13. BurningBright
BurningBright
Playlist: Somebody’s Watching Me - Madelyn Darling
Lyra
I jolt at the delusion, heart hammering, breath ragged.
For a moment, I can’t tell if the sound is real, and the drones are outside my window, or if it is just fear taking over my tired, hazy brain.
The walls of my dimly lit bedroom stare back at me, pitch black with the occasional lights of an air taxi waving over me like searchlights.
Delivery drones hum faintly as they pass my window, caught in the current of a city that never sleeps.
But I know this...something’s very wrong.
Last night with Eli should’ve burned us into the grid. We should be caught, flagged, dragged out by CIC by now. And yet...silence. The city moves on outside my apartment as if nothing happened before TheKast last night, as if two magic surges didn’t flare hot enough to set the system on fire.
I press my palms over my ears, but the phantom ringing of CIC sirens won’t stop. It feels like the universe is warning me, “Don’t breathe too loud, Lyra. Don’t move too fast, don’t give yourself away.” My pulse pounds, and I feel sick with paranoia.
I stumble into the bathroom and brace myself against the sink, palms flat on the cool concrete counter.
Blood roars in my ears as I bend forward, damp hair falling into my face.
I twist the faucet, and icy water erupts, splashing the backs of my hands.
When it hits my face, it’s sharp enough to hurt, exactly what I need to snap me out of this panic spiral, back into myself.
I lift my head and catch my reflection in the mirror. My amber eyes are still glowing bright, pupils still dilated. I turn and lift my hair, faint threads of neon pink pulse down my tattoo just beneath my skin. I look like I’m still flaring.
I turn back and tap the corner of the mirror twice.
The glass ripples, pixels blooming outward, as the morning newsfeed slides into view, occupying the lower quarter of the mirror.
A perky anchor with synthetic skin and perfect teeth smiles back at me, her image stabilized by filters and mood-calibrated lighting.
“Another peaceful night following TheKast,” she chirps, ticker text scrolling beneath her in crisp corporate white. “No crime has been reported. We have VikkCorp to thank for our safety and our beautiful city.”
Lies.
Behind her, the city skyline glows in pre-dawn violet, drones stitching between towers, traffic flowing on the skyways in a hurried line.
Data overlays pulse at the edges of the screen: temperature, air quality, crime metrics, citizen productivity scores.
All of it designed to pacify, to encourage citizens to begin their workday with a false smile on their face.
The news always says it’s fine right before it isn’t.
My reflection wavers, glitching for a split second, my power bleeding through even here. The mirror subtly adjusts its tint, compensating for my elevated heart rate. I hate that it knows. I hate that everything around me always does.
I reach up and mute the feed with a sharp swipe, leaving only my reflection staring back at me in the dim light. I look like corrupted code. Tired. Extremely nervous. Today will be a challenge. My power will surely be seeping into every feed, every screen, every piece of tech I come across.
“Pull it together, Lyra,” I whisper. “Just control it.”
I hear the front door close, and Eli leaving early for classes. We need to talk, need a plan, need...an escape? I don’t know.
Why is he just going to school as if it’s just a normal day?
Normal. I tell myself. Just act normal.
The day drags me forward whether I want it to or not.
Out in the streets, the neon signs flicker the same old advertisements: Consume.
Comply. Connect. on every corner. Every screen is a reminder of what we nearly shattered.
I keep my hood up, head down, weaving through alleys slick with rain and soggy trash.
I duck into the warmth of the LoFiCafe and order my usual tea, retrieving it from a new barista today.
My fingers shake as I lift the cup to my lips, I don’t even glance at the holo-ad floating on top. The barista eyes me for a moment too long. I flash him a smile that feels thin and cracked, like it hurts to move my face. He looks away, bored again.
The hot tea fills me with a sense of relief that settles my stomach, but it doesn’t stay. The café door slides open with a soft hydraulic hiss, and the air shifts. Not temperature. Pressure. Like the moment before all of the air is sucked out of a room.
I turn toward the door and freeze. Kael, from STATIK, steps inside, heading straight for me.
Of course he does.
He’s dressed nicely, black jacket, white T-shirt, all sharp lines and authority.
