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"Exactly," I said "Unless you’re the ninth sister, and have the secret to i," I said "I’ht we already crossed her off," Anya said slowly, the pages of the book fanning open as she loosened her grip "The ninth sister died That’s why she hid the secret You went to her headstone"

"Maybe she never died"

Anya frowned "Then ould she have a headstone?"

"I don’t know, but everything elsethe time of the Nine Sisters She was incredibly smart, had ties to the Royal Victoria, and to salt water, from her later research in water and lakes It fits, it all fits"

I watched Anya work it all out in her head When she looked up at me, her eyes ith wonder "It could be So nohat?"

"We figure out where she would have hidden the first part of the riddle"

"How?"

"She probably hid it in a place that was iht? So all we need to do is find out more about Ophelia’s life"

"But how?" Anya said, exasperated "She could still be alive Where do we even start?"

My mind skipped back to the last time I’d heard about Ophelia Hart "Noah"

We ran outside, through the snowy ca one of the boys on the stoop which rooh the ed exactly as ours were, except the wallpaper was brown When we reached his door, I s

"Renée?" Noah said, adjusting his glasses as his tall body filled the doorway "I--I’ht now--"

"I know you probably don’t want to see ht now," I cut in "I don’t blame you But we found her," I whispered "We found the ninth sister And we need your help"

Noah went rigid as he took in what I had just said And glancing over my shoulder at Anya, he pushed his door open "Coain

Noah’s father had an office in the history building at the university "There’s an entire library of archives in the baseo down there withall the way back to the founding of Montreal"

So the three of us piled into a taxi and set off I turned around and stared out the rear e wound through the city, n of the Undead Even though the streets were e about the pressure of the air made me nervous

The university cales peppered with statues sculpted out of a dark bronze

"Do you feel that?" I said, slowing to a jog as a prickling sensation clih a cool wisp had wrapped itself around y lab," Noah said, glancing at the building to our right "Coy lab It was a fa; the kind of chill thatitself into a path

"Come on," Noah said "We’re al, I saw a flash of white And then again

"There," I said, pointing to the thicket of trees "They were right there"

If Anya and Noah heardthem walk ahead, and quietly, I approached the statue "Dante?" I whispered, hoping it was hih the cold, odorless air told hed behind me; a child I whipped around, but no one was there

"Renée?" Noah shouted from up the path

Before I could respond, two boys, short and pale, eed from the trees, their faces round and chubby They ran toward ht they didn’t even sink into the snow "No," I whispered, but the words never left s,theh the air, his face a streak of white against the sky My breath got caught inand stiff like a scarecrow’s

I tried to stand up, but the two boys were grasping at led,into the ice, all I could think of was Dante; of hoished I could see hiirl’s voice whisper in Latin It was so soft, I could barely hear it, but slowly, the Undead arounduntil they slinked back, retreating into the shadows

"Go," she said to nized

"Anya?" I whispered, as she pulled , Noah bywildly behind me, but Noah pulledcare of it" Grabbing my wrist, he led me off the campus to the street, where he hailed a taxi It screeched to the curb

"We can’t just leave her," I said, but Noah tookthe door behind us

"Drive," Noah said over the front seat