Page 18 of The Art of Exiley

“Yes, we’ve confirmed that to be true. Right now, our most likely suspect is Nora Montaigne.”

“The CEO of Ozymandias Tech?” I sit up.

Kor nods.

The French billionaire is always in the news for designing clean-energy private jets that are making waves in the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Not to mention, she’s the CEO of the company that just bought Izzy’s app. But it’s wild to think that Nora Montaigne could somehow be involved in any of this. Despite the ethical ambiguity of her being a billionaire, her public image is generally quite positive—environmentally friendly, philanthropic.

“How could she be connected?”

Kor stays on his back, talking up to the ceiling. “Ozymandias Tech has been performing genetic experimentation that would benefit from knowledge of abilities like yours,” he explains. “And the Families have long suspected Montaigne is aware of the exiles. The Families lost a slew of auctions for items assumed to be exile relics to shell companies that were all traced back to her.”

“Izzy works with her company now. Can she help find out more?” And maybe now Kor can tell me why she’s not here.

This makes him sit up, but he doesn’t meet my eyes as he says, “Izzy’s not going to help us with anything.”

I feel cold all over. “What do you mean?”

He lays his hand on my thigh. “She’s left the Families, Ada.”

The throbbing in my head returns with a vengeance. “I… Is that even a thing you can do?”

He shrugs.

“But why?”

“She just said she wanted out, and she hasn’t spoken to me since. It’s part of why the Inner Chamber is hesitant to trust you after such a recent betrayal. Especially since you and Izzy are close.”

Why would Izzy do something like this? And why wouldn’t she explain herself to me and Kor?

I pull out my phone and look at her last message again.

Please don’t go to Italy. I saw something I wasn’t supposed to, and now I have a really bad feeling about your trip.

The thing she wasn’t supposed to see, could that have been at Oz Tech? Did she realize they’re abducting Sires and that’s why she didn’t want me to go to Italy? It makes sense. Are the people she’s working with dangerous?

“I hope she’s okay,” I say.

“Roman has been in touch with her and said that she’s doing fine.”

I’m so confused. I need Izzy. Quite frankly, I don’t have a lot of close friends. I mean, when you’re from a family that’s part of a weird secret society, it can be hard to connect to people outside of it.

“Don’t worry,” Kor says. “She made a ton of money selling her app, and she just wants to focus on other things now. She’s been pulling away ever since she went off to college. This isn’t that big of a surprise.”

But that doesn’t explain why she would ghost me. Or why she would keep working with a company that she thinks is harming people.

“Hey.” Kor gently kicks my foot with his. “We should be celebrating.” Once I pocket my phone, he takes both of my hands in his and stands, pulling me to my feet. “You’re going to learn how to use your abilities.”

My abilities.

It’s so weird to think of them as something positive that can be trained and used for good. Aside from the easy healing and my talent with plants, I’ve rarely ever felt different from other people. Because of my parents’ fear, I’d gotten used to suppressing anything peculiar about myself over the years. And it mostly worked. It’s easy enough to turn yourself into someone else when your true self scares the people you love.

But in recent months, it had all become harder to ignore. The stress of college applications was making my hands hot and tingly all the time, and keeping it in check was taking way too much emotional energy. I knew from experience that talking to Mom about it was not an option. I finally confided in Kor and Izzy, thinking maybe they could find the book that I had seen so many years before in the archives to help me learn more.

I haven’t gotten over the whiplash of what followed.

Kor had been elated, and he immediately convinced me that I had to tell the Families and be initiated.

When I’d asked Mom why she hadn’t told me sooner that the Families needed someone like me, she brushed it off, saying that she hadn’t realized it was the same condition they’d been researching. But as soon as the idea of trying to get me into the institute had been suggested, she’d agreed, as if she couldn’t wait to have the problem of “What is Ada going to do with her life?” off her plate.

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