Chapter 23: The Academy's New Lease

The email arrived at 9:23 AM on a Monday, which was not the kind of morning anyone would have chosen for news of this magnitude. The subject line read: *Re: Building Agreement — Final Execution Copy (Bae Academy / HanStar Entertainment)* and it was addressed to Bae Soo-yeon with three attachments and a four-line message from the lawyer confirming that all outstanding conditions had been met and that signatures were required on pages seven, fourteen, and twenty-two.

Ellie's mother read it standing at the kitchen counter in her reading glasses and her house slippers, holding a mug of barley tea that had gone cool forty minutes ago, and she did not make a sound.

Ellie came in from the hallway, still in yesterday's socks, and knew immediately from the particular quality of the silence.