“Smoosh, that’s the most absurd question I’ve ever heard,” I replied. “You’re the next Sexiest Man Alive.”
Tag pretended to groan. “Please don’t put me inPeoplemagazine.”
I’d laughed and stretched to kiss him. “Too late.”
Eventually he managed to shuck off the sweatshirt and pull his T-shirt back down, and that was when I caught it on his bicep: the tattoo. A lump formed in my throat. Alex had said Tag had gotten it on his eighteenth birthday this past summer. Blair wasn’t shy about expressing her distaste for it while old Bunker thought it was the best thing ever.AUT VIAM INVENIAM AUT FACIUM, it said in Tag’s concise block-letter handwriting.
Latin for “I shall either find a way or make one.”
The words were bracketed by an ivy wreath, which had been sketched by…well, me. Sophomore year in history class, I’d been doodling and gave him the sheet of loose-leaf paper afterward. Maybe the saying was Roman general Hannibal Barca’s maxim, but it sounded like Tag. Strong, smart, determined.
Although I never imagined he would someday ink it on his skin.
Tag tied his sweatshirt around his waist and then glanced up to find me looking at him. My heart quickened when he tilted his head, but the moment didn’t last long. “Hey!” someone called, but before Tag and I could bolt, Zoe jogged out of the darkness and into my ray of light. “You didn’t answer my text.”
“Sorry!” I blurted. “I’m sorry. We, um, well…” I trailedoff when she hugged me, a tighter one than normal. She was shaken up, so I squeezed her back.
“Everything’s okay?” I asked. “How did you slip by Campo?”
Zoe sighed. “While Gabe dented the hood, Mr. Harvey deemed the Prius was still drivable for tonight, so they got back in and zoomed off toward the freshmen dorms.”
Tag and I shared a telepathic look. The freshmen dorms. Would Manik be spotted on the fire escape?
“I see there’s been a couple more casualties,” Zoe commented. “I tried to follow what was happening in the group chat, but it was confusing. Where are Manik and Alex?”
Tag relayed everything that had happened since we’d stolen the Almanacs: Bunker Hill, the rumor about Daniel being on the loose, sending Manik home to spy, and Alex staying in the sculpture sanctuary with the freshmen boys.
“How delightful,” she said sarcastically, then tapped my headlamp. “You look adorable, though. Am I too late to save you from whatever climbing expedition is on the agenda? Your legs are probably mush.”
“Hopscotch killed it,” Tag said. He was pulling on his backpack, ready to leave for the next checkpoint. “She was a superstar up there.”
Zoe didn’t verbally respond. Instead, she nudged me, as if to say,Hopscotch, huh?
I fumbled to take off the headlamp, not wanting either one to see the redness creeping up my neck. Soon it would sting mycheeks. Maybe under different circumstances, Tag calling me Hopscotch would mean something, but here and now, it didn’t. He was just on a high from me managing to crack the trapdoor’s code and hiding the clue. My friends read too much into things.
Didn’t they?
“What was the code, anyway?” Zoe asked. “One of Maya’s guesses?”
“No, Leda actually set it,” Tag answered. “It was…”
He trailed off, realizing I hadn’t told him.
“My birthday,” I quickly lied. “0-1-1-4.”
That code was between my mom and Josh.
“Hmm,” Zoe mused. “I would’ve thought she’d do something a little more secretive. Everyone knows your birthday, Lil.”
She was right. “Lily Hopper’s Birthday” might as well have been a national holiday. Ames’s dining hall always served my favorite foods for lunch.
“We should head out,” Tag said. “I wanted to wait for Alex, but he hasn’t made contact yet, so—”
“So it’s good I’m back, then!” another voice called, and with my headlamp still in my hands, I shined my light on the new face—or thereturningface.
“Manik,” Tag said. “What are you doing here?”
“Circling back with the regiment,” Manik replied, chuckling. “And let me tell you, it wasnoteasy to get here. Campo is all over the place tonight.”
