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The director removed a small card froh an electronic reader The Henley has state-of-the-art security, the gesture said The Henley’s art is the safest art in the world, no ht have read in the paper

But, of course, he didn’t know about Hale and his duct tape

As the man returned the card to his jacket, Kat turned to Nick

"You got it?" she asked He nodded

"Inside left pocket" Nick slouched forward and grinned a sloppy grin "Lucky I’m left-handed"

"Luck,to do with it" Gabrielle’s voice was even as she passed There was no flirt, no ditz She was all business as she teetered to the end of the corridor and called, "If you’ll follow me, please" Instantly the small speaker in Kat’s ear was alive with noise It sounded like a flock of birds was nesting in her head--cawing and screeching--as one hundred and fifty chattering school children gathered behind Gabrielle and followed her back down the s Kat and Nick pushed theainst the wall, out of the way of the kids in their neatly pressed slacks and navy blazers

"We’re sorry for the inconvenience," Gabrielle was yelling to the teachers at the front of the arden"

Through her earpiece, over the roar of the children, Kat heard Hale chattering to the director about London About rain About his unyielding search for the perfect fish and chips The guards at the end of the hall were pressing theotten in the chaos that flowed in Gabrielle’s wake

"Angus, Siuards didn’t see the unmarked door push easily open The kids in the pack didn’t notice when the two boys no one had ever seen before suddenly disappeared frous said into Kat’s ear a second later The kids kept walking, h the Henley’s halls like a tide, but when Kat turned to leave, she walked in the opposite direction She wasn’t an ordinary kid, after all

Katarina Bishop followed no one

"The way I hear it, there was a Visily Romani once"

"Just watch the door, Hamish," Kat warned

"I’, this Romani bloke was the best thief in the land, he was Until he fell off a guard tower--"

"I heard he drowned" Angus’s voice filled Kat’s ear, cutting off his brother

"I’ this story"

"Si halls "How er?"

"Fifteen minutes," was Simon’s answer

"But Romani didn’t really die, see?" Ha, he did die, but--"

"Ha the door or aren’t you?" Gabrielle snapped, joining the conversation as she followed Hale and the Henley’s esteemed director from a respectable distance

"I a, he died, but he got reincarnated, see? Every generation there’s a new Rooes, Haus said, ever the older brother "The original Roeneration"

"Guys," Kat warned Then soshaws--could barely speak at all--when she realized how close Nick was standing, looking at her like she had never been looked at before

"So, Nick, have you lived in Paris long?" She stepped away frolad of soed as he fell into step beside her "Off and on" Kat felt a pang of so else

"Your accent isn’t one hundred percent British, though Is it?" Kat asked

"My father was A to be lanced around the Henley’s pristine statue collection and shook his head "I’ve got a few days"

"That’s all we need," Kat told him

Nick stopped et, Ms Bishop"

His words startled her Or maybe it wasn’t the words the to see every angle

"Oh," he said, that saain, just a tourist Just a boy "You really didn’t expect ure out that you were the Katarina Bishop?"

"Exactly how does one ‘look me up’?" Kat felt herself blush, but she wasn’t really sure why