She leaned back on her heels, thinking about how strange the world was, that both she and Cord had lost their parents. Yet while she was working for an hourly wage just to keep her family together, with barely any time to properly grieve her mom; Cord had been given custom-made drugs to help with his grief.

It wasn’t fair, Rylin thought bitterly, then felt a little ashamed of herself for the thought. Cord had lost his parents. She of all people shouldn’t judge what he did to handle it.

Shutting the drawer with a sigh, Rylin gave one last glance around the room before heading downstairs. She pushed open the front door only to bump into Cord on the steps.

“Oh. Um, hi,” she said clumsily. She didn’t know what to say to him. She’d never before had to face someone she’d recently slapped.

“Heading home?” Cord was wearing workout clothes, as if he’d come straight from the gym. Or maybe he’d been running; there was dirt caked around his shoes, leaving prints on the white limestone step.

“It’s four o’clock.” Rylin crossed her arms over her chest, feeling suddenly self-conscious of the uniform, which was tight across the boobs.

“No, of course, I didn’t mean …”

“Thanks for the Gummy Buddies, by the way. My sister loves them.” Rylin wasn’t sure why she’d said that. She wasn’t getting paid to stand here and make conversation. She moved down a step, so she was on the same level as Cord, and started to walk past him.

“Chrissa, right?” Cord asked, shocking Rylin into stillness. She couldn’t believe Cord remembered Chrissa’s name.

“Yeah. She’s three years younger,” Rylin said quietly.

Cord nodded. “That’s great, that you two have each other.” Rylin thought of Cord and Brice. She wondered how close they were.

“Sorry,” Cord went on after a moment, “I didn’t mean to keep you. You’re obviously headed somewhere.”

“To meet—to meet Chrissa, actually,” Rylin said, stumbling over her words a little. She’d been about to say “my boyfriend” and then some instinct had stopped her, though she didn’t know why.

“Tell her there’re more Gummy Buddies where those came from—if she promises not to torture them the way you did.”

Rylin couldn’t help smiling at that. “See you tomorrow,” she started to say, but he’d shut the door quietly behind him.

Whatever, Rylin told herself as she started down the F lift; Cord Anderton was impossible to understand and there was no use trying.

When she reached Park and Central, the intersection at the exact center of the Tower, Rylin stepped through the metal double door marked LIFT MAINTENANCE ONLY.

She had to wait only a few minutes before Hiral appeared from the lifties’ locker room in jeans and the thin black shirt he wore under his swing suit. His hair was still damp with sweat from the ecramold helmet. “Hey, babe. Didn’t know you were coming by today.”

Rylin leaned into the hug. He smelled comfortingly familiar, like metal and sweat. “I wanted to see you.”

“What’s with the costume?” Hiral laughed.

“Oh, right.” Rylin glanced down at the maid’s uniform she’d half forgotten she was wearing. “I worked for Cord Anderton today. You know, my mom’s old job. And—”

“Seriously?” His tone sharpened, all his good humor gone. Hiral hated the highliers, with a fury that sometimes shocked even Rylin. “Why the hell would you work for that asshole?”

“It pays more than the monorail stop. And I called in sick there. It’s just temporary,” she said impatiently.

“Oh. I get it. Well, as long as you didn’t quit your real job.” Hiral put an arm around her waist. “New gig, this calls for a celebration. Wanna go to Habanas?” It was their favorite divey Cuban place, with spicy street corn and deep-fried queso.

“Absolutely.” Rylin followed him out into the thoroughfare, where the lights had dimmed to evening setting.

Just then, a message came through on her tablet: Fenton’s response to her earlier message.

Rylin: I’ve tried so hard to be generous with you and your sister, but I can’t keep making exceptions for you, it read. You’re two months behind on rent. If you don’t pay by the end of the week, you’re evicted.

Rylin felt nauseated. She immediately tried to call, but he didn’t pick up.

“Everything okay?” Hiral was watching her.

Rylin didn’t answer. She felt like the world was spinning. This was her fault—why had she paid the bank earlier instead of the rent? She’d been so sure of herself, of her ability to squeeze another month’s grace period out of Fenton; she’d done it plenty of times before. But now everything was crashing down, and she didn’t know how to fix it.

You’ll get your money by Friday, she typed back, her hands shaking, though she had no idea on earth how she would manage it. Maybe she could borrow some from Hiral, except his family needed every penny too. Or maybe Cord could give her an advance.

Cord. Her mind flashed to what she’d found in his bottom drawer, earlier that afternoon. There was her answer.

“It’ll be okay,” she told Hiral, hating what she was considering.

But more than that, Rylin hated that she didn’t really have a choice.