Should I tell Leah that they need better security? That’d be the correct thing to do, but if she knows how easy it was, she might demand we do more. Staying quiet is the safest thing for us, even if it does put the city in a little more danger. Am I ok with that? Can I live with that?

  “We’re done.” I announce the same instant I unplug myself from the server.

  “Already? Leah is unable to hide her surprise.

  Corax unplugs himself and flies to Cassie’s shoulder. That hurts, but it’s my fault. I can’t bme him.

  “Check your computer if you want proof. The connection will be slow, but I had to make it that way to keep it undetectable. You have access to everything on the main server.”

  Leah sits forward in her chair, clicking her mouse a few times. Only a few seconds ter she nods, and a small grin spreads across her face.

  “Excellent.” She leans back, satisfied. “This will certainly help me keep your secret.”

  “Help? It better do more than help.” Cassie says.

  “I guess we’ll see. You need to return to your room, I don’t want them in public.” She gestures to both Corax and I.

  “Fucking great.” Cassie mumbles under her breath. “Fine, lead the way.”

  Leah pushes herself from her chair, and begins to retrace her steps down the alleyways.

  Cats crouch low on the rooftops when they see Corax, ready to pounce. I try to get next to Cassie, so both of our heads will shield each side of him. However, the moment I get close, Corax climbs across Cassie’s back and sits on her opposite shoulder.

  It doesn’t matter how angry he is. He’s alive, that’s what matters. Even if he hates me, I can find a bit of soce in that.

  Corax stares at every passing cat, daring them to jump. There’s no doubt Corax would win, I’d just hate for him to get scuffed after I just cleaned and repaired him.

  Despite a few of the cats chittering, they’re smart enough to keep their cws to themselves.

  We reach our room quickly, where Leah gestures us inside and leaves without a word. The entrance to the building is a rge living area, filled with woven couches, chairs, and tables. Along the walls are doors, each one leading into a small bedroom.

  A few people are pying cards or rexing in here, and they turn to look at us the moment we enter. The three of us quickly make our way to our room, and close the door behind us.

  The moment the door closes, Corax takes off from Cassie’s shoulder and nds on the bed. He sets to work gathering up the bnkets into a nest, right in the center.

  “Cassie is going to need half the bed to sleep in.” I gently remind him.

  Corax’s head whips around and he gres at me for a few seconds, his gaze even sharper than his feathers. He kicks the small pile of fabric away, and flies to the scraps of fabric in the corner.

  “I’m going to go get something to eat while you two sort this out.” Cassie says, cracking the door open and slipping out.

  I don’t think there’s much to sort out, he just needs time, but I guess I can try. I crouch down by his nest, making sure I’m out of reach.

  “Can I just expin why I did what I did?” I ask gently.

  Corax gives no indication he heard me, and continues shaping his nest. He would say no if he didn’t want me talking.

  “I couldn’t just leave you paralyzed and in pain, and I had to leave all my tools in my backpack to save space. It just wasn’t possible to help you at the time. I’m sorry I didn’t turn you back on to talk about things, but I wasn’t exactly in the best state of mind. I’m not even sure what I was feeling and it’s too dangerous to relive it to try to figure it out now. But if you don’t want to experience it, you can ask Cassie for her point of view.”

  Corax finishes with his nest and settles in, tossing a shred of cloth overtop his head.

  “Alright, I’ll leave you alone.” I try to hide my sadness to avoid making him feel worse, but I’m sure it doesn’t work. “If you need anything, just let me know, or Cassie if you don’t want to talk to me.

  He gives nothing in response, and I drop onto the bed. Anything more I try to say will only make him even angrier. There’s nothing I can do but wait for Cassie to return. At least I can spend the time getting lost in one of the new books I stole.

  It’s almost twenty minutes of waiting in horrible silence before the door opens once again. Cassie steps through, holding a woven pte piled high with those same green pnts I’ve seen people harvesting, and a few chunks of a white meat sitting atop it.

  Cassie gnces around the room, looking for Corax. I nod towards the pile of clothes and Cassie gives a small sigh before sitting down next to me.

  “What did you get?” I ask in a desperate attempt to feel normal for just an instant.

  “Kudzu, I think they called it?” She picks up a battered fork from the edge of the pte, stabs it into the cube of meat and a few leaves, and holds it up for me to see. “And this is fish.”

  She takes a tentative bite of the greens and fish, chewing for only a few seconds before her eyes go wide.

  “Holy shit, this is what the top floors have been hiding from us?” She quickly takes a second small bite. “The leaves are pretty pin, but fish is so fucking good!”

  “I’m gd you finally get your hot meal. I hope it wasn’t too expensive.”

