My heart swelled. For a moment, I almost said it. It was at the tip of my tongue. “Tamara, I lo—”

“Can you believe that thing Scylla found, though?” Tamara blurted. “I mean, it looked exactly like the coin. That can’t be a coincidence. Maybe I’ve been hanging around Henry too much, but I swear, there is something going on out there. And I think GSAF knows it, and they’re covering it up.”

I sighed. What was that she said about the luck, again?

“Y’know,” I muttered at last, looking up at the sky. Both Phobos and Deimos were out tonight, shining brightly in the vast darkness. What was out there? What really? The answer? “I hate to admit it, but I’m beginning to wonder. But how does your mom’s mark fit into it? Could—could it really be smugglers, like Erick thinks?”

Tamara bit her lip, turning fully toward me, her shoulders bathed in moonlight. Focus, I thought.

“Like, someone is trying to copy her work?” she asked. “Maybe they think that if her name is on it, it will be worth more money.”

“I wish I still had that coin. Now that Emil’s got his creepy hands on it, we may never be able to figure out—” A thought struck me, and I froze. Emil. What if Emil tried to come after this thing? He was so desperate to find that key, whatever that was, so anything that resembled the coin may be something he’d want.

Cristo. Thinking about Emil coming after me, putting my mom and Celeste in danger, made me sick enough. Now this was in Tamara’s house.

“Tamara, you have to let me take it.”

“What?” Tamara stared at me, mouth agape. “Why?”

“Emil—you could be in danger,” I hissed, raking my hand through my hair. “Emil is a total whack job, and now you’ve got that thing in your house. No way. No way am I putting you at risk.”

Tamara reached for me, small hands gripping my wrists and pulling them down before I could yank my hair out by the roots. “Isaak, listen to me. It’s okay.” When I shook my head, she went on, “He doesn’t even know about the object, okay? It can’t be that key he wants, because your dad had that, and this was out in the middle of a heavily guarded site, buried under three meters of sediment.”

“Yeah, but, I mean—he came into my bedroom, without anyone knowing, and stole the coin. I assume he did it when none of us were home, but what would happen if he came face to face with someone? With you? You didn’t see him, Tam. He’s strong, and he’s a psycho.” I shook my head fervently, placing my hands on her elbows. “No. I will not let that happen.”