Page 50 of Hide and Seek

“I wouldn’t have been able to get it if I didn’t already understand how his mind works,” I tell him. “He has a print of the Fibonacci sequence on his desk, and he likes puzzles and math. The digit clusters matched up with the solved sequence numbers, and the Binet formula is a way to calculate the Fibonacci sequence.”

“You keep saying Fibonacci like it’s supposed to mean something to me.” Xave shakes his head ruefully. “Like, that was a lot of words, and I still have no idea what you said.”

“Basically, he said that Myles is a nerd who likes math, and this equation is kind of the holy grail for math nerds,” Jace explains.

“Yeah, that doesn’t really help.” Xave grins. “But whatever. I’m used to feeling like a dumbass around you two. As long as you know what the fuck is going on, then I’m fine sitting at the dumbass table while you figure shit out. Tell me when you need me to fuck something up, otherwise you got this.”

My phone vibrates, and both Jace's and Xave’s phones ping with notifications. I pull it out of my pocket and check the text from Felix.

It’s a snap of him and Killian at a bar. Felix is giving the camera a big, cheesy smile, and Killian is trying—and failing—to look exasperated.

“They’re so cute I wanna puke.” Jace puts his phone down, an affectionate smile on his lips.

“I take it they’re having fun,” I muse and tuck my phone away.

“Felix is a weird kid,” Xave says, shaking his head. “Killer tells him they can go anywhere he wants for the break, and the kid picks Whistler, Canada, because he wants to ski.” He shakes his head again. “Why not Tahoe or the Alps?”

“Bro, you ever been to Whistler?” Jace asks. “The slopes are sick. And it’s Canada. Everyone is chill and says ‘eh’ all the time. And poutine is the bomb dot com. Seriously, you haven’t lived until you’ve had the real stuff. And you know Felix, that’s totally his style. And he definitely needs a chill vacay after everything that happened.”

“Sounds cold and awful.” Xave makes a face. “If I’m going on vacation, there better be a beach and no requirement to wear clothes.”

“How long do you think it’ll be?” I ask Jace, nodding to his computer.

He glances at his screens. “Hard to say, but it shouldn’t be too much longer.”

I lean back on my hands, my mind spinning with all the new information I just learned.

Myles’s situation keeps getting more complicated, but one thing is clear. He’s in danger, and we still don’t have the answers we need about his involvement in what happened to Felix.

I bite back the smile I feel tugging at my lips and keep my face neutral. Guess that means I’ll have to keep watching him.

12

MYLES

“Aren’t you bored?”Echo asks.

“Nope,” I answer.

“But aren’t you literally the only person in your dorm right now?”

“Other than the staff, yeah.”

“How does that even work? Is the entire house staff there to wait on you hand and foot?” She snort-laughs. “I guess that’s not so far-fetched when you go to a school thathashouse staff. I probably wouldn’t have dropped out if I had cleaners and chefs at my disposal.”

“Yeah, you would have,” I say with a grin. “But you woulda waited until the end of the semester so you could get your money’s worth first.”

“Yeah, probably,” she agrees. “But I don’t understand how you’re not bored. I’d go crazy if I was in a giant dorm all by myself.”

“That’s because you’re an extrovert who likes people. I’m an introvert who hates most people, so this is pretty much my dream come true. And it’s only been a day since I got back. Ihave lots of time to worry about being bored. Right now I’m still decompressing from being home.”

“Speaking of being home,” I can practically hear Echo making a face. “I gotta go in a few minutes.”

“Your cousin’s wedding reception is tonight, right?”

“Yup.” She sighs.

“Isn’t this the cousin who’s been married twice already?”