‘I’m so sorry, yes, of course.’ Samuel tripped over his words, reaching for the Stratus tower door, which he opened for her, letting Lottie march through.

He looked as if he were about to follow when Lottie turned on him sharply. ‘Can I have a bit of privacy?’ she demanded.

Samuel was turning the colour of a tomato. ‘You can have twenty minutes to find your friend and … sort this out,’ he said. ‘I’ll be waiting outside.’

Lottie nearly let out a whoop of triumph, shocked that such a ridiculous plan had worked. She had to suppress a giggle, though; it was simply too much, the idea that someone could be so uncomfortable with such a thing.

The moment she was inside the second set of doors and out of his line of sight, she raced to the statue of Elwin, greeting him in relief like an old friend as she turned the ‘W’ on his name.

Making her way down to Liliana’s study, she remembered the last time she had made this journey, her fear and pain, and she needed to fix that.

‘What took you so long?’ Binah asked, arms crossed where she sat on the floor, already laying everything down that they would need to start back up on figuring out Claude’s plan.

‘Sorry.’ Lottie held up her hand in apology. ‘I had to make Samuel think I was embarrassed about my period and didn’t want him following me.’

‘Why would anyone be embarrassed about their period?’

‘I know!’ Lottie almost laughed, plopping herself down on the rug. ‘Jamie never even gave it a second thought. He always just carried a supply of products around for us in case we needed –’ Lottie felt her throat close up, swallowing down the aching lump that had formed. All the good feelings she’d managed to muster evaporated as she remembered why she was there.

‘I’m so glad you’re here, Binah,’ she said instead, reaching over to pull her friend into a tight squeeze. ‘We have to find out what Leviathan is planning. You’re my only hope.’

‘Let’s do this,’ Binah said, squeezing her back.

After weeks of whispered conversations and secret notes, this felt like the first time both of them had been finally able to talk candidly again.

‘I have a new clue,’ Lottie announced as she pulled away, and Binah instantly lit up like a Christmas tree. ‘We only have about twenty minutes until Samuel will get suspicious so we need to brainstorm quickly.’

She pulled out her notebook and opened it, sliding it forward. ‘I found these numbers in Haru’s secret diary, with a note next to them saying “decades”, but I have no idea what they could be. The only one I recognize is my dorm room number at the top.’