Page 7 of Light Leech

“Now that thing—“ She pointed at the therapist’s corpse.

“Could you tell what he was trying to do to you?”

She nodded, grimacing only enough for me to notice it, though I could tell she was trying to push through. “When I first walked in, everything seemed fine. I’d never been to a therapist before, so the upfront, pushy optimism wasn’t too off-putting. A guy has to sell his product. Anton was the same when taking on new clients.

“Rather than waste our time with small talk, he said it would be best to just go into the neuroread. I told him that I came for only an initial consultation. He said those aren’t a market standard and any therapist who has an initial visit like that is just trying to capitalize on the mentally unwell. What? Don’t look at me like that. I wasn’t being that naive. Ralia was the one who found the name for us.”

“Another lesson,” I said, “while Ralia is honest, she’s honest to herself and what she thinks is best, even if she knows you’ll disagree with it.”

Naoma rolled her eyes. “Whatever. He was pushy so I gave him a shot. To be fair, this wasn’t the first time that serpent defended me. I had been wrestling with what it is for a long time before I told you about it at the diner. Crazy fans in Zingang whenever I toured in Blue Districts. It was never a full-on serpent, but I saw a powerful light force people off of me. Still wasn’t enough to prevent the damage Reef did to me, but I knew there was a chance. If not…” Her eyes were down as she traced her finger in a spiral on the ground.

She looked up at me.

“I was outside,” I said.

She nodded. “I’m glad you came along for all of this. I know I need to tell the others about all of this, but like you were saying, it’s hard to trust those closest to us. Ali. Cut. Deleon.”

“I never trusted Deleon in the first place.”

“I know… It doesn’t matter. Once I gave into his reading, I sat in that chair facing away from him. Red flag right there. You know how Ralia can tap into someone’s neurospace without an analog connection?”

“Everything is wireless now.”

“Everything should be. That’s when I screamed. When he pierced the back of my head, trying to work those things into my neurospace hardware.“ She shook her head, smirking. “Poor shac had no idea what he was messing with. I don’t even know what he was messing with, but the serpent didn’t like it. It shot him back, you came in, now we’re here on the other side of the story.”

I chewed on my bottom lip, squinting at the corpse as I tried to work my way through what had happened.

“That black light,” she said. “Do you think he had a Gui?”

“No zegging idea. You don’t think yours is, so why would his be?”

“Then what could it be? An anti-Gui serving the Gongtide?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. Let’s dig though what we can, maybe pull out some of the hardware, and take it back for Ral and the Luxists to analyze.”

She nodded, unfocused and lethargic.

“What? Do you have a better idea?”

“No, I’m… I just don’t know.”

“Do you have a problem with the Luxists?”

“No, it’s just…” She looked up at me. “I’m sure they have answers, but I don’t know… This is the first time seeing them since you told me that the serpent and phantom face you saw on me in that diner are the same as those on the relics they carry.”

“And the problem with that is? Are you scared they’re going to pull you in as a member?”

“No,” she laughed, but her nerves were getting the best of her. “Petya, have you ever heard of anyone being a living version of that symbol? Just look at the Cross followers. Their symbol represents their God.”

“You… think you’re the Luxist God? Or possessed by it?”

“Laugh all you want, but is that thing living inside of you anything less than a god? As far as we can understand it? Sure, it’s not the thing you saw in the Earth’s core–all that still doesn’t make sense, I’m sorry. What I mean is even if it’s not a god at all, what if they treat me like it? Zeg, Pet.“ She took a deep breath. “I’ve just escaped being worshipped as a false god.”

“You’re retiring?”

“No, maybe, I don’t know. What I mean is, I’ve escaped being the pop goddess Reef forced me to be. Even if I continue, I can’t be the same idol that manipulated so many people.”

“You can use that influence for good.”