YOU’RE NERVOUS.
I’m not nervous, Watt insisted, then realized that he was perched on the very edge of Avery Fuller’s couch. He scooted back against the pillows self-consciously.
Okay, he told Nadia. Maybe a little nervous.
When Leda flickered him last night, Watt had practically slid out of his desk chair in shock. He almost thought the message was some kind of twisted practical joke from Nadia. He hadn’t been expecting to hear from Leda anytime soon—really, anytime ever—given the bleak finality of their good-bye last year.
Then Watt realized that it was a group message, and the other two recipients were Avery and Rylin. We need to talk—in person, Leda had written. I think we’re all in danger.
And despite the gravity of the situation, despite the fact that he should probably be concerned about whatever Leda had discovered, Watt couldn’t help feeling a fragile hope ballooning in his chest. He was going to see Leda again.
He’d shown up early to Avery’s apartment, hoping that he might catch Leda for a moment alone; after all, she was the one who’d summoned them all to this group meeting. But she hadn’t yet arrived. Watt just sat there silently, ignoring Avery’s pointed glances, trying to figure out what the hell he was going to say. How did you greet the girl you loved when you hadn’t seen her in eight months—when her last words to you were If you care about me at all, you’ll leave me alone?
He cast his gaze nervously around the room, all brocade carpets and blue-patterned wallpaper and carved antiques that looked as if they’d been shipped straight from Versailles. For all Watt knew, maybe they had. He’d forgotten how imposing it was simply to get this high: switching on the 990th floor to the private elevator that opened onto the Fullers’ landing, then stepping through that massive two-story entryway. He’d felt a bit like Hercules climbing the staircase of the gods to Mount Olympus.
Now here he was, in the fabled sky island, the bright human aerie perched atop the greatest structure in the world. Watt glanced out the floor-to-ceiling windows, the flexiglass so impossibly clear that it looked like it wasn’t there at all. He felt like he could stretch out his hands and brush the sky. What was it like for the Fullers, having no neighbors except those below them? Didn’t it feel strange that their only connection with the rest of the city was the opening to their private elevator shaft?
His head darted up at the sound of the doorbell, but then he realized that of course Leda wouldn’t need to ring the doorbell at all. She was on the preapproved entry list here.
“I thought we were done with all this.” Rylin Myers sank into the opposite armchair.
“I thought it was over too. A long time ago.” The sleeve of Avery’s sweater dress fell forward as she reached for a glass of lemon water. A platter of snacks was arranged on the coffee table before them, completely untouched.
How like Avery to provide refreshments at a time like this. Yet Watt couldn’t help thinking that it was oddly comforting, as if Avery’s unobtrusive hospitality was helping diffuse the tension.
He’d almost forgotten that when he first met Avery, he’d thought he was infatuated with her. But after dating Leda—after realizing what it really felt like to fall for someone—Watt knew that all he’d felt for Avery was a crush. He and Avery were much better off this way, as occasional friends.
He heard footsteps again, and before he could figure out what his first words to her would be (Something witty, Nadia, help!) Leda stepped into the living room, knocking all the air from the immediate vicinity.
She was even thinner than before, draped in a black turtleneck sweater, and her hair was cut short. It drew attention to the stark architecture of her face.
Leda’s eyes automatically rose to meet his. For a moment there was no one in the room but the two of them. Watt swallowed against the maddening flood of old tendernesses and love and frustrations that rose up in him.
She was really here. For the first time in months, she was here, and Watt couldn’t believe it; he felt as if he’d taken an adrenaline boost, slapped a million caffeine patches over every last inch of his skin. It was as if he’d been in a trance these long months without Leda, and seeing her again had struck him violently back to life.
“I would apologize for being late, except I think you’re all early,” she said smoothly, taking a step forward. Watt had forgotten the way she moved, as if every motion began in her warm, dark eyes, and flowed unbroken all the way to her ballet flats. She sat down next to Avery and crossed one leg over the other, only the slight jangling of her foot betraying her anxiety.
“We’re early because your message was so terrifying and vague!” Rylin cut in. “What’s going on?”
