Jennifer was never like this, which meant she had to be serious.

I glanced at the growing crowd. Could they have something to do with this? “I'll have Zix get a—”

“A car is already on its way,” Jennifer said.

Why would I need to be home so quickly? “Should I bring Kevin?”

Kevin stared at me, his eyebrows up. He only had a few burgers left to go.

My moms’ superior turned. “Yeah, I already sent a car to get her. No, I don't know if she's on the way to the car yet, Autumn.”

“Mom?” I asked.

She spun around. “Are you on your way outside yet?”

“No, Kevin's mom—”

“I’ll deal with his mom. Get outside or someone else will get the car,” she urged.

I stood up. “Sorry, but I have a family emergency and have to go.”

Kevin quickly closed his three remaining boxes and rose.

“Sorry, James,” I said.

As I turned, I noticed just how many people were around us. There were at least twice as many as before our restroom visit.

Kevin grabbed his last three boxes and snatched a mostly eaten burger out of an open container and stuffed it in his mouth.

Zix? I asked.

Activating your path, he replied as the sound of shifting rocks hit my ears. My brick road ascended from the ground, each stone wiggling its way out.

“We love you, Azerail!”

“Let her through!”

“Great job, Kevin!”

Several people from the crowd shouted as we approached.

Luckily they were listening and made space for us. Zix’s navigation suggestion shifted in anticipation.

We made our way past the crowd, with Kevin carefully balancing his boxes in his hands. He didn’t have a Zix set up yet, so his nanos were likely in full production mode by now.

A background version of Zix controlled everyone's nanos, but personalizing Zix was necessary before your nanos could augment your body in any way.

You are going to have to pick up your pace if you plan to reach the car in time, Zix said.

“Hurry up Azerail,” Mom said.

I’d forgotten to disconnect the call with her. “I know, Zix just told me.”

“What?” Kevin asked.

“We gotta hurry up or we’ll miss the car they sent,” I said.

As I picked up my pace Kevin kept up.

A little faster, Zix said.

Did he want me to run? Sheesh.

My Zix path anticipated everyone’s movement allowing us to run without colliding with anyone in the process. I wasn’t the biggest fan of physical exertion which is one of the reasons why I’d chosen to play a shambler.

Zooming past people with only centimeters to spare reminded me of my adventures in DO. Suddenly it all became a game and I pushed myself and glanced behind me.

Kevin smiled as he followed. The boxes in his hands were deftly transferred from hand to hand at just the right second.

Our mad dash led us to a stairway instead of the escalators and I stopped. My focus shifted to the edge and the three-story drop taunted me.

Suddenly my brick road shifted taking us a different route.

Kevin grabbed my hand when I turned. He was much closer than I expected.

We stood there briefly, gazing into each other's eyes. His face was a mess.

I broke eye contact and pushed past him. I tugged on his arm pulling him a few steps forward with me. When he stopped I paused.

“Let’s go this way,” he suggested pointing to the stairs. “I’ll stand on the edge and you can use the middle.”

In a single breath, I decided to trust him.

He led the way and I cautiously tailed behind. Each step felt as if I slogged through deep mud. I didn’t dare glance in Kevin's direction. Getting home was my singular purpose and I wouldn’t let this slow me down. Much.

As we hit the second floor, my pulse spiked. The brick road indecisively swapped between the next set of stairs and off to the right. Could I do it again? What if someone else was in the middle of the next set of stairs?

Kevin didn’t stop and we descended again. He didn’t slow down either; we were practically running.

I knew Zix wouldn’t let me fall but human minds weren’t always reasonable.

We hit the last step and Kevin slowed to a walk.

Faster, Ms. Azerail! Zix said.

“This way!” I said as I dashed ahead.

Kevin kept a grip on my hand as we ran, and we were soon side by side.

We snuck glances at each other. My heart would skip a beat when I caught him looking at me. Which was a feat while running as fast as we were.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

At some point, my mother closed our call. I didn’t remember her saying bye.

The longer I let the mystery of the call steep in my psyche, the VRV from last night seemed like the only plausible reason my parents might act this way.

We burst out of the mall at full speed and I pointed to the spot we needed to be in. There were several people waiting for their rides near it but not in the exact area we needed to be in. If the person who called theirs didn’t show up, others were free to take it.

A few seconds later, we stood where we needed to be, and the only car in sight pulled up in front of another person.

“We–” Kevin pulled in a breath, “made it,” he finished.

Actually, you missed your ride, Zix said. It left with another passenger about two minutes ago.

“Oh,” Kevin said.

Despite exerting myself I wasn’t that fatigued. “We’ll probably get theirs.” I pointed at the car that had pulled out. “Either way, we won’t have to wait more than five minutes.”

“Can we sit? I’m going to sit,” Kevin said as he let go of my hand and sat on the ground.

He’d somehow kept ahold of his three burger boxes. He opened one and grabbed a burger and took a bite.

“Still hungry?” I asked as I plopped down next to him.

He nodded. “How are you—” he inhaled. “—not tired.”

“Your nanos are too busy replicating to help amplify oxygen absorption. Plus you gotta get your Zix set up,” I said.

By the time Kevin finished his burger our car showed up.

I helped him up and we got in.

The doors closed on their own, the front seats spun around, and the dome light turned on.

“What's—”

Privacy mode enabled itself and the windows blacked out.

