Spellhacke- M. K. England Page 0,39

us go back. Because if there are cops there, then we were obviously seen leaving the park, so they know we caused the rupture, so they’re out to arrest us, and—

The cops interrupt my spiral by hauling one of the guys from the fourth floor out with his hands cuffed. Benny, I think? He’s cursing his face off, his face gone completely red and splotchy. I can’t catch the specifics, but in between the swearing I hear something about drugs theft. Several plainclothes officers enter the building as soon as he’s gone, carrying large cases of equipment. Obviously settling in for a nice, long session of evidence collection. Just not in our apartment.

I blow out a long breath. “Okay. So maybe they aren’t on to us specifically, but we still can’t go home with the cops crawling all over the place.”

Jaesin nods. “We have to assume we were seen and our faces are going to be painted across every newsfeed and signscreen in town eventually. Where can we go to lie low for a while and figure out what to do next?”

I turn to Ania with a raised eyebrow. “Any chance your parents want some criminal houseguests?”

All the blood drains from her face.

“Oh god, my parents.” She covers her eyes and shakes her head. “If the cops ID us, do you think they’ll tell my parents even though I’m eighteen? They’re gonna kill me, I’m gonna lose my spot at the university—”

A faint buzz sounds, and Ania’s eyes go wide as she focuses on something in her lenses. She pulls her deck from her back pocket and flips the screen around to show us the notification: 1 new message from Mom. She looks about ready to throw up. I take a step back.

“What does it say?” Remi asks.

Ania takes a deep breath, and her throat moves as she subvocalizes the command to open the message on her lenses. She reads it aloud.

“‘Hi, sweetie, please pick up some cassava on your way home. Not sure where you’re at today, but avoid the western routes near the edge of town. Some kind of maz leak over there today, and we’ve had several new cases of spellsickness at the hospital. It’s all over the news, some big hunt going on for four fugitives. Be careful. See you tonight, love you.’”

I firmly block out the bit about spellsickness and focus on the rest. “You think she’s playing it casual to try to get you to come home?”

Ania snorts. “My mom couldn’t be sneaky if she tried. She honestly has no idea. My house might be an option after all.”

“Give me a minute to check the news. We should know what people are saying about all this,” I say, and call up a new search on my lenses. I can feel Remi’s eyes on me, cold and expectant. “Kyrkarta, news only, last three hours . . . Hey, apparently Seph’s Appliances down in the Crater is having a scratch-and-dent sale because of the earthquake, and Councilman Blake got caught with his pants down again. Shocking.”

“Focus, Diz,” Jaesin growls, and I wave him off.

“I’ve got it, I just had to sift through all the crap first. Here. ‘The disaster is thought to have been triggered by an illegal maz-siphoning operation. Kyrkarta City Law has begun a search for four suspects, whose names and faces have not yet been released so as not to compromise the ongoing investigation. Up-to-date information can be found on the Law’s net site, along with a form for submitting your tips. The death toll has not been confirmed at this time, but emergency responders on-site say the number will be in the hundreds. Meanwhile, Maz Management has stepped in to contain the disaster and lend a hand to the community in a gesture reminiscent of the early days of the spellplague, with volunteer efforts . . .’”

Death toll.

My throat closes up, cutting off the last of my words. My memories of the hack play again and again, a constant spiral in the back of my mind. Where did I go wrong? I swear I did everything right, but I must have screwed up somehow, I must have.

Ania doesn’t notice my sudden mental departure. She just sighs in relief. “Okay, so they haven’t named any of us yet. If we can sneak you all in, I should be able to hide you for a while. At least, long enough for us to figure out what to do next. I have my own room