“I remember frantically humming the ‘stand by, play it safe’ melody even as you ignored me,” said Zada. “Why?”
“Did you ever do anything with the ‘all’s a go, proceed’ tune?” asked Daphne. “Did you write it into a piece, I mean? I always thought that one had promise.” She broke off to hum it, all seven notes in quick succession, and Zada had to momentarily swallow past a lump in her throat. It hadn’t occurred to her that Daphne might remember the melody.
Zada grinned despite herself. “You just liked it because it meant you were free to cause mayhem and mischief.”
“Mayhemandmischief? You make me sound so productive. Can’t I just pick one?”
Zada yawned. “But how would you ever choose?”
“I could flip a coin,” Daphne suggested.
“Mm,” said Zada.
“You shouldn’t be so down on yourself,” said Daphne.
At that, Zada shrugged. They were sitting close enough that Daphne could feel it. “I know,” she said. “It just means thatothers will feel obligated to reassure me—”
“Okay,” broke in Daphne, “sure, that and also it’s not true.”
“Sorry for crying,” Zada added.
“Now you’re doing it on purpose,” said Daphne. “I swear, Zades, if you apologize for breathing, I’ll—”
“What?” said Zada. “What will you do?”
“I’ll go ahead with my brilliant break-in plan.” Zada could hear the smile in Daphne’s voice. “Break a window, smash a vase. Maybe break a few windows, actually.” Daphne waved a hand toward the glass. “Imagine the sound.”
“Contain yourself,” said Zada.
“You contain yourself.”
They lapsed into silence. It was strangely comfortable, like something from their school days. They had done this sometimes, when Daphne didn’t feel up to the rest of the world.
“I may fall asleep,” Zada warned her.
“Go ahead,” said Daphne. “I’ll stay up. I hear I have a very comfortable shoulder. The best in the business.”
“Braggart,” muttered Zada, tipping her head to rest on the offered real estate. She wasn’t sure she actually wanted to sleep like this. For one thing, she didn’t want to miss their silence. Still, the longer they sat there, the more she couldn’t help noticing how good it felt to close her eyes, even for a few seconds.I’ll just give them a rest for a minute, she told herself. It was the last thing she remembered thinking before sleep overtook her.
“Wake up,” hissed Daphne, and Zada jerked back to consciousness so abruptly that her head spun—her head, whichwas resting cozily on Daphne’s shoulder. Weak rays of light were finally filtering through the windows in the study.
Zada jerked back, but not before noticing the small patch of drool she’d left behind. Wonderful. Phenomenal. Sensational.
“Sorry,” Zada muttered, wiping at her mouth as subtly as possible.
But Daphne’s eyes were on the feed projection they’d set up of Chancellor Fallow’s sleeping figure. He lifted a hand to his face to rub his eyes.
“Steady,” Daphne muttered. She was on her knees now, hand hovering over the interface Zada had used to get into the security system. Then Chancellor Fallow opened his eyes.
“There!” Zada whispered. Daphne enhanced and captured the image with a few deft gestures across the screen.
“Well,” Zada said, pulling herself stiffly to her feet, “here goes nothing.”
Zada took over. The sight of Chancellor Fallow waking was a dash of cold water on her mind. She was awake and alert, so much so that she nearly vibrated. With a few taps, she routed the image of Chancellor Fallow’s eyes into the iris scan. The lock whirred, and then from deep within sounded an almost imperceptible click.
Zada sprang to her feet. The drawer sat open, Chancellor Fallow’s Gem there for the taking.
“I should do this part,” said Zada.
