Jensi leaped onto Foxfire's purple field hours earlier than usual. He'd managed to avoid his brother and—miraculously—Ulla. He was still smarting over the conversation he and Fernan had had, and he wasn't in the mood for one of his grandma's interrogations.
It was this time of morning, when the sunrise drifted between the clouds and painted the ground in light, that Jensi found a sense of peace. The space between night and morning demanded nothing of him, so he walked the grounds, trying to empty his mind.
It still kept returning to the murder. He hadn't known Navik personally, but he vaguely remembered teaching a Hishia in his class two years ago. Were they related? Did they know each other, or were they distant?
Maybe if he asked Keefe, he could get an old file—he could check up on them, see if they were doing okay.
If they even knew Navik had been murdered.
According to Biana, no one was supposed to know.
Who would do something like this? Jensi knew about some of the Neverseen's darkest deeds, but he'd never been directly involved like Sophie and her friends. He didn't understand what they had been capable of, and if he didn't understand that, how was he supposed to understand what the Purities were capable of?
Again, he felt useless.
Seems to be the story of my life.
An elf glittered into the space in front of him, and he jumped. More kept coming after that, so he waded his way through the crowd. His eyes latched onto a short, curvy girl, her curly brown hair pulled into a ponytail. "Hey, Amy!"
She turned and smiled when she saw him. "Hi." When he got closer, she lowered her voice, the smile unwavering. "Do you have any theories for who the K-I-L-L-E-R might be?"
He flinched and looked to see if anyone was eavesdropping. But Amy had been careful; no one gave them a second glance. "Dex contacted me last night with a theory the Purities' Technopath and, er, K-I-L-L-E-R are related. The first person that comes to mind is Lady Iskra. She's one of the Lost Cities' most powerful Technopaths; she invented a lot of technology you've probably used before. I'm not sure if we'll get the chance to figure out if it's her, though—I looked at a schedule, and there aren't any staff meetings for the next week."
"If it is her, though, she could be the Purities' Technopath?"
"It's only a guess."
"But it's smart," she said, eyes lighting up. "And isn't her classroom in the same wing as ours?"
"So?"
She rolled her eyes. "Oh, Jensi... haven't you ever heard of spying?"
____________________
Twenty minutes later, Jensi had received a detailed explanation of ninjas and Karate Kid. He was also standing outside Lady Iskra's classroom, hand poised to knock on the shiny silver door. Amy's plan was simple: he would distract Lady Iskra while Amy snuck into her classroom and searched for anything suspicious. Simple, easy, so incredibly stupid. What Amy didn't know was that Jensi had had an irrational fear of the old elf for years. He'd used to dread Ability Detecting classes, terrified he'd learn he was a Technopath and would have to attend her sessions.
Welp, you never were going to manifest at all, so there was no reason to be afraid! the unhelpful side of his brain chirped.
Maybe you could kick it in, the side of his brain that was still mulling over Karate Kid suggested.
JUST KNOCK ALREADY! the obnoxiously brave side of his brain screamed.
He took a deep breath and—
The door swung open. "What are you doing?" Lady Iskra's perfectly polished eyebrow quirked, and not in a You're-so-cute way. It was more like an I'm-intimidating-and-I-know-it kind of way, or the You-look-like-you're-up-to-no-good-therefore-I-will-make-you-tell-me- what-you're-doing-by-giving-you-The-Glare way.
"I... uh..." Jensi pressed his mouth shut before he blabbed the actual truth about what he was doing. "I just..."
"You can tell me on the way to the Mentor's Cafeteria," she said, breezing past him. "I won't have you wasting my time while you decipher what words form the sentences you're trying to speak to me."
"Uh... yeah. Okay." That was easy.
As he followed her down the hallway he looked back as discreetly as possible—not that Lady Iskra was divulging any of her attention away from the task at hand. He was quick enough to see Amy scurry into the classroom and disappear behind the door.
She was in.
Now he had to keep Lady Iskra busy until she was out.
"So," he said, because conversation would keep him from having a panic attack, "what are you doing so early in the morning—not that it's early in the morning—it's more like late morning—but what I was trying to say was—"
"That's quite enough," Lady Iskra interrupted. "I preferred it when you were stuttering."
"You didn't answer my ques—"
"I simply don't have the time for questions," she sighed, as if just thinking about it was the most exhausting thing in the world. "You can observe when we reach there."
He felt like an idiot, but he blew out his cheeks like a deranged verminion to keep from blurting another stupid question. To distract himself, he counted to fifty, but had to restart three times before they finally reached the cafeteria. He released his breath in one ungraceful swoosh, and Iskra shot him a warning look before leading him inside.
"Did you have a purpose for coming to me?" she asked as a group of gnomes started to hand her platters of food.
