Delia couldn’t summon enough saliva to speak. She barely had the strength to nod. On the browser screen in front of them was an open-source coding site. Programmers and developers tossed up ideas and source code to contribute to the community, to get feedback and input, ultimately for anyone to take and use, the theory being that higher-quality software would result. Technically, open source meant anyone was free to use the code, but in the context of ValleyStart, this was strictly prohibited. It was in the pledge they’d signed. The one Delia had signed.

Yet right here on this site was the code behind Lit. Down to every letter and number. Dated two months before ValleyStart began. Before Lit began.

“How . . . how?” Delia kept reading. In the notes preceding the code was the exact description of Lit, including the potential applications to malls, amusement parks, and all the things Lucy had worked hard to bring to life in her Demo Day slides. “We didn’t, Eric. I swear, we didn’t steal it. Lit was ours. Lit is ours. It’s not . . . we didn’t do this.”

“I know. Of course I know. You didn’t think . . .” Eric tried to take her hand, but she pulled away. “That’s not why I showed you. I know you’d never do something like that, Lia. But if this link is making the rounds . . . not everyone knows you as well as I do.”

Delia’s breathing grew rapid.

All that work! All my work!

The scream stayed inside but tore through her. Sweat broke out on her forehead, her palms, her armpits, her feet . . . so much . . . enough to drown in. She leapt from the table. “I have to go.”

She had to tell Maddie and Lucy before someone else did. She whirled around, only half hearing Eric’s attempts to calm her. She rushed to the nearest exit, and then, once outside, drove her feet hard into the ground, running so fast that her lungs struggled to keep up. She tore down the path under the arbor toward the dorms. She was so focused that she heard the laughter before she even realized she was on the ground. She’d tripped. Apparently eyelash glue had a shelf life. She stared at the sole of her shoe beside her as pain roared in her knees.

Gavin and a few other guys from ValleyStart were laughing. Sitting on the benches in front of the dorms and just . . . laughing. Already bright red from her sprint, heat spread deeper beneath her skin. She pushed herself to her knees, then to her feet. She bent to retrieve the torn sole and stopped, instead chucking off her broken sneaker and leaving it on the sidewalk.

Her ascent up the stairs was slow. Scrapes burned the heel of her foot and her right knee. When she reached the door, she realized she didn’t have her key. She knocked, and Lucy let her inside.