“Are you here for a fitting?”

Six whirled, the weapon in her hand held at her side and out of sight, at least for the moment. Looking at her was a young, slight woman with blond hair pulled into a ponytail. She was holding a clipboard. She didn’t seem at all shocked or worried to see Six running loose in the hallway.

“Sorry about the lights,” the girl said. “Something went wrong with the electricity. But it’s back on now.” She laughed. “Obviously. Anyway, you’re probably looking for the costuming room, right?” The girl’s gaze moved past Six to the poster, and she laughed again. “You look a lot like Camilla,” she said. “Are you her understudy? They said a new girl was coming in. I can’t believe Lara left right before we open, but a lead on Broadway doesn’t happen every day, right? Anyway, she’d probably never get a chance to go on. Camilla is never out.” She put her hand to her mouth. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I mean, maybe she’ll let you play a matinee once the initial excitement wears off and the crowds slow down. Which will probably be never once people see how amazing this show is. I mean, wait until you see the monsters.”

“Monsters?” Six said. She was getting more confused by the moment. She’d expected to encounter Eleni, some other Mogs or even humans who were working for them. But nobody seemed to find her presence there at all alarming.

The girl shook her head. “They’re flipping fantastic. Bigger than anything we’ve ever had. People are going to lose their minds.”

Nothing the girl said made any sense to Six. “Who are you?” she asked.

“Oh, sorry. I’m Allison, the assistant to the assistant to the assistant costuming coordinator.”

“Okay,” Six said, even though she still had no idea what the girl was talking about. “Well, Allison, I need to make a call. Do you have a phone I could use?”

Allison shook her head. “We don’t get reception down here. But there’s a phone in the lobby.”

“Lobby,” Six repeated. “Now we’re getting somewhere. If you could just show me how to get there, that would be great.”

“Um, you had to walk through it to get down here,” Allison said. “You just take the elevator back up.”

“Thanks,” Six said, and started to walk away.

“What about the fitting?” Allison asked.

Six was going to ignore the question. But then she thought about it. She still had no idea where, exactly, she was. It obviously wasn’t a Mog base, but there had to be some reason why she and Sam had been brought here instead of to a more secure facility. She needed to call Nine and find Sam, but she didn’t know where Sam might be and she had nothing to actually tell Nine at the moment. While she was anxious to be taking action, it might help if she took a few minutes to see what she could find out. Reluctantly, she turned around.