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“What did you find out about the weapon?”
“What weapon?”
“The one you seized from Jinx.”
Heimerdinger heaved a put-upon sigh. He’d been hoping nobody would ask. It was a little embarrassing, to say the least.
“It appears it was not a weapon after all.”
“Not a weapon?” Councillor Medarda frowned. “How so?”
“It appears it is a contraption to produce… confectionery.”
“Confectionery?”
“Yes. A sort of… spun sugar. The sugar is melted, then spun and ejected at high speeds. As it cools it forms long thin sugar strands that can be collected using a stick or—”
“The huge, terrifying… thing that required five guards to remove from Jinx’s possession was… a cotton candy machine?”
“Cotton candy! What a wonderful name!”
“And I suppose that was why there was a horde of children following her?”
“Yes, I suppose so.”
Medarda sighed and shook her head. “So she was not recruiting for some sort of… child army like we first thought?”
“It appears not. Although”—Heimerdinger chuckled—”Cotton candy appears to be an excellent way to go about it, don’t you think?”
Vi still hated being here. It never got any easier. Cait ran a soothing hand across her back before stepping away to rummage through a box stowed under the desk.
Neon faces leered as Vi picked her way through the mess. It was equal parts terrifying and soothing—they reminded her so much of Powder, it was almost impossible to separate that nostalgia from the pain.
After spending some time rifling through a drawer—an assortment of nails, empty paint pots, two vials of what appeared to be toenail clippings, a dummy grenade, and a spinning top—Vi noticed a small corner of the room that was clear of clutter.
Carefully, she made her way over and crouched down.
On the floor stood some wilted flowers in a cracked glass bottle beside a tin hat. The wall was decorated with a picture: a tall, slim woman with two long blue braids labelled ‘Jinx’, and a small child with short blue hair wearing the hat labelled ‘Isha’.
Vi placed her hands down to better inspect the drawing and recoiled with a yell. On the ground, and now all over her hands, was a sticky, pink residue.
With trepidation, Vi leant forward and sniffed it. It smelled… sweet? Almost like… sugar? She darted her tongue out and licked.
“What the fuck?”