Jensi's stomach grumbled, and a gnome offered him an indigoober. He shook his head, taking the plate instead and following Iskra's movements. She was ordering them by food type, setting them under cases, stacking them on shelves, basically making the space look as it did every midday.
Jensi felt a prick of guilt when he realized how much he took this place for granted. He'd come in every day without even a thought as to how it was clean and ready.
"You do this every morning?" he asked, avoiding her earlier question. He looked to the gnomes, who were happily working on the other side's displays. "All of you?"
"I may not like to waste my time, Sir Jensi," said Iskra, "but there are a few things I deem worth doing." She clucked when he set a pitcher of lushberry juice next to the bliztenberry muffins. "Drinks go over there." She didn't point, so Jensi made a guess. A wrong one.
She took the pitcher from him and moved it herself.
He was getting the feeling that out of any of them, he was the one wasting his time. "I actually don't remember what I came to you for—I'm going to go back to class now—unless you guys need my help?"
"If anything, you'd only slow the process," an old gnome chuckled. "Iskra is very... ah, particular with the arrangement of things. A rule-breaker she is not."
Iskra huffed fondly.
Jensi nodded. "Thank you." He wasn't sure why he said it, but it felt right. As he walked back to Lady Iskra's classroom, he became more and more sure what Amy would find.
"Nothing!" she exclaimed breathlessly as he peeked inside. She was crouching in front of Lady Iskra's desk, looking under it as if she would find a secret compartment or a scroll taped there. She dropped onto her butt. "Ugh, this is so much harder than the movies make it seem! I don't know why she would keep anything incriminating at school anyway. Do you know where she lives?"
"Uh, not really, no. But I don't think it's her."
"What?" She swiveled her face to him, and he smothered a laugh when he saw the way her curls were haloing her face. "Why? Did she prove her innocence?"
"Well, no... but I really don't think it's her. She's in the cafeteria every morning—how could she have helped the Purities onto the property?"
"She could have orchestrated it beforehand, obviously. Criminal masterminds aren't stupid."
"But... if it was so stupid to leave evidence in her classroom, why did you suggest we search it?"
"I didn't say I was a criminal mastermind. This lady could very well be. She looks the part, at least."
Jensi frowned. "Why are you so adamant I not give her the benefit of the doubt?"
Amy shuddered but didn't seem to realize she had. Her voice dipped lower, and it almost sounded like a child's as she whispered, "I just... don't like the idea of a murderer walking around town, y'know?"
"What murderer?" a voice demanded.
Amy shrieked, and Jensi froze, unable to move until his brain processed the fact that no, the voice wasn't Lady Iskra's, and wait, it sounded like a child's.
He turned to the doorway, where Jeri was standing, her dark eyes narrowed. "What murderer?" she repeated.
"What are you doing here?" Jensi demanded, voice cracking embarrassingly.
"Uh, what are you doing here?" Jeri pushed back. "I was on my way to your class, but then I heard your voice in Lady Iskra's class, so I'm investigating. And clearly you are too."
"We're not—" Amy started, but Jeri cut her off with a sniff.
"Is this a new student, Sir Jensi? I thought you taught Level Threes." She looked at Amy again. "I mean, what are you, ten?"
Amy's teeth gritted so hard Jensi could hear them. "I'm sixteen."
"Ooo, I'm so scared. That still doesn't explain why you're snooping around Lady Iskra's class—or why you think she's the Purities' Technopath. Or if she murdered someone."
Jeri was too smart for Amy and Jensi to explain their actions away—so Jensi did the only thing he could think to do. "Jeri, you have to promise to not tell anyone. Especially Lady Iskra."
Jeri opened her mouth but decided to close it. "Fine."
Jensi held back a sigh of relief. He'd expected more pushback, namely in the realm of "IF YOU DON'T TELL ME I SHALL VAPORIZE YOU IN THE FIRES OF DESTRUCTION AND DESPAIR!"
"I'm serious, Jeri," he said, meeting her eyes.
She didn't waver. "So am I. Always. Can I go to Elwin's, though?" She held up her arm, which looked the same to Jensi as it had ever looked. "I think I got frostbite from Ability Detecting, and it wouldn't go away."
"Okay, fine." He waved her off. When she was gone, he started to laugh.
"Are you serious?" Amy growled, smacking him on the arm. But she was laughing too. "That was so close. We should get out of here before Lady Iskra comes back."
"Yeah." They stood and headed to their respective classrooms. On the way, Jensi's Imparter beeped. He pulled it out and was met with Dex's face. "Uh, hi?"
Dex's usual grin was gone, and he looked tired—but he must have been thinking about the murder too because he asked, "Can we meet at Rimeshire? I think I have another suspect."
