Restless, I scroll through apartment listings on my phone while I wait for Tristan to return. What could he be discussing with my grandfather? My thoughts spin endlessly while my omissions from the conversation I overheard last night sit like a rock in my stomach.

Why did I lie to him when I’ve done nothing but campaign for his honesty?

Maybe because there was something I could relate to in Martine’s passion to take down the Company, even if she was almost unrecognizable in her expression of it. Even if she said things that struck at my heart when I wasn’t meant to hear them.

Her unapologetic desire to fight and win still resonates, even though I’m admittedly outmatched. I don’t want to hide and play it safe. Yet without someone like Martine or Tristan driving the mission and using all the things they know, how can it be possible?

I toss my phone aside and get cleaned up. As I dress, I check the clock, expecting to hear the usual morning breakfast ruckus begin any time. The growling in my stomach persists as I wait for the first hints of Martine’s signature cooking smells, but the house is oddly quiet.

I venture out, but there’s no one. Suddenly I hear feet rushing down the stairs. Skye appears, her bright eyes round with concern.

“What’s wrong?”

“Have you seen Jay?”

I still. “Not since last night. Why?”

She goes into the sitting room and circles back without making eye contact, heading straight for Martine’s office in the back. The front door opens, and I turn to see Tristan returning. He’s alone, which means my grandfather likely left after their walk. I’m eager to ask Tristan what they discussed and if he learned any more.

He frowns. “Everything okay?”

I shake my head. “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean? Where is everyone?”

Just then Skye returns. “She’s gone.”

“Who’s gone?” Tristan asks.

“Martine. Jay too.”

An eerie silence falls between us. Though Tristan’s flinty expression barely changes, I can feel him go inward and his energy turn cool. He’s becoming someone else. Someone I’m afraid to know. Someone I’m not sure I can ever change when this side of him shows up. If he’s waded through ten thousand thoughts, I’m certain he’s now boiled them all down to one. A pure and fearsome malice toward Martine.

Skye seems to feel it too as she looks to me with more questions than answers in her eyes. Only then do I notice the letter in her hand. She follows my gaze and lifts it.

“This was tacked to Martine’s office door.”

I take it and rip open the envelope. It’s a handwritten letter. I read it aloud.

Tristan rips the letter from my grasp and reads it over before crumpling it in his hand.

I’m in disbelief. Martine took her right from under us. Did Jay go willingly?

“What do we do?” I say.

Skye points to the letter. “If Martine said—”

“We find her.” Tristan’s voice is steady, void of emotion, uttering the course as if it’s law. He tosses the balled-up letter onto the counter and glances between us. “That’s what we do. We find her.”