Tamara gulped. Her parents were Assembly members. Jasper looked terrified, and even Aaron seemed uneasy.

“I’ll take Havoc,” said Rufus, and held up a hand before Call could protest. “He’ll be perfectly safe in your rooms, which is more than I can say if he’s brought with us. The Assembly is not overfond of Chaos-ridden animals.”

He snapped his fingers and Havoc trotted over to his side. Call gave Havoc a dark look of betrayal.

“Alastair,” said Rufus. “Come here for a moment.”

Alastair appeared surprised, then approached Rufus. The two men looked at each other. Rufus’s change in expression was subtle, but Call thought he could note in the Master’s face that the Alastair he saw was very different from the man Call saw when he looked at his dad. It seemed like he was seeing a boy, maybe Call’s age, with dark hair and mischief in his eyes.

“Welcome back to the Magisterium, Alastair Hunt,” Rufus said. “This place has missed you.”

When Alastair looked back at Master Rufus, there was no anger in his expression. He only looked drained, which made Call’s stomach clench. “I haven’t missed it,” he said. “Look, this whole situation is my fault. Let the kids go back to their rooms and bring me in front of the Assembly. I don’t care what they do.”

“Good plan,” said Jasper, rising to his feet.

“Sit down, deWinter,” said Master Rufus. “You’re lucky Master Milagros isn’t here. She was thinking about having you all dangled over the Bottomless Pit.”

“The what?” asked Call. Jasper sat down hastily, as Master Rufus leaned forward to say something to Alastair, something Call couldn’t hear. Master Rufus backed away with Havoc and tapped his wristband once more against the wall. The door slid shut, sealing them into the room.

Call took a deep breath. He was glad he was going to speak in front of the Assembly. He needed to stay; he needed to explain before someone else explained on his behalf. He needed to show them what they wouldn’t otherwise believe.

Looking over at Jasper, Call tried to guess what he might say to the Assembly. He would definitely bring up the kidnapping — so Call had to just talk first, to get out what he needed to before guards dragged him away. Jasper looked back at him with thoughtful dark eyes.

“What are we going to say?” he said. “I mean, what’s your plan, about telling the Assembly?”

“We tell them the truth,” said Call. “We tell them everything.”

“Everything?” Aaron looked startled. Call felt his stomach tighten further. Had Aaron been prepared to lie for him?

“Call’s right,” said Alastair. “Think about it practically. The worst thing we could do in there is contradict one another. Only if we tell the exact truth will we all be telling the same story.”

“I don’t know why we’re listening to the advice of a wanted criminal,” Jasper muttered.

“We’re all wanted criminals, Jasper,” Tamara snapped, and patted Call’s shoulder. “It’ll be okay,” she said.

“Yeah, better comfort old evil pants over there,” Jasper said. “He’s fragile. His daddy princess-carried him in here.”

“Oh, lay off,” Aaron said. “You get mean every time you’re nervous.”

Call looked over at Jasper, surprised. Was that true? In Call’s experience, Jasper was unpleasant most of the time, but Call certainly knew what it was like to have a mouth that ran away from you. Call said lots of stuff before he thought better of it.

He didn’t want to think he had anything in common with Jasper, especially something about Jasper he didn’t like.