____________________
"Thapelo Chebota is Maruca's dad," Dex explained to Jensi as they walked down Everfalls' twisting path. "He comes to Slurps & Burps every week to get Lesedi's medicine; maybe he overheard me talking about the Black Swan's mission. He also used to be a Mentor, so he could have easily figured out a way to get the Purities there. And he's a Technopath."
"That would be horrible," Jensi murmured. "What if he was the one who attacked Lesedi? Or he helped the other Purities do it?"
Dex shook his head. "I don't think he'd do that. You can tell he loves her—I don't think he'd hurt her. The Purities could have attacked her without telling him... Maybe there are some trust issues there. If we focus on that, we might get him to confess."
"If he even is guilty."
"Yeah. If."
He didn't say any more, and Jensi wasn't sure how to reply, so they walked in silence. Jensi couldn't help but wonder, Why me? Dex could have had Biana go along with him, or even Keefe. Jensi was always the last resort... so why had he been the first one to be called?
It almost made him feel special for a moment, like he was actually wanted, but then he remembered the thousand other possibilities for why Dex hadn't asked their friends.
They stopped before the front door, but Dex didn't make a move to knock. Jensi was about to step forward and take the initiative when Dex whispered, "Is it bad that I want it to be him?"
Jensi avoided Dex's gaze as he considered the question. He didn't know Thapelo personally, but... he didn't want Maruca to go through the process of losing her father to a rebel group. Not only had Marella's dad been a traitor, but the Vacker family had been torn apart when Alvar's betrayal was discovered. Even Jensi felt betrayed by his parents—sometimes he couldn't fall asleep at night, wondering all the what ifs: What if I'm the reason they're gone? What if they hadn't left? What if we'd been a family?
"Why?" he asked Dex. "What would that do?"
"It would mean someone else..."—he flinched—"Agh, never mind." He ran a trembling hand through his hair.
Jensi narrowed his eyes and was about to ask who this "someone else" was when the door swung open, revealing a tall, bald, brown-skinned man. His eyes—so blue they almost looked black—assessed them before landing on Dex. "Are you Kesler's son?"
"Dexter Dizznee," Dex introduced, shaking Thapelo's hand. "And this is Jensi Babblos."
"Babblos? As in the Black Swan member?"
Jensi squirmed. He hated when people only recognized him from Fernan—like, Oh, yeah, you're the little brother.
"Is there something you need? Do you have more medicine for Lesedi?" asked Thapelo, stepping outside and shutting the door.
"No," said Dex, shuffling his feet on the stone walkway. "I just wanted to ask for some help with a... technopathy project. I'm, uh... I need to figure out this device, and I was wondering if you have something I can use to study."
Jensi wasn't sure why he needed to be here. Was he the moral support or the backup plan?
"It's to mask my sound," he blurted before Dex could stop him. Thapelo's eyes bored into him, and he started to sweat. "I'm sort of clumsy—so I came to Dex to see if he could make a gadget that would mask my sound—but he said he needed inspiration—so he suggested coming to you."
"Mask your sound?" Thapelo repeated, brow furrowing as he thought about it. "I'm not sure that's ever been done before, but I can try. I'll bring a prototype by the next time I come to Slurps & Burps."
"Thanks," Dex said. "Until then."
Thapelo nodded and walked back inside.
"And thanks to you too," Dex told Jensi as he held up his home crystal. "I don't think he would have bought my lie without your help. Plus I didn't even think about that—push his boundaries, ask him to make a device we know the Purities use. Even if he was the Purities' Technopath, he probably would just fake it, but even then we'd get a read to see if he's lying."
"He didn't seem guilty, but maybe we should have brought Keefe to monitor his emotions," Jensi said. It was his not-so-subtle cue for Dex to tell him what was going on with the rest of the group, but then his brain caught on part of what Dex had said. "Wait, 'even if he was the Purities' Technopath'? Don't you mean, 'if he is'?"
"He's not," Dex sighed. "Thapelo isn't a talented enough Technopath to be the one we're looking for. Even if he's hiding something... I think Maruca would have picked up on it. She's smart."
"Yeah, but Keefe didn't pick up on his mom, Marella didn't pick up on her dad, and Biana and Fitz didn't pick up on Alvar or the rest of their crazy family."
"I know. I just have a feeling it's not him—but look, I'll bring Keefe along with me when Thapelo brings the gadget to Slurps & Burps, okay? Until then, just act like he's not the one."
"Do you have any more suspects?"
Dex's gaze shifted to the left a little bit. "I don't know. But even if I did, I'm probably wrong. As always."
Before Jensi could say anything to that, his friend leaped away.
Leaving them back to square one.