Page 20 of Light Leech

Boyband clapped. “Come on, did I miss Naoma saying that she had a Gui when I was out?” He looked at Ralia, who was massaging her temples. “Did Kuni shock you too, Ral?”

She showed him her middle finger as she sat up.

I looked at Naoma, seeing the trepidation in her eyes. She opened them wider, as if I had an answer. I might have had freedom without Deleon, but I felt as if each choice before me created consequences for everyone, not just me. All I could do was guess. And guess, I did.

There was no harm in explaining what she had done, but I would not tell them that she was Nuwa incarnate or some divine servant. I had no idea what she truly was. She could not recall her past, but did she know what she was?

Too many questions. Too many answers I was supposed to have.

“No answer?” Boyband sighed, frustration apparent. “Pulse. Naoma’s got a Gui now. How the zeg that makes sense without a Bite, I dunno, but I guess we’re rolling with it, just like we are with this whole fetal god story.”

“Pull the stick out of your ass,” Abbas said, as dry as dust.

We all laughed, even Boyband. “Sorry, Naoma,” he said. “I’m just… overwhelmed. Confused as zeg.”

“So am I,” Naoma said. “I’m sorry, but I really don’t know what it is.“ She looked at the others. “That thing helped Petya and I fight the therapist’s ghost. I guess it’s a Gui?”

“Nah,” Abbas shook his head. “Doesn’t make sense.”

“Why?” Kuni asked.

Abbas smirked. “You know how we need to eat teeth?”

Kuni nodded.

“Well that’s because we have techbone. That disease that your dad had.”

He took a second to internalize that, then grew teary eyed. “S-s-so… your bones are going to disappear, too?”

Abbas crouched before him, shook his head, then placed his hands on the child’s shoulders. It was so unlike the traitor I once knew but felt warmth in the show of his change. “No. Not at all.” He tapped the back of his head. “We have an implant that causes us to eat teeth to help us grow bones. The light ghosts we’re talking about need bones, but teeth do the work for them. They won’t take our bones away if we don’t feed. We–”

In his hesitation, I wondered if he was going to tell Kuni that we would turn into mindless fiends to satiate our hunger. I was glad he chose otherwise.

“We have those ghosts because of the implant. Other people that lose their bones do so because of a different kind of spirit, but one that is just a part of them, unlike our ghosts. I know it’s a lot to explain, but what matters is that Naoma doesn’t have an implant that causes her to need teeth. Right?”

She nodded.

“But it sounds like that therapist had a Gui, too,” Akna said. “That thing looked like one, but he didn’t have a Bite, right?”

I shook my head. “It came from that thing, and that’s just a simple neurospace implant.”

“Any idea where yours came from?” Denji asked Naoma.

“Not at all.”

“Hence the therapist visit,” Denji said.

“Well, that was for… I guess.” She laughed, throwing up her hands in frustration. “I don’t zegging know.”

“Oh, hun.” Ralia stood, steading herself from standing up too fast, then ran to embrace Naoma.

Naoma smiled. “Thanks. It’s fine. It’ll all work out in the end.”

She looked at me for solace I couldn’t offer, so I changed the direction of the conversation. “Regardless, it helped me defeat whatever that thing was”—I pointed at the therapist’s hardware—“and finished it now. I don’t think Gui can eat each other. It wouldn’t make sense.”

“Why?” Boyband asked.

I waved him off. “What I mean is, that wasn’t a Gui. It was connected to standard tech and the light was different. Black it was, but not the same as the one Zhu emits. I know it might not make sense, but–”