Chapter 313

I told myself that it was fine. Miles wasn’t going to take down Azure in the middle of West Village. This time of day, there was guaranteed to be hundreds of people around. Less than there would have been pre-dome, but more than enough to ensure things stayed on the civil side of hostile.

But the timing was bad. If Miles and friends stuffed Azure into the back of a van, the effort and ingenuity required to simply make the swap back would take up the rest of the day.

And I’d only accomplished a fifth of what I intended to do.

Think.

“You’ve taken control of me before. Can you let me do the same?”

Azure grunted negative. “So many jokes to be made, so little time. With the maxed out bond it’s theoretically possible. But I only just now worked out how to contact you over long distances. We could try—”

“No, nix that.” I spoke aloud, standing up to close Miles’ bedroom door. This wasn’t the time to trial something untested. If there were issues, anything akin to glitching or an imperfect depiction of body language, Miles would catch it. He was already angry and his guard was up. “You’re used to communicating with images, manifesting metaphors. Can you relay how he looks and what he’s saying to me in real time?”

“Close to real time,” Azure confirmed. “That’d be a hell of a lot easier than the alternative.”

And now, the definitive question. “Can you do it while providing context for anything that happened after the tower?”

A hesitation. “Yes.”

“How much time do we have?”

“Thirty seconds, give or take.”

“Short run down of your movements.”

“I took a long detour-filled drive here—”

“Specifics, Azure. Could it be explained away as avoiding traffic or a certain part of town?”

“… No.” Azure said, then amended, “Some of it. But I went further up the highway than I needed to, missed my exit. Not something you would naturally do.”

I swore internally. “Okay, fine. Then what?”

“I stopped by a Sports Bar—”

“—Which one?”

“Don’t remember the name, but it had a dark metal fence and a patio. Ate wings and fries at an outside table, in clear sight the whole time. Washed my hands, came back out, and went shopping at the outlets.”

“What did you buy—”

“Matt, we’re out of time.” Azure’s voice grew garbled as a desaturated image of Miles appeared in my vision. At first, I thought my summon was wrong. Miles didn’t strike me as overtly angry. But still waters run deep, and there was enough of an edge to his apparent serenity that I was willing to trust Azure’s judgment over my knee-jerk impression.

“Miles.” I said, keeping my tone neutral but guarded.

“Matt.” Miles bore a sharp smile, dropping it a second later and walking past me. “You know, it’s tough to describe you. Even harder now. Calculated, kind, monstrous, all perfectly fitting depending on the day and the face you’ve chosen to wear for it. But this is the first time you’ve ever come across as… how do I say it?” He snapped his fingers. “Ah, right. Puerile. Immature.”

The accusation immediately got my blood up. Exactly what he wanted, so I played into it.

Slow flush, starting at my neck, rising into my cheeks. I conveyed the directions to Azure, making sure to tag them differently than anything spoken aloud, so there was no risk of mistranslation.

“Kind of a fucked up thing to say, considering the circumstances.”

“Is it?” Miles raised an eyebrow, kept his hands in his pockets as he turned back to face me. “Because, gravity of the situation aside, you seem to be enjoying yourself. Pretty sure I told you to go straight home. Yet here you are, without a care in the world, dining and shopping after dragging my guys all over the interstate.”

“Your—Miles. You had me tailed?” I laced the accusation with irony and an undercurrent of monotone.

Miles stuck a finger in my face, placidity gone in a second, rage burning beneath it. “Don’t. Don’t fuck with me.”

Backwards step. Sarcastic fear.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“Come on Dad, don’t make a scene.”

His hand moved quickly, smoothly averting course at the last second as he hooked his thumb in his belt. But I’d seen him draw too many times to mistake the movement for anything but what it was.

Look away.

“You were clear before. Tyler didn’t give us a lot of time. Once we start making our way through the tower, it’ll be awhile before we have a chance to come back to the real world. And there’s… a genuine possibility I may not make it back at all. Convicts on death row get their choice of last meal. Guess I wanted mine.”

He stared at me hard, empathy and disdain warring for prominence. “It’s an evaluation period.”