“You’re rubbing your hands together in a self-soothing motion, which tells me that my questions made you nervous. And your lips are pressed together, indicating you’re physically trying to resist giving me any information. I know you can’t tell me details. Keep it as vague as you need to, but find a way to answer, and think about your body language,” he says. “It says more than you realize and to more people than just me.”

“Hmmm.” I shift my position, trying hard to just act normal. “I know he lived in New York very briefly, but he always said he preferred a quiet life,” I say slowly, thinking through my answer so that I don’t give away anything traceable. “And he never travels or even talks about other countries or having distant relatives.” I would say that he has an American accent, but having met a language virtuoso like Aarya, I now know a person’s accent doesn’t necessarily mean anything.

“What about his immediate family?” Ash asks.

“Well, his parents are dead and he’s an only child. He claims to have some second cousins or something, but I’ve never met them.” I frown, despite myself. How did I not find any of this suspicious before?

Ash nods. “If we figure out who his Family is, we might be able to figure out who has a vendetta against you and why they set you up. Right now, the only person who seems to know about you is Matteo. And I’ve already tried that. It’s a dead end.”

I blink at him for a second. “You spoke to Matteo?”

He looks at me curiously. “That upsets you?”

I know it shouldn’t, but it kind of does. “Well, I’m obviously not his biggest fan after he punched me in the face for no reason. I’m half his size!”

“There are many, many reasons one of us might take a swing at someone here,” Ash counters. “And your size doesn’t mean a thing. If you think it does, then you’re a fool. Nyx and all of her five feet can take down ninety percent of the biggest guys in this school, and she frequently does.”

I open my mouth to argue, but he’s right. This system is completely different from what I’m used to. People act differently, retaliate differently.

“As of this moment, Matteo seems to be the only person who knows who you are. Don’t you want to figure this out?”

“I do. I do want to figure this out,” I say, and tuck a loose piece of hair behind my ear.

Ash grins.

“What?”

“Oh, nothing,” he says, but he doesn’t mean it.

“Spit it out, Ash. Why are you grinning at me like that?”