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THEY FINALLY CAUGHT THE GUY, AND ECHO STOPPED IVY FROM KILLING HIM. They had set a trap using Hope as bait and convinced him to join them for dinner. About halfway through the meal, Echo leaned in and smiled at him. "Guys, we're being rude. Orlando, tell us about you." She gestured to the marks on his face. "What are these?"
"Uh, it's um—" he started, but Hope cut him off.
She answered for him, and if it were anyone else, he might have snapped or just ran out. But he seemed to have a soft spot for her. "Twelve symbols. It means you're level 12, right?"
"The L-7 who atoned here before me, he teach you that?" Orlanda questioned. After Octavia left and Diyoza had been taken, someone imprisoned there before Orlando had taught Hope how to fight and everything about Bardo.
"Yes, Dev," she answered with a small smile. "And he taught me as much as he could, but we were afraid that I wouldn't have answers if I was stopped by anyone higher once we were inside."
Orlanda raised his eyebrows, much more interested in Hope's story than anything the others had to say. "And was he right? Is that why you failed?"
"Uh... no," the girl responded, looking down at her bowl for a moment. "We failed because I hesitated when it was time to kill. He's dead because of me. His body is at your skeleton picnic."
There was silence at the table for a second, but Gabriel broke it. "So, uh, tell us about Bardo, Orlando. You know, I've got a theory about how your people got there. Would you like to, uh—"
"The shepherd delivered us," he answered quickly before addressing Hope once again. If Ivy did not know any better, she might think that he had a crush on her. "I'm sorry about Dev. I'll bury him with honor. You have my word."
"Thank you," she responded.
Gabriel, trying to get the conversation back on track so that they could gain as much knowledge as possible, quizzed, "Was the shepherd on Eligius III, as well?"
"Don't say his name," Orlanda snapped, and they all fell awkwardly silent once again, unsure of how to come back from that.
Echo did not have the right idea because she just scoffed, "You still believe all that stuff even after they locked you up?"
