Page 44 of Light Leech

Boyband flipped me off. “Then what do you think, shac?”

“I think she’s in with San-Kalacia somehow.“ I looked at Ralia. “Anything else you can find?”

“Not on Veren. Not even a hint.”

“Hmm, can you at least check Water Hill’s data for PTA members? I get that they probably have too much info on the students and such, but people working with kids should at least have their names out in the public, right? I mean–”

“Found her,” Ralia said.

“Pulse. Anything… off?”

“Looks like she’s a legit member. Has a record that proves Sanna didn’t just bring her in for this job, unless she used a lightguise as well.””I doubt it. Her face retained her features enough when it split and expanded into that… thing. What else?”

A list of accolades that don’t really mean anything. ‘Student recognition active coordinator.’ Guk like thaaaaaat… huh.”

“What?”

“BB, when did your parents–never mind. I’ll look it up. One second… there. Zeg. Looks like Sanna took over your parent’s PTA role a day after the tide did them in. A good amount of time has passed since that and your recent encounter with ‘Sanna.’”

I was relieved to see that Boyband looked more interested than distraught or even teary-eyed. “Do we know who in the Gongtide did it? I know we thought it might have been Deleon or Cut, but what if it’s another member or Beacon? What if someone else offed my parents after finding out what they were doing?”

“So you think this goes back to the Correction?” Naoma asked.

He shrugged. “Could be, but Pet and I have some questions to ask David first.”

“Zeg that thing,” Ralia said. “At least for now. We need to find out where Sanna and Veren connected.”

“Then I say we ask her,” I said. “We have our interrogation tactics and know enough now to get past her initial denial.”

“Hold up,” said Ralia. “There is another thing I can see.”

“Well…” said Boyband. “Are you going to tell us or focus on theatrics rather than–”

“Shut up, BB. I’m trying to understand it. It’s really encrypted, even the parts I can see are like a blurry picture. I might have to send this to Parkie, but for what I can see, it’s a bounty.”

“I mean, didn’t we all know there was one? It doesn’t take a genius to find it.”

“Again, BB I love you, but learn to wait a zegging second. Yeah, I figured someone was targeting us, and that Cut’s devotees–Gongtide, Nichley, or anyone has a kill order for us… but this… this weird. Yet another thing we’re all well acquainted with, but even so, there’s no lumen bounty. No offer of employment, just a pass into a neurocore district.”

“They have districts there like we do?”

“Somewhat, but they aren’t constrained by colors on the light spectrum. You can buy your own if you know what you’re doing and have it be your personal cognitive space. I can’t find any name, detail, or hint at what this admittance entails.”

“And someone has to kill us to get in?” I asked.

“I think so, but it doesn’t have any specific names. Your profiles are there for her, but I think we could get by with just one.”

“Get by?” Naoma’s eyes were wide. “I don’t want anyone to die, especially not knowing what this admittance is for.”

Ralia laughed. “No, of course I’m not going to kill any of you babes, but I can make it look like you’ve been killed.”

“Not me,” Boyband said.

Ralia snapped and pointed at him. “You don’t know what it entails and yes you. All we need is a quick neurospace down, get your sensors to show dead vitals, and the contract should trigger. All without losing consciousness.”

I nodded. “Once it works, we’ll have admittance to that neurocore district?”

“We should. Look, I know I might look like I have all the answers, but this is a lot of guess work. I know that’s most of what all of us are doing, but I need your input. We can trigger it right now and hook someone into the access, or we can wake Kalacia and risk what that entails just to have the chance at seeing what this access might be.”