Kai knelt on the ground, his mother's specter of erasure clinging to him like a pall. The elation of the victory, the power of the Wild Zone—all this now seemed distant, numbed by this person, destroying loss. He had fought for memory, and it had left him a wound that was fatal.
Juno stood at his side immediately, her hand on his shoulder. Her brightness, usually a salve, grew now into a focus lens that concentrated on his pain. He felt her feel his loss, and it doubled in intensity.
"She was here," Kai said tightly, his fingers knotted in the earth where the memory had flowered. "They took her from here."
Nema approached him, her scientist interest momentarily swamped by concern. "What's wrong?"
"The erasure… it's not an erasing of information," Kai said, horror beginning to dawn on h
