I discovered Julian and Nick's Manhattan trip by accident—overheard conversation in the East Wing common room about "meeting contacts" and "off-campus reconnaissance" that immediately set off alarm bells in my head.
"You're going into the city?" I asked, appearing from behind the bookshelf where I'd been studying. "Without security? Without telling anyone?"
Julian looked momentarily startled, then recovered with his usual theatrical flair. "Isabella, darling. How long have you been lurking there?"
"Long enough to hear that you and Nick are planning something incredibly stupid. What contacts? What reconnaissance?"
Nick and Julian exchanged glances that suggested they were calculating how much to reveal versus how much to hide.
"It's nothing dangerous," Nick said, which was exactly the
