“The dictionary defines ‘beast of prey’ as a carnivorous animal,” Grandma Annie said. “And anyway, a lion could be prey either way.”

“Prey to what?” said Grandpa Ben.

“A bigger lion,” Tess suggested.

Grandma and Grandpa both laughed, and Grandma reached for Grandpa’s hand. That was how she remembered Grandpa Ben and Grandma Annie. Always laughing, reaching for each other, even when they disagreed.

After Grandma Annie died five years ago, they sat shivah. Though they weren’t formal people, Tess’s mom covered all the mirrors with black cloth, and they had visitors coming and going, bringing food and talking in low tones. Tess sat under a table and cried so hard she ran out of tears. Grandpa Ben gathered her onto his lap. He said that he hurt, too, but their pain was a measure of how much they loved Grandma Annie and how much joy she had brought them. He said he wouldn’t trade his time with Grandma for anything, not even to stop his tears. And he said that he would try to laugh as much as he could, because that was how Grandma lived her life, and that was how he could honor her.

Tess hadn’t felt like laughing much lately, but she thought that working this part of the Cipher honored her grandmother as well as her grandpa Ben. She pushed her papers away and focused on the leather strap itself. Something about the way the letters were tooled onto the leather nagged at her. Why were they vertical instead of horizontal? Why make a long strip of letters rather than tooling the letters across the strip so they could be read more easily? Were they supposed to read the letters differently somehow? Arrange the strip in a particular way?

Jaime tossed his pencil down, removed his glasses, and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Your headache is catching, Tess.” He put the glasses back on. “I liked this thing better as a bracelet.”

“It would make a nice belt, too,” said Theo.

“A belt?” Tess said, her thoughts racing, scratching for some bit of history. Who wore leather belts tooled with ciphers?

“What are you thinking?” said Theo, watching her.

“I know how to read it,” Tess said.

“You do?”

“Yup. We just need someone with a bigger arm.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Theo

“Wait, what’s wrong with my arm?” Jaime said.