We worked in the dorm after curfew.

Door locked. Voices low. Notebooks spread across both desks, pushed together to form one surface. The plan was simple in theory and complicated in execution: continue feeding Lyra false information to buy time, use the window to find evidence of Cain's experiments solid enough to bring to Soren officially, identify who else might know the extent of what Cain had done.

It was not a good plan in the sense of being comfortable. It was a good plan in the sense ...