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She waited in the room for almost forty minutes, shivering.
The door opened. Eliana yelped.
It was Luciano, his skin still missing.
“Come,” he said, holding out his hand.
“Are you going to kill me?”
“No, Miss Gomez. Come along.”
She didn’t move. He made a noise like a sigh and pulled her up by the arm again. They left the narrow room and threaded through the hallway. Luciano stared straight ahead, not speaking, not looking at her. It occurred to Eliana that perhaps he’d been reprogrammed after Marianella’s attempted murder. Cabrera, maybe? Did Cabrera have ties to the amusement park?
Panic set in again.
Luciano brought her into a room that looked like it had once been a dining hall. A long narrow table was pushed off to the side, and old-fashioned chairs lay in a jumbled pile in the corner. A broken chandelier hung at an angle from the ceiling. Everything was clean, though. No dust, no grime.
He led her through the dining hall, through a pair of swinging double doors, into a kitchen.
The kitchen was spotless. The white tile on the floor and walls gleamed. But it didn’t smell like a kitchen. It didn’t smell like food. It smelled like burning metal.
A woman stood behind one of the counters, her hands moving in a blur over a pile of computer parts. She looked up when Eliana and Luciano came in, but her hands didn’t stop moving.
“You shot my friend,” she said.
Eliana’s mouth dried up. The photograph Mr. Gonzalez had given her had been a good one.
This was Sofia.
Sofia smiled. Even in real life she looked like a movie star, tall and voluptuous, her hair falling in a wave over one shoulder. She was so beautiful, it was difficult to look at her.
Luciano led Eliana over to a rickety metal chair and sat her down. Then he sank into one of the corners, as if he were used to going unseen. It was exactly the way he’d been at Marianella’s party.
“Well?” Sofia said. “Do you have anything to say to that? About shooting poor Luciano?”
Eliana stared at the blur of Sofia’s hands. “I—I’m sorry?”
Sofia laughed. She slowed her hands to a normal speed. A human speed. The pile of metal, Eliana realized, was a maintenance robot.
“Is that better?” she said.
Eliana nodded.
“You’ve never seen anyone like me before, have you? Or like Luciano?” She pointed into his corner. “You’ve only seen the maintenance drones that run the city.”
Eliana started to nod, then stopped herself. “No, I’ve seen—I met Luciano before.” She took a deep breath. “At Lady Luna’s house. He knows me.”
Sofia frowned. It was as cold and insincere as her smile. She glanced at the corner where Luciano had tucked himself away.
“It’s true,” he said. “She recovered Marianella’s documents, and Marianella invited her to a party as a reward. She’s most likely trustworthy.”
“I see.” Sofia turned back to Eliana. “Is that why you’re here? To see Marianella? Has she missed a payment for your services?”
“Marianella’s here?” Eliana squawked. It seemed incongruous for Marianella to be at the park. Maybe Marianella felt more at home here. Or safer.
“Perhaps.” Sofia yanked a strand of wires out of the drone, although she still stared at Eliana. Sparks scattered across the counter. “Is that why you’re here?”
Eliana hesitated, then shook her head. “I mean, if I could see her, that would be great. I helped her out the other day, and I’ve been worried.”
Sofia stopped, her hand hovering a few centimeters above the jumble of metal and wires. “Oh,” she said. “So you’re the one.”
The way she said “the one” made Eliana’s blood turn to ice.
Sofia dropped her hands to her sides. The drone lay gutted in front of her. “Why did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Help Marianella.” Spoken with a slight condescending sneer. “Try to keep up with the conversation, sweetness.”
“I helped her because she asked for it.”
Sofia laughed. “Why didn’t you turn her in to the police? She’s illegal, you know.”
“Why don’t you?” Eliana snapped back.
Silence. Then Sofia turned to Luciano. “Go fetch Marianella, if she’s awake. I want her to verify if we can trust the girl.” She jerked her head at Eliana, and Eliana shivered.
“Of course.” Luciano peeled himself away from the wall and stepped through the swinging doors, leaving Eliana and Sofia alone.
They stared at each other.
“So why are you here?” Sofia asked.
Eliana stammered, trying to find her voice again. Although Luciano had frightened her earlier, she missed him now, as if he might do something to stop Sofia from hurting her.
“You said it wasn’t because of Marianella, and then you tried to pretend that it was.”
“I wasn’t trying to pretend!” Eliana said. “I really did want to know what happened to her. I was worried.”
Sofia’s face contained no expression. Somehow, this made her seem more human, not less.
“Then tell me,” she said.
Eliana took a deep breath. All around her the kitchen gleamed, metal on white tile. Such cleanliness could never belong to a human.
“A man hired me to investigate you.”
For a long time Sofia didn’t move, only stared at Eliana’s face. Eliana burned underneath her gaze. She wished Marianella would show up at the kitchen. Things would be easier then.
Right?
“What man?” Sofia asked. “What was his name?”
Eliana hesitated.
Sofia stepped out from behind the counter. She moved with liquid grace, hips swaying beneath her thin, flowered housedress. Her legs and arms and feet were all bare, and for a moment Eliana wondered if she was cold. But then she stopped very close to Eliana, close enough to hurt Eliana if she wanted.
“What,” Sofia said, and no soft burst of breath accompanied her question, “was his name?”
“Gonzalez!” Eliana blurted. “Juan Gonzalez. At least, that’s what he told me it was. I’m not sure it’s his actual name.”
Sofia stared at her. “Why did he hire you?”
“I’m not supposed to talk about clients.”
“You already told me his name.”
Eliana scowled. Sofia was still leaning in close, cold and intimidating. She smelled like old-fashioned face powder and syrupy perfume and nothing else. Eliana tried to push back against the chair, but Sofia clamped her hand down on Eliana’s wrist. Eliana shrieked.
“Tell me what you know,” Sofia said in a quiet voice.
“If you hurt me, Marianella’s going to be angry.” Eliana jutted out her chin and tried to believe her own words.
But Sofia lifted her hand from Eliana’s arm. Eliana grabbed it to her chest and rubbed at her sore wrist.
“Thank you,” Eliana said.
The doors swung open, slapping against the wall. Eliana jumped in her seat and twisted at the waist to get a better view. Marianella and Luciano walked in side by side.
“Eliana!” Marianella cried. “What are you doing here?”
“Spying on me,” Sofia answered.
Marianella knelt beside Eliana’s chair and peered up at her. “Are you all right? You look so pale. Here, let me get you a drink of water.”
“I’m fine,” Eliana said. “Just a little creeped out, is all.”
Marianella smiled and walked over to the sink. She filled a plastic cup with tap water and brought it back to Eliana. “Here you go. Still a few remnants of a kitchen left in here. We’re part of the city, technically, so the water keeps flowing.”
“You really are friends,” Sofia said in a flat voice.
“I told you, she helped me after Ignacio tried to—you know.” Marianella glanced at Sofia with a strangely gentle expression. Eliana didn’t know what to make of it. “Why are you threatening her?”
“She was spying on me.”
“I wasn’t spying,” Eliana snapped. “I just wanted to talk to you.”
“About what?”
Eliana stopped. “I was just—going to ask you some questions, about what you do, and—”
“And you think I’d answer them?” Sofia loomed over her, hands on her hips. Eliana shrank back, the water sloshing in her cup.