Evie took a deep breath. She couldn’t help but remember the society board members yelling at her and one another when it had been revealed that the person Evie and Sebastian wanted to save was her grandfather Alistair Drake. She knew her last name made explorers kind of freak out, and she wasn’t really in the mood to have it happen all over again in LA, especially when they needed to get to the Kid as fast as possible.

She exhaled with determination, and the four of them nervously followed the woman. The woman led them down a white hallway full of natural light, undecorated except for one giant femur bone displayed at the far end on a chrome pedestal. They made a right at the bone and entered an equally gleaming and minimalist white dining room with floor-to-ceiling windows along the far wall. It was full of sounds of clinking, sparkling cutlery on pristine white plates, and murmuring explorers in hushed conversation. Their water glasses shone in the brilliant sun. None of the patrons turned to look at them, but Evie could tell they were still being watched. She held her head high. She would not be intimidated, and she would get her answers.

The woman took them over to a man sitting by himself at a table on a platform raised maybe a foot off the floor in the corner where two walls of windows connected. He had thick black hair, graying at the temples, and a pair of the most exuberant-looking eyebrows Evie had ever seen. In fact she’d never before even considered that eyebrows could look exuberant. The man was wearing a deep red shiny suit with a gray T-shirt beneath and seemed altogether relaxed and content. When they stopped in front of his table, he looked up at them thoughtfully for a moment. Then, after wiping the corners of his mouth with a surprisingly clean napkin, he folded his hands in his lap and spoke with a rich voice tinged with a slight accent.

“Forgive me for not standing, but I only rise for people I respect. Please have a seat.”

It was the least-gracious gracious welcome Evie had experienced so far in all the welcomes she’d had during this adventure. And for a moment she didn’t know what to do.

And then she noticed that the other three had sat rather awkwardly, so she did too, perching herself on the edge of her pristine white seat.

“Mr. Mendoza, we want to thank you for your hospitality,” said Benedict in his indifferent tone of voice. It came across as kind of rude, actually, as if he wasn’t thanking the man but rather quite the opposite. Evie thought about it. Benedict’s tone rarely reflected his level of interest, passion, or intent. Meanwhile Catherine was downright flummoxed by humans, even more so than Sebastian was, which was saying something. Neither Catherine nor Benedict was really the right person to express the level of gratitude needed to help calm the general level of, well, hate that most society members felt for the team.

Evie realized in that moment that there was only one person here who maybe could express the proper gratitude. She smiled brightly.

“Yes! It’s so lovely of you to help,” she said quickly, eyes wide. She reached out her hand, and Alejandro, being a polite sort of person just as she’d thought, had no option but to take it and shake. “It’s so tricky, I know, and I get that there are complicated feelings, and feelings should be complicated, but it’s still super-nice of you to let us stay here and use your resources.”

The adults stared at her for a moment. So did Sebastian. She really didn’t care. Someone had to take charge of this situation.

“You must be the granddaughter. You have passion, like your grandfather. It got him into trouble. Be wary,” said Alejandro, though not unkindly. “But you are most welcome. Your access will be limited. You do understand, of course.” He said the last bit turning back to Catherine and Benedict.

“Of course,” said Catherine.

“What does ‘limited’ mean?” asked Sebastian.

For the first time Alejandro made eye contact with the boy. He managed to make a simple look in Sebastian’s direction seem somehow elegant. “Limited. Ah, it means—how to say it?—it means ‘restricted in size.’ ‘Small.’ ‘Less than.’ ”

Sebastian stared at the man for a moment. “What?” he said. “No. No, I know what the word means. I meant, what does ‘limited access’ mean in practical terms?”

“Ah.” Alejandro leaned back in his chair and tented his fingers together, tapping them thoughtfully against each other. “You will not be allowed to use any of the public spaces—the archives or this dining room, for example—or, quite plainly, leave your suite aside from entering and departing the building. In general you may not wander through the society. Meals will be provided as room service.”

“We’re not going to do anything bad,” said Evie. This all sounded rather unfair. They weren’t toddlers stumbling about knocking into things. It was really judgmental of him, quite frankly, to treat them with so much suspicion.

“No one ever thinks they are going to do anything bad. And yet bad things happen, do they not?” He looked pointedly at Benedict and Catherine.

Evie huffed and sank back in her chair, arms folded across her chest.

“Your stay here is not about wants but about needs,” continued Alejandro. “We will provide you what you need. Your wants you will have to satisfy elsewhere.”

“Yes, thank you, Mr. Mendoza,” said Catherine quickly. “We understand. We won’t wander. When we’re here, we will stick to our rooms and our common area.”

