14. TogetherForever
TogetherForever
Lyra
I tear myself away from the feed and from Ash with an excuse of meeting my brother.
I duck out of the misty street into a neon-lit diner.
Eli’s favorite spot is halfway between VikkCorp and the university.
The inside is a stark contrast to the warm lamplight of the LoFiCafe that I frequent.
I can’t decide if it’s the smell of fresh coffee beans or the background sound of some lazy synth-jazz track that I love more.
Often I just need a place where my power can hum quietly and inconspicuously.
Definitely not quiet here. Here it’s crowded, drowning in brassy neon and overhead light.
Its sign buzzes a harsh electric blue, the word NovaDiner sputtering every few seconds, as if even the letters are exhausted from just existing.
I stare at the logo, the tagline pulsing in time with the music, “Eat Synthetic. Feel Authentic!”
Inside, the air is thick with the smell of frying oil, fake beef, and a sickly-sweet aroma like imitation vanilla pumped through the vents to trick the brain into hunger.
Holo-menus flicker above the tables offering endless variations of burgers that don’t contain a trace of meat.
The booths are crammed with corporate workers on break, U21s in trendy fashion, and students wearing their DreamBands around their necks and wrists like jewelry.
I immediately feel overstimulated by the loud music thumping from the half-broken jukebox in the corner.
People’s DataLINKs are pinging and buzzing, utensils are clattering.
Eli loves it here. He always has. He says the noise drowns out the “echo” in his head.
He also swears the fries taste better than anywhere else in the city, maybe because they’re still cut from real potatoes instead of some vat-grown mystery starch.
He always insists on sitting by the window where the neon spills in, painting everything in shifting shades of pink, purple, and blue.
For me, it’s chaos. For him, it’s peace.
He’s already at his favorite booth, his gray hoodie shadowing his face, a plate of fries in front of him. He looks up when I slide in, and for a second, I see him as he used to be: My nerdy little brother, daring me to count the minutes to sunset on the beach.
“You’re late,” he teases, pushing the plate toward me. His smile is crooked, but it feels thinner than usual. “Did something happen?”
“I was...” I hesitate. Kael’s face on the newsfeed lingers in my mind, impossible to forget. How do I tell him I have the irresistible urge to run to our enemy. Ash’s comment about our souls burns into my memory like a ghost I can’t shake. “I was distracted.”
Eli smirks as his fingers drum against the table in an erratic rhythm. The sound prickles against my skin. A spoon trembles against the side of my empty mug.
I stop it with my fingers, but the damage is done. The ripple of shock has already moved through me. It now sits in the pit of my stomach, a disappointment, awakened the moment I saw his face on the feeds.
Kael Ryudon. Head of Neural Systems. VikkCorp. He’s one of them.
I stare at the condensation sliding down Eli’s glass, watch it gather and drip downward as the words repeat in my mind. They should have been enough to kill whatever this is.
“Distracted, huh? You’ve got that look, sis, like you’re not telling me something.” Eli leans forward, dropping his voice.
I look up at him through my eyelashes, then close my eyes gently, not knowing what to say.
All I see is Kael in the shadows at STATIK, not polished or corporate.
The way he watched the room like he might need to react at a moment’s notice.
The way his presence felt heavy, and stifling. I didn’t imagine that.
His intensity wasn’t manufactured by the Corporation. You can’t code that kind of darkness. It wasn’t fake.
Villainous. That’s the word for it.
Which makes this even worse, because if he were just another empty suit, this would be easy. I could shut this feeling down neatly.
My fingers curl tighter around the mug as my thoughts race: What if he already knows about me? What if the pull I feel isn’t one-sided? What if he recognized something in me the same way I felt seen by him, even before I knew who he was?
I hate myself for even thinking about him. This is how they get you, I remind myself.
Across the table, Eli is talking about the fries, about his worry, about anything, really. I nod automatically, my mind obviously elsewhere.
On a handsome face framed by cameras and lights. On ink curling beneath a white collar. On a voice that sounded like it was tortured, conflicted.
If Kael Ryudon is the enemy, then why does my body feel like this? I swallow hard.
He could be hunting me, drawing me in, feigning interest. I have no idea what he could do to me, perhaps capture me, study me, or worse, erase me.
Whatever this pull is between us, it isn’t going away.
“Lyra? Hellooooo? Did you hear anything I just said?” Eli waves a hand in front of my face.
“Yes. I’m good,” I lie.
He stays close, eyes focusing on mine from behind his black glasses. “You ever get the feeling something big’s about to happen? Like the world’s holding its breath, waiting to snap?”
He’s dead serious. I try to laugh it off, but it comes out anxiously. “Sounds like one of your premonitions.”
He shrugs. “Maybe...but I can feel things stronger than usual right now. Something’s happening to trigger me.” He’s clearly rattled after last night.
A charming human waitress approaches our table, a rarity; normally soulless synthetics or holos half-ass their service jobs providing very little in the way of comfort.
She carefully sets my glass of water down on the table.
“Anything else to drink or order?” She smiles but can’t help noticing I’m preoccupied with checking the windows.
She looks up as well and motions toward the city with a nod.
“Careful. They’re running heavier drone patrols today.
I have no idea why.” She cracks her chewing gum in the silence.
As if on cue, the neon sign outside flickers hard, buzzing like a swarm of insects. Our water glasses rattle against the tabletop.
“Eli.” My voice sharpens to an angry whisper. “You’re doing it again.” I look at the waitress who’s still waiting impatiently for my order. “I’m good with water for now, thanks.” I dismiss her.
“I’m not trying to!” he says quickly, through clenched teeth. His eyes widen and begin to vibrate with violet feedback. “It just happens when I get...”
“Anxious?” I guess, forcing a weak smile.
