Daughter of Zeus ✔

21

Ada stayed in her bedroom and didn't come out. She didn't want Darcy's pleading eyes to force her into saying yes. Moretz may have changed, but Ada's feelings about him as a person never would. Whenever she thought about his name, she felt dirty, angry, then dirty again. Rescuing her former aggressor from a fate she believed he justly deserved was asking too much. Dissecting the lecherous leech sounded like fair payback.

Her stomach growled, reminding her of the consequence of locking herself in a room for hours. She was both afraid of Darcy's persuasion and the guilt. After August, Ada's guilt reservoir was full, and she didn't want to test the limits of her sanity by adding more.

Another stomach growl shook her resolve. Just ignore Darcy, grab something to eat, and come back to the room, she told herself.

Great plan, a voice inside her mocked. Gonna stay locked in here forever, coming out only to eat and shit?

Door open. The electro-polycarbonate barrier disappeared. She anticipated finding Darcy and Shylar in the living room where she last heard them talking, but the area was empty. In the kitchen, the lights were off. Where were they? It was past midnight, but Darcy could normally be found in the living room, laughing at the latest speakers on the wall panel.

"Darcy?" Ada called out from the living room. 

he went to Darcy's room which was dark, like the kitchen.

"Shylar?"

His room was empty too. Ada's heart thudded rapidly. Swallowing back the overwhelming panic, she activated her interface. Locate.

"Locating," the device said.

Different scenarios were playing out in her head and all of them seemed unlikely: There went out to get more supplies—but no, the house was too well-stocked with food and weapons; they went to rescue Moretz without her—but no, they weren't that stupid; the Sammies had probably found them—but no, because they would have taken Ada too. Or, and she hoped this scenario was the most unlikely because the probability of it being real scared her, Moretz found them and was programmed by Sammies to kill them.

"Users located."

Anxiously, she studied the screen. The locations of the red dots relaxed her. Darcy and Shylar were only a few miles away, and the way the dots were moving indicated they were on their way back home. Then, Ada saw a blue dot in their vicinity.

She touched the dot and said, "Identify user."

"User unidentifiable."

"That's impossible."

"User shares commonalities with a past user."

"Who?"

"Brontes Moretz."

Her next words exploded, "What the hell!"

"I don't recognize that command."

Damnit. They had gone behind her back and rescued Moretz. Either that or he held them hostage. Ada would find out what was going on when they walked through the doorway. Until then, she would wait with her gun pointed at the entrance.

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