The people who attracted too much attention always ended up dead in the evening execution.

They started by searching Nandita’s room: all her drawers and closets, in the boxes under her bed, in the spaces behind the dresser and the large vanity mirror, even between her mattresses and hidden in the pockets of her clothes. They searched the hothouse as well, though in the months of Nandita’s absence Xochi had already taken over much of it, and there were very few spaces not already filled by Xochi’s ever-growing collection of herbs and sprouts. When they failed to find anything, they began searching the rest of the house, first looking in all the drawers and cupboards and eventually prying up floorboards, cutting open upholstery, and even digging holes in the garden. They found nothing.

“I think we have to face it,” said Marcus days later, leaning tiredly on the kitchen counter. “These experiment logs either don’t exist, or they’re gone.”

“They exist,” said Ariel. “I saw them.”

“She may have taken them with her,” said Marcus. He stared at the gaping hole they’d just punched in the kitchen wall; Nandita had repaired a section of Sheetrock there about a year before, something the Partials apparently didn’t know, but when they broke it open they found nothing but a few dropped nails. “That might be why she left, to continue her studies or analyze the results or something.”

“Or to hide them,” said Ariel. “Or maybe just destroy them outright. Though I don’t know what would have prompted her to do it.”

Marcus shook his head. “You’re assuming she left willingly. What if she was taken? Her and her records? That seems . . .” Marcus slowed, and laughed dryly. “I was going to say that seems needlessly paranoid, but under the circumstances it might actually be right. I don’t think anything would surprise me at this point.”

Ariel shook her head. “If they took her, they wouldn’t be back here looking for her, right?”

“There are a lot of Partial factions,” said Marcus. “It might have been one of Morgan’s enemies.”

“Nandita and Dr. Morgan were both performing experiments on Kira,” said Ariel, nodding. “For all we know, they were working together.”

“I certainly got the impression she was working for Morgan when Heron confronted me,” said Marcus, “but I suppose Heron’s not exactly the most trustworthy source. Consider this, though: As far as we know, Morgan’s recent experiments on Kira were purely coincidental. She just wanted a human girl, she never went out of her way to get a specific one.”

“As far as you know,” said Ariel.