Page 56 of Asher Black (The Five Syndicates)
“Seriously?! She’s hooked into that biometric thingy and I’m not?!” I abandon the little pride I have left and whine. “I have to get out of here, Asher. It’s been so long. Please, please, please, please, please. I don’t even know what it smells like outside anymore.”
“Pollution,” Xavier says, helpfully.
That lands him an attempted uppercut.
I miss, of course.
I’m not even usually a violent person. I swear. I just can’t stand being trapped in one place for this long. I’ve always been on the move, either from foster home to foster home or country to country. I don’t think I can handle this for much longer.
Hell, I don’t think I’m handling it right now.
Asher’s place is huge, but it’s not freedom. I want my freedom. I’m going crazy without it. I have a newfound respect for prisoners. How do they do it? How do they handle it? I’m stuck in a twenty-thousand square foot luxury apartment, and it’s driving me crazy.
Last week, the highlight of my week was when I hid under Asher’s desk for 13 hours, waiting for him to come in so I could scare him. I was asleep by the time he got there and pretty much wasted my entire day for nothing. Asher ended up carrying my sleeping self to the bed.
Sighing, Asher hands me a box. “It’s a prototype for our newest set of virtual reality glasses. It’ll help with the craziness for a little bit. I’ve already programmed a bunch of games and scenic activities in it. Here are the controls for it.”
I take the pair of gloves he hands me. They have little metal circles all over them, which I assume works like a controller.
“They’re ugly,” I tell him, though I’m flattered he’s trusting me with them. That he thought to do this for me… Even though he’s the one trapping me here.
“It’s a prototype, Lucy.” There’s a darkness in his eyes as he says, “Plus, beauty is overrated.”
The words are weird coming from his mouth, considering he’s the most physically beautiful person I’ve ever met. Unsure of what to say to that, I instead look through the list of apps he programmed into the VR console. There are dozens of them, all catered towards my interests, but a few catch my eyes quickest:
Lucy’s Lab
From sodium monofluo-
roacetate to batrachotox-
in and everything in be-
tween, experiment with
dangerous chemicals you
wouldn’t normally be
able to in real life.
Adventures for Lucy
From the bright and frosty
peaks of Machu Picchu to
the mysterious and dark
depths of the Mariana
Trench, the world is your
oyster, Lucy Ives.
Lucy’s Kitchen
Any tool, any appliance,
