Down into the tunnels, and, with Florian's little manipulation of the lock, down into the ventilation service area, from a direction that did not have a keycard access involved: they always had to be first, because nobody else could get the door to their meeting-place open; and the last, because Florian and Catlin were the sharpest when it came to cleaning up and making sure they left no trace at all for the workmen to find.
They used several of these little nooks. They had them coded, so Ari had only to say: number 3, and Amy passed the word to Tommy and Maddy, and Tommy got Sam up from the port school.
So they waited for the knock, and all of them came together: Amy and Tommy and Sam. Maddy was with them. And a girl named 'Stasi Morley-Ramirez, who was the reason they were meeting in a place they didn't use very often.
'Stasi was a friend of Amy's and Maddy's, but Maddy had opened her mouth, that was what had happened.
'Stasi was scared, coming in here, she was real scared, and Ari stood there with her hands on her hips, glaring at her with Catlin on her left and the flashlight on the shipping can in front of them, which made their shadows huge and their faces scary—she knew that. She had practiced that with the mirror, too, and she knew what she looked like.
"Sit down," she told 'Stasi, and Amy and Tommy sat her straight down on a big waterpipe they used to sit on here, while Florian came up and stood behind her. So 'Stasi was the only one sitting. That was a psych.
"When you come down here," Ari said, "that's it. We either vote you in or you're in a lot of trouble, 'Stasi Ramirez. You're in a whole lot of trouble, because we don't like to lose a meeting-place. And if you tell Security, I'll fix you good, I'll see you and your maman get shipped out of here and you won't ever come back. Say you understand."
'Stasi nodded. Emphatically.
"So you tell us why you want in."
"I know all of them," 'Stasi said desperately, twisting around where she sat to look at Amy and Maddy and the rest.
"You don't know Sam."
"I know him," 'Stasi said. "I know him from the House."
"But you don't know him like friends. And Maddy can't vote, she's the one bringing you. And Amy and Tommy can't, they're friends of yours. So it's me and Sam and Florian and Catlin who get to say. —What do you think, Catlin?"
"What can she do?" Catlin asked in her flat way.
"What can you do?" Ari asked.
"Like what?" 'Stasi asked anxiously. "What do you mean?"
"Like can you wire locks or memorize messages or get past a Minder or get stuff out of the lab?"
'Stasi's eyes got wider and wider.
"Catlin and Florian can do all that. They can kill people, for real. Take your head off with a wire. Pop. Just like that. Sam can get tools and wire and stuff. Maddy can get office stuff." And eyeshadow. "Tommy can get all kinds of stuff and what Amy and I do, you don't need to know about. What can you get?"
'Stasi got a more and more desperate look. "My mama and my dad manage Ramirez's. A lot of stuff, I guess. What do you need?"
She knew that already. Ramirez's was a North Hall restaurant.
"Mmmmn," she said. "Knives and stuff."
"I could," 'Stasi said earnestly. "Or food. Or most anything like that. And my uncle's a flight controller. All sorts of airline stuff—"
"All right. That part's good enough. Here's the rest. If you get in and you do anything stupid and get caught, you don't talk about us. You say it was just you. But you don't get caught. And you don't bring anybody here without asking. And you don't tell anybody about us. Hear?"
'Stasi nodded soberly.
"Swear?"
'Stasi nodded.
'Stasi didn't talk much. Like Sam. That was a good sign.
"I vote yes," Ari said. And Sam nodded, then. She looked at Florian and Catlin.
They didn't look like it was a bad idea. Catlin always frowned when she was considering somebody.
"They say all right," Ari said.
So everybody climbed over the pipe and sat down: it was clean. Florian and Catlin always made sure the sitting place was, because otherwise people could tell they were running around in dusty places.
And Florian and Catlin just squatted down when they were relaxing.
So they got down to business, which was her telling a lot about the trip to Novgorod—Sam had his new sweater on and so did Tommy, and Maddy wore her scarf, but Amy's pin was too good to wear to classes. Then they talked about the party Maddy was going to have, which they were all going to be invites to, and Maddy was happy, about 'Stasi getting in, and about being important for a while.
It was true Maddy was an early developer. The way Maddy sat and the way the light came up from their makeshift table showed that, real plain; and she was always slinking around and fluttering at the boys.
Tommy took it all right. It really bothered Sam: poor Sam had grown up big and he was in kind of a clumsy stage, because he grew so fast, Tommy said, but Sam was mostly always banging his head on things—like he was always misjudging how tall he was. He was quick as Florian when it came to fixing something, his fingers were so fast it was amazing to watch him, and he could figure out mechanical things very fast.
Sam also was in love with her, sort of, Sam always had been, like he wanted really truly to be a special friend, but she never let him, because she just didn't feel that close to Sam from her side; and it made her mad when she saw how he took Maddy seriously and worried about it, like he knew he wasn't really part of the House, and he lived down next to the Town. Maddy was rich and that wasn't ever going to come to anything, no more than Sam with her.
She had all this figured out, in a years-away mode, that none of them were really serious yet, but Sam was born serious, and Maddy was on ever since she learned there was a difference in boys and girls.
She knew. You didn't breed guppies and study horses without figuring out how that worked, and why all of a sudden boys and girls were getting around to teasing each other.
She wasn't terribly interested. She resented the whole process. It made everybody act stupid, and it was a complication when you were trying to set things up with people.
Then she saw Maddy fake a trip when they were going out and nudge Florian with her hip.
You didn't push Florian: people bumping him scared him. But he recovered fast and put his arm out and she grabbed it, lucky she hadn't landed against the wall, because Florian had learned in Novgorod not to react too suddenly when they were in crowds.
Maddy managed to put her hands on his shoulders and laugh and pretend to catch her balance before she got out the door.
What Maddy didn't see was the funny look Florian gave her retreating back.
But Ari did. He was still wearing it when he looked back at her, like he thought he had just been Got in some vague way and wasn't sure whether he had reacted right or not.
She didn't help him out either. And she doubted Catlin understood.