Virtual Arcana by Karen Amanda Hooper

Author:Karen Amanda Hooper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: teen romance, science fiction. young adult, dystopian, fantasy
Publisher: Karen Amanda Hooper
Published: 2015-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Level 3.6

My eyes sprang open at the chime of my band.

Steel beams were above me. The pillow beneath my cheek was too soft to be my own. Xander stirred beside me.

Glitch. How long had we been asleep?

My band chimed again. I lifted my wrist to see Keekee’s name. Double glitch.

I sat up and hit Accept. My sister’s face filled my screen. Her eyes doubled in size when she saw me. My hair probably looked like I’d been through a hurricane.

“Where the hell are you?” She whisper-yelled. “Mom and Dad will freak.”

I was already shaking Xander awake. His warehouse had no windows. His bedside light was still on, but that did nothing to help me answer my main question. “What time is it?”

“Our alarms for school are going off in fifteen minutes. Dad just left for work. I can hear Mom in the kitchen.”

My heart raced. My mouth went dry. I was so screwed.

Xander sat up and watched me with concern. “It’s okay. Take a deep breath.”

Keekee’s eyes almost popped out of her head. “Is that a guy’s voice? What in the world?”

Before I could reply, Keek disappeared. I stared at the ivory screen, trying to figure out what happened. “Keek? Keekee?”

Then I realized I was looking at her bedspread. Muffled voices were barely audible. Mom must have come into our room. Triple, quadruple, infinite glitch. The screen wobbled and then my mother’s face appeared. I’d never seen her look so angry.

“Is this some sort of joke?” Her voice cracked as she tried not to yell. “This better be a joke.”

“I’ll be home in 10 minutes,” I said meekly.

I disconnected and looked at Xander. “I’m so dead. The government won’t have the chance to arrest me because my mother will kill me first.”

He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m sorry. I planned on setting an alarm in case we fell asleep, but I guess we both passed out before I got around to it.”

I leapt out of bed, pacing. “Come on, you have to take me home so I can be executed.”

He sat up and stretched his arms behind him, cracking his back. I couldn’t waste time thinking about how gorgeous he looked in his sheet-crumpled state. I was too busy panicking.

“Let me fix this,” he said. “It’s my fault.”

“Fix it? They can’t even know I was with you. You’ll have to drop me off a block away.”

“You’re keeping me a secret?” He leaned back against his headboard like he was in no hurry, like we actually had time to carry on a conversation. “Are you ashamed of me?”

“How can you joke at a time like this? What if a proctor is monitoring Keekee and this whole debacle? Enforcers might already be waiting at our house. My parents follow the laws. My mom will have to report me. No one can know I was with you or that I even know you. I’m trying to keep you safe.”

“That’s very considerate, but how about letting me keep you safe?” He looked deadly serious.

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.