It’s not like Grandfather to make promises he can’t keep, but this is something that is out of his control. Certainly out of mine.

Right now everything feels out of my control.

I abandon my pastels to check if Georgie’s gotten back to me yet. I mean, I know there’s no way she has, but it’s hard for me to think about anything else. I refresh my screen just in case. Then again.

I pick up a pastel to keep working, but then change my mind and drop it. I can’t help but think that while I sit here enhancing smile lines, Kor is about to invade Arcadia, and I’m doing nothing about it.

Instead I pace. And then pace some more.

Eventually I flop onto my bed and pick up my father’s music box from the bedside table. Dad’s another person I haven’t had any luck reaching. I’ve been trying to call him every single day, but nothing so far. I twist the key, and it begins to play the familiar song. “Yosef HaLevi’s Nocturne.” The very same one Rafe had assured me I could never have heard in the provincial world. The notes immediately calm me. I take deep breaths and just try to clear my head. When the song ends, I twist the key to play it again and close my eyes.

A ping from my laptop wakes me. I blink a few times, then jump up when I see light streaming through my window. It’s past 7:00 a.m., and I have the horrible jabby feeling of having slept a whole night in a bra.

My laptop pings again.

Incoming call from PURPLEBOOTS.

I run over to click accept, and the moment I see Georgie’s wonky smile and hair—that’s now bubblegum pink—I want to cry and laugh at the same time.

“You!” she says with exuberant tenderness. “I miss your face!” I can see from the video that said face is quite blotchy and smeared with makeup, though my braid crown has held up surprisingly well. The ivy hasn’t even wilted yet.

“I miss you too, and I’m still so sorry—”

“Ada, we’re past that. Your email said you need help?”

“Right. I need you to put me in contact with Cicero,” I say.

“Okay…?”

“I think she has information I can use to stop something bad from happening.”

“Not a problem. I have a chat window open with her already.”

“You’ve been chatting with her? Georgie, that’s not safe. I told you who she’s connected to. I don’t know if she’s trustworthy!”

“Relax. She doesn’t know who I am. We mostly just talk about code and stuff. Plus, she’s… really cute.”

“So you can put us in touch?”

“Already done.”

A new window opens, and CICERO joins our call.