Page 239 of Light Leech

“Food.” Boyband said. “We’ll bring you some back. You like meat? I only ate nuggets when I was your age.”

“Still do,” scoffed Akna.

I was surprised he didn’t bite back, despite his scowl.

“You told me the meat out there isn’t real,” Kuni said.

“If you know where to look it is.”

“Don’t go wasting your lumens,” Ralia said. “I eat beef2 all the time, even after you showed it to us, and I’m fine.”

“Do I need to comment on that? Only half of you is human.”

“What is beef2?” Kuni asked.

“The fake meat I told you we raised,” Boyband said.

“It’s not really that fake,“ said Denji.

Boyband glared at him. “The zeg do you know?”

Denji laughed. “Bit of a story, I–”

“Nah, don’t have time.”

“It actually pertains to your parent’s farm. Have time now? Great. Like I said, I didn’t always plan on becoming a Luxist monk. I went to a prestigious school, probably nothing as expensive as Water Hills despite mine being a university, where I got my degree to become a neo-cognitive ethnologist.”

“The zeg does that mean?”

“I worked on the sentience of nonhuman organisms from a modern standpoint.”

“You worked with sea-mechs?” Akna asked.

“Exactly.” He snapped and pointed at her. “But that field has kind of plateaued from my point of interest. I may be a monk, but that doesn’t mean that I abandoned my past interests. While on your parents farm, I saw an… opportunity. A chance to work with something that hadn’t been used before. Noting that it technically wasn’t an animal, I wondered if it had a greater chance at excelling where most animals that aren’t dolphins and cephalopods failed.”

“You’re zegging me,” Boyband said.

I thought he was frightened, but by the look on his face, I knew it was excitement.

Denji held up a finger then walked back down a hallway, opening a door, and I thought I heard him walk up or down a set of stairs.

“What is it?” Akna asked.

Boyband smiled like a child waiting to open a gift. “If it’s what I think, you’ll hate it.”

She looked back at everyone for any sign of understanding, her eyes meeting mine when I was the only one not focused on the hall for Denji’s return. “Do you know what he’s talking about?”

It clicked for me. “I really hope not.”

Denji returned, confirming the worst of my fears.

“I die please.“ A trembling, high-pitched voice spoke. Each word sounded wet.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” Abbas said.

“Life hurt. I die please.”

Ralia retched. Having seen her enjoy some truly distasteful things, it surprised me how much this bothered her. Still, I couldn’t blame her. It was horrific.