“Yes, and of course the pool,” added Alejandro.

“Wait, the pool?” asked Evie skeptically. How was that not a public space?

“We may be untrusting, but we aren’t uncivilized.” At that, Alejandro made an elegant sweeping motion with his hand, and the woman in brown tweed reappeared, her teeth reflecting brightly in the silverware on the table. “Take them to the East Coast suite.”

She gave a nod and extended her arm, and the four of them rose to follow her. Evie looked at Alejandro as they walked away, but he was already deeply immersed in the view outside. She turned and had to rush to catch up to the others.

“Do you think we’ll ever meet a not-weird explorer?” she whispered to Sebastian when they’d returned to the bank of elevators.

“Unlikely,” replied Sebastian. They both watched as a large, imposing man in the tallest cowboy hat she’d ever seen sauntered past them toward the dining room, the spurs on his boots jangling at every step.

Once more they entered the elevator, and with a similar wave to Alejandro’s, the woman disappeared as the doors closed and the group was whisked up yet farther. But only for a moment. The elevator abruptly stopped, causing Evie a tiny moment of weightlessness. The doors opened, and she expected once more to be welcomed by a perfect-looking human in a brown tweed vest. But there wasn’t one.

Instead they were greeted by a small pug in a teeny brown tweed vest.

“This is silly,” said Sebastian.

The dog seemed to agree, and far from sharing the happy disposition of its human counterparts, it seemed soulfully forlorn as it waited for them all to step out of the elevator.

“Hello,” said Catherine, her voice soft and warm. She crouched down and offered her hand for the pug to sniff. It did, and then, though still with the same mournful expression, it rubbed its face against her hand. Then it bit her finger and held on.

“Stop it!” said Evie, immediately rushing over.

“No, Evie. It’s fine. It doesn’t hurt,” replied Catherine quickly. “He seems to want to drag me somewhere.” And sure enough, they watched the pug tug on her finger, attempting to pull the over-six-foot-tall animal expert after him.

He released the finger and with head held high began to trot down the hallway. The humans followed obediently and were eventually led to a door with a plaque that read EAST COAST SUITE.

“But how did he know?” asked Evie as Catherine gave the dog a solid pat on the head.

Benedict didn’t wait for an answer, probably because he knew the dog couldn’t actually explain himself, and pushed through the door. They entered another brightly lit modern room, this one with white walls and Danish minimalist brown teak furniture. Again there was a complete wall of windows, this bank obviously facing east, away from the water. The room had a sitting area, a little desk and computer nook, and a small kitchenette—all set down a few steps, sunken from the door.

“Very nice,” said Benedict, casually removing his dark green jacket but keeping his camera on and tilting his head slightly to crack his neck. “Everyone choose a room. And once we’re settled, let’s meet out here to deal with the next step.”

Evie looked around, and sure enough there was a hall to her right, along which were several doors. She picked up her bag and gave Sebastian a smile. He looked a little concerned.

“Are you okay?” she asked as the adults passed them and chose their rooms.

“I don’t have a bag,” he replied.

“Well. I mean, you were kidnapped, you didn’t have time to pack.” She laughed a bit, imagining a kidnapper actually giving their victim time to pack and maybe feed the cat, grab a few books. It seemed very silly.

Sebastian didn’t laugh.

“I’m an accidental adventurer,” he said.

“The best kind!” she replied. But nothing she said seemed to shake him from the strange faraway-ness she’d noticed lingering about him since they’d gotten into the car. Since he’d spoken with his parents.

She probably shouldn’t pry. Even though she really wanted to.

“Let’s choose our rooms,” said Sebastian suddenly. And he turned and walked away before she could say anything else.

She shrugged and followed him and watched as he slipped into a room and closed the door behind him. She made her way to the last door in the hall and went into a small white room with more Danish furniture and more windows. Evie put down her bag, crossed over to the windows, and placed her forehead against the cool glass. Positioned like that she almost seemed as if she was floating in space, above the noisy Los Angeles streets.

The accidental adventurer.

She supposed he was.

But so was she. All of this was just a means to an end—a means to rescuing her grandfather. Her only known living family member. The only person she could call family. He was her home. After that, well…After that maybe they would go on chosen, deliberate adventures together.

That would be nice.

Being on-purpose adventurers together.

That would be nice.

She watched the cars zoom about the streets beneath her and thought of the Kid. So many cars and he might be driving one of them right now. But in a stunt-car way. Maybe with other stunt-car drivers even. Like as part of a club or a…

That’s when she had the idea.