“The point is, we need all the help we can get,” Sophia says, matching steps with me as we head to Forgery class. “So, let’s keep you off that farm.”

“I’ll do my best,” I say, uncertain if my best will be good enough. Though I definitely prefer the Farm to the Super Brain…

Chapter Ten

October 20X5, Keystone

I bang on Allard’s door, announcing my presence before letting myself in. “I’m here!”

“Elisha? Is that you?” she calls from the kitchen.

“Yes!”

Some old-timey music plays on the turntable, and I half expect her to appear wearing a vintage Dior dress borrowed from the replica of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s costume collection in the Vault. They have clothes that are hundreds of years old down there and an entire wing dedicated to disguises that we can borrow. It’s one of my favorite places to hang out.

“Have a seat. I’ll be right out,” she says.

Sinking onto the tweed couch, I pick up her coffee-table book, absently flipping through photographs of Frank Lloyd Wright–designed houses, wondering why she so urgently summoned me here. I’m reading about Fallingwater when I notice indentations left from handwriting in the margin. I try to make them out.

Safety in stone—

“Are you ready to get to work?” The kitchen door swings open, and she appears, wearing a white lab coat, her red hair clasped in an array of wispy tendrils that refuse to stay in place. She’s the complete opposite of what I imagined, and I bite back a laugh. You can take the girl out of Hollywood…

“What are we studying tonight? Code breaking?” I ask.

“I thought we’d work on intuition,” she replies. “How’s journaling going?”

I grimace. “It’s not exactly fun…”

The corners of her mouth turn down, and she nods. “Dredging up the past is hard, but I truly believe it will be worth it in the end.”

“I hope so.” The terrible things I have left to record flash through my mind, filling me with dread.

Taking a seat next to me, she rests her elbow on the back of the couch and cocks her head to the side. “Let’s try an exercise on first impressions. What did you think the very first time you saw me? What’s the first word that comes to mind?”

I think back to that day at the Anonymous pub. “Dangerous. I wanted to run.”

“And rightly so. I was a threat to everything you knew—to the life you led.”

“But then you started talking, and I felt better. I was mesmerized.”

“I’d say our friendship worked out. Wouldn’t you?”

“Yes.” I nod.

“So, your instincts were correct. Let’s try another one. How about Garrett? First impression.”

My stomach drops in embarrassment. “I don’t want to answer that.”

She laughs. “Pretty please?” She bats her eyelashes. “I promise there’s a point to this.”

Rolling my eyes, I sigh. I wanted to collapse at his feet. “It was weird. It seemed like the lights glowed brighter, and the air was humming, and I wanted him to notice me. But the second time it was like I needed him, like I wanted to use him. I turned into the old me. It can’t be right.”