Two men in black suits appeared in the seats in front of me and Kevin disappeared. They were mirror images of each other. They reminded me of agents from the old Matrix movies.

The man on my left spoke. “Hello, Azerail.”

“We needed to talk to you before you got home,” the one on the right said.

I examined the car. It was nearly a perfect replica. A bit of glass in the corner flickered between the real world and the overlay. Only one person would be this sloppy. “Jakson, drop the overlay,” I said.

The illusion disappeared, revealing a scrawny blond-haired kid with a transparent left arm. Jakson. “You always know!”

Jakson was twelve and a royal pain in everyone's ass. My kind of person, obviously. He knew more about computers and programming than anyone I’d ever met. Even people using the Brain Trust had problems keeping up with him.

How he’d piggybacked an AR avatar into my implant was beyond me. “Why are you in my car?”

How fast was I this time Zix? I asked.

Zix hopped onto the chair next to Jakson. 34.756666 seconds, Ms. Azerail.

It was my fastest time yet.

Jakson swatted at my Zix.

Zix dodged, baring his tiny teeth, and let out a cute snarl.

“You can chill with the Ms. Azerail stuff, Zix,” I said.

Sorry, Az, I’ll refrain from now on, he said.

Kevin turned to me. “Who are you talking to?”

“You said that the last three times,” I said and turned. “Jakson and Zix.” I swapped back to Jakson and took Kevin’s hand.

“Whoa!” Kevin said. “What happened to your arm?”

I sighed. “Jakson keeps only the smallest amount of nanos in his body possible while still being able to use VR.”

“Those things are evil, Az. You shouldn’t trust um,” Jakson said.

Kevin leaned back. “How are they—”

“Don’t!” I said stopping Kevin. “He’ll go on for an hour about it.”

“You, don’t have an hour,” Jakson said. “The devil’s at your doorstep and I wanted to warn you.”

I blinked. “The devil’s at my doorstep? What are you talking about?”

“The feds!” Jakson replied. “And some guys from Infinite Diffusion.”

Kevin glanced at me.

“Don’t worry my mom works with the government all the time,” I said.

Infinite Diffusion being there had me excited though.

“They probably want to do experiments on you and—” Jakson stopped, his hands slashed through the air. “Your doctor just showed up too.”

Jakson was brilliant with tech but tended to read into conspiracy theories way too much for my taste. “When was the last time you saw someone abducted by the government?”

“I haven’t! All the footage is gone!” he said.

“Zix, what are the chances the government is there to abduct me?” I asked.

Zix moved away from Jakson. Approximately 0.0001%. By gathering everyone in one place it makes it highly unlikely that you will be abducted. It is more likely that they will use all the data and resources on hand to try and figure out why you are able to do what you do.

“Could it be anything to do with my visit with The Remnant this afternoon?” I asked.

Zix shook his head. Unlikely, but Dr. Stevens might bring the subject up since you talked with him about it.

“You’re almost there. I gotta go.” Jakson said.

I put up a hand. “Wait!”

“What?” he asked.

Kevin glanced at me.

“He,” I gestured at Kevin, “has a Q.U.B.E.”

Jakson nearly fell out of his seat. “What! Where’d you get it? How powerful is it?”

“It’s just a computer,” Kevin said.

Jakson stood, half of his body sticking out of the top of the vehicle.

“That’s disturbing,” Kevin said.

I chuckled.

Jakson ducked back down. “Just a computer? It’s not just a computer! It’s one of the greatest computers humans have ever made. Well, depending on the model.”

“I just play games on it, so I don’t know too much about the hardware, ” Kevin said.

Jakson sat back down. “One of the greatest inventions in human history and you use it to play video games.”

“Sounds like what I would do,” I admitted.

The car slowed and then came to a stop.

“Crap. Gotta go!” Jakson said and disappeared.

Privacy mode disabled itself.

Despite how eccentric Jakson was, he’d found a way to communicate with me and only me without causing pain. The fact I was able to share the conversation with Kevin made it even better. I’d have to talk with him about how that worked.

“That guy sounds a lot like the people back in Wyoming,” Kevin said.

The doors opened, I released Kevin's hand, and I stepped out of the vehicle.

Kevin and Zix exited and followed me as I headed for the entrance. “What do you mean?” I asked.

“The people I lived with didn't like high-technology,” Kevin said.

High-technology. What the hell was that? “High-technology?”

“Anything that uses AI to run it,” he said.

We entered the building and it was strangely devoid of people. Now that I thought of it, so was the parking lot.

Weird.

If a government agency was involved they could have issued an all clear protocol. Which had people's Zix divert all traffic to a different entrance. It was also used when moving cranes detached people's spheres from the building.

The elevator opened as we approached.

Kevin and I shared a look and got in. The doors closed and a pall of silence engulfed the cabin.

“A yellow brick road? You like the Wizard of Oz?” Kevin asked.

It was one of my favorite traditional movies. “Yeah.”

“Who’s your favorite character?” he asked.

There was a dedicated fanbase that tended to be a bit fanatical. They created a personality structure based on which character was your favorite. I didn’t believe in that stuff. I just loved the movies. “Scarecrow.”

“I should have guessed that,” he said.

The doors opened as we reached my floor. The portal to my sphere was visible from the elevator. Half a dozen people stood next to it waiting for me.

“Let's see what they want,” I said.

***