“The police are investigating Mariel’s death.”
There was a beat of collective silence at Leda’s announcement. Avery twisted her hands in her lap. Rylin’s eyes were wide with horror.
Nadia, Watt thought fiercely, what do the police know so far? And why weren’t we keeping tabs on this?
I’m sorry. But you know I can’t hack the police department. They back up those files using location-specific hardware protections.
Leda explained that police detectives had called her in for questioning because they were reopening the investigation into Mariel’s death—this time as a homicide case. The cops had clearly found a connection between Leda and Mariel, but they didn’t seem to understand it yet.
Avery clutched a chenille pillow to her chest. “Did you tell them about Dubai?”
“You mean, did I tell them that Mariel tried to kill me? I don’t think it would make me look very good in a murder investigation. All I said was that I have no idea what happened to her.”
“None of us know anything!” Rylin burst out. “So we’re fine, right? That’s the end of it?”
“Except that Mariel knew our secrets,” Watt said, speaking up for the first time.
All three girls whirled around to face him. Avery’s and Rylin’s eyes were wide and startled and thick-lashed; but Leda just met his gaze evenly. She’d clearly already been down this line of thought.
“She knew our secrets,” he repeated. “There’s a clear connection between Mariel and us. Now that the police are digging into her death, it’s only a matter of time before they figure it out. After all, they already found Leda.”
Leda gave a terse nod of agreement, her dangle earrings brushing forward over the collar of her sweater.
“Are you saying that we’re suspects?” Rylin demanded.
Watt knew what she meant. If Mariel had been gathering files on all of them, it could look like they’d killed her to cover up what she knew. It was proof of motive, if nothing else.
“There’s no way,” Avery insisted. “We didn’t even know Mariel. Why would we be suspects?”
“Because the police seem to be questioning motive rather than means,” Watt explained. “They obviously don’t know who killed her, so they’re trying to figure out who might have wanted to kill her and working backward from there. And if they make the connection between Leda and Eris’s death—”
He didn’t need to finish the sentence. If the police learned the truth about Eris’s death, the fact that Leda had blackmailed them all to keep it hidden, then they would clearly try to find out what that blackmail had entailed. Which would lead them straight to everyone’s secrets.
Avery gasped. The sun cast the shadow of her eyelashes on her cheekbones. “You’re saying that if the cops keep investigating, they might discover what Mariel had on all of us,” she summarized.
Silence hung in the air. Watt imagined he could see it, as if all their unspoken fears had been made tangible, swirling like snowflakes.
“Now you see why I wanted to meet up. I had to warn you guys,” Leda said miserably.
“I still don’t get it. If they have no clue who might have killed Mariel—if their only option is to guess at motive and work backward—then why did they reopen the case at all?” Avery asked.
“They must have some new evidence,” Rylin posited. “Something that made them think it was murder without suggesting who did it.”
Leda bit her lip. “The police told me how she died,” she said softly, and they all looked up, because that information definitely hadn’t been in the obit. “Mariel drowned in the East River.”
“She drowned?” Avery repeated. “That sounds like an accident to me. What new evidence could they possibly have found to prompt a reopening of the investigation?”
The room erupted into a storm of theories.
“Maybe they found new security footage of someone pushing her, but can’t see who it is?”
“Or maybe they found a weapon, and realized that someone used it to attack her.”
“But how would they know that weapon was used on Mariel? DNA?”
“Why can’t they just use location data to see who was there that day?”
“Location data isn’t stored for more than forty-eight hours, you know that. It was a landmark Supreme Court case—”
“Maybe they found a record of a security breach somewhere along the river but can’t tell who it was?”
“Enough!”
Leda had begun pacing back and forth like a caged lioness. When she reached one end of the carpet, she would turn automatically and start back in the other direction. Watt had forgotten that about her: the way she was always doubling and twisting on herself, as if it were impossible for her to ever fall still.
“I didn’t call you guys here to instigate a blind panic, okay? Especially since you might not even be involved! Mariel was obsessed with me. This is my problem. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s all of yours. I only wanted to warn you, just in case,” she added a little less vehemently.