  “It was cheaper than you think, but more than I should have spent. I’ll eat the rest of the bars after this, I just needed literally anything else.”

  “I’m not sure what cheaper than you think means. Nobody ever bothered to expin how much money is worth.”

  “Ah, right.” Cassie puts down her fork, and reaches into her pocket to pull out a small pouch that sounds like rocks shifting when she moves it. “Here.” She hands it to me.

  I take it and carefully untie the twine that’s keeping it closed. Inside are fired cy disks, each one with one of a few intricate designs stamped into it. A small amount of metal coats the bottom of every trench.

  “No idea how money used to work, but here they use these little coins. Each one is worth a different amount. We had 500, and now have 480.” She expins.

  “It doesn’t sound any different than what they used before the world ended. Although I’m not sure how they stop people from counterfeiting more, these seem pretty easy to reproduce.”

  “Maybe don’t say that when we’re being watched.”

  “Right, sorry.” I drop the coin back into the pouch and tie it closed.

  “Anyway, they also come with this.” She pulls out of her backpack a second cy tablet. “It’s a log saying we were paid 500 coins, and is marked by both the mayor when they gave it to us, and the seller when we buy anything. If we try to use more than however much our log says we have in Vegas for example, or try to use them without this note, they’re worthless.”

  What’s stopping someone from counterfeiting the log then? That’s not something I should ask aloud right now though. I guess it is impossible to create something that cannot be replicated, and it’s just another challenge to put in the way for counterfeiters.

  “Is 500 coins a lot of money?” I ask.

  “Not a ton, no, and I’m sure it’ll disappear quickly when we reach Vegas, but it’ll keep us going for a bit.”

  “At least Corax and I don’t have to eat.”

  “Mm-hmm.” She mumbles through a mouth full of food. “It’s double good because I am not sharing this.”

  Despite everything, she manages to bring a sembnce of a smile to my face. I’m not sure how I actually look without my skin, but I’m sure it’s terrifying. The thought instantly wipes away the budding happiness. A part of my mind demands I touch my face and find out for myself, but I’m so afraid of what I’ll find.

  “What’s wrong?” Cassie unfortunately asks.

  “Do I look scary?”

  “I mean yeah, I’m not going to lie. If I didn’t know you, I’d be intimidated.” She shrugs. “But I do, and I know you’re not, so it’s fine. And who the fuck cares what anyone else thinks.”

  “I think I care.”

  “Alright, how about this then? When we get to Vegas, you do some AI fuckery in a casino and make us millions. You can buy some skin, I’ll buy enough alcohol to drown myself, and we’ll celebrate together.”

  “I don’t think that will work. It'd be trivial to rig literally everything. Even shuffling a deck of cards into a predetermined order should be doable with some specialized equipment.”

  “Right.” Her entire body deftes a tiny bit, as if I just ruined her only pn. Which I guess I did.

  “I’m sure we can find some other way to make money, but I won’t be able to do anything fancy. If I try to hack anything, Zero made it very clear he would kill me instantly.”

  “Shit, really?”

  “Yeah. He almost did the first time, but he said I felt familiar? And the only reason he let me live is out of respect for some friend. I don’t know what that means, and I can’t try again to find out.”

  “That’s way worse than you made it sound the first time. Why didn’t you didn’t tell anyone?” Cassie’s exasperation is clear in her voice.

  “We were kind of busy, and I had bigger problems on my mind.”

  Cassie shakes her head disbelievingly.

  “Fine, we’ll just have to break Vegas’ water filter then.” She jabs her elbow into my side. “I bet they’d pay a million for fixing that.”

  “I bet they would.”

  I stay quiet while Cassie eats, I can’t think of anything else to talk about. I can’t stop myself from just staring at the unmoving pile of fabric in the corner.

  I know there’s nothing I can do to help him feel less betrayed faster, but that doesn’t stop my mind from desperately trying to figure out some magic way to make him forgive me.

  No matter what idea my mind manages to cobble together, it’ll only make things worse.

  “Hey.” Cassie gets my attention.

  When I look over, her empty pte has already been pced on the far end of the bed. I didn’t even realize she finished. She gives me a look, and gnces at Corax, followed by her book.

  Right, yeah that might help. Reading directly to him might only make things worse though.

  “I stole a few books from the server Corax and I hacked into.” I tell her. “I imagine you’re sick of listening to the same book over and over. It’s not romance, but I could read it to you regardless.”

  “I read more than romance.” She rolls her eyes, although I’m not sure if the offense in her voice is genuine or not. “But sure, do whatever you want. I guess we do have a lot of time to kill.”

  Cassie tosses a few pillows against the wall, and makes herself comfortable on the bed, her back supported by the small pile.

  I mimic her pose and begin to read.

  JanePtinum