Chapter 17: What Maren Knows About Elliot's Parents

The letter came on a Tuesday, through three pairs of hands, and arrived in Elliot's possession during the six minutes between the end of morning theory and the beginning of practical application when the corridor outside Classroom Four was briefly, reliably crowded.

The first pair of hands belonged to a fifth-year named Osei, who pressed a folded square of paper into Elliot's history textbook as they moved in opposite directions through the corridor bottleneck, so smoothly that Elliot wasn't certain it had happened until he felt the book's weight change. Osei did not look at him. Osei was carrying three folders and arguing with someone ahead of him about the application scope of perception-through-material and gave every impression of a student entirely occupied with that argument, which Elliot suspected was the point.

The second pair of hands was implied: someone had given it to Osei. Elliot didn't know who. He stored the question for later.