“Oh, man,” one of the guys said from behind them. “I never get tired of the views around here.”

“Gotta love Pulse-terns,” the other one said.

Maddie’s heart hammered her chest, and she whirled around.

“Maddie,” Delia whispered, closing the gap between them. “Now’s not the time. Just keep moving.”

Though she clenched her fists, Maddie did as Delia asked. “Only for you, Dee.”

Still hanging on to Maddie’s sleeve, Delia said, “What an ass.”

Maddie stopped, and a smile usually saved for her brother broke through. It was the first time she’d ever heard Delia curse.

“They work here. What do you expect?” Maddie said. “Now, let’s do this . . . whatever this is.”

“Right. Okay.” Delia pushed her shoulders back, inhaled, and whispered something about the depths before marching into the developer space and swiveling her head from side to side. She landed on a young white girl with a mass of brown curls who was wrestling her hand through them, repeatedly. Delia spread her hands through her own spirals, growing them wider, pulled her laptop out of her backpack, and approached.

“How’s it going?” Delia asked, nerves causing her words to run into one another. “What are you working on?”

“Complier errors. Lots and lots and lots of them.”

“Yeah, uh.” Delia slowed herself down. “I’m on some too.”

Maddie raised an eyebrow, and Delia mouthed, “back me up.”

“You’re new too?” Maddie said.

“Obvious much?” The girl’s whole body deflated. “It’s my second week. But my first was all HR and training and, oh God, I’m going to be sent back for more training, aren’t I?”

“Is that, like, possible?” Delia said.

“I don’t know. Is it?” She tugged her hand through her hair. “Maybe we should go ask—”

“No!” Delia cried. “I mean, no. . . . What’s your name?”

“Natalie.”

“Of course, Natalie. Well, Natalie, I can’t go ask anyone anything because . . . because . . .” She held up her laptop. “I can’t log in remotely, and it’s like my third time having a problem, and if they find out . . .”

“Hey, don’t worry. Grab a chair and let’s figure it out together.”

“No,” Maddie said. “She can’t. She doesn’t have time.”

“I don’t?” Delia said. “Right. Time. I don’t have time. I have all this work to do. Pulse work. But I have to be home in like . . .” She looked at her wrist, which had no watch. “Fifteen minutes. Home in Stinson Beach.”

Eric had said that was where Emma was staying. But he never said exactly how far it was.

“Stinson? You’ll never make it!” Natalie looked around, panicked. “Listen, that’s your laptop?”

Delia nodded.

“Here, give it to me.” Natalie grabbed it and quickly connected to the Wi-Fi. “You don’t even have the remote program downloaded?”

“I did, but then it kept crashing, and so I—”