Elliot jumped at the word letter like it had electrocuted him somehow, glancing left and right as though to make sure we were alone. “Yes,” he finally hissed, the word barely loud enough for me to hear.

“So?” I said. “What did it say?”

“It said my name,” he said, coming over to lean against one of the large oak trees that bordered the fountain. “That’s enough, isn’t it? If it didn’t have that, you’d be in jail already. But you wrote the one thing that was sure to condemn me on that, that . . .” He faltered, his face twisting in a grimace as he searched for words. “Well, you know what.”

“Actually, I don’t know anything,” I said. When he just looked at me like if he stared hard enough my head would catch on fire, I threw up my hands defensively. “I swear,” I said. “I have a solid guess what that is, although trust me, I’m really hoping I’m wrong. But judging from the stink eye you’re giving me, I’m guessing I’m out of luck.”

Elliot snorted. “Luck. Like you’ve ever needed luck. You put my name on here just to spite me, don’t lie.”

“I didn’t,” I said defensively. “Well, I haven’t yet. I can’t really control what my future self does, now can I?”

Elliot visibly twitched at the word future, glancing around nervously before turning to stare daggers at me again.

“Watch your mouth,” he said. “This place is probably monitored from ten different angles.”

I shook my head. “It’s not,” I said. “This entire section lost power today. It won’t be fixed until next week sometime. No one is watching us.”

He raised an eyebrow at me. “That’s sure convenient.”

“Perk of being the commander’s kid.” I shrugged. “I find out about exciting stuff like electrical shortages. Besides, if it hadn’t been out, I could have ensured those security monitors were accidentally turned off.” I put the word accidentally in air quotes, but Elliot didn’t seem the least bit impressed. If anything, I’d somehow just made him angrier.

“One of the many perks of being you,” Elliot muttered, picking at the bark of the tree he was leaning against.

“If you have something to say, you need to speak a little clearer,” I snapped.

He stopped picking at the tree and crossed his arms over his chest. “How can I trust you?”

“Do you have a choice?” I said. “Whatever this letter is—and I think you and I both know—we are going to have to deal with it together.” That was a complete bluff, but Elliot was too twitchy to notice. I had no idea if we were in this together, but I needed him to believe that if I went down, he went down too. It was pure self-preservation.