by P. J. Hoover
I squeeze my eyes closed and the image of the giant compass rose returns to me. Back when we’d been on the compass rose, when we’d kissed, there’d been a spark. A sign of the power, stronger when we were together. That’s all I need now. One single spark. It has to be there, buried inside him.
I lean forward and place my lips gently against his. His lips are swollen and raw from where he’s bitten them from the pain, but I don’t focus on that. Instead I focus on the power that is inside both of us, ready to be used.
I hold my lips there, wishing, hoping, and then there it is. The spark ignites.
I jump back, afraid to let it linger too long. But it’s enough. Cole’s eyes light up. He’s felt it, too.
Again the jars rattle. Then the horrible sound of one of them smashing on the ground fills the air.
“Cole,” I say. “We have to go.”
His eyes move to where the sound came from, and the defeat slides from his face, replaced by determination. He’s back. And so is his power.
The air around us seems to move as Cole manipulates it and pulls pieces of it together. Then a crutch manifests in his hand. It’s not a second too soon. From down one of the rows of jars, a shadow moves.
“Come on,” I say.
Cole shoves the crutch under his arm, and together we jump the pool of black acidic ooze. Then we run.
The creature must hear us, because more jars shatter as it changes direction.
“Don’t stop!” I shout. I don’t look. All I do is run and make sure Cole stays next to me. I’m sure the creatures are at our heels. But we run until we break free from the endless shelves. It’s only then that I dare to look back.
Three creatures face us. They stand in a row and hiss, as if they are tasting our death.
I pull on the power, and I begin to build. Cole must figure out what I’m doing, because together we construct an invisible barrier out of pieces of the code that make up this room. And when the creatures launch forward and smash into it, I finally let out a breath I think I’ve been holding forever.
They hit the barrier over and over, smearing black blood everywhere. I step back, unable to take my eyes off it.
“What are they?” I ask. Now that the situation is not so immediate, I can process what I’ve seen.
Cole turns my face toward him. “Don’t look, Edie.”
Even after everything he’s been through, he’s still worried about me. I grab him and pull him close, hugging him so tightly he may never be able to get me to let go. His skin is full of electricity still, warm to the touch. It pulls on the power that runs inside me. It flickers to the surface of my skin and almost seems to combine with his.
How it should be. How it was always meant to be.
“Edie, I’m so sorry,” Cole says, pulling back from the embrace. “I . . .”
He stumbles on his words. And I know I should make it easy for him. I should tell him what Raven said. But I still have to hear it for myself.
“You left,” I say. I bite my lip and wait. Please let what Raven said be true.
Cole puts a hand on either of my shoulders and looks me directly in the eyes. “I was trying to protect you. To protect all of you.”
“You left,” I say.
He nods. “It was Pia. Small things. Things I wanted to ignore. I didn’t want to believe that she could have changed. I wanted her to be the same. But then I had the vision.”
“What vision?” I ask.
He looks back at the barrier we’ve created. One of the creatures lies broken on the ground, seeping blood that pools up against the barrier but does not burn through. The other creatures are slowing, though they continue their assault.
“From Raven,” Cole says. “She gave me a vision, before we came to the Nether Zone. It was Pia, killing you. And she told me the only way for it to not come true was if I got Pia away from you. But Pia . . . well, you know this. She was reading our minds. And even though I tried to block my mind from her, I guess she was able to get through. She knew that I didn’t trust her. As soon as we crossed the lava river. We’d barely touched the shore when she brought me here.”
It’s everything I want to hear. Everything and more. And it confirms my beliefs, too. Cole would not betray me, and Pia could never be trusted.
I look around at the white warehouse there at the edge of the storage shelves. “Where is here?” I ask. A second creature has fallen, but this has only seemed to increase the energy of the third and final creature. It slams into the barrier, trying to weaken it.
Cole gives a small shakes of his head. “I don’t know. But we need to go.”
We do need to go. But first, I lean forward and press my lips against his ear. “I believe you,” I whisper.
Cole turns his head, and his lips meet mine. Gone is every single doubt I’ve ever had about what has happened. The kiss mends the wounds and makes them vanish. I put every bit of the worry and hurt and stress to the side, only thinking about what I have here, now. Cole is everything, and without him, nothing was right.
Off to our side, the creature slams into the barrier, stirring us from the moment. I pull back with a start. Later we can finish what we started, but for now, we need to get out of here.
I press the palm of my hand to Cole’s scar on the side of his face. A small spark of electricity runs from it to me, through my body, and down my spine.
“You ready?” I say.
He glances back to where he’d been held and tortured. And by someone he’d thought he could trust. Then he looks away.
“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Cole says.
