“It wasn’t like it is out here. But . . . something is changing. It was different. Here, I can feel them pushing and pulling, I can almost hear their voices in my mind. They’re getting clearer, pulling me closer, overtaking my own voice.”
She paused, embarrassed, like she couldn’t believe she’d said that out loud.
“I believe you. You can trust me.”
“There were whispers last night. When I was in combat with the bridge troll, I was too busy to notice, but once that concluded . . . You know that sense of disconnection there is when you’re inside the game? As if you’ve been split in two, cleaved, but the mind is the part that matters now and it has its own sense and sensation?”
I wouldn’t have put it exactly that way, but then I didn’t have Anavi’s way with language.
“It feels more real inside than outside while you’re there,” I said.
“The only way I can explain it is, last night, you heard and saw them in the game, but I also heard them outside it. Whispers in my ears outside too, after I departed, like a . . . a strange hummed tune, almost.” Anavi waited, but so did I. I didn’t quite understand yet. She continued, “They are bringing together their talents within and without. They are strengthening, making me one of them. It would be easy to submit. To be assimilated. In there and out here. I do not know if I can resist.”
Light spilled in through the long windows at the far end of the cafeteria, and from the kitchen there were the sounds of that day’s sad lunch being made.
“You’re stronger than you think,” I said.
“Maybe,” Anavi said, and I could see she was only half convinced. Which was better than zero convinced, but not ideal.
I opened my mouth intending to reassure her, but before I said a word the PA speaker beside the cafeteria door crackled to life. Ronda’s crisp voice came over it, saying, “Lois Lane, report to Principal Butler’s office. Lois Lane, to Principal Butler’s office, immediately.”
CHAPTER 10
When the announcement ended, Anavi was shaking her head. “You don’t have to put yourself in further jeopardy on my behalf.”
“Please,” I said. “They shot me in the shoulder. Now I’d do it just because.”
Also, just because there’s more going on here
. “Stay here and wait out comp sci. Avoid the jerk squad until I can find you.”
I’d intended to approach Principal Butler again today, so in some ways, this was convenient. Despite how weirdly dismissive he’d been before, I believed confronting him now would box him in, make him take action against the Warheads and protect Anavi.
Which would mean my first story for the
Scoop
would be slightly less awesome, as the school administration wouldn’t be completely inept in it. But it would also mean the plan—my plan for Metropolis—wasn’t completely scrapped, either.
Being good did not come easy for me.
But I couldn’t regret anything I was doing. This
was
a story, an important one, with a girl’s mind in the balance, and I would tell it.
Still. Rash might be my middle name, but I’d promised my dad—and myself—that I’d
try
to be different here. No need to get into trouble Dad would hear about, something that might make him change his mind about the
Scoop
. No need to engage in
Worlds War Three
against General Lane. Not yet.
“Besides,” I said, “I need to see Brown-nose Butler to get his official statement for my story.” I got up, ready to go do just that.
“You might want to refrain from using that particular name with him.”
Anavi had tried to make a joke, despite her wan face and dark-circled eyes. She gnawed at her bottom lip.
Something was still bugging her, even though she was safe here in cafeteria-land for the moment.
I hesitated. “What is it?”
“You’re not planning to mention me by name in the article, correct?” Anavi asked, with a hint of discomfort.
I inhaled sharply. The question stung.
After what we’d been through
She paused, embarrassed, like she couldn’t believe she’d said that out loud.
“I believe you. You can trust me.”
“There were whispers last night. When I was in combat with the bridge troll, I was too busy to notice, but once that concluded . . . You know that sense of disconnection there is when you’re inside the game? As if you’ve been split in two, cleaved, but the mind is the part that matters now and it has its own sense and sensation?”
I wouldn’t have put it exactly that way, but then I didn’t have Anavi’s way with language.
“It feels more real inside than outside while you’re there,” I said.
“The only way I can explain it is, last night, you heard and saw them in the game, but I also heard them outside it. Whispers in my ears outside too, after I departed, like a . . . a strange hummed tune, almost.” Anavi waited, but so did I. I didn’t quite understand yet. She continued, “They are bringing together their talents within and without. They are strengthening, making me one of them. It would be easy to submit. To be assimilated. In there and out here. I do not know if I can resist.”
Light spilled in through the long windows at the far end of the cafeteria, and from the kitchen there were the sounds of that day’s sad lunch being made.
“You’re stronger than you think,” I said.
“Maybe,” Anavi said, and I could see she was only half convinced. Which was better than zero convinced, but not ideal.
I opened my mouth intending to reassure her, but before I said a word the PA speaker beside the cafeteria door crackled to life. Ronda’s crisp voice came over it, saying, “Lois Lane, report to Principal Butler’s office. Lois Lane, to Principal Butler’s office, immediately.”
CHAPTER 10
When the announcement ended, Anavi was shaking her head. “You don’t have to put yourself in further jeopardy on my behalf.”
“Please,” I said. “They shot me in the shoulder. Now I’d do it just because.”
Also, just because there’s more going on here
. “Stay here and wait out comp sci. Avoid the jerk squad until I can find you.”
I’d intended to approach Principal Butler again today, so in some ways, this was convenient. Despite how weirdly dismissive he’d been before, I believed confronting him now would box him in, make him take action against the Warheads and protect Anavi.
Which would mean my first story for the
Scoop
would be slightly less awesome, as the school administration wouldn’t be completely inept in it. But it would also mean the plan—my plan for Metropolis—wasn’t completely scrapped, either.
Being good did not come easy for me.
But I couldn’t regret anything I was doing. This
was
a story, an important one, with a girl’s mind in the balance, and I would tell it.
Still. Rash might be my middle name, but I’d promised my dad—and myself—that I’d
try
to be different here. No need to get into trouble Dad would hear about, something that might make him change his mind about the
Scoop
. No need to engage in
Worlds War Three
against General Lane. Not yet.
“Besides,” I said, “I need to see Brown-nose Butler to get his official statement for my story.” I got up, ready to go do just that.
“You might want to refrain from using that particular name with him.”
Anavi had tried to make a joke, despite her wan face and dark-circled eyes. She gnawed at her bottom lip.
Something was still bugging her, even though she was safe here in cafeteria-land for the moment.
I hesitated. “What is it?”
“You’re not planning to mention me by name in the article, correct?” Anavi asked, with a hint of discomfort.
I inhaled sharply. The question stung.
After what we’d been through
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