“It’s my problem too, Leda. If they find out about—” Avery faltered. “It wouldn’t be good, if anyone learned what Mariel knew about me.”
Rylin nodded. “Same.”
Nadia, did we ever find out what Leda had on Rylin?
She stole drugs, Nadia informed him.
Watt didn’t have to ask Avery’s secret, because he already knew what it was. Her relationship with Atlas.
He glanced over at Leda. Her secret—the fact that she had killed Eris, no matter that it was an accident, and had then tried to cover it up—was as dangerous as his. Maybe even the worst of all.
“We’re all in this together,” he said, which was true. The three other people in this room had once been strangers, but now their lives were inextricably bound with his.
“I have to go,” Rylin said abruptly. “Keep me posted if anything happens. And be careful.”
Leda was still pointedly refusing to look at Watt. “Thanks for letting us meet here, Avery.”
Watt nodded good-bye to Avery before following quickly on Leda’s heels. “Leda,” he called out, but she just kept walking down the Fullers’ long entryway, her footsteps quickening. Her heels echoed on the white marble tiles with their black border.
She’s avoiding you, Nadia pointed out unnecessarily.
Watt started running. “Leda!” he tried again, not that it would be any use—the elevator doors were opening, and she was hurriedly retreating inside.
He just barely managed to squeeze into the elevator before the heavy brass doors shut behind him with a resounding click. He didn’t have much time. Just the length of a single elevator ride, to convince the girl he loved that they had to see each other again.
“Hey, Leda.” He said it nonchalantly, as if he hadn’t just chased her down a hallway after a discussion about a murder investigation. As if it wasn’t a big deal that they were alone in the same space for the first time in months. Close enough to touch. Breathing the very same air. “We need to talk.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Not about us.” Watt attempted to force a beat of normalcy into his voice, which was pretty much impossible. “I meant about this Mariel stuff. I want to help.”
“Thanks, but I’ll be fine. I only wanted to warn—”
“Warn us, yeah, I got it.” Watt leaned forward, bracing his arm against the elevator’s wall so he effectively boxed Leda in. “You need my help, Leda.”
“No, I don’t,” she insisted, ducking under his arm and retreating to the opposite side of the elevator. “Besides, Watt, this isn’t something you can hack your way out of.”
“Sure it is,” Watt said automatically, though he wasn’t actually sure where he would start. “Unless you already hired another hacker? Tell me who it is, so I can sabotage them.” He meant it as a joke, but the delivery was all wrong.
“I can’t afford to be spending time with you,” Leda said quickly. “It’s too risky—it could spark all my problematic behaviors, and if I spiral out of control again, my parents will send me to boarding school. I don’t want to risk it, okay?” A vein pulsed in her throat.
“Look, I’m sorry that I’m some kind of human trigger.” Watt sighed. “But you should know that I’m going to keep working on this either way. You’re not the only one who has a lot to lose, if those secrets get out.”
“I really am sorry. I never wanted you to get involved.” Leda seemed a bit softer. She’d been all sharp angles when he first stepped into the elevator, but now some of those angles were sanded down.
“I am involved, like it or not,” Watt said, trying to focus on his words and not how maddeningly close she was. “We can work separately on this, or we can combine forces. You know what they say, two brains are better than one.” In this case, maybe three were better than two, if you counted Nadia.
They reached the 990th-floor landing with a soft click, and the doors hissed open. Leda didn’t get out yet.
“All right,” she said, as gloriously prideful as ever. “I guess we can work together on this. You can be useful when you want to be.”
Watt knew that was the most eloquent request for assistance he was likely to get. Leda Cole never revealed vulnerability, and she never asked for help.
He felt a flush of eager excitement. No matter what she said—no matter the circumstances in which they were seeing each other again—he refused to believe that they were over. He was still Watt Bakradi, and she was still Leda Cole, and they deserved another shot.
He was going to take advantage of every minute he got to spend with her. Whatever it took, Watt swore, he would win Leda back.