“Is this what your world looks like?” he asked, watching her changing expressions.
Emery shook her head. “No,” she breathed. “This world . . . it’s alive. Bustling. It’s beautiful.” She walked closer to the window, looking for the latches to unlock it.
“Open window,” Torin instructed.
Emery watched incredulously as the glass turned translucent, then disappeared altogether. A cool breeze drifted through the room. She poked her head out, scrunching her face at the view before her. “Where are all the cars?”
“That’s the first thing you notice?” He laughed. “Why would we need cars when we can teleport?”
She looked at him, her eyes wide with astonishment. “Teleportation is real?” Her gaze shifted to the crystal dials in her wrists, noticing that he had some as well.
“Yeah. How else—?”
“Hold on. You’re telling me that teleportation, like wormholes and portals and stuff, is real?” Emery laughed, hardly able to believe her own words.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. How else do you think you got here?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “Magic?”
“You’re a funny girl.” A smile touched his lips. “In a way, I guess it is kind of like magic.”
“How does it work?”
Torin shrugged. “You just have to find a station, walk into a T-Port, state your destination, and the crystal dials do the rest.”
“A T-Port?”
He nodded. “It’s essentially a platform. We call it a T-Port.”
Emery shook her head, amazed at how normal he made it sound.
“Anyway, I brought you here because I knew you wouldn’t believe me unless you saw this with your own two eyes.” He walked toward a glistening, silver platform in the far corner of the room, waiting for her to follow. “So, instead of telling you, I’m going to show you.”
Emery tilted her head to the side. “Show me what?”
He stepped into the T-Port and extended his hand. “That everything Theo told you . . . is a lie.”
Emery hesitated. Theo, a liar? Maybe she should just go back and forget this ever happened. It was probably all a hallucination anyway. Or was it?
She pushed her doubt aside and reached for his hand.
His fingers closed around hers as he pulled her onto the platform. “7S Headquarters” he instructed.
Another gust of wind and a few tingly seconds later, Emery found herself standing underneath looming skyscrapers in the middle of what looked like downtown Chicago— an overly, technologically-advanced Chicago.
People were milling about, looking busy and important, like they had somewhere to be, all dressed in white and grey pantsuits. Holograms of other people’s faces floated in front of many of them, mouths opening and closing in rapid conversation, as they hurried to their next destination. Emery immediately felt out of place in her assassin-style training clothes.
Torin strode toward a giant, titanium tower, the words Seventh Sanctum embossed in gold above the sleek entryway. Her eyes traveled up the building until they reached the very top, where a circular logo was mounted, the number “7” and the letter “S” conjoined within a sphere.
“Welcome to 7S headquarters,” Torin announced gleefully. “I know you’ve heard a lot of things about the Seventh Sanctum—”
“Mostly bad,” Emery interrupted, her eyes trained on the logo.
“Well, I’m here to set the record straight,” he went on, ignoring her cynicism. “I need you to forget everything you think you know.” He raised his eyebrows.
“Can you do that?”
She sighed. “After the day I’ve had, I’m not making any promises.”
“Okay, here goes,” Torin said as he cleared his throat. “7S is actually the good guy, Emery. We’re the ones trying to break everyone out of Dormance, not the other way around. The FCW is the one who wants to destroy the world and start anew.”
Emery knew he could see the skepticism building in her eyes. Even so, he continued. “That’s why they’ve taken out half of the population and placed them in a simulated reality—it’s their way of building an army to eventually wipe out the rest of the world.”
She looked at him in disbelief. “Wait. So, you’re telling me that the Federal Commonwealth is the one responsible for creating Dormance?”
He nodded.
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”
“Does this look like the world Theo described? Does it look corrupted, oppressed, and degraded to you?” he challenged.
Emery considered this for a minute. “No. It actually looks quite lucrative, which brings me to my next question. Why would the Federal Commonwealth want to destroy this world? I mean, look at it.” She gestured to the clear, pollution-free sky.
“Because they’re the ones who despise the thought
of free will. The microchip—the one that they embedded into your neck—its end purpose is to control you. To rid you of your free will.” He stepped directly in front of her so that she had no choice but to look directly at him. “Once they deploy their army and take over this world, they’ll embed the microchips into every single person on the planet, giving them the power to control, well . . . everything. Freedom will be a thing of the past.” He shook his head. “Please tell me you believe me.”
Emery stared at him as she skimmed her tongue against the roof of her mouth. A long sigh escaped from her lips. “I just don’t understand why Theo would lie to me.”
“Emery, I’ve been trying to hack into the FCW’s mainframe for months. To reach out to you. To help you. If I were the bad guy, why would I waste my time doing that?”
She considered this for a minute. “I don’t know,” she said as she let out a frustrated groan. “I feel like I don’t know anything anymore.”
Torin bowed his head. “You’re going to make me pull out the big guns, aren’t you?”
Emery raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“Here,” he said as he typed a complex code into his phone. “Watch this.”
A hologram appeared above the screen. A blonde girl with a pixie haircut was busily pulling up files on a computer. Emery recognized her immediately.
