“Her family, and mine, and all the others, would be furious if they knew what she was up to.” Even though I haven’t spoken to Izzy in months, she’s still one of my best friends, and I hope she’s not getting into any trouble.

Georgie stares at Izzy’s photo with wide eyes. “It’s so weird to think that the Inquisitors we hear so much about don’t actually exist. Really makes me wonder what else the Makers are wrong about. Ya know?”

I get what she means. Since the mourning day for the Fall of Naiot is approaching—it’s the day before my birthday, so I have a chance of actually remembering it—we’ve been discussing the Inquisitors at length in Foundations. The Makers talk about it as if the “strangers” mentioned in the stories are, without question, the Inquisitors.

“Yeah, I feel like they must have some other enemy out there they don’t even know about.”

Maybe the Fall of Naiot was Ozymandias Tech too?

Except now I find myself questioning whether Izzy’s warning message was about Oz Tech after all. With what I’ve learned about the Oculus and Hypatia’s abduction—could whatever she saw that scared her be related to the Families? Could it be connected to why she left them in the first place?

But even if Oz Tech aren’t the ones who took Hypatia, they’re not innocent. They did try to take me. Twice. Leo de Montaigne roofying me to hand me over to his sister is proof of that.

I wonder for the millionth time what Izzy knows that she’s not telling me. I wish she had trusted me instead of cutting me off.

Georgie trusts me. She completely took me at my word that the Makers must be wrong about the Inquisitors.

That kind of trust deserves my honesty. I take a breath and then say, “So, about Rafe.”

She immediately stiffens, her lips pursing.

“It’s not what it looks like,” I start, with way too much guilt in my tone.

She looks at me like she can’t believe I just said that, and then she laughs. A bitter laugh. “So you weren’t wearing each other’s favors during that game we were both just at?”

“What I meant to say is—”

“Ada, you don’t have to lie to me to spare my feelings. I’m not going to tell anyone about your family either way.”

“No! Georgie! Please listen. We’re not dating or anything. It’s just practical to let people think that. We’re working together to get off the island to help Hypatia.”

“And you trust him?”

“I… It’s complicated. But I do trust that he wants to find Hypatia. Please don’t be mad at me.”