Page 67 of Find My Way Down to You

Henri dusts off his hands. “I need to go.”

After standing, he plucks a small black card from inside his blazer. He passes it to me. “Here. In case you ever need to reach me.”

I stare at the pearlized surface. When the light hits it, the card glitters. But there’s nothing on it.

No name, email, or phone number.

“It’s blank,” I tell him.

“Is it?” Casually, he slides his hands into his pockets. “When the time comes, I’m sure you’ll look a little deeper.”

He leaves the pizzeria without another word.

“How do I look?”

I lift my gaze from my phone screen. Max stands in my bedroom doorway. She’s wearing a tan blazer over a ribbed crop-top sweater, pleated navy skirt. Her hair’s down, pin-straight and brushing her collarbones. Silver threads of nightfall seep through my window onto her pink cheeks.

My eyebrows climb my forehead. “Wow.”

“I’m going for dean’s list scholar who’s not afraid to make out on the first date.” She curtsies, smirking.

“Mission accomplished! Who’s the lucky girl?”

Max frowns. “Lake.”

Right,Lake. The girl I’m supposed to know. Except, I don’t. I’ve tried retracing where we might’ve met—the pizzeria, the promenade, SBS campus—but my head’s such a mess, nothing clicks.

I smile for Max. “She won’t be able to resist you.”

“Obviously!”

A beat passes. Max lingers in my doorway. She rolls her bottom lip between her teeth, ruining her lip gloss. There’s that look in her eyes. Concern verging on pity.

Hiding the irritation in my voice, I say, “What is it?”

“Who was that boy earlier?”

“What boy?”

She sighs. “At Catalina’s. The one you talked to on your break.”

Oh.Henri.

Almost every part of me wants to tell her. About Aides and the Deathless and my plan to find London. But I’m still afraid she won’t believe me. Or worse, she’ll try to stop me?

My fingers encircle my bracelet. “No one,” I say, even as guilt coils around my stomach. “Just someone I met. At that party on campus.”

“Are you interested in him?”

I snort. Henri’s stylish, vibrant in an uncontainable way. He’s also fun to talk to. But he’s not my type. Plus, he’s a god or something.

“Not even a little,” I say.

Max hums. It’s a noise that draws my gaze to the happy pucker of her lips. “So there’s still a chance for you and that Cary guy?”

I sit up, fast. Head spinning. “What? No.”

“But—”