Page 220 of Light Leech

I obeyed. Seeing bravery in her visage, despite all that she had seen, lifted me up. Corporate enslavement as a musician and actress, a missing past, now a ghost following her. There was so much to process, yet she kept her chin up.

“This was my choice.“ She let go of me. “Not yours.”

“I–”

“No. I was the one who thought it would be a good idea to try a Bygone Therapist. Not for past trauma, but to find a past I never knew. Curiosity got the best of me. If you would have–”

“Don’t blame yourself. Ralia took this ‘therapist’ from Cut’s contacts.”

“That should have been enough of a red flag.” She laughed, but it was no easy feat.

“I don’t think so. If Cut had some issues with his memory or past, he would have found the best person on the market. We’ll have Ralia check into it when we’re back. I’m sure someone found their way onto our path to put this thing in our way instead of whoever actually worked with Cut.”

“All her new upgrades should help with that, right?”

“If anyone would be happy to replace her missing body parts with tech, it would be Ralia. Who knows, she might have done it herself without the help of Nichley.”

We laughed.

She sighed. “Zeg, there’s so much to deal with.” Looking up at the corpse, she asked, “Do you think Nichley sent that?”

I shrugged. “Maybe. It could be any of the Beacons now that we’re on their radar.”

“Nine more and we didn’t even kill Deleon.”

“Piece by piece. The Luxists told us to go for the Dokkaebi and the Correction first.”

“Do you think whoever sent this thing after us?”

“It could be anyone. I know everyone wanted to take a week off, but it looks like responsibility is getting in the way.”

“We only had another day left of rest, right? I’m sure the others will understand.”

“Except for Boyband,” I looked at her. We laughed again. This time, it was more sincere.

I would have kept that smile if she hadn’t brought up the therapist’s cognitive assault. I had to face it eventually. She was right to cleanse the platter before piling more trauma on top. I knew more would come soon enough.

Pain would be a constant companion until the Gongtide was defeated. If we failed, pain would be the demon who dragged us into damnation.

“Who is Syla?” She asked as delicate as her soft touch on my shoulder. It was a friendly gesture, far from any intimacy I had experienced in that vision, but I savored it.

“My daughter.”

“Are you zegging me?”

“I know… she’s not real. I mean, I don’t have a daughter, right? Or a son?”

“Is that what that thing did to you?”

I know I had asked about our daughter when I was pulled from that trance, but if she noticed, she didn’t mention it. I nodded. “It feels too real. The first few minutes after, I was convinced that it was. Now I’m seeing where I was wrong, but it doesn’t make it any easier. It’s worse than any dream or neurospace experience. I had a whole life, Naoma. A wife. Two kids.”

I scoffed, doing what I could to keep back the panic. Zeg, I needed a fix. “Never tell Boyband, but one of them was named Devóne.”

Concern beat out humor as she kept her gaze focused on me.

“Syla was an infant. Devóne was like five, maybe older. We were sitting in a room, my wife and I, when those tentacles on his face came out from the hallways and sliced my family into pieces. I had memories of their entire lives. It was all so real. Whatever that thing did… it was worse than any punch I’ve ever taken. Can you imagine that? Imagine this whole life being a fabrication then… then just pulled from you?”

I spared her the details of feeding from her teeth over my infant’s body. It had already disturbed her enough.