S86

I finish, and there’s silence. Surprisingly, no one is screaming for my head. Veiled communication occurs between the members there. I see Drake nod at some message in his ear. He turns to me.

“Drink your water and shuffle your papers, Coach. Give us a few minutes.”

I do, but the Assembly members aren’t doing anything either. They seem to be waiting.

There’s a shadow at my shoulder. I turn.

Angi is there. Her eyes are wells filled with guilt.

“You’re a suspicious son of a bitch, Coach,” says Drake. “And that suspicious nature has bled into your athletes. You’ve turned them into sneaks and spies.” He smiles. “I like that about you.”

He stands, comes down to grip Angi’s shoulders in reassurance. “We explained to Angi her condition. She knew she couldn’t stay. We started thinking of solutions. We decided to fake her death. We didn’t tell her, afraid her brother would see the secret in her eyes. So we stunned and netted her as she climbed.

“You were right in every detail, Coach. Except one. We rushed an inert clone of Angi through a medical channel available to us. Cost us a mint and it wasn’t quite fully formed, but when the clone hit the floor, no one questioned that Angi was dead.”

Angi rushes forward and hugs me. “I’m so sorry.”

“Sorry?! Angi...I can’t believe it!” I shudder away long-held agony and hold her. “What will you do now?”

“The doctors say my problem will fade away with time as long as I don’t immerse anymore. I need to go away, let my brother be what he can be. He has a great future here.”

Angi steps back. Drake claps me on the shoulder, waves Lev over. “Mikhail can never know. You understand that?”

“I do,” I say.

On the “regard” line in “Triumph”, write “0”.

On the “badger” line in “Triumph”, write “4”.

In the “Duty” box, make 3 tiny happy faces.

In the “HA” box, write the word “Ghost”.