Then Tessa walked out, her black wings shimmering in the candlelight that filled the hall.
Have fun, Ari thought. Not easy with a whirlwind of thoughts bombarding her.
A gorgeous faerie with tall icy features approached her. Before he could open his mouth, she held up her hand and shook her head. Closing her eyes, she willed herself out of the virtual.
Ari awoke in the dark room, the smell of bodies and an odd mixture of perfumes overwhelming her. Hurrying out of the VR room, she continued through the lobby. Glancing at the old code littered around the room in decoration, she wondered if maybe the code in the game was a glitch or product of her imagination. She’d glimpsed those errors before, but she’d figured everyone saw them.
But to change the code? She needed to ask Tessa more about it. Maybe this was in Ari’s head, or maybe this was why she was selected for this school. Either way, Tessa would be in the game for a couple more hours. She scanned the crowd briefly looking for her brother, but with no luck, she headed out into the dark night.
Ari wasn’t about to spend cash on a cab though, so she walked the five blocks or so back to the condo. The sun had fallen long ago, and the neon lights of the businesses colored the night sky. Masses of people blurred past, laughing and talking as they forged in and out of the clubs and hotels. The buzz of their excitement carried her for a couple blocks.
The crowd thinned, and her feet ached. The black heels were as uncomfortable as they were impractical. She assumed Tessa’s stepmother never had to walk more than a block in these. When she stopped to pull off the shoes, she noticed a man behind her. He caught her watching, he quickly turned his attention to an advertisement in a nearby store. He wore a blue baseball cap that hid his face, except for a goatee on his chin. She shook off the uncomfortable feeling creeping along her spine and continued down the street barefoot.
After another block, someone called her name. Turning around, Reed shouted from the back of a cab. He waved her towards him. Since, the cab was already crammed full, Ari shook her head, declining his offer. She didn’t feel like hanging out with a group of people she barely knew.
“Hey, Ari, wait up.”
Ari turned to find Reed jogging down the sidewalk after her. He looked handsome in dark jeans and a button-down shirt. He chased away any other thoughts and worries. The butterflies in her stomach were solely because of him. Why did he always have to look so good?
Reed slowed and walked next to Ari. “Thanks for waiting. I thought I would have to sprint all the way down the street.”
Ari smiled and focused on the spot ahead of her.
“What are you doing here? Walking alone at night around here isn’t safe.”
“I was sick of gaming.” Remembering the events with Garrett soured her mood, and worry replaced the butterflies.
He nudged her with his shoulder. “I wanted to see how you’ve been doing with your computer. Has it been giving you any more problems?”
Her stomach tightened as they crossed the street, heading towards the condo. “Having it report my every move isn’t enough?”
Once on the other side, he grabbed her hand and pulled her to a stop, facing him. She regretted her snippy tone. Reed didn’t deserve it.
His gaze bore straight through her defenses to the fear she’d been struggling to keep at bay. Averting her eyes, she realized they were in the more residential area with more condos and hotels than clubs.
“Ari.” He waited for her to meet his eyes.
Once her emotions were firmly in check, she lifted her gaze. It made her want to crumble all over again. Not because of her fears this time, but because of the way he not only looked at her, but saw through her.
His brow furrowed in concern. “What’s going on? Did something happen?”
She shook her head, not ready to voice what happened yet. “It’s just stress. Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”
One eyebrow lifted. “Really?”
She hated to lie to him. “Don’t worry.” Lies of omission don’t count, she told herself.
“If you say so.” His gaze traveled down the street to the tall hotel built with a light smooth sandstone-type material that glimmered in the night sky. He then glanced down to her bare feet. “I can’t help a bad game, but if you can stand wearing shoes for a bit longer, I may be able to come up with something to improve your night.”
She was game, especially if it took her mind off things for a bit. She slipped on the torturous shoes. They made her a couple inches taller and closer to Reed’s face. Reed smiled, the lopsided one that she had always loved. Heat spread through her face as they closed the distance between them. She wondered for a moment how he saw her. As a little sister he had to take care of, or something else?
“Come on, let’s go.” Reed broke the silence and led her to a sleek high-end hotel. The door man, dressed in a crimson suit, gave the pair a questioning look, but Reed strode in with confidence. A large fountain stood in the middle of the lobby with a statue of some man, barely dressed. They passed a noisy bar, and Reed turned to the elevators instead. Inside, one wall scrolled through pictures of the hotel and the different amenities it offered. An older couple boarded the elevator with them, but soon got off on the third floor which appeared to be lined with 3D games and virtuals. The doors finally shut, and they continued upward.
“Do you have a key to where you’re staying?” he asked.
“Yeah, right here.” Ari pulled out the electronic guest key card that Tessa had given her earlier.
Reed pulled out his interface from his back pocket and went to work.
“What are you doing?” Ari asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.
“Getting us a master key. Thought we could check this place out.”
Ari gave a short laugh until she realized he was serious. “Really? You can do that?”
“One of the perks of going to school for security is I know how to build it and break it.”
“Yeah, but are you supposed to? Won’t they notice you in the system?”
