JanePtinum

  “Feel a little better?” Ivy takes Vince’s pce, pcing my head gently on her p and running her hands through my hair.

  “I guess.”

  “That’s a good start.” She spends a few moments finding a few stray tangles in my hair. “I know you won’t want to change clothes, so don’t feel like you have to try them on.”

  “I’d overheat anyway.”

  “You really think I didn’t think of that?” Ivy teases. “I checked with Sonia, they won’t affect your cooling at all. I even added identical fps to your current shirt.”

  “Thank you. Sorry they’re going to waste.”

  “It’s fine. You should see half the crap I’ve bought Cassie.” Ivy jokes.

  “She buys me these little carved animals every month.” Cassie sounds exasperated.

  “Speaking of which.” Ivy shifts behind me and a small, hand carved cy animal appears in my vision. “This month’s a cat.” She tosses it to Cassie, who catches it easily.

  “What? No! How?” Cassie cries out, staring in disbelief at the figurine.

  “I picked it up while we were out.” Ivy returns her attention to my hair.

  “No, I was there the whole time.” Despite Cassie’s pyful anger, I do see her subtly pocket the figurine.

  “I guess I’m just too fast for you then.”

  “Shut up.” Cassie lightly pushes Ivy. “Blue, please tell me she didn’t buy this stupid thing.”

  “I don’t really want to remember today.”

  “Right, sorry.” All of Cassie’s energy vanishes in a moment.

  “It’s fine.” I tell her honestly. It’s not like I’ve never said stupid things too.

  “I’m going to go check on Vince.” Cassie quickly stands up and heads into the hallway without waiting for a response.

  “She’s putting her cat away first.” Ivy says quietly, although I’m certain Cassie can still hear her.

  “Really?”

  “Mm-hmm. She loves those things.”

  “Huh.” I never would have guessed. “Can you tell me when she’s out of hearing range? I need to talk to you about something.” Might as well get another tough conversation out of the way, rather than potentially ruining two separate days.

  “You really think Cassie would do that? Eavesdrop on drama?”

  “Yes?” Is that a rhetorical question? “I saw her think about listening to Vince and Lucas’ conversation once.”

  “She knows when to distract herself. But if it makes you feel better, just give her 30 seconds to get downstairs.”

  “Ok.”

  I sit silently, waiting for the long seconds to tick by. Focusing on Corax in my arms and Ivy’s hand in my hair helps the eternal seconds move a little faster. The moment my internal clock hits 30, I begin to speak.

  “Ok, so. I definitely lied to you.”

  “Oh?” Ivy lets out a single sound, I think to tell me she’s listening and interested.

  “Remember when you asked if I’d prefer to date men or women? The answer is definitely women, but I feel bad about how I found out.”

  “Ok.” Ivy doesn't sound surprised in the slightest, although she rarely lets her emotions show.

  “So, I thought humans were pretty weird for always wearing clothes, but Cassie had to remove her shirt while I was working on her arm. She was really pretty, but I feel like I, I don’t know, took advantage of her somehow? I really didn’t mean to.”

  “Blue, rex. You’re fine.”

  “But I accidentally ended up staring! And she saw me!”

  “Just like when you first saw her legs?” She says without any hesitation.

  “What? How did you know about that?” Maybe I really should stop doubting her.

  “Cassie tells me everything. I probably know more about her than she does.”

  “Then did you already know about what I did?”

  “Mm-hmm. She’s not mad about it, don’t worry. Just try not to stare at any other pretty dies in the future.” She jokes, I think. It’s really hard to tell right now.

  “I don’t pn on it! It just took me by surprise.”

  “Good! Apparently Cassie had a huge problem with that when she was younger.”

  “Really?”

  “Yep. She would ask to-”

  “I don’t think you should be sharing that.” I cut her off. As much as I want to know, we probably shouldn’t gossip without her permission. Especially when there’s a chance she might hear us.

  “Oh alright.” Ivy breathes a fake sigh of disappointment. “If you insist. Flip over, I need to get the rest of your hair.”

  I don’t want to take my eyes off the door, just in case. Instead, I hold Corax close, stand up, and shuffle to the other side of Ivy, and have to wait for her to awkwardly scoot to the right before returning to my previous position.

  Only a few minutes ter, Cassie returns with Vince in tow. She doesn’t look like she’s mad, hopefully she didn’t hear the conversation I had with Ivy.

  “So,” Vince pulls out the new chair to my desk and sits down. “I was right. We’re going to head out as soon as possible. The storm is already weakening, expect to leave first thing in the morning. Lucas and his group are still coming with us. Any questions?”

  “Mary’s going to be mad. Are you sure it’s safe for me to leave?” As much as I’d hate to see her again, I’d hate to put the entire compound in danger even more.

  “Silver thinks they can handle it.” Surprisingly, Vince seems fairly confident about that. I can tell he has a lot of trust in them.

  “Are you sure? I can stay if I have to.”

  “We’re sure.” He says firmly. “You can stay if you want of course, but we think it’s best to get you out and let things cool down.”

  “Ok.” I can’t say I’m not relieved by that.

  “How’s your concussion?” Cassie asks him, roughly changing the subject.

  “I’m close to 100 percent. We should all try to take it easy though.”

  “Good. Ivy?” She asks.

  “It only hurts when I lift things.” Ivy waves her hand casually.

  “How did you heal so quickly?” I ask.

  “I got very lucky. It was a handmade, small caliber bullet that had to punch through a metal sheet before hitting me. That plus missing any important organs made for an easy recovery.”

  “Good.” Cassie continues. “I just need some range practice and I’m set.”

