I look down at my own coffee and cookie. I want to smash the biscotto into a million pieces, but I’m pretty sure Jupiter baked it from scratch and I don’t want to offend the orangutan.

“What happened?” I manage to ask.

Luca’s jaw muscles ripple under his dark skin. “The truth? We are still not sure. We should have been more careful. You understand, after four generations of Dakkars searching, your father finally found this place. Your mother and he were determined to move forward.”

“You mean to explore the wreck of the sub,” I say.

Luca hesitates long enough for the coffee to soak halfway up his biscotto. “We tried to urge caution. Ophelia did, mostly…. But this was like telling someone who had just found the Holy Grail not to drink from it. Your parents were sure they could handle the dive. And after…after the accident…”

Luca lowers his head.

Nelinha understands before I do. “You blame yourselves,” she says. “You were friends.”

Ophelia puts her hand on her husband’s shoulder. “The four of us graduated together from Harding-Pencroft.” She turns to me. “When Tarun and Sita died, some of the faculty at HP wanted to bring you and your brother here immediately…for safekeeping. Theodosius Hewett was one of those.”

“We did not agree,” Luca says. “We thought it was too dangerous. It is still too dangerous. We wished you both to have more training, more years of life on the mainland before you had to face the legacy of Nemo. We didn’t think Land Institute would ever risk such a brazen attack and put you and Dev at risk. You were simply too important. But now that your brother…” Luca’s voice cracks. “It seems we were wrong. I am so sorry.”

My head buzzes, and it’s not just from the caffeine.

I try to imagine what it would have been like if Dev and I had spent the last two years on this island. I never would have met Nelinha or Ester. I wouldn’t be a Dolphin prefect. I would’ve had more time with Dev, but we would have spent it in this subterranean base, in the middle of nowhere, where our parents died.

I can’t blame Luca and Ophelia for not wanting that. Still, a fist-size lump of anger burns in my chest. Dev and I weren’t given the choice. If this base is our family’s inheritance, if the alt-tech is ours, what right did Harding-Pencroft have to hide it from us? Why do they get to control our lives?

I remember what Caleb South said about Harding-Pencroft keeping secrets: How many world problems could you cowards have solved if you just shared?

I wonder if Caleb had a point. Is Harding-Pencroft really so much better than Land Institute?