Page 82 of The Art of Exiley

“Shh. Not here. Let’s get back to our apartment.”

The moment we’re there, the door closed behind us, Georgie bursts out, “Ada, your cousin and your mom were in that photo.”

“Yes.”

We’re horrified for different reasons. She by who isinthe picture. Me by whohasthe picture.

“What does this mean?”

“I don’t know!”

What I really don’t know is why Georgie hasn’t already put it together. Why she hasn’t accused me of spying. The evidence is clear as glace.

“If you had to guess?” She is looking up at me without an ounce of accusation. For some reason, she trusts me. I press my lips together, the lies I’m about to tell already sour on my tongue.

The Families had coached me on various responses to getting caught. I have a reasonably plausible justification that I could tell her right now, but Georgie is the last person I want to lie to.

So I find myself telling her the truth instead.

“My family is part of a secret society that knows about the Makers. But they’re not the Inquisitors.”

This is not a lie. The Inquisitors that the Makers fear so much, theyreallydon’texist anymore. The order that is now the Families started out as Inquisitors, sure. But that was literally centuries ago.

I explain to Georgie, “The Inquisition did create a task force to hunt for the lost exiles, but they haven’t continued to hunt down the Makers. The descendants of the task force were horrified by their ancestors’ actions, and they made it their mission to bring back what had been taken away. They became stewards, seeking out and preserving the memory of the Makers while emulating their values. That’s the group my family are a part of.” While the people in that photo may have a tenuous connection to the long defunct Inquisition, they are something entirely different. And certainly not interested in or capable of abducting anyone.

… right?

“But you never told any of this to Master Loew when he tried to recruit you?” Georgie asks.

As much as I want to tell her the whole truth, I know I can’t tell her the real reason I came here. So I spin a version where my family worked to get me recruited specifically because they knew I was at risk from whoever was abducting Sires and that I had to hide who they were because I knew the association with the Inquisitors would make me unwelcome.

And she seems to accept it all as if she has no reason to doubt me.

“More recently, with the realization that Maker culture had survived and was still thriving, the Families began to search for them again, but with the goal of reunification, not destruction. The Makers only think that the Inquisitors are still after them because they’re stuck in the past,” I continue.

“But what about, like, Naiot?” Georgie asks. “Who were the prophets fleeing from if not the Inquisitors?”

That’s a good question. One I want to know the answer to as well. But it can’t have anything to do with the Families.

“I don’t know, but whoever it is, it’s probably the same people who haveHypatia. My family could never have taken her. They’re good people, not kidnappers.” I meet Georgie’s eyes, and I’m practically begging. “You have to believe me.”

“I do believe you,” she says, and my shoulders and heart both relax. “Can you ask your mother about it?”

“I need to,” I reply. There’s a lot I need to ask her about. Including any new information they have about Ozymandias Tech. It must be them who are really behind all of this. They got their hooks into Izzy, and now they have Hypatia, and the Makers will never suspect them because they’re too busy fixating on the wrong people.

I need to help redirect them.

“What do you know about Nora Montaigne and Ozymandias Tech?” I ask Georgie.

“That’s the company that makes clean-energy private jets and does all that controversial genetic testing, right?”

I nod.

“Okay, so it’s really funny that you ask that because I saw this post just the other day.” She ushers me over to her desk, opens the Hidden forum on one of her screens, and clicks around until she finds what she’s looking for.

I read over her shoulder. It’s a detailed theory that Nora Montaigne is actually one of the Hidden and that the success she’s had with her company is because she’s using their secret technology.

I wonder if this could be possible. Could she be Prometheus? No. She can’t be helping the Families if Kor thinks she’s working against them.

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