Slay

The narrative moves back to Bellevue. On Sunday morning, Kiera remembers that she and Harper have a math test on Monday, and she feels guilty for ignoring her best friend the past few days. Harper knows that something is bothering Kiera but doesn’t pry, apologizing for her brother’s behavior, and all but begging Kiera to come over to her house so they can spend some time together. Harper lives in a mansion on Lake Washington, and she greets her friend with a batch of Kiera’s favorite peanut butter cookies. While the girls enjoy their snacks and the luxurious furniture of the study, Harper apologizes for putting Kiera on the spot with her questions about locs instead of doing her own research saying, “I realize it was unfair of me to expect you to know. You shouldn’t have to answer for all Black people, as if you all have the same opinion about it” (194). She’s decided not to get the hairstyle because she knows many members of the Black community would find it offensive and culturally appropriative. Grateful that they’ve cleared the air, Kiera now feels better about the odds of their friendship surviving after they graduate from Jefferson Academy.

Much to Kiera’s frustration, Wyatt comes home early from baseball practice and rudely turns on the news in the room where she and Harper are talking. The news anchors and a professor of civil rights law claim that SLAY targets underprivileged youth and promotes violence. The professor claims, “Emerald is a dangerous character, and he should—no, must—be held responsible for perpetuating racism and inciting violence” (198). Despite his sister’s insistence, Wyatt adamantly refuses to apologize to Kiera for his disrespectful comments about the game. He doubles down by saying that he’s spoken to his family’s lawyer about bringing a discrimination case against Emerald and revealing that he has a SLAY passcode. This makes Kiera believe that Wyatt is Dred. She excuses herself and drives home immediately.

Kiera doesn’t want to share her revelation with Steph because she doesn’t want to damage her sister’s relationship with Harper. She logs into the game, determined to take control of the situation. As she looks at all of the lovingly crafted characters made by players around the world, she feels an unassailable pride in what she has created. Kiera calls a meeting at City Hall, and over 60,000 players attend. She begins by honoring Jamal Rice’s memory and then discusses the recent news coverage accusing SLAYers of being racist for wanting an online community for Black people. She challenges Dred to a duel. If she wins, he has to leave the game forever and abandon his plans of prosecuting her in the real world. If he wins, she promises to hand over her developer rights and the character of Emerald. Dred petulantly demands to be allowed to study the entire deck until their battle the next day, and she concedes. After she logs out, Steph demands to know how Kiera could put the whole game at risk like that, and Kiera yells at her to leave her alone. Cicada offers her much-needed words of comfort and encouragement, and Kiera responds by assuring Cicada that she belongs in SLAY and by sharing some personal information about herself. Her friend’s good wishes for her upcoming battle allow Kiera to finally get some sleep.

The narrative moves to Paris. As a computer science student at the École normale supérieure, Claire is able to rent servers for SLAY with few questions asked. As she performs maintenance on the servers, she thinks guiltily about Jamal and about Emerald, who is taking all of the negative press for the boy’s death. She overhears some of her fellow students talking about her in Italian, and they call her “the African girl” (222). Claire demonstrates her fluency in Italian to the stunned students and then leaves the building. She starts to cry. Her mother’s doctor calls her, and she cries harder as she realizes that her mother’s condition is deteriorating. Through her tears, she promises to come see her mother even though she doesn’t know how she’ll afford the trip to Florence. She isn’t on speaking terms with her Afro-Portuguese father, who lives in France and gambled his nest egg away. Her mother tells Claire that she’s proud of her, and Claire thinks of how much prouder she’d be if she knew about the online world she’s created for thousands of people. The doctor asks Claire if she can visit this week, and she knows that his question means that she is about to lose “the only one [she] can call when [she’s] lonely, the woman who taught [her] never to be ashamed of who [she is]” (227). As soon as the call ends, she buys a train ticket to Milan, but she isn’t sure how she’ll make it to Florence from there.

The narrative moves back to Bellevue. On Monday, Harper notices Kiera’s exhaustion and stress, and she tries to cheer her up by giving her a cookie and telling her that Wyatt won’t be at school because he’s pretending to be ill. Kiera thinks that the boy is likely studying the more than 1,000 cards in SLAY, but she’s still relieved to hear that she won’t have to see him until the battle that night. Harper asks Kiera if she broke up with Malcolm and shows her some of the irate texts he sent her: “She’s definitely avoiding me. Won’t talk to me, won’t let me over. Mad disrespectful” (232). Malcom’s texts mention that he’s been drinking, and Harper finds his behavior threatening and concerning. Malcolm spots Kiera in the cafeteria. He is deeply offended that he hasn’t heard from her in over a day, and he demands to know where she’s been and why she is ignoring him. Kiera wants to avoid a scene, and she considers telling him all about SLAY. However, the unmitigated rage in his expression makes her afraid. Steph makes Malcolm leave by accusing him of bullying her sister and by threatening to burn him with a cup of coffee. Malcolm gives Kiera a wounded look and tells her, “I’ll be here when you get your shit together and come back home” (237).