30. RunLyraRun #2
Not enough to hurt me individually, but as a whole, large enough to form a chasm of sadness deep in my chest. It’s the emotion I need.
The camera above the door stutters, blinks, then realigns. Kael’s lab security feed that should have logged me by now shows a generic error loop and a time stamp fifty seconds older in the corner.
I let out a short, involuntary laugh. Ash’s grin turns smug and a little boyish. One of Kael’s eyebrows raises in surprise, but he still refuses to look at me. While looking down he barks, “Lyra! Vikktor has your brother. Use that. Now go find that camera on the top floor.”
He pulls at the strings of my anger. He knows just how much hatred I have for Vikktor and how much worry for Eli.
We still haven’t been able to locate exactly where he is.
Vikktor moves him from his executive suite to external CIC labs frequently to keep his tracks covered.
I let the anger flood me as all the cameras begin to glitch, red and amber lines jumping across them.
“Good girl,” Kael says. His voice is flat, but deliberate.
Here we go again. Why does his praise cause such a stir in my blood? I couldn’t care less if I impress him, but my body says otherwise.
He taps keys, windows erupt across the wall, it’s the camera feeds from the executive floor of VikkCorp.
Executive floor. The words hit me like a hammer. Eli is there somewhere beyond the glass with guards and evil men in suits. Somewhere inside whatever secret area Vikktor keeps under the ruse of the CIC.
Ash and I continue running through the security camera points but are interrupted when the lab’s wall of screens hiccup.
A ribbon of static crawls across the main feed like a live wire and then, all at once, the static rearranges itself into a shape that steals my breath away.
A pair of violet eyes, trying to break through the noise.
“Lyra”—Kael still doesn’t look up—“stop bleeding into the feed.” He’s trying to type his way back in.
But it’s not me.
It’s Eli.
The screen erupts violet, so blinding and angry that we all have to shield our eyes.
“It’s not her.” Ash stands and runs to the wall. His eyes flare as he touches the screen to feel the soundwaves.
HELP
VIKKTOR
CIC
They’re just vague words, not even sentences. They glitch, barely making it through the feedback. What follows brings Ash to his knees, covering his ears. The hollow echo, haunting and foreboding, just like the night Eli flared as an anomaly on the grid. The night he exposed us.
TOP
FLOOR
CONTAINED
Words continue to break through like short bursts. “It’s Eli!” I look at Kael frantically. He moves fast, typing queries to get an exact location in the tower. The coordinates unfold in broken bursts between the phrases and static.
“Eli!” I yell at the screen, but it’s of no use. He can’t hear me. I know I’m in my holo-form but adrenaline is a rush I can’t squash. I’m already in trouble, so fuck it.
I sprint for the door of the lab and down the neon-lit corridor of the AI Department, sparks of code crackling around me as I try to manipulate every piece of tech around me.
My projection begins to flicker, my appearance looking less human with every step.
The holo-projectors struggle to keep up with me.
“Not again.” Kael sighs. “You’re making it worse,” he says from behind me. This time he just leans against the wall, arms crossed, eyes glinting in the shifting light.
I turn. “I’m going to find him!” I snap, hands glowing as my magic warps the virtual interfaces in the hallway.
Kael runs after me and grabs both of my arms. He’s calmer this time. Of course he is. It’s not his brother upstairs. “Stop! Someone could see you, report you to Vikktor or his goons.” He brushes a rogue hair from my eyes. My image stutters at his touch.
“Where? Where are you going to go? He only gave us cryptic directions.”
Instead of the hush of static, screens erupt. Neon melts into crimson, then magenta, then molten gold. My emotions spill everywhere, uncontrolled, alive. Images of fire raining down on the city fill the screens. This is exactly what he warned me about. I’m no longer hiding my signature.
ANAMOLY DETECTED
CODE ERROR
DATA CORRUPTION
LINK’s stale voice spills into the hallway from the monitors inside the lab. Kael sighs, stepping closer, just close enough for me to feel the rage building inside him. He’s probably even more furious with me now.
“No, Little Taiyō.” I hear the plea instead. “You’re compromising me, tearing down my system. Don’t do this to me...to us.”
I freeze in place. “You just called me by my nickname. I thought you were still angry with me.” Tears fill my eyes, threatening to spill, so much emotion unleashed at once.
“You,” he says with a crooked smile, “my little sun. Bright, stubborn as hell...and completely reckless. You’re killing me.” He leads me back toward the lab, his arm around me this time. Ash is leaning on the door frame, shaking his head. The warnings from LINK continue to fill the lab.
My cheeks flush as I glare at him, the realization hitting me that I just compromised myself, again, compromised him, his system, maybe even Eli. “Obviously I’m not that bright.” I try to joke with him, my fingers dragging along the walls, warping the screens as we walk.
He leads me to the middle of the lab and motions for me to have a seat up on the console.
I slide up, as shame sinks to my feet. “Sure you are.” He leans closer, parting my legs.
He steps between them, dangerously close.
Those honed, dark eyes are playful, not even angry with me for almost burning it all to the ground again.
I don’t fully understand. His stare, it’s hypnotizing, all-consuming.
He takes my chin between his thumb and knuckle, lips practically touching.
“And that’s exactly why I can’t leave you alone.” His tone is harsh this time. It’s a threat. I’m going to be watched by him 24/7 now. I deserve it.
He spins away from me abruptly. “LINK—no anomaly detected, abort.” He walks into his office, leaving me alone with Ash.
A shiver runs down my back as sparks from my magic paint streaks of amber across the monitors, and for a moment, the world feels dangerously small and lonely again.
So much for freedom.