Months later, Hood County still argued about what had happened.
That was how Ian knew it was free.
Council meetings ran too long.
False Black complained that everybody had become political experts.
Dewdrop complained that being acquitted twice should qualify him for a legal degree.
Marshal Orb returned to work without Hoppity beside him. He kept the deputy’s old badge in a drawer, not as forgiveness and not as punishment. Some things did not fit neatly into either category.
The circuit vaccine program ended.
The census data was destroyed.
The gold remained in Hood County while residents fought over what, if anything, to do with it.
Nobody trusted easy answers anymore.
Dewdrop Records moved out of the burrow and into a former bank office.
Dewdrop kept the old sign.
“History,” he explained.
Sexy Spidy called it cheap.
False Black began recording his third album.
Ian produced it.
On opening night, The Nest filled until bugs stood outside the windows.
Ms. Ladybug climbed onto the stage.
“Y’all ready?”
The room answered.
Dewdrop grabbed a microphone.
“Before we start, I just wanna say I was always against the government.”
False Black shouted from the DJ cage, “You took the census money.”
“That was research.”
“You took it twice.”
“I got two addresses.”
The crowd laughed.
Ian stood behind the console and looked across the room.
Once, Gilden had sent him there to manufacture chaos.
He had found music instead.
False dropped the beat.
The floor shook.
Far beyond Hood County, inside an evidence locker at the abandoned military base, one forgotten circuit blinked red.
Once.
Then again.
And somewhere beneath the music, too low for anyone in The Nest to hear, a tiny signal began searching for a receiver.