Naia.
“How did you—?”
“Shhh,” Torin hushed. “Just watch.”
Emery watched as her own file appeared on the screen. A few seconds later, Naia’s phone rang.
“Where are we at?”
Emery froze. She’d recognize that refined drawl anywhere. Theo.
“Still on track, sir,” Naia responded. “Once testing is complete, we can use the device to render the rest of the world comatose.”
No. Emery stepped away from the hologram, feeling unsteady on her own two feet. It can’t be. Theo’s voice sounded again.
“Good work. Please keep me informed of any setbacks.”
“Roger that, sir.”
Torin shut the hologram down, his eyes searching her face for a reaction. “So? Do you believe me now?”
Emery closed her eyes as she nodded her head. “I trusted them. I can’t believe I—”
Torin stepped closer to her. “Don’t beat yourself up. I’m sorry, I never wanted to show you that. I just didn’t know how to make someone as stubborn as you believe me.”
Emery couldn’t help but smile. “Well, you did it. I believe you.”
“Okay, good.” He paused. “So now I have something really important to ask you.”
Emery maintained eye contact, already knowing what he was about to ask.
“Will you help us? Will you help 7S shut down The Alpha Drive?”
She took a deep breath before answering. Did she really have a choice? She’d heard it from the horse’s mouth: the Federal Commonwealth was responsible for creating Dormance.
“I guess I have to,” she sighed. “What do you need me to do?”
Torin punched his arms in the air, like he’d just crossed the finish line of a close ra
ce. “You can be our eyes and ears inside Dormance,” he explained. “I’m only able to hack into the holodevice in that room you were in—”
“The common room?”
“That’s the one. So the conversations I’ve heard are limited to the location of that device.”
Emery pondered this, another question springing to mind. “If you have the ability to teleport me into the 7S world, why haven’t you sent someone from 7S into Dormance?”
“Because no one in my world has a microchip. If I tried to teleport there myself, I wouldn’t have a way out. I’d be stuck there. Your chip is your ticket in . . . and your ticket out.”
Emery narrowed her eyes. “You have an answer for everything, don’t you?”
“I try.” He winked. “So, you’re sure about this? You’ll be our inside-woman?”
She heaved one final sigh. “Yes, I’m sure.”
Torin flashed a toothy grin as he pulled his phone from his pocket. “Can I see your phone?”
She handed it to him, watching as he typed in a long combination of numbers and letters.
“There,” he said as he handed the phone back to her. “Now your phone is programmed so I can reach you via hologram. No more going through that device in the common room.”
“You’re a man of many talents,” she admired, slipping the phone back into her pocket. “So how should we do this?”
“I want you to let me know once you find out anything regarding the Federal Commonwealth’s strategy. Our best bet is to talk at night when you’re about to fall asleep since that seems to be the only time they don’t monitor. If we need to talk during the day, we can make that work too. I’m able to manipulate your chip in emergency situations, but doing that too often could arouse suspicion.”
She nodded. “Better to be safe than sorry.”
“Agreed. So, I’ll connect to your phone once a week. Thursdays at 11 P.M. The more we know, the more we can prepare for whatever they have planned. Got it?”
“Got it,” she affirmed.
“Time’s almost up. I need to get you back before they realize something’s up.”
They walked back to the platform in sync. She flushed as Torin’s fingers brushed against hers.
“I’ll talk to you soon,” he smiled, waving his hand.
Emery nodded and just like that, she found herself back in the common room, her crumpled shirt sitting exactly where she’d left it.
19
Torin stood in front of the platform Emery had just disappeared from. “Whoa,” he breathed as he looked down at his hands. His fingers were trembling. His mouth was dry.
What did she do to me?
He collapsed onto a bench right outside of 7S Headquarters and buried his face deep in his hands. Counting backwards from ten always seemed to clear his head and steady his breathing. From within his pocket, his phone chimed, a female voice breaking the silence. “Will images of crashing waves satisfy your current needs?”
Torin rolled his eyes. The Seventh Sanctum had launched its new stress-relief program for all employees and, of course, he’d been chosen as a beta tester. The program had some kinks, but for the most part, it got the job done.
“Sure, why not?” he responded as a visual of a beach appeared before him. The sounds of the city drifted away as the rumbling of the ocean took over. He gazed at the virtual crashing waves, then closed his eyes and listened as they rolled onto the shore.
Still, his thoughts shifted back to Emery. Her mesmerizing grey eyes. The way her lips pursed before she spoke. The barely discernible dimples at the corners of her mouth. He hadn’t expected to be so attracted to someone he’d just met.
Initially, his goal was to finally meet the Emery Parker that the FCW couldn’t shut up about and tell her to run for her life. To get out as fast as she could.
Butterflies fluttered in his stomach. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, he cared for her. Fear seized his entire body. What if she changes her mind? What if she likes her life in Dormance?
Torin exited the stress relief program and stood up from the bench. The peaceful visual of the beach and ocean waves under a crisp blue sky disappeared and was quickly replaced with the bustling humdrum of the city. He walked over to the nearest T-Port and recited his home address.
