EDGE OF DAY

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

"Shouldn't the world be preserved?"

"Not if you value truth."

 "The day I got a personality implant—the day before you picked me up running from the police—did you bomb the Boulder shopping mall?"

Will folded his legs beneath him on the bed. "When you understand that this world is a projection of your mind, and that your body does not live here, you will be free of fear. But not free to harm—free from harm. They're not the same thing."

Frustration frothed inside her. She wanted a straight answer, not a mystic declaration.

"Did you do it?"

"No."

"And the woman who gave me the implant? Alexia? Do you know what happened to her?"

Will gazed at her. No signs of guilt or defiance in his eyes. Only simplicity. He neither knew anything, nor did he think it was important.

She scooted back on her bed and pulled her legs up to her chest. Why had the Veda left her alone with Will, anyway? Were they spying on them? Maybe now they knew she cared, they were using her to lead him into another trap.

"They're probably watching us," she said, leaning her head back against the wall and closing her eyes.

Will didn't answer.

"I don't even know whose side I'm on," she said. "I have no idea who I am."

Will moved from his bed and came to sit on hers. Her eyes flicked open, the closeness of him setting her body on high alert.

"Someone who knows who they are, is stuck being that person. Much better not to know. Then you can be anyone you want."

Her body leaned, as though magnetically drawn to him. "When we get to Mars," she said, "They'll take away my implant and give me back my memories."

He tilted around so their faces were inches apart and whispered into her ear. "Then you're running out of time."

A tingle ran up her spine. A bubble of energy burst in her brain, obliterating her awareness of everything but the two of them. She put her hand around the back of his head and smoothed the bottom of his ruffled hair. He watched her like there was no one else alive.

A hard banging on the door made her jump. Will pulled back. The banging was insistent.

"I'll go," Will said, getting up.

Amber stood in the corridor, one arm over her head, leaning against the doorframe.

"Good morning Mr. Van de Berg." She peered around him to see inside the cabin. "Sleeping beauty has woken then," she drawled. "Did the prince finally kiss her?"

If Day had hackles, there'd be standing upright on her back. "What do you want?" she said.

"We're about to enter Mars' atmosphere and the PD Squad have caught up with us. You two need to come and strap in."

Mars' atmosphere? But Mars was two days away. Day swiveled to the window. There was nothing out there. Stars, space. Wait... On the far right she glimpsed a red crescent that filled the whole window.

"You were asleep for two days," Will said.

Not asleep, she thought. Drugged.

"Come on lovebirds." Amber gave them a smug smile, then retreated.

Day looked at Will. She felt lost. Her gut told her to stick with him. But logic turned her against him. He didn't care about surviving.