Spinning Starlight by R.C. Lewis Read Free Book Online Page B

terminals monitored by more attendants than usual.
    If you found a portal high, if you found a portal low…
    So I guess I’ll have to find one.
    I pull up the blank screen to draw on and sketch out the icon of the Seven Points. Seven interlocking circles in a partial ring, lines joining their centers, with a web in the middle and flames
through the gap at the top.
    “The Seven Points,” Dom says.
    I nod and lock the drawing, then point to the web in the middle.
    “The hyperdimensional conduits interconnecting the worlds of the Seven Points, used for near-instantaneous travel between—”
    I shake my head. After a moment of thought, I delete pieces of the lines forming the web and lower their contrast, making them faded and broken.
    It takes Dom a full five seconds to make a guess. “The ancient portals originally serving the purpose now fulfilled by the conduits.” When I nod, he continues. “Would you like
the complete compilation of data or a summary?”
    Two fingers up—our signal for the second option.
    He talks, and I listen.

    The summary isn’t good enough, so I have Dom dig into the full compilation. That takes time, especially since I can’t do much to help him filter it down to what I
need. The records are sketchy and vague, and most of the best information comes from my family. Pieces creep together, so slowly, and I’m not sure whether it’s the lack of material or
my checked brain that’s at fault.
    Dom interrupts himself on our second day of digging. “Liddi, there’s a news-vid you may want to see.”
    I nod. The break couldn’t hurt. I just hope it’s not about the laserball tournament standings.
    A picture flashes onto the wallscreen. Police outside a residential building in the city.
    “This is the home of Garrin Walker, who was formerly the assistant of Nevi Jantzen and has worked for Jantzen’s sons in an advisory capacity in recent years. Police found
Walker’s body inside a few hours ago, an apparent suicide.”
    My stomach clenches and the tightness in my throat triples. I hit the No icon, which Dom correctly interprets, stopping the vid. But it means more than that to me.
    No.
    Impossible.
    Garrin can’t be dead.
    The man who let me build block-towers by his desk, who helped my father every day, who got me away from the vid-cams and the mob when I ran to the city…he can’t be gone, too. My hand
shakes over the touchscreen but the icons have blurred. I can’t see. I can’t breathe. He sent me a message yesterday, wanting to help.
    No one offers help one day and commits suicide the next, do they?
    Not someone who suspects Minali is up to something and still has a voice. She hasn’t killed my brothers yet, but if she’s killed Garrin just for nosing in, getting in her way…She
says she can’t afford to kill
me
, but she can do worse. Saving the conduits is important, but she’s obsessed. And I know from a lifetime in vids that obsessed people are the
scariest kind.
    Walker-Man.
I remember. I didn’t call Garrin that just because of his last name. It was because of something he often said to my father that made little-kid me think he was really
interested in walking.
    “Always take the next step before anyone catches the one before.”
    I get it now. I can’t waste more time looking for information that probably doesn’t exist. I have to make the next move before Minali realizes the path I’m on. The bits I have
will have to be enough to get me to Tarix. I’ll figure out the rest as I go. Hopefully.
    She’s watching the house—I’m sure of it. From the media-casts, I know people are getting more and more desperate to catch a glimpse of me. Dom knows better than to mention
interview requests and event invitations at this point, but I’m sure they’re clogging up my message queue. The new security measures are holding, but if any media-grubs break through,
it’ll be reason enough for Minali to bring me back into the city. Especially if Garrin’s