by Audrey Faye
I open the second door and step inside. The room’s completely dark once I shut the door behind me. Or at least it would seem that way to a normal person, but I’m far from normal. I see well outside the human range, and I detect a faint glow coming from under the bed. A rogue K600?
So that’s what they’re after—an escapee. Well, I’ll help this one get away and tell Port the rooms are empty.
Whistling, I go to check the bathroom and feel the air behind me stir. The artificial is on the move. “The windows are rigged with an alarm,” I say. “And the lights in the garden would turn on the second you hit ground, anyway.”
“Who are you?” a girl asks.
That voice… It’s older, harder, but I know that voice. It’s the voice of all my dreams.
I start trembling and slowly turn. The glow she emits isn’t quite enough to be sure, so I flip on the light switch and nearly fall to my knees.
She’s seven years older—well past seventeen now—and beautiful, but I’d know her anywhere. “Lexa?”
She’s wearing tight fitting black clothes that make me feel both hot and cold, and her hair is tucked inside a cap, but it’s her. She even still smells faintly like cookies.
Lexa brandishes some kind of tool at me. “Who are you?”
I can’t believe it. She found me. She has no idea who I am, which explains a lot about her disappearance, about why she never made contact with me. My Lexa never would’ve left me behind. But I’m not bitter—there was a reason. She would’ve come back if she’d been able to remember, and her memories can be restored over time. Doc will know what to do, if I can make contact. All that matters is that she’s here, and that we leave the compound together. I just have to make her trust me. That’s my gift, right? I’ll help her escape and convince her to take me with her.
Then I’ll help her remember why she trusted me all those years ago.
Our time has come. At last.
~END
Unstrung, the first installment in the Unstrung series is available now. If you want more information about upcoming releases, other series, and publication dates, visit my website.
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