“Is that right, new girl?” he asks, scanning the length of my body. “So, who are you?”
Heat creeps over my skin, and I remember where I am. “I’m nobody,” I whisper, held captive by his stare.
He arches an eyebrow. “Very good.”
Chloe steps forward and circles me. “She’s pretty plain. Unremarkable, I’d say. What’s all the fuss about? She looks like a little girl…” She comes to a stop in front of me. “Don’t let her in, Garrett. She probably thinks there’s something down there that will help her influence her way through training.”
Influence? The word sends me reeling, and I wish I could sit down to process it. Does she know? Is that the rumor Weiss mentioned? Blood rushes to my brain, dizzying me, but I hold steady. Something flares up inside me that won’t let me show my underbelly, and I remember I don’t want them to like me anyway. Nobody cares who you are.
Fingers gripping my hips, my shoulders meet my ears in a show of nonchalance. “I’m allowed to study in the Vault, just like everyone else.”
“I guess.” Shrugging, she returns to Garrett’s side. “Listen, we don’t put up with cheating, sweetheart. This isn’t like the place you came from. Here, you have talent or you don’t.”
“I wasn’t aware ‘decoy’ was considered a talent,” I reply.
She frowns.
The lanky guy bursts out laughing. “She’s feisty. I like it. Haven’t you heard ‘the meek shall inherit the earth,’ new girl?”
“Is that what you are? Meek? Planning to take over the world?” I raise my eyebrows. “And my name is Elisha.”
“Liam.” He reaches out to shake my hand. “And I don’t need the world. While everyone else is living it up as an apathetic virtual human in the Super Brain, I plan on stealing what I need, holing up somewhere, and living happily ever after off the grid.”
“The ‘Super Brain’?” I ask, having no clue what he’s talking about and ignoring his outstretched fingers. “That’s what you think you’ve got between your ears?”
He laughs harder, shoving his rejected hand into his pocket. “You don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?”
“Why do you think you’re here?” he asks.
“To steal the truth for the good of humanity…”
Liam presses his lips together and approaches me. “That’s cute.” Leaning in, he smells my hair.
Totally confused, I freeze, sneaking a peek at Garrett. His head is cocked to the side, his eyes faraway and flitting back and forth like he’s working out some intense calculation.
“Mmmm. Vanilla? Brown sugar? You smell like a girl,” Liam says.
I have no words.
“Don’t be weird, Liam,” Chloe says.
“Where did your parents find her?” Liam asks Garrett, rejoining them.
Garrett focuses on my face, and I dare to meet his gray-green stare. It’s like being lost at sea—his eyes beg me to sink into their depths—and a fresh wave of dizziness washes over me.
“Don’t ask me,” he finally replies. “They don’t tell me anything. But she must be special.”
“I don’t get it,” Harbor says, speaking to them like I don’t exist, deceivingly sweet dimples appearing in her cheeks. “She’s not a legacy—she came out of nowhere.”
“Maybe she’s a spy.” Liam grins. “There’s nothing hotter than a spy. Especially a spy spying on the spies.”
“I’m not a spy,” I snap, holding my chin high.
“Shut up, Liam,” Garrett says at the same time. “My parents know what they’re doing. I’m sure Ellie deserves to be here. She’ll show us what she’s got.” Shrugging, he turns to go. “Let’s eat. I’m hungry.”
Chloe snakes her arm around his waist as they retreat.
“My name is Elisha,” I say to his back, ignoring that he defended me.
He glances over his shoulder and smiles, sending a bolt of electricity straight to my toes. Is it just me, or does he feel this crackling energy, too? “See you around, Ellie.”
My temper flares. Watching them go, I beg my heart to sever whatever connection it believes it has to him.
I don’t care what he thinks.
Dropping to my knees, I turn the dial—12-16-6—and open the trapdoor. Careful to avoid the slippery moss, I climb down the stone steps and shut myself inside. I’d love to get lost in the Prado right now, to soothe my frazzled nerves by stealing Las Meninas, but I’m meeting Allard to recap my first day.
“You’re late,” she says when I arrive in the Musée de l’Orangerie. She’s waiting in the oval-shaped gallery lined with Monet’s Water Lilies.
“I’m sorry. I had a run-in with Chloe and company,” I reply. Chloe’s name is bitter on my tongue. “She said I couldn’t influence my way through training. Do you think she recognizes me?”
“No.” She pats the bench next to her, and I sit. “If she did, she would’ve outed you already. She’s fishing for info. I guarantee her reaction is because you’re new. She’s probably afraid of you.”
“Afraid of me? Why?”
She thinks for a minute. “Part of disconnecting means severing pride, but thieves are a little different. Pride is our currency. We don’t steal for ‘the stuff’ of it—it’s about having anything we want—getting there first. We’re competitive. Your presence at Keystone is highly unusual. The faculty were told you’re a gifted thief with potential, and the students know an exception was made to allow your admission, but not the specifics. I’m sure that’s cause for speculation. They assume you’re greatly talented—and therefore a threat.”
“Garrett did say I’d show everyone what I’ve got…” My heart skips a beat when I say his name. “But even I’m not sure I belong here.”
“I am. Yesterday at the welcome assembly…the bird…you knew it was going to fly before it did.”
“Don’t remind me.” My cheeks burn. “Nobody should be threatened because I speak bird.”
She laughs and then sobers. “I’m being serious. You have superior intuition.”
“I don’t think so.” I shake my head.
“It’s true. I’ve been studying your DNA and brain scans for months, trying to make sense of it all.” She takes a scroll out of her backpack and unrolls it. “This is a map of the connections in your brain. These are the parts that lit up with activity when I showed you flashcards and you guessed the image on the other side.” She traces her finger over the bright red-and-yellow network on the right side of my brain. “Look at your locus coeruleus—that’s a center for gut feeling—it’s a fireball. I’ve never seen anything like it.”