“Nah. I’m not doing anything that would set off an alarm. They might notice a room key, but hopefully not this.” He swiped the card with an attachment on his HUB.
“How did you get a card reader?” Ari asked, a bit astonished.
Reed looked up and smiled, his lips remaining sealed.
They continued until they reached the top, fifty floors up. They exited the elevator and passed many rooms until they arrived at a door marked ‘Roof Access’. Reed used the card to open the door, and they emerged into the dark night once again.
This wasn’t like the virtual she was in with Garrett where the roof was decorated like another floor. This roof was empty except for large mechanical units. It didn’t have drinks and a pool but, looking up, Ari found a whole other world. Fifty floors provided a better view. Stars littered the sky with a beauty only nature could give.
“Wow.” Ari turned taking in the night sky.
“Come on.” Reed pulled her to the edge of the roof facing the busy street. He sat on the edge, his legs carelessly swinging down.
She paused for a moment, peering over the side. They were up really high. She had enough phobias and was glad a fear of heights wasn’t one of them. She climbed onto the wide edge, next to Reed. From up there, the buildings flashed in a variety of colors, like glow sticks on end. People the size of ants swarmed below them.
“A miniature world with neon lights,” Ari said.
“There’s supposed to be fireworks soon.”
She scanned the horizon, amazed by the never-ending trail of lights. “Cool.” She hadn’t seen fireworks since her days at the summer carnival with her family, back when she had a father. She shoved those thoughts aside, not letting herself miss him.
Reed suddenly shook her shoulders. A scream erupted from her mouth as she clung to the edge, and Reed laughed as if it was the funniest thing he’d ever seen.
Once she’d regained her balance, she realized his arm ha
d stayed on her shoulder. She hit him lightly. “You are almost as bad as Marco.” When she turned her head, she realized how close he really was.
His playful smile softened as he glanced at her mouth. She thought about closing the distance, but that was the difference between the virtuals and real life. In actual reality, kisses meant more, so did failing off the edge, even though they sort of felt like the same thing.
It took a moment for her to realize he wasn’t moving away either. She had changed a lot since she left for school, doing things she never thought she would. Why not this? Before her brain could tell her all the reasons why not, she leaned in to lightly kiss his lips. He held still for a moment, and she worried that she’d made a mistake. But before she could pull back, he reached a hand up to cup her face. At first, his touch was hesitant, soft. Soon the space between them diminished and his soft lips held a hunger that she matched kiss for kiss. Bliss, true utter bliss blossomed in her chest as she lost herself in his touch.
When Ari moved her hand up to touch his face, an unsteady moment caused her to tighten her grip on the edge. Out of breath, she pulled back, a little flushed as she met his eyes.
One side of his lips lifted, his eyes never leaving her face. “Maybe kissing this high up isn’t the wisest choice.”
“And I thought you were worried about kissing your best friend’s sister,” Ari replied, not able to keep the smile off her face.
“I am.”
“We don’t have to tell him,” Ari suggested. She had always wanted to kiss Reed, but never thought through any sort of relationship afterward. It was always a little girl crush. But now that they started, she couldn’t picture it any other way.
“I think it might be worse to keep it from him. He’s already told me you’re off limits.”
“Really?” Ari fumed at the idea of Marco telling her who she can date.
“It was after he told me my mom looked hot one day, and I told him he wasn’t allowed to think of my mom that way. He was offended and told me if my mom was off limits so were you. Guess I’d better warn my mom,” Reed joked.
Ari avoided his gaze as she asked him the question that she didn’t want answered. “You don’t have to tell him if it doesn’t happen again.”
He pulled back slightly. “But what if I want it to happen again?”
Heat rushed to her face. “Then Marco can have your mom.”
Reed laughed, his gaze turning to the night sky. “You probably don’t realize just how long I’ve wanted to kiss you.”
“Me too.” Ari studied their intertwined fingers, his familiar, artistic hands that she admired, that held hers. She didn’t trust herself to say more, to put what she felt in words. He was a childhood dream, a friend, and now ... she couldn’t even qualify it, but it was definitely good. Fireworks exploded in the distance, and they both ignored them, leaning in for another kiss.
CHAPTER 18
The Tuesday after their long weekend break was bleak, gray and wet. Even those that hadn’t left campus spent the majority of their weekend gaming. Unlike the gloomy expressions on the other students’ faces, Ari was still riding the high of her time with Reed.
The lack of sleep did catch up with her though. A zombie herself, Ari struggled to keep up with Professor Speltman’s lecture on logical and conditional loops. She recorded the lecture in case she needed it again. His monotone voice could be a cure for insomnia, but Ari tried to follow along.
Speltman paced slowly across the room. “Poorly constructed loops are an easy out in virtuals and will not be tolerated in my classes. I don’t want to see the same cloud sequence floating by unless you want to fail. I expect at least a minimum of five different conditional loops streaming, whether it be clouds, birds, or a neighbor out for a walk.” He stopped to face the classroom. “Minute variety is what brings depth to your worlds.”
Ari raised her hand.
He nodded at her. “Yes?”
