“The quake must have taken down the network. Come on.” Once the group has cleared the Crux, I lead Kai through the corridor, away from the Guards. Voices bark down the hall. My hands shake with adrenaline as I kneel in front of the door to my old dorm room and slip a set of picks into the lock. Kai draws her bow, aiming it toward the sound of approaching boots.

“Jack?” she whispers.

“I’m hurrying.”

“They’re coming!”

A flashlight beam rounds the bend as the final pin slides home. I turn the knob, dragging Kai inside and shutting the door behind us. I fall back against it as the Guards thunder past, only flipping on my flashlight once I’m certain they’re gone.

The sight of my old dorm room brings a rush of memories. I do a quick pass through each room, tearing open the shower curtain, swinging open every door and checking under the beds, trailing a string of soft curses when there’s no sign of my smaze anywhere.

Kai’s sprawled on the floor, staring at the ceiling as she recovers her breath.

“Looks like someone beat us here,” she says. Piles of loose papers and files are scattered around her. Our ratty old couch is flipped upside down, the hard drive’s dismantled, and the glass top of Chill’s desk is cracked. My stasis chamber is gone, its wiry guts dangling from the wall.

I kick aside Chill’s keyboard, a sudden heaviness settling in my chest. The room still smells faintly like him. Like Dorito cheese and contraband beef jerky. With a pang, I bend to pick up the remains of his plush polar bear. Its seams are ripped open, the stuffing spilling out. I carry it into our old bunk room and set it back on his bed. My closet doors hang open and my old rolled-up sketches of the Observatory are gone. And the footlocker where I kept Fleur’s ornaments . . .

I slam the closet door and drag my hands through my hair. I should have paid Boreas to pack them up and store them. Should have asked Lyon to ship it all to our home in Cuernavaca. And now Doug’s taken them. I can guess why he’d want the maps, but why her ornaments?

Rubbing my eyes, I lumber back to the front room. Kai’s righted Chill’s desk chair. She plops down into it, tearing open a bag of chips. She holds one out to me. “I found them in a drawer. Candy bars, too,” she says. “And there are some bottled waters in the mini-fridge under the window—”

“I know where my own mini-fridge is,” I say irritably, ripping the bag from her hand. “These are Chill’s.”