When the old woman reached out her hand, the real rules must have been reposted in a nearby corner, going "live" once again.
In that instant, it seemed even the air itself hummed with excitement. It was as if a faint, flickering spark lurked just beneath cognition, and in the depths of her senses, it CRACKLED once. But if one were to look closely—
Mai Mingle couldn't look closely.
She had her eyes squeezed shut and her head twisted away, but she could still feel the shadow of the old woman's completely unobscured face fall upon her own.
The old woman's fingers sank deep into Mai Mingle's cheeks—so, so deep that her ten fingers met inside Mai Mingle's skull. Her left cheek was pressed against her right, and her teeth were crushed into a handful of grit between them.
"You caught me off guard last time, but not again."
The old woman said in a singsong voice, "You see, we residents have to learn from experience, too. That's how we improve."