His apartment wasn’t much to look at. Sure, it was neat and tidy, but in the way of furniture, there wasn’t much. A couch. A coffee table. A bed. A desk. Just the bare essentials. He made a decent living working for 7S, but he didn’t know what to spend his money on. It’s not like he had anyone to impress.
Torin plopped down on the couch and kicked his feet up on the coffee table. He couldn’t help but wonder what Emery was doing at that exact moment.
“I need to distract myself,” he muttered as he left the couch and walked over to his desk. He waved his hand across the virtual screen to start up the computer and typed in his credentials. What could he do to pass the time? Watch holovideos of people doing stupid things? Nah. That was pointless. Funny, but pointless.
Perhaps he could start a side project? Now, that seemed like a more productive use of his time. Just as he was about to pull up a recent holoprint, he remembered something.
He’d coded Emery’s phone.
Giddy like a child on the first day of school, he typed in the code, tapping his feet impatiently as he waited for it to connect. An image of what appeared to be Emery’s dorm room surfaced. It appeared she’d set her phone on the desk because she was standing at a distance, crouched over the sink, brushing her teeth.
Feeling a little like a stalker, Torin keyed in more code to activate the program’s stealth mode. In this mode, he could see her, but she couldn’t see him—a side project he’d completed months ago and considered useless . . . until now.
Torin sighed as he watched her spit the last of her toothpaste into the sink, then pull her crimson hair into a low ponytail. Holy smokes, was she beautiful. Not in that stunning, supermodel kind of way. But in that real, naturally flawed kind of way.
Torin sat back in his chair, suddenly averting his eyes from the screen. This was creepy. He was being a total creep. There was no doubt about it. If he was going to do this without feeling like a total stalker, he needed to think of it in a different way. It wasn’t stalking. It was . . . research.
Yeah. Research.
In order to help her, he needed to understand her world. He needed to learn more about her so that he could keep her safe. In a way, he was acting as her guardian, protecting her from all that was bad and evil in the world. Like a superhero.
A superhero? Really? He shook his head, laughing at himself. I need to get out more.
Emery unknowingly took Torin on a tour of the Darden campus, spending the majority of her time in the library. He was surprised at just how dedicated she was to her studies, even though she knew Dormance was all a simulation. At one point, he could have sworn Emery looked right through the camera, her grey eyes piercing straight through him. He’d held his breath, panicking at the thought of being caught. But when she turned away, he’d actually found himself wishing that she had caught him, if only to hear her voice again.
After a few hours at the library, they traveled back to her dorm room. Emery ventured over to her closet, and he averted his eyes as she slipped into her pajamas. When he looked back at the screen, she was still standing by the closet, but she was staring into space, clearly caught in a daydream. A hint of a smile touched her lips.
What was she thinking about? Was there even the slightest chance that she could be thinking about him?
Emery snapped out of her daze and walked over to her desk, grabbing her phone along the way. The room went dark as she clambered into bed.
Torin leaned back in his chair, fighting to keep his eyes awake. Emery’s smile floated across his mind. It was the last thing he saw before falling into a deep peaceful sleep.
20
It had been two weeks since Emery’s massive blowout with Anthony. She figured
their relationship was over, and was surprised when she received a call from him late in the week. He’d asked her to come over to his place to talk and have dinner, even offering to cook. But all Emery could think about was her visit to the 7S world. As if things weren’t confusing enough already, now she had to live her life as a Darden student, an Alpha Drive participant, and an inside-woman for the Seventh Sanctum.
Oh, goody.
First things first. She had to keep her life in Dormance in check. And seeing as things hadn’t exactly improved with Rhea, having dinner with Anthony seemed like the least tormenting option. Anything would be better than sitting in awkward silence in a tiny dorm room, even dinner with her maybe-maybe-not boyfriend.
Emery arrived at Anthony’s house at about seven o’clock in the evening. He greeted her at the door with a dozen red roses in hand. She smiled appreciatively at him, expecting to feel a flurry of butterflies in her stomach. Sadly, the caterpillars stayed in their cocoons.
Anthony had already cooked dinner and set the table, transforming his family’s home into the ideal romantic couple’s getaway. His parents weren’t home—they were probably on a cruise somewhere in the Caribbean.
She watched as he pulled a vase out from under the sink and set it delicately on the dining room table, plopping the flowers in one by one.
“I just want to let you know,” she hesitated, knowing that this would be the start of their fight, “I’m not staying.”
He gave her a baffled look. “Why not?”
“I’m not staying,” she said again, more firmly this time. “I need to get back to Darden tonight.”
“Fine,” Anthony muttered as he carried the steaming platter of shrimp risotto to the table. His kitchen skills had always been impressive, but Emery wouldn’t allow that to persuade her to stay. She was free to make her own decisions, and she was dead-set on leaving at the end of the evening. Let’s get this over with.
“So, how have you been?” she asked in an attempt to start the conversation. “We haven’t spoken in a while.”
“And whose fault is that?” The hurt in his eyes was clear as day.
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