Page 26 of The Syphon King

One of her embarrassing laughs escaped while she made her way around to them. “God help the world if there’s more than one of me.” She smacked Bishops shoulder at the roll of his eyes.

“I take it she knows?” Bart asked.

“I just told her.”

She eyed the curious look Bart held on her. “I think we’ve got a list of questions we might want to make before this meeting. Am I going?” she wondered, realizing she might not be. “I don’t have to if you prefer I don’t.”

“All hands need to be on this deck from here on out,” Bishop said. “Minus those we’re protectingwhich is all of the Hoard.”

“What kind of questions you think we need?” Bart whipped out a small notepad from his back pocket and found a clean sheet.

“How far spread is it,” she wondered. “Is this worldwide?”

Bart shook his head, writing with his little midget pencil. “Not yet.”

“My big wonder is what action has been taken and what are these rich people doing in the aftermath of losing everything?” Bishop said. “What are their theories, if any.”

Bart wrote eagerly. “The blame game is surely afoot. Many are saying it’s political warfare.”

“It may be,” Bishop thought.

Beth got her own pen and paper. “Are there any other patterns found besides the obvious ones?”

Bart flicked his eyes at her. “Just the number so far and the places and people being related to the coin’s message.”

“I’ll write any questions down that I think of,” Beth said when Bishop looked caged. “How are we getting there?”

“We’ll take our land dragons,” Bishop said.

Crap, she wasn't ready for that kind of meeting. “Do I have time to go home and shower?”

“If we leave now,” he said.

“Okay, well...I’ll grab my things.”

“Take your time, Ma Petite. I need to talk to Bart a sec.”

“Come get me when you’re ready.”

CHAPTER SIX

“Thakx,” Gauld called, pointing at his screen. “Each time Zodak’s name is spoken into her auditory interface,thisspike enters her energy fields.”

He hurried over, looking. “That’s a dark energy.”

Alerik made his way over. “How can you tell?”

Thakx pointed to Zodak’s screen next to hers. “All of this...” He traced the black edges. “Isnothis bio-signature. And it matches what’s in her.”

“But how do we know it’s dark?” Vex asked, also studying.

Vael leaned and inspected their findings then opened a screen of readouts. “Look at these signatures from past readings. They match the malevolent energies we’ve dealt with in Zodak before. Generic, yes, but black as night.”

“So, he’s somehow opening whatever contains the evil in her without siphoning because...?” Gauld regarded Thakx and Alerik.

“Because shelikeshim,” Vael said like it should be obvious.

“And if she has no memory of what was done to her, it’s also possible she doesn’t even know she’s holding it inside her.”

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