Dusk

Chapter Twenty-One

When I'm in my room, I notice that the cubicle in the corner is blinking. Blue, white, blue, white. I take a step towards it, curious, when it springs open, revealing a seat inside. The seat looks a lot like the seat in The Academy. Maybe this cubicle is a learning apparatus, too.

I climb inside and sit down. The cubicle closes, sealing me inside. A familiar voice vibrates through my body.

"Pending message from Neo Rook. Accept?"

"Yes."

I jump when my vision goes white. I blink rapidly, but as quickly as the blankness came, it's replaced with a white space, punctuated only with the fair boy sitting in front of me.

"Hi, Cassandra," Neo says. "I found your Link account." He smiles crookedly. "I just got home. It's three fourty-two."

In the corner of my vision, there's a revolving display of the current time. 4:10 PM.

"Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that we can talk whenever we'd like, now. This is our private chat channel." He gestures upwards at a line of revolving text that has come out of nowhere. In bolded, capital letters, it says NOBILITY. "If you want to contact me in the next few hours, go ahead. I wouldn't mind talking to you." His smile grows. "See you soon."

My vision flashes white again and I'm surrounded by the walls of the cubicle once more. I stand from the chair and the cubicle opens. I shake on my feet, disoriented as I climb out, and I jump when I see someone by the door.

"Anden," I breathe, putting a hand on my chest. "You scared me. I forgot that that's how you look now."

He raises a single eyebrow. "Sorry."

"What did you go to the Outer Ring for?"

"Orders from Idris."

"About...?"

He crosses his arms. "That's classified."

I frown, but I don't press him. "Well, I have a favour to ask. It's an interesting one." I cross the room and sit atop my bed. "Neo asked me to take him to the Outer Ring. He wants to see some girl."

Anden's eyes widen. His arms uncross, and he moves towards me. "A girl?"

I nod. "A girl on some Stream he watches. He says he knows where he can find her- we just need to transport him."

"I'm assuming he has it all worked out, right? He knows how to disguise himself appropriately and fool the scanners?"

"He said he did. I'm thinking he might be the whiz kid behind Lex's holotech."

Anden nods before his eyes flicker over to the cubicle in the corner. "You were just talking to him, weren't you?"

"Yeah, but not about the plan. It's probably not safe. We talked about it in person, at The Academy. He just told me he'd found my Link address."

Anden looks back to me. "How are we going to play this, then? Am I going to pretend I don't know it's him?"

"Uhuh. It's better that way. He'll trust me if he thinks I'm the only person that knows."

Anden examines his cuticles and nods his affirmation. "Alright. When?"

"Saturday."

"I'm busy that day."

"Busy? What? Cancel whatever plans you have!"

"I'm kidding," he says flatly. "So, what did you say to Kaelan? He wasn't annoying when I came back."

"I didn't really say anything in particular," I say, recalling our conversation. "He just mentioned that he didn't like how close we look. He said he didn't want you to make the same mistake he did. He had a child with an Elite woman."