“You’re done,” said a disembodied voice. The man scolding her stepped through the crowd. Two Clan:LESS soldiers parted to make way for him. “You’re done.” He repeated the phrase over and over until she stopped yelling. Her voice felt hoarse. Bugz feared for her life. The man brought his bearded face to within inches of her own. They locked eyes. One green, one brown, Bugz thought. She ran through her memories of the Floraverse. Alpha.

“You’re done,” Alpha said again, nodding his head. “We’ve got it all. We’ve destroyed this side of the nexus. We control the other side. We’ve killed your creatures.”

“Help!” Bugz yelled.

“No one can hear you,” Alpha continued, his mouth just inches from her face.

The horde egged him on.

“Get away from me,” Bugz fumed.

Alpha grabbed her phone from her hands. He thrust it in her face. The phone scanned her features and, recognizing Bugz, unlocked itself. Alpha pulled the phone back and, with a few taps, deleted her Floraverse account. Everything she’d accomplished was gone. She lunged forward, but he sidestepped her and swiped through her messages.

“There, that wasn’t so difficult now, was it?” Alpha grinned. “I don’t want to hear you complain about starting over. We’ve all had to do it. Fair is fair.”

The mob snickered.

“Screw you!” Bugz cried.

“Keep yelling,” Alpha responded. “I want to see if anyone comes.” He turned to examine his supporters. “Fellas, what do you think? Is anyone coming for her?” With a self-satisfied expression, he scanned the crowd. “I don’t know what’s sadder—the way she looks now or the fact the traitor ain’t coming to save her.”

The members of Clan:LESS laughed and turned to leave, high-fiving each other. Alpha tossed her phone into the dirt. The horde picked up their tools and marched back into the forest.

Bugz dove forward to grab her phone and collapsed against the largest boulder remaining in the clearing. She could still hear the clan whooping and chanting her name as the voices and phone flashlights disappeared into the darkness. Through tears, she raised her phone. She already knew her ’Versona and everything it unlocked was erased, but she held out hope that some part of the nest’s power remained. She set up a new account, launched AR mode, and examined the ruins that littered the clearing.

Her screen showed nothing. Not even a spark. The magic was gone.

CHAPTER 53

Feng stared at the basic ’Versona on the screen of his phone. No muscles, no guns, no Clan:LESS tattoo. This is what Bugz had reduced him to. He checked his messages and saw they were still full of hate mail. He sighed in frustration and tossed the phone on the couch beside him.

Liumei stood up from the table where she’d been reviewing digital medical forms. “Everything alright?”

“It’s fine.” Feng leaned back with a scowl.