“There must be a back door.” Colin the worry-wort child had gone through a phase of making emergency escape plans. He’d read the fire code.
“It’s locked. I don’t have the key.”
“We can break a window,” Colin said defiantly.
“Yes.” Cat looked away. “I can’t pass the threshold without his permission. I mean, I couldn’t. Maybe now…but if I can’t…”
“I won’t leave without you,” Colin promised.
“No, leave.” Cat put a hand over Colin’s protest. “Get Kissa and the kids home safe and come back for me another day, okay? When he’s not on guard.”
Colin swallowed. If he waited, would that Master be punishing Cat for Colin’s intrusion? “Do you know the way to the back door from here?”
“More or less. We have to get back to the rooms we came through earlier, the basement part. There’s only that one
