It wasn't her normal spot. Mariella couldn't even say exactly why she always chose the same spot before or why she deviated from that today, but she was pretty sure it was a dumb thing to be concerned about, anyway. She wasn't a robot.

And while she should have been studying properly, what was open in front of her was the strange notebook she'd found a couple of weeks ago. It was strange--after she'd gotten it back from Etienne, she'd seen that maybe one of his stupid guesses hadn't been so wrong: it did look like a code as opposed to a different language. She was just starting to get caught up in it...

Until a prickly feeling on the back of her neck made her turn to see some kid staring at her. Mari gave him a glare and called out, "it's rude to do that, you know."