26.2 Guilty

The student closed his eyes. He had expected this answer.

"Tell me your price," he said curtly.

Taken by surprise by the tall, dark-haired man's answer, the young woman opened her eyes as wide as saucers, then burst out laughing.

"I see you've got the hang of it! The matron might have a point, we might be able to do something with you," she said, rubbing her face.

Behind her eyes, glassy from too long of continuous drug use, Yomo could see a glimmer of lucidity that betrayed the intelligence of Nils' sister. Deep down, Yomo felt sad. Nomé had been an intelligent, smiling woman before she fell into drugs. Nils had shown him videos of her as a child and teenager, and what he had seen had shocked him. Far from the six-foot skeleton with stringy hair scattered over her head, teeth yellowed by alcohol and all the things she could smoke, with dark circles bigger than caverns under her eyes, Nomé was a radiant little girl in her childhood.