“As much as you enjoy hiding them.”

He spreads his hands and holds them out like he has nothing to hide. “What do you want to know?”

I look at him pointedly. “Something of equal value to whatever I tell you.”

“As long as I get to be the one who decides what is equal,” he says.

“You are a piece of work,” I say.

He smirks. “At least I’m not predictable.”

“You can say that again.” I chew on the inside of my cheek and shift my focus to the flickering candle on my bedside table, watching it cast shadows on the maroon blackout curtain behind it. Part of me fears I’m making a huge mistake. But if I’m stuck here with no way to talk to Dad and the administration suspects I was involved in a murder, I can’t just sit around and wait for the chips to fall. Especially after what I learned from Ash last night: Strategia have managed to shape world events for the past two thousand years. Compared to manipulating world leaders, I must seem like easy pickings. I sigh and look back at Ash. “So, who was his roommate?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Stefano’s roommate. If we’re going to figure this thing out, wouldn’t that be a logical place to start?”

Ash looks at me sideways, like he’s surprised I had to ask. “Matteo,” he says, and the moment his name comes out of Ash’s mouth I’m positive this is the worst deal I’ve ever made.

Chapter Thirteen

LAYLA AND I walk toward class, and even though I’ve been up for some hours now, I still feel groggy from lack of sleep. Also, I’ve been getting more looks than usual all day, making me wonder if my conflict with Brendan and Charles is now public knowledge. And as though they knew I was thinking about them, I hear Brendan’s and Charles’s voices behind us.

Layla pushes through a classroom door and I exhale in relief. But it’s short-lived, because not five seconds later Brendan and Charles enter, too. And to make matters worse, Nyx is with them.

The five of us are the first ones in the classroom, where the desks, if you can call the large wooden tables that, have all been pushed to the edges of the room. There are two ropes tied securely around a thick dark wood ceiling beam, and hanging between them is a flag bearing the school crest.