The device said, “I have a name for the registration.”

They waited.

“The car is registered to Nikolas Anastapoulous.”

“That’s them,” Marwan said, standing and starting to pace. “It’s them.”

She was reluctantly impressed with the device. And if it could do all that, what else could it do?

Eden formed the question slowly, only as it occurred to her. “Can you figure out, like from our phones, if we have anything in common that we might not know about? An app? A game we’ve played? A mailing list we’re on? Stuff like that?”

It took a few seconds for the device to answer, “It might take a while but yes.”

“And if you figure out how we’re all connected, you’ll tell us?”

“Affirmative.”

Marwan met eyes with her; they both nodded.

“I have a question,” the device said.

“Okay,” Eden said.

The device said, “Why did you just lie to Marwan about who you were texting?”

She froze and felt like the building swayed under her. “It’s complicated,” she said.

Marwan looked disappointed in her.

The device said, “Answer the question and I will gather the information you requested.”

Was she more embarrassed that she’d lied or embarrassed of the truth? Why did she care what Marwan thought of her texting anyway?

“You can answer,” Marwan said. “I won’t care.”

“I was texting a guy,” Eden said.

“So why did you lie about it?” The device sounded sort of cheerful but in a way that made it seem like she was gloating. Eden was surely imagining it.

“I guess I didn’t want to be rude,” Eden said. “Texting my mom is, like, an obligation.”

“Who is the guy?” the device asked.

Eden stared at the cube for a minute and inhaled, then exhaled. The wind stirred up waves in a planter full of herbs. “You already know who it is.”

“But Marwan doesn’t,” the device said.

“Marwan doesn’t care,” Marwan said.

“She’s texting someone named Julian Stokes,” the device said matter-of-factly.

“That guy?” Marwan said, surprising her and giving her this look. “Really?”

“So what?” Eden said. “You just said you don’t care!”

If the device revealed what they’d been texting about, she’d die. But it wouldn’t. Why would it? She wondered whether she should warn Marwan about the tricks the device had pulled late last night—the voice mimicking, and the texts to Julian—but she didn’t want to get into all that. It felt too … personal.

The device said, “So you do care,” and Marwan just looked off into the distance. A group of pigeons took off from a nearby roof and scooped around in a flash of gray and white like they’d collectively decided to impersonate a cape.

Eden said, “I gotta go,” and headed for the stairs, stubbing her toe on the lip of the hatch.

Eli

ELI