  “Gd to hear it.” Vince says. “Little Blue, you don’t have to fight.”

  “I might be ok if Corax is with me.” Even I’m not convinced by my words. “But I know, thank you.”

  “Don’t push yourself.” Ivy finishes removing the st tangle from my hair, but continues to run her hair through it.

  “I won’t.” That’s probably a lie, but I don’t think it counts as one. I don’t intend to push myself, it’s just a fact I might.

  “Alright, am I good to leave?” Cassie asks.

  “Yeah, it’s safe.” Vince responds.

  “Cool, I’m going to go practice.” Cassie jumps up excitedly.

  “Oh, Cassie?” I stop her from leaving immediately. “If you’re going downstairs, can you grab some parts from Sonia?”

  If I need to hack again, I’d be much more comfortable with Corax joining me. It shouldn’t be too hard to make a single cord that we can both use to hack simultaneously. Although I will be sacrificing a lot of bandwidth to have him beside me, it’s more than worth it.

  “I can do it, you go practice.” Vince offers, which Cassie immediately accepts. “Just give me a list.”

  “Ok.” I grab my tablet and plug myself in. It only takes a split second to generate a short list. Two cords and a few tools to splice them together is all I technically need. I throw in a few extra tools that could be useful in the future for when something happens out there. “Here.”

  “Thanks. I’ll be back in a minute.”

  Ivy, Corax and I sit in silence while we wait for Vince to return. I don’t think I can handle the quiet right now.

  “Ivy? Can you reach my book? It’s on my dresser.”

  “Sure.” As Ivy leans over, the smallest hint of pain fshes across her face.

  “Are you alright?” My voice is drenched in worry.

  “Yeah, I just bent wrong.”

  “Sorry I made you move. I didn’t know.”

  “It’s alright.” She sets the book next to me and returns to pying with my hair. “I should have been more careful.”

  “Are you really going to be ok to go on the mission? I’m sure you can stay here if you need to.”

  “It’s just when I move wrong, so it’s a good thing I don’t have to move to fight.” Ivy jokes. I guess that’s true.

  “Ok.” I grab my book and flip instantly to the page we left off on. “Is it ok if I read out loud? I don’t want Corax to miss out.”

  “Of course. I’ve heard a few times how rexing it is to hear you read.”

  “What? From who?” Cassie wouldn’t say something like that, but who else could overhear? Or maybe she’s just been listening? But that would be a weird way to word it.

  Ivy only gives a shrug in response and waits for me to begin.

  We only get a few pages through before Vince returns.

  “Here you go.” Vince pces down my tablet and parts on my new desk. “I also picked up your rounds, Ivy.”

  “Ooh.” Ivy lets her excitement fill her voice. “What toys am I getting?”

  “Two EMP rounds, two deyed explosives, one self guiding smart bullet, one fshbang, one fragmenting explosive.” Vince hands the handful of bullets to Ivy, who inspects each one before dropping them into a pocket.

  “Excellent. Did sis give you anything special?” Ivy says far too casually.

  “Wait what?” I interrupt before Vince can respond. “You have a sister?”

  “Did I never mention Jade was my sister?”

  “No?”

  “You couldn’t see the family resembnce?”

  “Is that a joke?” The two of them look nothing alike. Although maybe that’s just because of Jade’s tattoos all over her body?

  “Who knows.” Ivy says with a grin. I certainly don’t. “Anyway, Vince, what did you get?”

  “Like I said, just boring, everyday stuff. A few types of explosives, night vision goggles, some rope, an ammo reloading kit. Stuff for all of us to use.”

  Ivy and Vince joke with each other, but I mostly tune it out. I let their voices wash over me without processing anything, letting their presence rex me. Eventually I excuse myself and grab the parts Vince brought.

  It’s nice to work on something I can dedicate 100% of my mind to, even if it only takes a few minutes to finish. All that’s left to do is test it.

  My tablet will work fine as a computer to enter. I’ll need to reshape it into something other than pure data, but that should only take a few seconds. I plug myself in and get to work.

  I hold up the second plug for Corax, silently asking if he wants to try. Sure enough, he takes it from my hand and plugs it into a small port under his wing.

  My reformat finishes, and I’m once again in an infinite white void. The tablet has absolutely zero security built in, and I can feel every single aspect of the computer.

  My body is nearly identical to the state I was in when Vince found me. Well over half my joints are welded in pce, and my clothes are barely clinging to my body. The only difference is a rge hole through my neck, fragile wires open to the world, just waiting to be severed. I can’t even stand.

  Corax is beside me, a short humanoid raven. The hood that once hid his head has been pulled back, proudly showing his true form. He flexes his arms, and a storm of ravens fly from his feathers. The remnants of both his family and his species catch my fall, gently lowering me to the ground.

  “Thank you. I should-”

  “Go.” Corax agrees.

  I return to my physical body and rip the cord out of me, quickly followed by Corax.

  “You ok Little Blue?” Vince asks.

  I nod in response.

  “The cord works.”

  “You don’t sound happy about it.” Ivy gently tries to coax more information out of me.

  “It’s just,” I barely know how to expin it. “Proof I’ve lost a lot of progress getting better today.”

  “That’s alright, setbacks happen.” I can tell Vince is speaking from experience.

  “Yeah. I think I just want to read with Corax for the rest of tonight, if that’s ok.”

  “Alright Little Blue. Just knock on the door if you want to talk.” Vince and Ivy thankfully stand up to leave without any argument.

  “I will.”

  Corax flies to his new nest, pulling bnkets overtop of himself, and I sit on the bed, facing the door. We dive into our book, letting my worries be swept away by a world of cute romance.

  JanePtinum