Come and Find Me A Novel of Suspense - By Hallie Ephron Page 0,39
think was her security systems had been sabotaged, her electronic fence disarmed, and live video feed had been replaced by an innocuous video loop that replayed over and over. How paranoid was that?
The pile of avatar clothing was on the floor near the desk. She reached out and pulled the leather jacket toward her. The faintest whiff of Ashley’s licorice scent wafted up to her.
Home was no longer safe. Her griefer-infested virtual world wasn’t either. Where to go? And how the hell was she going to find the courage to get herself there?
She draped the leather jacket over her shoulders and raised the collar so it framed her face the way Nadia’s jacket collar did. She pulled the sunglasses from the pocket and put them on. Through the tinted lenses, the room around her took on new clarity and depth. Her stomach settled and her hands grew steadier, as if some of Nadia’s courage were seeping into her.
She crawled out from under the desk and stood. She laid the jacket over the back of a chair. Then she crept to the living room, lifted the shade, and peered out the front window. The black car was gone. The street was quiet. She checked the security alarm. The word ARMED glowed back at her. A lie.
She returned to her office. Nadia was waiting for her, suspended on the screen in OtherWorld, right where Diana had left her in the replica of Diana’s office.
A bell sounded, then sounded again—two new messages.
PWNED: U there? You gotta see this. 1293, 4681
GROB: Hey. Got a minute. 1655, 196
She wasn’t alone, she reminded herself. She had friends, friends in OtherWorld with alter egos in the real world.
Diana hovered the cursor. PWNED or GROB? She felt a connection to GROB, as if she’d known him much longer than she actually had. But PWNED had been one of the first to friend Diana in OtherWorld. And there was nothing complicated about their relationship.
Diana transported Nadia to the coordinates that PWNED had sent her. A meadow materialized and, in the distance, a futuristic landscape of crystalline structures. She brought up an area map. A mass of yellow dots, each an avatar, was clustered a short distance due west.
She turned Nadia and ran her in that direction, through an allée of cyprus trees, along a stone wall, and on to a massive stone gateway. Stepping Nadia through the gateway, she emerged at the topmost rim of an amphitheater that seemed to have been hollowed out from the side of a hill.
PWNED came up the steps toward her. Tall and lithe, the avatar wore black, crotch-high boots, a microskirt, and a crop top. A diamond twinkled from her navel and her platinum hair was wrapped in a Princess Leia breakfast Danish over one ear.
An empty voice balloon appeared over PWNED’s head. “I wanted you to see what you helped create.” Her voice was soft and breathy.
A banner across the stage read FIGHT BACK. LIES KILL. A speaker was standing on the stage, addressing a crowd of avatars seated around him.
“Is this amazing or what?” PWNED continued. “And it’s just the tip of—”
Diana interrupted. “I need help. Can I . . . I need somewhere to stay. I’ll explain later, but I need to get somewhere safe. Right now.” She tried to swallow but she couldn’t.
“Real-world help?”
“The realest. You’re near Boston?”
“I’m in it. Can you drive?”
Diana realized she still had the keys to the Hummer clutched in her hand. “I’m going to have to.”
PWNED didn’t ask another question. She just gave her address and offered to get on the phone and guide Diana there.
By the time Diana had transported Nadia home, she was sweating and having trouble breathing. Meanwhile, on the computer screen in her virtual office, Nadia stood cool and serene, game for whatever awaited them. If only Diana could absorb her avatar’s strength and nonchalance.
Diana held the leather jacket out in front of her, considering. It was beautifully made, the black leather soft and supple, the lining a soft, pale gray silk. She draped the T-shirt over the back of the chair and spread the jeans out on the seat. She set the red leather boots upright, side by side on the floor. Ready to roll.
“Okay, I’ll navigate. You drive,” Diana told Nadia. The avatar didn’t even crack a smile.
An hour later, Diana stood in the bathroom. The spray bottle with the mixture of hydrogen peroxide and water that she’d used to lighten her hair sat on the counter. The