Exactly what you would expect from a doctor.
Everyone in the room notices his presence.
It’s like gravity has recalibrated around him.
Ember Vosse follows at his side, her red hair looking perfect this early in the morning, like she just stepped off the runway and not out of a sterile lab.
I’ve seen her at work, in the halls, head buried in her LINKpad.
Corporate and dangerous, the daughter of the devil himself.
My pulse slams into my throat. Are they a couple? How do they know each other?
I duck my head and slide into the shadows near the front door, pulling my hood up just enough to cover my face. Don’t look. Don’t breathe. And for fuck’s sake don’t flare.
But fear is always a conductor.
The screens lining the café walls, normally filled with soft visuals meant to soothe, abruptly stutter. The watercolor koi on the tiny holo-lanterns ripple too fast, their movements jittery. The music warps, the bassline bending out of key for half a second before snapping back.
Shit.
I clamp down on my magic, but it’s already slipping, leaking into the tech like water from a busted pipe. The holo-menu above the counter flickers, swapping drink names with weird symbols before correcting itself.
From the corner of my eye, I see Kael pause.
Not looking at me, thank the stars, but listening.
He’s picked up on all the tech glitches.
I press my back to the wall, heart pounding, squeezing my fingers around my cup until they’re white.
If he turns his head, if he really looks, he’ll see me, and he might report me.
What if he tells Ember, and she notifies the anomaly hunters?
I know they exist, there’s some secret lab in the building just for that purpose.
Ember whispers something to him, too quiet to hear, and Kael answers with a distracted uh-huh. It looks intimate. What was I thinking flirting with him at STATIK? They could be dating for all I know.
They move toward the counter.
I slip sideways, timing my steps with the digital hiss of the espresso machine, sliding past a group of laughing U21s. The closer I get, the worse the interference becomes. Lights dim and brighten, and the sign in the window stutters briefly.
Get out. Get out.
As my hand brushes the exit panel, the café’s screens surge once more. I can feel his attention snapping to me. That dark stare of his flooding my back with heat.
I don’t wait to see if he recognizes me.
I push through the door and vanish into the street, neon and rain swallowing me whole, my magic buzzing under my skin like a live wire.
Behind me, the café settles. But I can’t shake the feeling that he felt that. It was like he knew it was me without even seeing me. It felt like two trains about to collide—no two trains that were meant to collide.
And now the city feels even less safe. I can’t allow myself to crush on a guy who is seen with Vikktor Vosse’s daughter. I could lose my job or worse, I could be found out.
I arrive at VikkCorp tower just in time to catch the elevator up to my floor.
I dash straight for my desk, clinging for the cover of my tiny cubicle walls.
I go through the motions of logging into the system, making sure my productivity clock starts running.
With each type of the keys, my nerves flare, fingers buzzing with electricity, waiting for the black-armored CIC officers to step in and drag me down the hallway.
None do.
Instead, Ember Vosse steps through the doors. I rarely cross paths with her, but now twice in one day? Just my luck.
She doesn’t notice me, or maybe she’s pretending not to. She hands some sort of drive to one of my coworkers and moves on. I release a long exhale after she’s gone, my stomach twisting.
Why was she here? Is she checking on me? Maybe Kael told her what he saw in the café. She would know if I was the one lighting up the grid right?
Whoever she reports to would know as well and that would be the end...of everything. Panic floods my veins again just as my terminal begins to bleed amber-and-gold code down the sides.
Stop it. Breathe.
Breathe in, breathe out. I begin counting the seconds as if I’m sitting on my beach again. I reach for my DataLINK and text Eli to let him know we need to meet for lunch. We need to talk, need to have a plan. I need to take a breath. He needs to help stop this emotional rollercoaster.
He responds almost too quickly, as if his mind is racing with the fear of us being caught too.
ELI (brO): Yes definitely
ELI (brO): The Diner? Noon?
ELI (brO): I’m light on classes today. See you then.
By lunchtime, my body is still vibrating with exhaustion and unease. It takes a lot for me to control my power, to keep it from unleashing and bleeding into every screen around me. On days like this, it grows stronger, feeds off my anxiety, and erupts in chaotic pulses.