Trey put both palms down on the particleboard tabletop with a slap.

“I told KQ about how you were trying to weasel in on our deal, and it’s not going to fly. Cal told us everything.”

I looked at Cal, who kept her eyes large and beautiful and wrong.

“Cal, what the—”

“I’m sorry, okay?” she said, her voice all crackle and whimper. “I wanted to be your friend—I know, how naive am I? But I really did; I really thought—” She dragged the sleeve of her sweater under her nose. “I can’t cover for you anymore, Pey. It’s just not fair to me.”

Of course.

KQ nodded gravely, no mouse insults in sight. Just like Cal wanted. Just like she planned all along.

Of-motherfucking-course.

“KQ, can we talk after this meeting?” I asked, my voice and my eyes on her alone.

“Yeah, no,” KQ said, shaking her head. “I don’t want to.”

“But there’s another—”

“You can turn in your training privileges after work. This is not what I had in mind when I told you to teach.”

My pass. My access to the Looking Glass.

And Cal still had my results.

I bit down on my tongue until I tasted my blood, but I wasn’t going to make a scene. I wouldn’t give them that.

“You got it,” I said.

Trey smiled, putting his hand over Cal’s on the table.

“Good to see you are capable of acting like an adult,” he said. “We appreciate it.”

Trey’s hand on Cal’s would’ve made her skin crawl straight off her bones a day ago, but now she looped her fingers in with his and smiled like a doll built to love.

I had a spark of hope that she had a plan, some kind of long game that would benefit both of us. But I struck that thought down instantly, ashamed it had even flickered in my mind. The truth was, anyone who could survive the Downstairs was no longer anything close to human. Even if, against all odds, they had arrived that way, it was not how they would leave.

The truth was, I had never actually known her at all.

“Pey, I am going to put together a disciplinary hearing for you. I realize we’re not known for being choirboys here, but we still have a general code of ethics. Don’t steal other people’s deals. I’d think you’d know that by now.”

I nodded, plastering my face with shame.

“You’re so right; thank you for the reminder.”

Trey cocked an eyebrow in Cal’s direction, but she was too smart. She just smiled and patted his hand, looking so sad for me.

I went against all of my codes for her, I thought as I cracked my knuckles under the table, twisting hard enough that I heard one pop straight out. I broke all of my best rules.