Alex sighed. “She’s really trying to keep us busy, huh?” Luna pulled on his arm, standing on her tiptoes to see his tablet screen as he checked it. She gasped, grinned, and excitedly showed him hers.

Nicole had no trouble playing it cool. She went through the motions, silently checking her tablet for a message that wasn’t there.

Harlow announced, “I’m off to somewhere called the Bone Room.”

“My luck. It forsakes me,” Stella said. “Nicole, don’t forget me. I will be viciously jealous if you do. She winked and grinned—her usual parting—and then took aim, pretending to shoot Francis with a finger gun. “To the Bone Room.”

“Wait, you too?” Harlow asked.

“That’s what I just said,” Stella said, walking away. “Really, Harlow, you could at least try to keep up.”

Luna led Alex away by the hand, scampering off together to their secret location. No goodbye. No see you later. No let’s meet up and strategize later.

Francis hadn’t torn his steely gaze away from Stella’s retreating form. He didn’t look angry. He didn’t look anything at all, really. That was something unique to him—a perfected stoic passiveness that hid whatever he felt. Stone cold. Impenetrable.

Nicole wondered how long it would take someone to truly get to know him. Better yet, how long it would take for him to let someone in.

He exhaled into a sigh, raising his shoulders near his ears, and then let them drop. “Funny story,” he said, showing her his tablet. “I think I’m just supposed to follow your lead.”

Enjoy your afternoon with the Queen.

“That’s what the raffle was for,” Nicole admitted. “I get a free afternoon off from the game.”

“Ahh, and since we were partners earlier, I get to come along for the ride. Got it,” he said. “What would you like to do?”

Nicole chose to not correct him. She honestly just wanted to talk to him, almost saying so before changing her mind. “Since you know this place so well, what’s your favorite room? Let’s go there.”

He blinked in surprise and smiled—quick and with teeth. The most effortless one she’d seen from him so far. “Sure, but it’s not a room. It’s a place.”

FRIDAY, 1:45 P.M.

Both of their tablets read

Please proceed to the Bone Room

But strangely, their key codes didn’t match. Stella’s was the usual string of numbers, too long to be worth memorizing, while Harlow’s was a much simpler B340.

“The keypad doesn’t even have a B,” Harlow said while they stood outside the door. “Yours must be to let us in, and mine is for something inside the room.”