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happiness?”
    â€œI don’t know, but I sure as hell don’t think that sitting around in a sewer all your life is. Look . . . I told you about my past just now, but you’ve shared nothing of yours. Tell me what’s going on. Tell me why it has to be this way.”
    â€œIt doesn’t have to be. But it is. It is what it is.” She patted me on the shoulder as if I were an obedient puppy. “On your way with you, Finn. If you encounter some sort of emergency that requires my aid, well . . . you know where to find me. Beyond that, enjoy your adventures. And when you tire of them and want to return to serving a cause, feel free to rejoin mine.”
    â€œI appreciate the offer,” I said. The moment seemed to call for a hug or even a kiss; instead she turned her back to me and focused all her attention on the map spread out before her. “And in return, I offer—”
    â€œTrust me, Finn: There’s nothing you can offer me.” She didn’t even look back at me. I suspected at that point that there was nothing on the map of such overwhelming interest that it required her entire focus. She just didn’t want to look at me.
    â€œYou know what I think?” I said, unable to restrain myself. “I think that you like hiding down here so that you don’t have to face the world.”
    â€œAnd what I think,” she replied, her voice devoid of any trace of emotion, “is that you have strong feelings for me. Feelings beyond simply that of friend or ally.”
    â€œThat’s ridiculous.”
    â€œIs it? Then why come here at all to tell me of your departure? Your invitation to join you wasn’t simply some last-minute impulse. It was the entire reason for your returning to me. You’re torn, Finn. You’re fleeing Bowerstone because you do not wish to stay here with me, yet you desire that I join you because you cannot bear to leave me behind.”
    â€œMy, my,” I said. “Your ego is so massive, it’s astounding you don’t snap your neck just trying to lift your head in the morning. Believe me, Page: Where I go and what I do have absolutely nothing to do with you. Now if you’ll excuse me, there’s a whole wide world out there calling to me, and right now I have to tell you that the main attraction it presents is that you’re not going to be there. Oh, and one other thing—”
    â€œJust the one?” she said with what sounded like false optimism.
    â€œI really did kill three hollow men with one shot.”
    â€œStill not caring,” she said. “And for what it’s worth, I still don’t trust soldiers. Not even you.”
    â€œThanks for clearing that up.”
    I turned and walked away, then I thought I heard her say, ever so softly, “I’ll miss you, though.” But I didn’t bother to turn around and see if she was watching me as I headed back into the labyrinth of the sewers and toward fresh air and a host of new possibilities.
    Damnable Page. She’d picked the worst possible time to start thinking and acting like a woman.

Chapter 3
    An Unwanted Savior
    I SPENT ONE FINAL NIGHT IN BOWERSTONE , although I made a point of staying away from the ill-fated pub where I had encountered Jennifer. The last thing I needed was to see her trying to work her schemes on some other poor dupe. Then again, for all I knew, her husband had decided to take umbrage at her little games and opted to beat the living crap out of her. Either way, it was no concern to me at all. I was putting Jennifer, Page, Ruth, Isabelle, Fiona, and every other woman, ally, and demented female behind me. If I were smart, I might even decide just to take an oath of chastity for the rest of my natural days.
    Not that I would keep that oath, mind you, but at least my heart would be in the right place even though other parts of me would invariably wander to exactly the wrong place.
    I made sure not to drink too