Believe me, I know it all too well. The conflict between my body and my mind is raging as we speak.
It lives deep inside me, a large part of me now.
Right now though, it’s a constant pressure, a war being waged between brain and body, attraction and survival.
I’m surprised I haven’t blown the entire place wide open. I glance around the diner—no lights flickering, no screens glitching, no telltale signs of tech being warped by my emotion. I should be bleeding power into every piece of tech in the room. I should be a walking disaster but I’m not.
Somehow, I’m holding it together. Holding myself together. I can’t lose control over him.
Eli looks down at his hands clenched tight, and nods. “When I get emotional, it’s harder to control.”
No shit. I try to act casual, my nerves still buzzing. Every time I touch my water glass, the sign outside glitches faintly. I test it a couple of times to know for sure.
Yep! Now it’s my turn for my powers to betray me. I’m not holding myself together after all.
I cannot afford to want him. He might be hunting me as an anomaly, and if he is...I’m not sure I’d run fast enough. I’m not even sure I’d run at all.
Eli lays his napkin on the table and leans back, his violet eyes on low pulse. He’s trying to brush last night off, but I can feel the instability in him. His magic is raw and humming like an exposed wire. The neon light steadies for a moment, as we both smile to relieve the tension.
He rubs his eyes underneath his glasses and lets a sigh escape. “Sometimes I think the only way to shut this place up is to tear it all down.” He’s cryptic, but his tone is threatening.
I try to laugh it off as a nervous joke, but the words haunt me. My pulse quickens. He’s always been different, even before StarFell. But today, his voice carries a strange timbre, like a deep hum vibrating from inside him. I reach across the table, covering his hand with mine. “You’re scaring me.”
He sits up to meet my gaze, and there’s a depth there that doesn’t belong to my little brother.
Something deeply dark and dangerous, just like Kael.
“Don’t be scared, Lyra. Just...” He pauses to think of the right words.
“If anything happens tonight? Don’t give up, okay? We stick together. Remember that.”
My throat tightens. I can’t afford to be reckless, to run to Kael Ryudon. I have to take care of my family. “Nothing’s going to happen. We’ll get through TheKast like always.”
I know this...
“Together Forever.” I give his hand a squeeze, like he’s a twelve-year-old boy again. He smiles faintly at my reassurance, the same thing I’ve said to him since we were kids. But the way he looks at me, it’s like he already knows I’m full of it.
That familiar smell fills my nose, warm leather, mixed with the vanilla being pumped into the diner. I squint as I look up. Ash slides into the booth next to me, his large tattooed hand slipping around my shoulder. He rests it on the back of the booth, casually but protective. Mostly uninvited.
He looks at Eli like he’s known him all his life. “Hi, hope you don’t mind me crashing your little lunch date.” He flashes his usual chaotic smile.
Eli’s eyes widen “Dude...you’re Asher Quinn, the singer for NeonGods!”
I’m so mortally embarrassed by my brother. “He’s a friend, Eli. I think...” I look at Ash questioning what exactly we are to each other.
“Friend? Maybe more. We’ll see.” He blows off my insult.
Flirt.
“Look...” He carefully glances around to make sure no one can hear him. “I’ve been tailing you both since STATIK because I know both of you are radiating some fucking epic anomaly-level energy, and I’m worried Corp might catch it.”
My eyes widen in shock as Eli looks at me like he can’t believe this guy either. “What?” He draws out the word slowly. Trust does not come easily in this city. It’s always better to act dumb.
Ash sees right through us. “I’ve been tasked by someone at VikkCorp to help chase down a lead...the anomalies from last night.” He drops a subtle warning but doesn’t outright expose who it is. He’s suspicious of us, I can tell, but doesn’t say it out loud.
“Kael?” I cut him off anxiously.
Eli interjects, “What?! Kael? Like the Dr. Kael Ryudon, the head of the lab at VikkCorp?”
Ash sighs. “Yes, that one.” He leans in closer to both of us. “All I’m saying is careful who you shine too bright around. Energy like that draws attention.” He turns to face me, smirking. “And not the kind of attention I would give you if you—”
“Why you?” I interrupt him before he can finish that sentence.
I look into those striking blue eyes, my attraction to him must be obvious, so I play it cool.
“Why do you have to look into the anomalies?” I try to match his intense energy, but my head’s spinning from last night and from seeing Kael on the feeds this morning.
Kael. The man from my dreams, now possibly my hunter.
“I told you, Kael and I are like brothers. We have an...arrangement.” Ash stumbles over the words.
“Your magic doesn’t just flare, it appears like a fucking beacon.
” He looks straight at Eli. “You’re a VoidChanneler, right?
” He steals a drink of my water like it’s the most casual question in the world.
A pregnant pause. Eli just stares at him, mouth agape. “When and if you two collapse the system, rebel tech, DreamNet, GameNet, and even people will be at risk. So, it affects me too. So, do me a solid and lay low.” He gives me a quick peck on the forehead, like the kiss you give your grandma.
“Gotta run.” He slides out of the booth, his leather jacket cracking as he moves.
“Oh, and stay out of DreamNet tonight, Lyra.” He flashes that grin again and a dimple pops on his cheek.
“Dreaming about me in the RedRoom will have to wait until this blows over.” His blue eyes twinkle intensely, and then he’s gone. Just like that.
Eli looks at me like he’s going to vomit all the fries he had before I arrived. “They know, Lyra. Fuck! They know.” His breathing is ragged.
The room spins. Lights smear into a blur of color, laughter and clattering plates are suddenly too loud, too much. My mouth is dry, but the words claw their way out anyway. “Then it’s already too late.”
Every screen in the room drips amber and crimson with my fear.
Now we know.
We are the hunted.