“I dunno. He’d probably be pushing a hundred if he was.”

“Maybe not. The pics of him on the news articles made him look pretty young. Like maybe your grandpa’s age now, or a little older.”

“But even if he is still alive,” I said, “how are we supposed to track him down? I haven’t seen any record of him at all after the 2040s. He could be anywhere, on either world.” I glanced at the giant steampunk grandfather’s clock against the masonry wall and groaned. “It’s nearly two in the morning. We’ve got to be up for school in four hours.”

“Fine. If you’re tired, go to bed,” Henry said.

“But what about you?”

“I just want to check this out. You go catch some Zs. Try not to have nightmares about royally screwing up with Tamara.”

I paused, my hands halfway up to my headset. “Do you get joy out of being a dick or something?”

Henry grinned. “You know it. After all, I passed on a real chicken dinner for you.”

I scowled and pulled the headset off.

Chapter 13

Yawning, I looked out the window for the tenth time in five minutes. Somehow I’d managed to get through all my classes without collapsing, but final period was Earth Literature, and that was enough to bore me to sleep even on my best days. Through the window, the sun glinted off the river that ran alongside the school, meandering out from the delta in Gale Valley toward Escalante Bay. In the distance, the snow-covered peak of Mount Sharp disappeared into the clouds.

And somewhere in between, GSAF had our dig site under lock and key. My fist clenched involuntarily.

A buzzing sensation in my back pocket brought me back to reality with a start. I threw a surreptitious glance up at the teacher, but her attention was fixed on dissecting the quote on the pyramidal display at the front of the room. Mrs. Cheng seemed to have enough enthusiasm about Death of a Salesman to make up for my own disinterest with plenty to spare.

I quickly pulled the palmtop out of my pocket and held it under my desk, shielded from view by my knee. It was a text from Henry. He hadn’t been at the train station this morning. I figured he’d overslept, considering how late we’d stayed up. Of course, it wasn’t out of the ordinary for Henry to just not show up for school, in general. He didn’t seem to share my concern over losing our Academy scholarships.

I found it, the text read. No further elaboration.

I rolled my eyes. What? I texted back.

The reply was almost immediate. D.H.’s address. Below this were map coordinates. I stared at them a moment, my eyes bulging.

David Hassan lived here. In Tierra Nueva.

Before my brain could process this information, Mrs. Cheng cleared her throat and loudly said, “Isaak.”