Chapter 12: The First Line

Jiang Lü slept through the afternoon with her head on a cushion, and Tang Yu did not wake her.

She had had no sleep, and the fight at the gate had burned out what energy she had left.

She lay curled with one hand fisted in Tang Yu's coat.

Tang Yu eased the coat from her fingers, replaced it with a pillow, and tiptoed across the room.

The big desk stood in the late light, covered in paper.

She set her laptop down in the one clear corner, next to the stone ladybug, and opened Lin Jie's message.

The history key was a long line of letters and numbers.

She pasted it in.

A window opened, slowly, and then the whole life of one file began to unroll down the screen.

Commit one.

Commit two.

Commit three, four, five.

There were 1,946 of them.

The newest was dated last Tuesday.

Its message read: *she said yes to tea. there is no test for this.*

Tang Yu looked at it for a long moment.

Across the room Jiang Lü sighed in her sleep and turned over.

Her red tail slid out from under the quilt and lay on the floor.

Tang Yu's heart began to beat in her throat.

The license came first, because that was what she had promised herself she'd check.

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