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“Who remembers how we solve this type of equation?” Ms. Bustier asked. “Someone other than Markov, please.”
Max’s hand shot up. As he delivered the correct answer, Ivan regarded the other boy with wonder. They had both spent the weekend drinking tea with witches and learning alarming secrets about the hidden war Hawkmoth waged against Paris’s magical community. Ivan was completely thrown off his rhythm, but Max looked for all the world as if he had done nothing but rest and study math for two days.
Across the aisle, Mylene looked up from where she sat slumped against her desk and gave Ivan a weary smile. Ivan’s cheeks grew hot. He still didn’t know how to react to the revelation that his secret human girlfriend wasn’t human at all. Looking at Mylene made him feel like he could do anything.
As if reading Ivan’s mind, Markov rotated his head three hundred and sixty degrees and played an eye roll animation. He followed it up with a series of floating, pixelated hearts. Ivan grinned back. Having friends to joke with in class—that was still a wondrous feeling.
“Perhaps you can tell us, Ivan?” Ms. Bustier asked.
Ivan froze.
“Yes,” he said, trying to project confidence. “But, uh, could you repeat the question?”
A few of his classmates snickered.
For a brief moment, a number flashed on Markov’s display screen.
“Oh, I remember now,” said Ivan. “Is it six?”
“That’s correct.” To his great relief, Ms. Bustier moved on. “Lila, what can you tell me about the two men who invented this method?”
When the final bell rang, Ivan was the first out the door. Markov could fly above the crush of students, so he kept pace with Ivan easily. When they reached the sidewalk, though, they had to wait for Max and Mylene.
“Sorry,” said Max when he and Mylene finally caught up. He doubled over, panting. “Sign-ups for the spring musical were just posted. Got—got caught in the stampede.
Mylene was beaming. “I signed up to audition,” she said.
Ivan picked her up and swung her around. “That’s amazing! I’m so proud of you.” To Max, he explained, “She has a phobia of stage makeup, but we’ve been doing exposure work. This is a huge step, Mylene!”
Ivan didn’t mention that it was Destroika who had first told him about this particular phobia. Fusing with Plagg seemed to give Mylene just enough extra bravery to practice standing up to her more deeply engrained fears.
“My apartment isn’t far,” said Max once the celebrations were over. He checked his phone and smiled. “Kagami is waiting for us there, and she seems very impatient.”
Ivan studied Max. His friend still seemed a little winded. “Let’s take the bus,” he said. “I’ll pay.”
Kagami was waiting for them at the bus stop. She had come straight from fencing practice, and a sword was strapped to her waist. “I didn’t want to wait any longer,” she explained, kissing the top of Max’s head.
Markov twirled in midair. “I spent the day running background calculations, and the results are quite intriguing,” he reported. “I’ll save them for Claudie, though.”
Max groaned. “If you must,” he said. “I am eager to begin my own analysis.”
“And I would like to visit Mayura while the sun is still up,” said Kagami lightly. “Your mother seems to be of a similar mind.”
The moment Max ushered them into his apartment, Ivan and Mylene saw what Kagami meant.
“You’re here! Great. Great!” Claudie Kanté clapped her hands. “I packed us each some supplies,” she said, gesturing to the row of bulging backpacks lined up on the couch. “That way we’ll be prepared for anything.”
Ivan frowned. “We’re just going to talk to her, right? I know she’s helping Hawkmoth, if she isn’t Hawkmoth herself, but I don’t want to just assume she’ll be violent.”
“Agreed,” said Max. “That is why Markov and I should be the first to approach her.”
“Affirmative,” chirped Markov as the others descended into loud protests.
“Let me explain,” said Max, raising his voice to be heard above the clamor. “All we know right now is that Mayura, aka Nathalie Sancoeur, is a brilliant programmer who once dated Ms. Helga and Ms. Margaux. Mayura built FearScape up from nothing over the course of decades. That isn’t something you do out of hatred for your community. If it ever comes out that Hawkmoth used it to find his targets, FearScape dies. It seems very possible that Mayura does not know that her system is being used this way.”
“And if she does?” Max’s mother demanded. “What if she tries to hurt you? You’re not made of metal.”
Max extricated a small canister of pepper spray from the nearest backpack. “I’ll take this with me,” he said. “And I can always shapeshift. Dragons are difficult to restrain.”
From the look on Claudie Kanté’s face, this had not occurred to her.
“I think Ivan and I should go alone,” said Mylene. “We’re the ones with the powers.”
“That is precisely why you must allow us to do this for you.” Markov did a small flip. “We would be very safe if Brightwing and Destroika were hidden nearby, ready to burst in at the first sign of distress.”
Ivan and Mylene exchanged glances. “Fine,” said Ivan. “But take Kagami, too.”
Now it was Max’s turn to protest, but Kagami put a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll protect each other,” she said, looking at Max’s mother.
“And I’ll get us in the door,” said Markov, as though the matter were utterly settled. “I know few programmers who could resist taking a closer look at me.”
“Markov, are you okay?” Kagami asked with a wince as she and Max climbed Mayura’s front steps.
Markov was running as many safety calculations as his bandwidth allowed. “Of course,” he said with a warm, pixelated smile.
“If you’re certain. You are making a very unpleasant high-pitched noise.” Now that she mentioned it, it occurred to Markov that all the dogs in this neighborhood were barking frantically.
Markov paused fifteen thousand of his less critical background processes. “Apologies,” he said. “Is that better?”
“Much.” Kagami glanced across the street, where Max’s mother waited in the car. “One of us needs to knock,” she said.
“I will,” said Markov, and did so.
A small speaker beside the door released a burst of static. “Yes?” asked a voice.
“Hi,” said Max. “We are looking for Mayura?” It came out sounding like a question.
There was a short pause. Then the static returned. “I don’t know what that is.”
“Helga and Margaux gave us your address,” Kagami put in. She squeezed Max’s hand. “Please talk to us. It’s important.”
“We have a copy of my source code to trade,” said Markov, floating up to where he believed a camera might be concealed. “I am considered very interesting in robotics circles.”
A click. Kagami tried the door and found that it was now unlocked. “We are coming inside,” she said.
As the door opened, Markov reminded himself that Kagami knew her way around a sword and Max was a dragon. He reminded himself that Brightwing, Destroika, and Claudie were all there to help if they ran into trouble.
Mayura’s home was pitch black. Max and Kagami’s shoes stuck to the floor a little with each step, and Markov’s night vision let him see why. The walls, ceiling, and floor were festooned with massive spiderwebs.
“I feel you,” came the voice. “Come this way.”
Markov flew ahead of his friends, trying not to give in to his fear. The entrance hallway opened up into a large room. One wall of the room was taken up by a rack of outdated computers, and in front of them, busily typing, dangled a spider larger than Claudie’s car.
“Children and a robot,” Mayura hissed, turning to study them. “Why are you here?”