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as fast as possible. “He’s cute. He’s just my type.”
    He was so not my type.
    “Sure,” Roux said. “I don’t know where he is today, though. He ditches a lot.”
    Excellent news! If my target ditched school, that meant I could, too! “Cool.” I shrugged. “Whenever. It’s cool.”
    The sooner, the better.

Chapter 3
    After a mind-numbing afternoon filled with a chemistry teacher who clearly knew nothing about chemicals and a US history class pop quiz that I aced even without reading the source material, I was ready to go home.
    I followed the herd down the stairs toward the wrought-iron gates. I saw something taped to one of the spires: a plain white business card with the letter A directly in the middle. On the back was a drawing of a pagoda.
    I grinned. I would know that card anywhere.
    Angelo was in town.
    Union Square was a sensory mess, so many people and stores and styles. It was like a spy’s fantasy. Even if I ran around screaming, “I’m a spy! I’m an international safecracker and your safety is in my hands, mwah-ha-ha !” everyone would probably ignore me. Or throw spare change, who knows?
    The streets got calmer and the trees got closer together as I walked up Irving Place and passed a tea-and-coffee bar. Angelo liked espressos, so I stopped in and used my dad’stwenty-dollar bill to buy two doubles. If he didn’t like them anymore, more for me. I needed a caffeine kick, anyway. The first day of school had flattened me.
    I knew where Angelo would be even before I saw him: on the northwest side of Gramercy Park, near my favorite birdhouse. (It’s shaped like a pagoda, which cracks me up. Like the birds can even appreciate architecture.) The heavy gate was locked, of course, and I set down one of the espressos so I could dig a paper clip out of my backpack. The lock looked old, but I knew it wasn’t. They changed the locks every January 1. The key alone costs $350, and a replacement is $1,000.
    It’s so funny that anyone would pay that much for a key when you can get an entire box of paper clips for two dollars.
    But when I went to jiggle the lock, I realized that it was already open. Not enough so that anyone else would notice, but I frowned and put my paper clip back. Breaking into things is half the fun, after all.
    “You cheated,” was the first thing I said when I saw Angelo.
    He turned and smiled at me, folding his copy of The Guardian newspaper. He had gotten grayer since the last time I had seen him, nearly a year ago during a stopover at DeGaulle in Paris. His eyes were a little bit crinklier, but he was as impeccably dressed as always. Dark suit, lavender tie, and pocket square.
    Of course he had a pocket square. Some things never change.
    “How am I supposed to practice my skills when youleave the gate open?” I said, though I couldn’t help but smile. “Nice pocket square.”
    “Thank you, my love,” he said, then stood and hugged me. “Oh, you’ve gone and grown up.”
    “ Pfft ,” I said. “I’ve been a grown-up since I was, like, four. Here,” I added. “Double espressos.”
    “Oh, lovely, darling, it’s perfect.” He sat back down on the bench and patted the seat next to him. “Come, sit, discuss world affairs with me.”
    I plopped down. “The world is ending.” I sighed. “Have you heard? It’s terrible news.”
    “The world is ending,” he said. “The New York Post reminds me every morning.”
    “You read that?”
    “It’s important to absorb the entire news spectrum.” He sipped at his espresso. “Aaah, Irving Place. Delicious. So, you and your family are back in New York and the world is ending. What else is happening?”
    I fixed my eyes on him. He raised an eyebrow. “This is serious,” I told him. “You saw where you left your card, right? It was at a high school. I have to go to high school .”
    His mouth quivered just a bit.
    “Don’t laugh at me!” I cried.
    “Not laughing, my love, just a slight inward chuckle.” He dabbed