The Pyramid Chronicles: Tyche Point (#1)

Chapter Thirteen: Snow Queen

It was just past noon when Willow entered the school. Lunch period was almost over, but she dropped by the tech club room anyway.

"How's competition prep coming?" she asked as she entered. Most of the responses were positive, though a few kids were too focused on their work to even notice her.

Willow sat down at her usual spot in the back corner, reached into her pocket, and pulled out the USB drive she'd taken to the lab. As eager as she was to dig through the downloads, she didn't want to connect the drive to any of her good equipment. SCI could have added a program protecting their data that would wreck her system. She'd have to wait until she got home and dig up one of her old computers.

Willow tossed the USB into her bag, pulled out her laptop, and got to work shutting down the programs she'd been using to access SCI.

Kate approached Willow's desk, phone in hand. "Hey, Willow?" A hint of apprehension hung in her voice.

Willow glanced up. "Yes?"

"We got another email from West and Novak offering to sponsor us in the spring competition." Her gaze darted anxiously between her phone and Willow. "I know you said—"

"We're not working with them," Willow cut her off. It took everything she had to keep the ice out of her voice, and even so, the words came out harsher than she'd intended. She managed to lighten her tone as she added, "Besides, we've got enough money from the fundraiser."

"Yes, but if we could save that for later—" Kate started.

"We're not taking West's money," Willow said, her jaw clenching. "That's final."

Kate pressed her lips together, nodded, and walked away.

Willow was able to work in peace for maybe five minutes before the door opened and Adam barged in.

"Oh, come on," Willow groaned as he approached. "What else could you possibly want from me?"

Adam stopped in front of her desk. "Well, the data from SCI, for starters."

Willow lowered her voice. "You didn't seem to care about that when we were down there."

"Yeah, before I realized just how many people are after us because of—you know." He held up a hand.

Willow lifted an eyebrow.

"Listen," Adam said. "I think we're going to go meet with those Newman people and find out what the deal with Scorpion is."

"Define 'we.' Because if it includes everyone standing out front earlier—"

"I don't know. Maybe," Adam admitted. "But it'll at least be me and Eric. You don't have to stay long. Could you at least give us the information you found at SCI? I know it was mostly about that artifact, but they did mention looking for kids like us."

The desperation in his tone made Willow reconsider. She would never let it show, but she still felt a twinge of guilt over turning the search for Eric into stealing information, even though it had all worked out in the end. Granted, her suspicions that superpowers were at play did push her to say yes when Adam asked in the first place.

But part of her had genuinely wanted to help.

And despite her insistence that she wanted to stay out of all this, she couldn't resist a challenge. SCI had data that she hadn't been able to get to. Yet. And she was curious to see what kind of systems Scorpion was working with.

Adam watched her expectantly, his expression already doubtful. He didn't expect her to say yes, did he?

Willow sighed, her shoulders sagging. "Fine."