We take off, away from the creature and the shelves of jars with more creatures just like it. Once we get to the end of the simulation, we will have to find this place and destroy it. Cole uses the crutch as well as he had back when I first met him, before the simulated prosthetic. Maybe even better. He not only keeps pace with me, he’s ahead as we come to the long white corridor. The sounds of the creature behind us hitting against the barrier lessen and lessen until we can no longer hear it. The white stretches on forever, but it’s not until we reach the end and there is nowhere else to go that I realize we don’t have a way to get back into the simulation.
“We need to get back in,” I say.
“To where?” Cole asks.
That’s right. If he was taken here the second he reached the Nether Zone, then somehow he’s skipped the entire Simulation Omega. I explain quickly, going only with the major details. Then I access my heads-up display. I blow out a breath of relief when the icon of the raven appears.
“Does your heads-up display work?” I ask.
Cole blinks a few times as he tries to access it, and his face darkens. Then he shakes his head. “It’s all static.”
From down the corridor where we’ve just come, a hiss shatters the silence. The creature has broken free. It will be here any second.
Okay, I can think this through. IF-THEN-ELSE. If Cole never entered the simulation, then his heads-up display never got programmed for it. If I can program it, then he’ll be able to get into the simulation, else . . . we’re both going to die.
“Trust me,” I say and I place two fingers on either side of his head.
“Always,” Cole says.
I grab some of the interface code from my heads-up display, and I start the tiniest of connections through my fingers, using the power that bonds both of us as a conduit. I start small, just to test it, but as soon as I see that it’s going to work, I increase the output.
The creature hisses again, and lets out a shriek that chills my blood. I don’t want to find out what happens when it reaches us. I keep transferring.
“Can you see anything?” I ask.
“Little bits,” Cole says. “Blue circles.”
It’s working. I transfer as much of the program as I can.
The creature is getting close. The stench of its black ooze fills my nostrils. The hissing gets louder. I keep going.
“Grab my sword,” I say. I can’t take my fingers away or the connection will be broken.
I feel Cole take the sword from my belt. I don’t dare look. I send every bit of code across, copying it.
“Wait,” Cole says. “I think I see something.”
Oh please let this work. “A raven?” I ask.
“Almost,” Cole says.
Then the creature is on us.
Cole swipes around with the sword, sending the creature flying backward. But the sword has taken all it can of the creatures’ blood. Where contact was made it melts, dividing into two pieces. Cole drops the part he holds before the remaining acid reaches his hand. Then he says, “I see it.”
“Select it!” I shout.
I pull my fingers away and grab his hand, and with my eyes, I select the raven on my own display. It lights up and then I’m being sucked in. But just before the world vanishes, something hits my arm, like a spray of water. Except it burns like acid.
Then the world shifts and I’m back inside the silver zone transport. I’m also alone. Cole is nowhere to be found.
XXIV
The silver morphs and flows around me, but I fall to my knees. My arm throbs. I force myself to look at it, knowing what I’m going to see. Sure enough, there is a splatter of bright red spots on my right forearm where the acid from the creature hit. It sizzles as it burns through my skin. It hurts like someone is driving a needle-pointed knife in each spot with surgical precision.
I press it against my leg, trying to get the pain to lessen, and then I take in my situation. There is no sign of Cole. Also, on my heads-up display, there is no sign of the black raven. Instead the six concentric circles appear. This third one, Zone Gamma, is lit up bright blue. The first two zones, Alpha and Beta, are green. Complete. The final three are still gray, like tasks left undone.
I force away a fresh wave of pain and try to collect my thoughts. Hopefully Cole is in his own silver zone transport, ready to enter this new zone. Since I copied my program to his heads-up display, my progress should have been transported along with it.
Chaos appears on the screen, his simulated face with its mock congratulations.
“Look at you,” he says. “You’ve made it through two zones so far. I’m happy to report that of the over fifty contestants that have started the simulation, only thirty-four have made it this far.”
His avatar face beams like this is great news. And sure, this means some have been eliminated from the competition, but it also means that those kids have died. Been erased. But then I remember Zachary’s promise. He could bring back Adam. That’s what he’d said. If he’s telling the truth, then he could bring back others also. And even though none of the other contestants have been on my side during the games, if there is also a chance to bring them back, then I’m going to try.
“Wonderful news,” I say, trying to act along with the simulation. I need to get on to the next zone. I’ve spent enough time already. Taylor and Zachary must have been there for hours.
“It looks like you are injured,” Chaos says. “Statistics have shown that those entering a new zone with an injury are five times more likely to perish during the simulation.”
I grit my teeth at the pain that emanates from my arm. I can’t even pretend to be upbeat about this statistic. As far as I’m concerned, Chaos can take his numbers game and shove it where the sun will never shine.
“I’m ready to move into the next simulation,” I say, keeping my breathing even.
Chaos smiles. “You won’t survive long.”
He vanishes and the concentric circles appear once more. I select the third one, Zone Gamma, and they, too, disappear from my heads-up display. Then the moving silver shifts around me, slithering behind me as it pulls away, leaving me at the beginning of the new zone. I look around for Cole. For Taylor. For Zachary. No one is there. As far as I can see I am all alone.
