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My skin crawled "You’re Gretchen, right?" I asked, hoping she’d point toas

"Gretchen?" She shook her head "I’irls Is that what you were thinking of?"

I was stu I didn’t actually hear in a bar

Marie-Helene pulled ’s door "Our destination awaits," she said, ushering us in

The ly dark and quiet, but it wasn’t our "destination" Without turning on a light, Hanna felt around to her right until she found a doorframe "Down these stairs," she whispered "Turn on your phone if you need light"

At the bottom of the stairs was a door, and beyond that door was a cavern

Marie-Helene and her friendswith one hand onit all in

The cavern didn’t feel natural The walls were lined with tile, and the ceiling had a perfect arch thatin the air It took me a moment to place it as chlorine I pushed past a knot of people and saw its source--a irl kicked her legs on an inflatable swan, holding her ling their feet in the water as they ht speckled people’s faces, speckled the walls

Without thinking, I turned to clock Holmes’s reaction It hat I always did in these down-the-rabbit-hole situations It tookup on the now-deserted staircase, and I caught the end of a transfor the way, she’d lost the fanny pack One hand was hastily unbuttoning her cardigan, and the other was tapping soloss on her mouth The whole process took less than a minute, and when she stepped down into the party, she earing a little black dress and a haughty expression In this light, her nizably the sairl as she was in the Old Metropolitan, and she wasn’t at all

On her tottering heels, she padded up between ust "Boys?" she asked, and on her cue, we took her elbows and led her into the party

I leaned down to whisper in her ear "Is this the part where we share information? Because I kno you ca you’ve overheard back in Sussex No ic, Simon," she said, "if I’rapher?" August asked "Like Dr Watson? Jesus, that’s ador--"

"It is not adorable" I pulled us to a stop at the pool’s edge Beside ht froe to touch her face, to see if I could ic I’ll prove it Do you want me to tell you what you’ll do next?"

She save ht Here and there someone broke the e-age girls and irls were mostly in tiny dresses, but the men were all dressed differently, some in suits and some more like artists, some in rumpled black and some neatly pressed Some had a dancer’s build, or the anxious stare of a writer

Next to us, a girl was flicking through what looked like slides of her work on her iPhone "As you can see," she was saying, "I’"

Immediately, Holmes turned her head to listen

Focus, I toldto make a fool out of myself, not with Blond Gaston over her other shoulder

"There’s a man in the corner," I said finally "The one with the scarf and the round glasses He’s the best candidate for Leander’s professor contact What was his na sound She wasn’t looking at him; her attention was fixed on the conversation behind us "Explain your reasoning"

It suddenly seeet her to look at , I considered thea story with his hands "His body language He seemsfor status or trying to get laid; he looks like he’s catching up with friends And the people around hiuy next to hihteen, and he just whacked Nathaniel on the ar Now he looks shocked, probably at his own gu They’re all coure, but they like hi in a field, Holmes stared down the man in the suit The only problem was that it was a different man in a different suit

"Plus he’s handso to refocus her, "and people hts, and you said your uncle was involved with someone here, someone in this scene Does Leander like redheads?"