. And suddenly my desire flip-flops-I now want that bouncer to stay exactly where he is until Siwon moves so I don't have to walk past him.

As though the universe is conspiring against me, I glance outside at the bouncers, and sure enough, two men have arrived to take their place. My muscles tighten, bracing for our exit. No, no, no. I've been waiting for what feels like years for them to change shifts and it happens the moment Siwon sits down behind me and says he played a part in capturing appa? This can't be happening.

Lisa slides her chair back from the table. Reluctantly I stand, careful to keep my head down as I turn around. The bad news is that Siwon's whole crew is at the table, plus a middle-caged man I've never seen before. The good news is that Siwon is fully engages in his conversation, pandering to the man the way he once did with me and Sehun. But with six crowded around a table meant for four, they've practically boxed us in. Even Lisa, who's slighter than me and perfectly graceful, has a hard time maneuvering between them and the window.

And then it happens: Siwon laughs and leans back, tilting his chair on two legs and colliding with Lisa as she walks past. She barely stumbles, but the space is tight and the forward motion causes her to knock into the middle-aged man, spilling his pint of beer all over his lap. As if on cue, Siwon and his crew all turn to look at Lisa and me. No!

The middle-aged man growls and grabs Lisa by the wrist. Her free hand immediately moves to her belt under her coat, where I know she has multiple knives.

"I hope you're reaching for you wallet, darlin', otherwise you're going to sorely regret it," the man says to Lisa in a way that tells me he's used to people backing down from him.

Anger flashes in Lisa's eyes and I get the distinct impression that in any other circumstances she would take her chances and fight this guy. But I can't think about how to help her because Siwon is staring at me and I at him. And it's instantly clear that he recognizes me. My eyes flit to Tiffany, the no-nonsense woman who dismissed us angrily when Sehun and I tried to hire them, and her expression is as hardened as ever.

"I'll get you another," Lisa says through clenched teeth, and pulls her wrist out of the man's grasp. And for a moment I can't believe she's forcing civility. Is she waiting to see what Siwon will do, or does she know something I don't about unallied crews?"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," the man says, and I'm reminded of what Rosé said about Strategia smelling weakness. "I'm not sure I like that tone of yours. Not very, uh, apologetic."

Sunny, the weapons specialist with the long sword earring and the leather jacket, clenches her jaw. But no one else at the table so much as moves an eyebrow. Time slows to a near halt, everyone calculating what move they're going to make without having arrived at a firm decision.

"Run along now," the man says to Lisa, pushing his chair out farther and completely cutting me off from the exit. "We'll just keep your friend here company until you return."

I glare at the man. My possible escape routes are absolute garbage-I can either jump on the table and hope I can get off the other side without one of Siwon's crew cutting me down or I can try to force my way past this jerk, which will probably end the same way.

The man turns to me, wiping his lips with the back of his hand-a hand cluttered with rings, one of which is a big silver owl. My thoughts go to Jennie-the Owl Family. And in that instant time speeds up again.

Before I can react to being cornered, Lisa grabs the man's mostly empty pink and clobbers him in the head with it. Oh god. , we're dead. I would expect something rash like that from Rosé, but not in a million of years did I think Lisa would lose her cool.

To my utter shock, Tiffany stands, too. Only she doesn't turn on us; she faces off with the four men. "If you want those pretty faces of yours to stay pretty," she tells them, "I would sit back down."

I stare at her, mouth open. Maybe she didn't like the middle-aged man to begin with or maybe she realizes how young we are, but whatever the reason, it's working to our advantage.

The rest of Siwon's crew stands, too, in solidarity with Tiffany. Tiffany cracks her knuckles. The four men don't back down and she throws a side kick at the one closest to her, connecting with his ribs and sending him smashing into the table behind him. And like a scene out of a Western movie, a brawl erupts between Siwon's crew and the middle-aged man's crew.

The whole bar turns to watch the fight, taking the spotlight off me and Lisa.

"You owe us for this job just cost us," Siwon growls, nodding at the middle-aged man, and I get the sense that unallied Strategia are just that-unallied. They didn't work with Sehun and me because the risk was too high, and likewise they would have turned us over at the ball because that was their job, but the moment the ball ended, they were independent agents once again.

Before I can reply, Siwon pulls one of the middle-aged man's friend off Shindong's back and punches the guy square in the jaw. Lisa offers me her hand and I take it, climbing over the unconscious middle-aged man. We slip out the door and into the alley as the bar begins to attract a crowd. But my relief is short-lived, because as I glance at the Tiger's Den, I realize we have a bigger problem-the tall bouncer has already left.