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"Okay, which way?" She packed the snacks in her small knapsack and threw it over one shoulder

Malachi pointed toward the carriages by the clock tower "Are you sure you don’t want to hire someone?"

"Definitely I could use the walk"

"This way, then"

It was early summer and the middle of the week There were a number of tourists, but most seemed to head toward the beach or the restaurants Only a few stopped to hire a phaeton to take them up the mountain, and even fewer looked ready for the steep clie As Ava and Malachi started out, they were alone Leo stayed near the ter for any visitors, per Malachi’s request

"Are you ready?" he asked as they headed up the hill "It’s not a short hike"

Ava took a deep breath as they stepped away from the crowds "Trust an to clear the farther they got away frohborhood filled with luxurious mansions on their way toward Luna Park

"Your house in LA?" He nodded toward one rand like this?"

"My er Carl likes people to kno much money he has"

"You don’t have your own ho Malachi wondered what it would feel like to live in a grand home The retreat where his parents raised him in Germany was simple, and scribe houses were more like monasteries The most well-appointed rooms were reserved for the books, scrolls, and tablets, not the scribes who copied or preserved them He knew some Irin lived with more wealth, those in cities orked in human businesses After all, the retreats and scribe houses had to be supported financially, but Malachi had never had the head for hu the accu his parents’ deaths He didn’t know anything else

"Tell anization you’re after, Mal"

He wasn’t prepared for the question Luckily, he’d rehearsed an answer that anized, international cri They’re very secretive; you won’t find much about them online Officially, they don’t exist"

"Really?" Her voice had that distant, skeptical tone again "No international task forces? Interpol? United Nations?"

"Governs they don’t kno to combat It makes thelasses "So why are you guys after the paid"