Page 25 of Throwing Fire

“NoBo,” Kez says. It sounds like a curse-word when she says it. “What’s he doing on the Clouds?”

“He came out with Sutton,” Alb offers. “They were looking for you.”

“Good thing I wasn’t here,” Kez says. She sounds calm, but I can feel tension tighten the shoulder she’s pressing against my side.

“You said the ‘big man’ was here, too. Who’s the big man?”

“Jaxon,” Kez, Slip and Alb chorus. Slip spits on the sand after saying the name. Alb elbows him.

“You said they went back to the mainland?” At Alb’s nod, I continue, “Where, Alb?”

“I dunnow, man.”

“Fuck, Alb,” Slip says.

“Shut the fuck up, man. You weren’t part of it. You got no idea.”

“Alb.” I draw his name out so I have his full attention. “Three days ago I was hangin’ in an air vent, listening to a bunch of motherfuckers talk about what they were gonna do to Kez. They had it all planned out. While she was in a dead zone they were gonna catch her. Then they were gonna rape her. Then they were gonna kill her. Tell me again about how everyone loves Kez.” The boy hangs his hand. “Jaxon’s put such a big price on Kez’s head that every credit-hungry fuck on Kuseros is going to be gunning for her. I need to know where he is.”

Alb looks up at Kez. “I’m so sorry, g.”

Kez huddles against me. “It’s okay,” she says.

“No, it’s not!” Slip punches Alb in the shoulder.

“Fuck, man!” Alb protests.

“Tell him where Jaxon is, you brown stain!” Slip snaps. “All this time, I can’t fucking believe you’re still loyal to him!”

“I’m not! You don’t know what they’re like?—”

“I do,” Kez says quietly. She shifts up onto her knees. Turns so her back is to Alb, and pulls up her dress to expose the scar on her back. It starts above the line of the underwear she is, I’m pleased to see, wearing, and hollows out her lower back to her T7 vertebrae. The skin is softer, less mottled and twisted, than it was when we met, thanks to Doc Gray’s regen work, but it’s still the worst burn scar I’ve ever seen. Slip reaches out like he’s going to touch her, then thinks better of it and sinks down onto his haunches. Alb just shrinks further back into his circle of bowls and pads.

Kez drops her dress back around her hips. “Jaxon did that with abottle of Two. He set it on fire before he threw it at me. So it would stick. You know I never did anything to him.”

“I know,” Alb moans.

“Tell me where he is, Alb,” I say.

The boy grips his head like it’s going to explode. “Ykimo. I don’t know where, I swear to Helas. HQ used to be on Square Circle, but Jaxon moved it when he came back. I don’t know where.”

“Sutton leave you some way to get in touch with him?” Kez asks.

“Yeah, Jaxon’s back on the K-net. J-nox, that’s him.”

“Thanks, Alb.” Kez rises and after glancing up at her, I climb to my feet, too. She reaches for her backpack, but I forestall her and swing it up onto my shoulder.

“G?” Slip asks tentatively. Kez hugs him and he’s the one who steps back first, with an uneasy smile.

“Alb,” Kez says softly. “Stay safe.”

“You, too, g.” He doesn’t rise or make any parting gesture. I nod to him before escorting Kez up the beach.

As we reach the softer sand of the berm, she leans her head into my shoulder. “We forgot the drinks.”

“Fuck ‘em,” I say. I want to get her somewhere I can defend. The Night Market, which felt so friendly when we arrived, now feels too open. Too full of watching eyes and hidden weapons. “Fastest way to our hotel?”

“Hang a right. Towards the cliffs.”

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