The Ark

22.

The pictures of Dad's memorial published in the feeds the next day held no mention of the gore that had taken place in the carpark. The lush indoor gardens at hotel Oceana had been packed with grievers. I scrolled through the photos on my Lens, looking for one person in particular.

"Mum," I whispered, my eyes welling as I caught sight of her in the fifth image. She was standing by an entryway, shaking hands with some ZenTech employees, her eyes very obviously red rimmed with tears. It was horrible knowing that I'd been in the same building as her, but completely unable to give her a hug. Guilt welled inside me as I faced the fact that I hadn't even spotted her on the security footage yesterday because I'd been so caught up with Delta and Fabia. My tears quickly turned to a shudder when I noticed Emrys by Mum's side—his arm around her shoulders. It should have been me comforting her, not him.

I reluctantly swiped to the next image—a photo of Zenith giving a speech. I rolled my eyes, about to swipe on—when I noticed the security guard by her side.

It wasn't Emrys—it was Zaphron.

"Delta," I said, twisting to get a look at her from my spot on the couch.

She was slouched in her seat, her boots kicked up on the desk while her fingers ran wildly in the air, typing code only she could see in her MR. "Can it wait?" she mumbled, "I'm trying to access Finnlay's timetable. We can catch him at one of his classes."

She'd been obsessed with getting every bit of information there was about Professor Finnlay on ArkNet and I wondered if it was her way of trying to keep her mind off the fight with the guard.

Instead of answering, I flicked the image of Zenith and Zaphron from my MR onto her desk holo. Delta stopped what she was doing and studied it with a huff. It took her a second to process the faces, then she sat forward in her chair.

"Is that—?"

"Zaphron," I confirmed.

She nodded, looking the image over with more scrutiny. "So, he's part of Zenith's detail now. That's a bit of a step-up considering—" she broke off, shooting me a quick glance and biting her lip.

"Considering what?"

"Uh, well—you know." Her face coloured and she grimaced. "He obviously didn't do a very good job on his last assignment."

I let out a breath. There were times when Delta seemed to know the exact right thing to say—and then there were times like this. "Right. Yeah."

Delta scrunched her face. "I really didn't mean for it to come out like that."

I held up a hand to wave her off, but lost interest in the gesture. "I know. And it's not exactly like it isn't true either."

Silence fell over us and I glanced up at the picture. I'd been hoping there was an explanation for Zaphron being on the ZenTech staff list that didn't actually involve him working for Zenith—but seeing him as her personal guard at such a prominent event was pretty undisputable.

"Here," Delta interrupted my thoughts, swiping the image from the holo and replacing it with a time table. "This should take your mind off things."

I read the address at the top of the schedule and sucked my teeth in surprise. "Professor Finnlay works at an independent academy?"

Delta bobbled her head, grinning widely. "Better get some normal clothes. We're going to advanced academy."

As we stood in the remarkably plain entry foyer of the Independent Irish Advanced Academy, I couldn't help but think that Delta's 'normal clothes' made her stand out more than her usual tight black attire. Her purple shirt was almost the same colour as the bruises on her jaw and neck, the short sleeves revealing a collection of both old and new battle scars, and a single home-inked tattoo. It only took a glance at her to see she had lived through more than the average academy student. Despite this, no one even spared us a second glance as we tried to get our bearings.

Unlike most of the EduCo academies, tuition at independent academies was free. They relied on donations to keep their doors open—and it showed. The IIAA's building was tired and undecorated, the once polished concrete floors worn down to a dull matt. The learning content was donated too, with most lecturers, like Professor Finnlay, being unpaid volunteers.

"The lecture halls are this way," Delta said, following an overlay. As she pulled me toward the building's east wing, I couldn't help but notice how keen she seemed. It was as though she was actually hoping to catch the end of Finnlay's lecture. It got me wondering if she'd ever attended an academy before today.

Finnlay's advanced coding class was in arena three, which seemed to be part of a newer extension to the academy's campus. His lecture must have just finished because as we arrived students spilled out of the doors, rushing off to their next classes and leaving Delta and me pressed against the wall in an attempt to stay out of their way.

After the last few stragglers had exited, I followed Delta into the lecture hall and gaped.

It was as though we had stepped onto a totally different campus. The arena was massive and modern, with an excessive amount of staggered seating. It was nicer than some of the private academies I had visited. The donor that covered the construction costs for this wing must have been feeling pretty generous.

"There he is," Delta whispered, her eyes trained on a man packing a few tablets into his satchel.

"Are you sure?" I asked, looking him up and down. Not that there was much to see. He seemed absurdly short, but maybe that was just because he was standing in the centre of such a grand room.

"Professor Finnlay?" Delta called. Her voice and slow footfalls echoed around the empty hall.

The professor turned around in surprise, as though he had never been addressed on campus before. His mousy features grew suspicious as Delta and I approached.

"I don't think I've seen you girls in any of my classes before."

"Oh, that's because we're not students." Delta grinned as we came to a stop in front of him. She was at least half a foot taller than he was. "I'm Delta and this is Astrid."

The professor froze midway through looping his satchel over his head. His eyes darted to me as Delta mentioned my name and the colour drained from his face.

"You shouldn't be here," he hissed his gaze travelling to the room's security cameras.

I sighed. "So people keep saying."