“How do you avoid an error when the loops transition or start over?” She often saw a slight glitch when a loop started over, like the fish in the ocean with Garrett.
The teacher’s brow lowered. “There shouldn’t be an error. Reread your coding manual. As elementary as it is, I’d be surprised if a child could screw that up.”
A voice traveled softly from the back. “Sounds about right for that girl.”
Ari nodded and lowered her eyes. Her face burned, and she wanted to kick who ever said there were no stupid questions. But if it was such a remedial error, why did she see it so often? She wasn’t about to bring up what happened to her and Garrett in the VR.
Ari spent her lunch hour drinking coffee in her room while searching through online rumors on warpers. She sifted through a myriad of claims and rumors. One guy claimed to be a warper and was experimented on by the government. Another site claimed they were warpers and could recreate anyone’s sexual fantasy to perfection. Gross. They boasted about their ability but never explained how they manipulated the code or what exactly they did. Could they create programs quicker if they wrote them while in the VR?
She was mulling over the implications of warpers as she headed to Dr. Coleman’s class. While finding her seat, her stomach churned. She no longer had full blown panic attacks in his class, but that didn’t mean she didn’t feel ill every time she went in.
Dr. Coleman walked in between the chairs, in black slacks and a dark, crisp shirt. “Today we’re going to see if you’re worth your salt in programming. Dr. Speltman had you submit the skeleton you completed for your midterm assignment. You will walk through it, criticizing the flaws and assessing potential for the next level of design, the user interface. Please run your program for twenty minutes and then after a brief discussion, we will move on with our normal agenda.”
Ari exhaled a bit loudly, which drew Dr. Coleman’s attention. “Is there a problem, Ariana?”
She shook her head.
“I should hope not. After the weekend you should have no problem with the VR, should you?”
How would he know about the weekend?
His look was piercing though, and there was no doubt that he knew. “We’re going to see if you really have what it takes to do this.”
“Yes, sir,” Ari answered and, under his heavy gaze, reached for the cable to plug in. She ignored an uneasiness in her stomach that had nothing to do with the VR.
The world Ari had created was sparse, but she’d done that on purpose. Lush green countryside traveled for miles in every direction. A small hill rose to the east, next to a wooden house surrounded by several well placed over-sized trees. She’d even created a stream to run behind it. Ari wanted to create a piece from history, when things weren’t as crowded, but with the benefits of indoor plumbing. Her VR world wasn’t amazing, but it wasn’t bad.
She strolled near a small plant, a bush really. And without thinking about it she concentrated on the bush, trying to see the code, like she’d done with Garrett. But all she saw was a bush, boring and plain. At least at first.
Continuing to focus, the characters in the code appeared, showing what she used to create such a small simple bush. She laughed out loud in spite of herself. She wondered if that was why she was here. Could that aptitude test she had taken at home somehow predict this?
Ari wondered how easy it would be to change the bush. Not that she would do it, but she itched to try.
“You must be really pleased with your bush there.” Ari turned around to find Dr. Coleman. He always oversaw the VR trips and interacted with students, but today Ari wasn’t prepared for him.
“No, sir. I was thinking about how fake it looked.”
“Good, because you are right. It’s abysmal. What else?” he asked.
Before Ari could continue though, Dr. Coleman put his hand on his temple in a concentrated expression.
A mechanical voice broke into the VR. “Please exit the virtual immediately.”
Dr. Coleman turned to Ari and talked over the voice. “We’re going into lock
down. Leave immediately.”
Panic rushed through Ari’s body. Lockdown. They’d gone over this in the beginning of the semester, and they’d even had lockdown drills at her school, but for some reason this didn’t seem like a drill today. What was happening out there?
Dr. Coleman must have noticed her hesitation. He put a hand on her shoulder, grabbing her attention. “You need to leave. Can you do that? Or does Mica need to pull you out?”
Ari shook her head. “No, I got it.”
Then Ari forced herself to leave, leaving her imperfect world for a scarier, more real one.
Mica appeared, took out Ari’s port without even asking and moved on to the next student. Ari glanced around the classroom, unsure of what to do. The other students were slowly waking up from the VR, asking questions.
“Everyone can be seated.” Dr. Coleman stood at the front. “The room is secure, at the moment.”
Ari clutched her bag onto her lap in case they needed to leave.
“What happened?” Tessa asked from the back of the room.
“There was a gunman apprehended at the entrance of our facility. They are worried he may have an accomplice, so they are searching the rest of the campus. Our systems may also have been breached so only internal network communication is allowed.” Dr. Coleman pulled out a stool to sit on. “All the VR facilities are shut down in case we need to be evacuated, but they should have the place cleared in a couple of hours.”
A moan went through the students.
“Don’t complain to me. This is your fault,” Dr. Coleman said to the class.
“What?” a dark hair boy asked in the back.
“Every time after break, the school has to double security. People watch the students partying on break and are reminded of what we are creating here. It makes the wackos come out of the woodwork. Crackpots from religious groups think virtuals are evil. They think VRs teach kids to have sex, do drugs, and kill others.”
Ari swallowed, thinking that they might be partly right.
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