The Key to Fear - Kristin Cast Page 0,34
paper.”
She scrunched her face.
“What can I say, O Captain, My Captain? You’ve inspired me to be a better student.” Aiden said with a dramatic flourish of his hand.
Another scrunch. “You are so frickin’ weird.” She scooped up her holopad and, eyes narrowed, watched him as she headed for the door. “You’re up to something. I know you are.” She paused in the open doorway. “Try not to do anything too terrible before I get back.”
Aiden waited until the door to the classroom closed. The heavy doors leading back toward the reception area clanged shut before he kicked his feet up onto the small desk in front of him. “Hey, Holly?”
Haunting Holly flashed to life next to him, each pixel stacking on top of the one before until they’d formed a complete person. “Hello, Aiden. Octavia has bookmarked several lessons for you. Would you like to begin?”
“Not until the chief returns.” He folded his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair. “But I do need your help.”
The hologram’s smile was all teeth. “Sure thing.”
“Can you bring up employee profiles for the Long-Term Care Unit nurses?”
He had probably scared her off, but if there was one thing Aiden had learned in all of his years of career hopping, it was that the only way to know whether or not you liked something was to try it. And hopefully the LTCU nurse was into trying new things.
The Pearl seemed to glide weightless down the street as Elodie stood outside the MediCenter. She glanced at her bracelet. Five minutes were left until its scheduled arrival time window, but it was only a block away. Astrid had been right about its punctuality.
It wasn’t difficult to see how the automated vehicle got its name. Its round, opalescent shell alternated between gleaming white and muted swirls of rainbow in the patchy sunlight. Each Pearl added a level of whimsy to Westfall’s otherwise serious palate of muted grays and aged whites. The only spots marring the car’s pristine coating were two half-moon shaped windows on either side as if the zippy vehicle had freed itself from a tight pinch and had its glimmering sides sheared off.
The Pearl silently weaved around the clunky MAX train and paused for pedestrians with the intuitiveness of a human, but with the endless, split-second calculations of a computer.
Elodie leaned forward, then abruptly stopped herself. Astrid’s text had said to meet the Pearl outside, but not to approach the curb or the Pearl until it had made a complete stop and the door had opened. It was part of the testing for the newer, smarter prototype, and Astrid, who hated using exclamation points because they didn’t feel “emotionally specific” enough, had used five.
The Pearl smoothly transitioned to the right lane, slowing as soon as it reached the corner of Elodie’s block. It eerily crept along the curb. Its tinted window seemed to peer at the citizens entering and exiting the restaurant on the corner before it sped forward and came to a halt directly in front of Elodie. It had stopped so precisely that she only had to take a few steps to meet it at the curb.
A chime sounded from the Pearl, and Elodie’s bracelet flashed brilliant white as the back door swept open. She slapped the passenger side window. Giggles burst from her lips as she waited. She never was good at scaring anyone. Anyone other than herself, that is. The window silently slid down. She’d expected to see Astrid in the “driver” seat. Instead the front seats were empty. Elodie bent over and poked her head inside the car.
Astrid’s long legs and signature navy and green checkered shoes were the first things Elodie saw.
“What’s cookin’, good lookin’?” Astrid leaned forward from the backseat and winked. Her shimmery green eyeliner beautifully accentuated the delicate upturn of her eyes. She clicked her tongue and motioned for Elodie to join her inside.
“The Pearl was so accurate, I figured you’d be driving.” Elodie shrugged off her backpack and slid into the Pearl’s plush interior.
Astrid’s sleek ponytail brushed the headrest as she shook her head. “Nope. Observing slash meeting my best friend who I hardly ever see in the real. Work and play combined.” She interlocked her fingers. “Throw a little bit of work in there, and every hour becomes billable.”
“I wish I could get paid for socializing.” Elodie settled in to the seat and the door closed automatically.
“You? Socialize? ” Astrid clutched her chest in mock horror.
Elodie shook her head and ignored the