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“Don’t,” Plu tone

There was a lot of pent-up energy in the car

“So,” Betsy said “Stoppard What the hell are you doing here? I mean, on this job?”

“Same as everybody else,” he said “I’m here for the money”

With startling quickness Betsy plucked the sunglasses off his face Stoppard snatched at the style that reminded Quentin powerfully of someone else’s, he couldn’t place it and then he could: Julia’s Without the glasses Stoppard looked a lot younger

“Don’t bullshit us, Maverick,” she said “You’re like nine years old You can have the glasses back when you tell us how you got here”

“I’et here?”

“Well, let’s see” She put a finger on her chin and looked up and to one side, pretending to think “I’s I need to take care of, and it’ll be a lot easier to do that with twoaround in stretch limos with nerds The end!” She smiled “Now you”

If Stoppard had not already had a raging crush on Betsy, he had one by the end of that speech Either way some of the attitude went out of him

“I just like building stuff, I guess?” He wanted to play the game the way she had, but he had nowhere near the necessary reserves of sarcas honest “I was into coet what I needed, you know? Even when you build your own gear the chips are still pretty expensive And I’ve been with a couple of foster fa on to your stuff Especially when it’s worth so

“None of uys at the Best Buy, they got et focused on soure it out, you know? I don’t stop I wasn’t going to school much at this point, and where I live you don’t want to be outside too muchI had a lot of tiot h tiure out pretty

“But anyway ured I had to choose one or the other But then I found horology Horomancy”

“Please tell me that word doesn’t mean what it sounds like it means,” Plum said

“Clock ic It was the best of both worlds really I always liked the hardware side, and it’s easier to scrounge parts for clocks than computers—you would not believe what people throay Plus you can, uh, steal stuff soot so what kind of et traction on—temporal effects, obviously, but that’s just where you start You work your way outward Weather Optics Probability Field effects

“Mostly I was figuring this stuff out on obble stuff you guys do” He waggled his fingers like he was casting a spell “This is more slow and steady Tick-tock, tick-tock”

Quentin was developing soic world, but this guy was the real thing A total outlier: self-es even of the safe-house scene He was his own one-boy, one-room Brakebills He wasn’t otten anywhere near ic all by himself in Brooklyn

“Anyway I ht because oneI woke up and there was a letter onat the bookstore After that it was a no-brainer I ot for me—he must have pretty much infinite money Stuff I only ever read about Pretty much my wet dream”

“Pretty much,” Betsy conceded

She could have made a joke, but somewhere in there she’d lost her bloodlust—Stoppard wasn’t quite the juicy target she was hoping for Too innocent Too easy

“If you’re into watches,” Quentin said, “take a look at this”

He fished his pocket watch out of his coat on the end of its silver chain and handed it across Even with his newly discovered skill athe hadn’t made any headith it Stoppard took it the way a vet would take charge of a wounded sparrow He regarded it froles, held it to his ear His manner became quick and professional

“Doesn’t run?”

“Not at the ?”

“I don’t know Probably”

Stoppard put it in his lap and cracked open one of the hard plastic suitcases, which was evidently purpose-built to hold a set of tiny, glittering steel tools He took out a jeweler’s loupe and selected one pair of tweezers and put another in his mouth, then he opened the back of the watch to look at the works—so Quentin had never been able to do

A faint pale light filtered out Stoppard’s face went slack

“Oh et this?”

“It’s co way”

“What is it?” Plum leaned over “Ooh—so many little wheels”

“These ot a second face”

He swung back the outer dial to reveal another one underneath it His expression communicated the fact that he had somewhat underestimated Quentin and that he was, to the extent to which he was capable of it, sorry about that Then he went back to the watch, ignoring Plum’s attempts to look over his shoulder

He didn’t say anything for the next hour, until the limo rolled to a stop Lionel walked around to their door and opened it Cold air washed in

“This is it, guys,” he said “Keep it quiet No ic till I tell you We’re still a couple of miles from the house, but we don’t know much about the security”

“Wait, what?” Plu?”

“This is it,” he said again, impatiently He looked even paler and luet even more unruly