Page 78 of GlitchBorn Heart

Bend, not break. Jailbreak, not a purge.

It’s a delicate dance. Every time I push too hard, the system fights me, and Kael’s eyes go dark and private. I know I’m one reckless line of force away from him allowing LINK to delete me.

She’s one hell of a jealous bitch.

Kael still refuses to believe his cyber-wife is anything more than obedient code or leftover virus—even as she learns to chase me at every given chance. I do believe him though; he won’t allow her to delete me, unless it threatens to topple his empire.

Kael watches more than he helps. He’s precise, an old-school code slinger. Show him a problem, and he can map three solutions before I can finish explaining it. He wrote the window that put my face on his screen and hacked the PleazureHolo projector to bring me back to life...kind of. And he did it all in a few days.

He thinks he can teach me how to speak his language. Which is true, to an extent. He can actually show me how to evade partitions and dodge bots. What he can’t teach me is something he refuses to admit to himself: how I’m changing him.

He keeps saying that the lines of code in front of him, the ones that keep rearranging themselves under his fingertips, are just a product of muscle memory. Just this morning, I saw him write code that came together at will and self-corrected itself so it would run clean. He tells me it’s just technique or it’s me. He’s not sure if I’m his muse or if it’s my magic assisting. Maybe it’s both.

I think that’s one of the only things I like about him right now. He makes challenges look easy. No stress, no worry. He dominates small things and seduces them into obedience.

Even me.

I know this...

Right now, he’s pissed at me.

To say I’m bored is an understatement. Even in holo-form the lab has become a cage made of glass. Kael’s warnings weren’t to be taken lightly.

Don’t leave the lab. Don’t touch the city systems. Don’t test LINK.

Which, of course, made me want to do exactly that.

This morning, I decided to test the limits of the holo-tracks. Just a little.

A question was gnawing at me as I practiced pushing the system’s edges with my magic. Could I roam freely? Slip between corridors using holo-tracks? And mostly, could I hide my movement, so I’m not caught? My magic was tingling on my fingertips, responsive, almost eager to try.

I waited until he was in a meeting. I can sense a definite shift in the system when his attention is elsewhere, like it knows. When Dad’s away, the kids will play. I knew that was my chance.

I ghosted myself into the main corridor of VikkCorp.

The space felt open, airy and light, a stark difference from the dark confines of the grid. My fingers slid down the walls bringing them to life with scrolling news and corporate propaganda. I didn’t make a sound, and I even ducked under a security cam. For a glorious thirty seconds, I was free.

But then I felt the air shift. Someone was approaching, and I lost my concentration. The lights overhead stuttered.

Kael had found me.

“Lyra. Dammit!” was all he could manage.

I don’t know what got into me. Panic, maybe fear? But I darted down a side corridor, laughing. In my excitement the wall feeds reacted, and doors unlocked and opened on their own, their keypads flaring.

He caught up to me in seconds. “You were told not to leave the lab.” His forceful whisper was through very tightly clenched teeth. “Do you have any idea what you just did?”

I’ve never seen him lose his corporate mask.

“Oh, relax.” I tried to calm him. “I stayed inside the building.”

His irritation was on the verge of breaking through that perfect restraint he always has. “You’re testing me,” he said. And I admitted I was.

He then cornered me near some sort of atrium. My holographic light was fading fast as simulated sunlight poured over me. I almost felt it on my synthetic skin. I wanted to stay to see if indeed I could feel more.

He appeared calm on the outside, but underneath those obsidian eyes I could see a spark of fury, a flash of gold-orange. “You think this is a game?”

I reminded him that he doesn’t own me. “Don’t pretend you didn’t enjoy the chase.” I moved toward him wanting to see if I could still feel the heat around him. “Maybe I wanted you to find me.”