Access Restricted by Gregory Scott Katsoulis

Author:Gregory Scott Katsoulis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Published: 2018-11-06T16:00:00+00:00

Jump: $30.99

Lucretia sat behind her desk, concentrating on a wide desk screen too bright for me to look at after so much darkness. Rainbow halos rimmed every bright thing. This wasn’t some digital effect—it was definitely something to do with my eyes. My vision seemed to stutter with shifting relics of being blinded.

In the screen’s glow, Lucretia’s face seemed less friendly than before, like the illusion of appeal was too much to maintain—or maybe she just didn’t care to any longer. Through the windows to the balcony, brilliant orange light flickered across the city. A ball of flame and smoke plumed in the distance from somewhere I couldn’t see. The red, white and blue flags that hung everywhere had turned a flaming red.

“What did they say?” Lucretia demanded without looking up. Her usual jaunty tone had fled, which made my hate for her easier to summon. Victoria sat behind her in the same corner chair I’d seen her in before, staring at the floor.

I didn’t say a word. Lucretia fixed me with a glare. “The messages,” she said menacingly. “What are the messages?”

I had no idea what she was talking about. She stood up and leaned toward me. I backed away, but Uthondo and Bertrand remained motionless behind me. I changed tactics and ducked behind Uthondo, realizing even as I did it how ridiculous my attempt to avoid her was. It wasn’t as if he would try to protect me from her.

“I know they have contacted you,” Lucretia said. She swiped at her Cuff. I winced at the flash. It hurt, but the stab of pain in my eyes lasted only a second.

“What could they possibly hope to accomplish?” she spit. Her voice was awful, not at all appealing anymore. Her long neck no longer seemed graceful, but viper-like.

She kept talking to the spot where I had been, between the two bodyguards, rather than where I stood. At first, I thought this was some creepy tactic of hers to unnerve me. I doubted for a moment that I was actually awake, or if this was just a strange dream. It was like she couldn’t see that I’d moved.

Victoria stood and put a finger to her lips. She was smiling. Static crackled in my ears—a different static from before. It was fragmented, like something was broken.

“Don’t you move,” Lucretia growled, but she still wasn’t looking at me.

Victoria waved her hands in front of her eyes and pointed at her mother. A grin had spread across her face. I cautiously took another step away. Uthondo and Bertrand made no attempt to stop me, and Lucretia’s eyes didn’t shift. Barefoot, Victoria moved silently to me and put a finger on my cheek. Her mother was being fed an image that wasn’t real.

Something flashed again in front of my vision, and I winced automatically. I caught a better glimpse this time. It wasn’t a pattern, but a word. My mind scrambled to reconstruct it, and then the message flashed again.

JUMP.

I didn’t understand. Jump where? Victoria took my hand.

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