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Chapter 1
ARIA
They called the world beyond the walls of the Pod "the Death Shop" A et so close
She bit her lip as she stared at the heavy steel door in front of her A display screen read AGRICULTURE 6--NO ENTRY in flashing red letters
Ag 6 was just a service dome, Aria told herself Dozens of dos an enclosed city needed Ag 6 had been dae was minor Supposedly
"Maybe we should turn back," Paisley said She stood beside Aria in the airlock cha red hair
The three boys crouched at the control board by the door, ja an alar
"Come on, Paisley What’s the worst that could happen?"
Aria h so she tacked on a laugh That ca ed doers "Our skin could rot off We could get locked out An Aether storm could turn us into human bacon Then the cannibals could eat us for breakfast"
"It’s just another part of Reverie," Aria said
"An off-lio"
"Neither do you," Paisley said, but she rong
For the past five days, Aria had worried constantly about her mother Why hadn’t she been in touch? Lumina had never rossed she was in her et into that dome
"For the hundredth--wait, thousandth--ti froht?"
He had a point Soren loved hiaze rested on his muscled back Soren was the son of Reverie’s Director of Security He had the kind of flesh that only carade considering none of the codes
Bane and Echo watched at his side The brothers followed Soren everywhere He usually had hundreds of followers, but that was in the Realht just five of them shared the cra the law
Soren straightened, flashing a cocky s to have to talk to my father about his security protocols"
"You did it?" Aria asked
Soren shrugged "Was there ever a doubt? Now for the best part Tiht you were just going to ja theh tier over her Smarteye She had alorn the clear device over her left eye and it was always on The Eye took them to the Realms, the virtual spaces where they spent most of their time
"Caleb will kill us if we’re not back soon," said Paisley
Aria rolled her eyes "Your brother and his thehts" She usually cruised the Realms with Paisley and her older brother, Caleb, froe For the past ht’s thean in a Roout Then they’d cruised to a Minotaur feeding in a Mythology Reallad we left before the piranhas"
Thanks to her Smarteye, Aria had kept daily visits with her mother, who had followed her research to Bliss, another Pod hundreds of o, when the link with Bliss broke
"How long are we planning to stay out there?" Aria asked She only needed a few h to ask hirin broke over Bane’s face "Long enough to party in the real!"
Echo pushed his hair out of his eyes "Long enough to party in the flesh!"
Echo’s actual name was Theo but few people remembered it His nickname suited him too well
"We can shut off for one hour" Soren winked at her "But don’t worry, I’ll turn you on later"
Aria h, smoky and flirtatious "You better"
Paisley shot her a suspicious look She didn’t know Aria’s plan Soet the information from his father
Soren shifted his thick shoulders like a boxer stepping into a ring "Here we go, Glitches Hold on to your pants We’re shutting off in three, two--"
Aria startled at a shrill ringing that came from deep within her ears A red wall crashed over her field of vision Hot needles of pain stabbed into her left eye and then spread over her scalp They gathered at the base of her skull and then shot down her spine, exploding through her limbs She heard one of the boys swear stiffly with relief The red wall vanished as quickly as it had come
She blinked a few times, disoriented The icons for her favorite Reales in the queue and the news crawl in the lower part of her S only the airlock door, which appeared dull, filtered through a soft filray boots Middle Gray A shade that covered nearly every surface in Reverie How could gray seem less vibrant?