XXV
Ahead of me is a brown expanse of dirt. Wind blows, causing dust to fly everywhere. I can’t see Taylor, Zachary, or Cole, but they could be right near me. With visibility so low, I can’t see more than five feet in front of me.
“Edie!” someone shouts. I’m sure it’s Cole, but with the wind whipping, the voice is stretched thin.
I put my hands out and move in the direction of his voice. “Cole? Where are you?”
“Edie, stay where you are,” he says. “I’m coming.”
I hate standing still, but I also don’t want to get lost. Sure enough, in under a minute, a silhouette walking with a crutch under one shoulder takes shape in the dust and then manifests into him.
I grab Cole in a hug, because now that I know he’s here, I don’t want to lose him. “You made it in,” I say.
Wind hits against us, sending my curly brown hair everywhere. What I need is a way to tie it back more securely, but until then, I pull it together and knot it at the base of my skull.
“This is the simulation?” Cole says.
“Zone Gamma,” I say. “I think my progress got transferred to you also. You got to skip the first two zones.”
“What? Skip the fun?” Cole says. “I may have to complain to the management.”
I let out a laugh. The idea of someone willingly going backward in the simulation is ludicrous.
“Don’t worry,” I say. “We still have four zones to look forward to.”
Cole gives me a cute little grin that almost has no place in Simulation Omega. Except our bond is the only thing that has let us get this far.
“Where’s Taylor?” Cole asks.
I shake my head, trying to look through the mess of a dust storm. “I don’t know.”
We call for Taylor. I also call out for Zachary. The second I do, Cole’s eyes go wide.
“Zachary as in Gomez?” Cole says. “As in one of the gods?”
I immediately know what he’s thinking. “He’s here helping us.”
Cole scowls. “Helping you what? If I recall correctly, he was behind the labyrinth.”
It’s definitely an exaggeration. “He was one of the programmers, not behind the whole thing. But he saved me and Taylor. We’d be dead right now if it weren’t for him.”
He blows out a breath. “We can’t trust the gods.”
I put up a hand to stop him before he goes down a path we don’t have time for. “We can trust them a little bit,” I say, which I know is lame, but it’s the best way I can think to phrase it. “Raven is the one who showed me where to find you. Zachary saved us. And Iva got me and Taylor into the simulation after you left us at the side of the lava.”
This last part comes out like a slap.
“I told you—” Cole starts.
“I know,” I say. I wish I could take back the words, but also, this is not the time for the conversation. “I’m sorry. And we can talk about this later. But for now, let’s find Taylor and Zachary.”
“Just be careful,” Cole says.
I know he’s trying to watch out for me, but when it comes right down to it, I’m the one who saved him. But I don’t respond because I am so done with this conversation.
I shout Taylor and Zachary’s names again, and for a second, I’m sure I hear something ahead, in the distance. The wind whips by, blowing my hair free once again. It seems to come in waves. I wait for it to clear, then I grab Cole’s arm and drag him forward with me, toward where I think the voices originated. We pause when the wind picks up, plow forward when it wanes. We keep calling out. And the farther we go, the more sure I am that we’re
going to find them.
The next time we call, I am sure it’s them. And they’re close.
“This way,” I say, and I start forward. But the dirt is everywhere, and I’m breathing it in. I pull my tank top up over my mouth and nose. I can’t do anything about my eyes. Not if I want to see. The world is brown. Up, down, ahead, and behind. That’s all there is. But from within the brown dust, two shapes begin to form.
“There!” I say, and I rush forward.
The second they’re in view. Zachary grabs me in a hug. Not like a romantic hug but more like he’s overjoyed to see me.
“Where have you been, Edie?” he asks. “Do you have any idea how worried we’ve been about you?”
“Yeah,” Taylor says. “You were gone for hours.”
I’m about to explain when Cole appears out of the dust storm, coming up to stand next to me.
From the way Zachary jumps back, it’s like he’s been electrocuted.
“Well look who decided to show up?” Taylor says. She narrows her good eye at Cole. The Oculus stays just skewed enough to remind the world that it is not truly a part of her. She steps forward and gets in Cole’s face. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t kill you right now.”
“It’s cool,” I say quickly before Taylor can just kill him anyway.
“Edie said you left her,” Zachary says. He manages to stand his ground, even though Cole is at least six inches taller than him.
Cole nods slowly. “Edie and I have already talked about it.”
That may be the case, but it’s not good enough for Taylor. She stares him down until he gets out the explanation of the vision and how Pia was going to kill me.
“So Raven helped you,” Zachary says, pursing up his lips. “I wonder why.”
Cole shrugs. “Why not?”
Zachary acts like it’s a ridiculous question. “Because Raven only helps herself.”
