Skyler Grant Anthology by Skyler Grant

Author:Skyler Grant [Grant, Skyler]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-01-16T07:00:00+00:00

The prompt came as a total surprise.

“You should run, Liam. Logout and never return,” Yvera said.

“And what happens to you if I do?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps I stay here even without your connection, perhaps I return to my cell. Whatever happens, I’m a survivor, Liam,” Yvera said. “Go.”

I should have been grateful to no longer be held prisoner, but instead I suddenly felt adrift. I also felt filled with something this whole conversation made clear I’d been wanting. Purpose.

“I haven’t given my answer yet,” I said.

“Forget the damned book, Liam. I know how you feel about me, you want me. You are supposed to, but I am serious. Go,” Yvera was almost shouting by the time she finished.

“I love you,” I said.

It was true. It was idiocy and I realized that, but I had since the moment I’d seen her and everything afterwards only convinced me of it even more. She was brilliant, and mad, and apparently not even human. It didn’t matter, I’d always had a thing for complicated women.

Those perfect shoulders slumped. My revelation seemed to make her exhausted.

“Lust isn’t love, Liam.”

“I know the difference. You’ve offered me the chance to run away and I decline. I love you, let’s make it one hell of a ride.”

There was a shimmer from the last strap and it sprang open, the pages of the book unfurling.

Yvera gave me a hard look that made me feel as if I’d done something wrong. I felt liberated and it wasn’t because of the freedom to go. It was from my choice to stay.

“It would seem to agree,” Yvera said flatly. She snapped her fingers and we were both dressed again. She began to flip through the pages. “Let’s see just what such honesty has earned us.”

“Feeling a bit overexposed?”

“One of us is,” Yvera said, still looking through the book.

“I didn’t think you’d take things so poorly,” I said. “Though I wasn’t exactly expecting you to rush into my arms.”

“I was making a grand gesture, Liam. You decided to make one as well, I respect that. I’m feeling the weight of our mutual choices.”

I was feeling free and unencumbered, and she was straining under a burden. I had to admire the symmetry, though I didn’t understand the how or the why.

“So what’s in the book?” I changed the subject. I’d stolen a glance at a few pages and they were completely incomprehensible.

“To explain that, I need to give you some background. Do you know much about the pod that you are connecting from?”

“Not much. It looks different from the ones they use during the games, I think they found it in some sort of underground workshop.”

“Modern pods operate by surrounding a body in a highly reactive gel. It can easily transmit sounds, vibration, visuals,” Yvera explained. “Immersive without being invasive. The one you are connected through is quite a bit different, the technology older and more dangerous.”

“More dangerous how?” So far things in this world had been more or less how I’d always heard the real pods worked.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.