Rushing into the glass cube, I located the manuscript and, putting on white gloves, set it on a table. I turned the delicate pages with tweezers, going as quickly as I dared, hunting for a clue. Twenty minutes later, I found it. Sandwiched between some bizarre illustrations of naked people—and I couldn’t help but giggle—was a piece of paper with six compass roses, each ringed with a code. The layout reminded me of a Templar cipher, but the writing was distinctly Voynich. Did he decipher the manuscript? I tried a few lines from the book, and it translated to gibberish. No…this must be his code.

Taking the scrap of paper out of the key fob, I got to work.

N-O-T-H…

When I finished, I sat back, admiring his handiwork, and smiled.

It read: “nothing is as it seems we’re just getting started always say die”

I’m still not sure if he means we’re just starting—as in me and him, together—but excitement ignites in my belly all the same.

Yes. This is only the beginning. Always say die.

“It’s kind of morbid, don’t you think?” Sophia asks as she and Rayelle join me, jarring me out of my reverie. She’s gone all out with her costume, wearing a silver lamé evening gown with a drop waist and tassels. Her hair is tucked into a hat decorated with a silver plume. Half of her face is smeared with silver glitter, and she wears a small collection of rhinestones under her left eye. “The Last Night on the Titanic?”

“I think it’s romantic,” Rayelle says, smoothing the skirt of her red velvet gown. “It’s to remind us to live every day like it’s our last.”

“We’re definitely standing on a sinking ship,” Stewart says, arriving by my side and linking arms with me. He leads me into the party. “The world as we know it might as well go to hell, since our best and brightest turned out to be a traitor.”

“We don’t know that,” I say. “I still think Garrett was called away to a top-secret job. We got the algorithm and prevented the Quinn update this time, but Simon’s still out there. Madden is still building the Simulation. They’ll find another way to convince society mind uploads are a good idea. Garrett’s probably on the front lines.”

“If it was a job, don’t you think Allard or Abignail would tell us?” Stewart asks. “They don’t have to tell us what the job is.”

I shrug. “Allard says she doesn’t know. But maybe she’s sworn to secrecy.”

“Speaking of,” Sophia says under her breath.

Allard taps my shoulder. “Elisha, can I talk to you for a moment?”

She’s decked out in a black beaded evening gown, but I know she misses her lab coat.