They faded out, and then AUTHENTICATING appeared.
She turned her head, watching the letters track with her movement.
ACCEPTED flickered up, and a familiar prickling sensation spread across her scalp and down her spine. Only one generic icon, labeled HESS, hovered against the darkness. When she’d had her own Smarteye, the screen had been filled with icons for her favorite Realms, news crawls, and messages from her friends. But Hess had programmed this Eye to only reach him.
“Are you in?” Roar asked.
“I’m in. ”
He lay down, resting his head on his arm. “Wake me up when you’re back. ” To him, she’d appear to be sitting quietly on the beach. He’d have no window into the Realms the Smarteye opened to her.
“I’m still here, you know. ”
Roar closed his eyes. “No, you’re not. Not really. ”
With a deliberate thought, she selected the icon, letting Hess know she was there. Moments later she fractioned, her consciousness splitting, dividing. The feeling was jarring but painless—like waking up suddenly in a strange place. In an instant she existed in two places at once: on the beach with Roar, and in the virtual construct of the Realm Hess had brought her to. She shifted her focus to the Realm and went still, momentarily dazzled by the brightness. Then she looked around, adjusting to a world turned pink.
Cherry trees spread around her in every direction. Blossoms loaded down their branches and coated the ground like a pink dusting of snow. An aimless, everywhere rustle reached her ears, and then a shower of petals drifted down in a rosy blizzard.
She found it breathtaking until she noticed the symmetry of the branches and the perfect spacing of the trees. She realized she hadn’t heard the petals fall, or the creak of branches. The breeze held an empty, one-note sound. Far too aggressive for what she knew was right. Better than Real, they said of the Realms. She’d thought so too, once. For years she’d cruised spaces like this from within the safety of Reverie’s walls, not knowing any better. Not knowing that nothing was better than real.
Or worse, she thought, suddenly remembering Paisley. Her best friend had only seen the terrible parts of the real world. Fire. Pain. Violence. Aria still couldn’t believe she was gone. Almost all of her memories of Paisley included Paisley’s older brother, too. It had always been the three of them.
How was Caleb doing in Reverie? Was he still cruising to the art Realms? Had he moved on? She swallowed against the tight feeling in her throat, missing him. Missing her other friends, Rune and Pixie, and how light life used to be. Underwater concerts and parties in the clouds. Ridiculous Realms like Dinosaur Laser Tag and Cloud Surfing and Date a Greek God. Her life had changed so much. Now, when she slept, she kept her knives within reach.
Aria looked up, and her breath caught. Through the pink branches she saw a light blue sky with no veins of Aether, no coating of glowing clouds. That had been the sky three hundred years ago, before the Unity. Before a massive solar flare had corrupted the Earth’s magnetosphere, opening the door to cosmic storms. To an alien atmosphere that was unimaginably devastating. Aether. This blue sky was what she pictured over the Still Blue—bright and open and calm.
She lowered her gaze and found Consul Hess sitting at a table twenty paces away. Small, with a marble top and two iron chairs, the table belonged in a bistro in a European square. Whatever Realm Hess chose, that detail never changed.
Aria looked down at herself. A kimono had replaced her black pants, shirt, and boots. This garment was made of thick cream brocade, patterned with red and pink flowers. It was beautiful, and far too tight.
“Is this necessary?” she asked, as always.
Hess watched in silence as she walked over. He had a severe face, chiseled, with wide-set eyes and a thin mouth that gave him a lizard-like appearance. “It befits the Realm,” he said, his gaze traveling up and down her body. “And I find your Outsider clothing unsavory. ”
Aria sat across from him, shifting uncomfortably in the chair. She could barely cross her legs in the dress, and what was the waxy coating on her lips? She touched her finger and came away with scarlet lipstick. Really. This was too much.
“Your clothes don’t befit the Realm,” she said. Hess was in Dweller grays, as usual—clothes similar to those she’d worn in Reverie all her life, the only difference being that his grays had blue stripes along the collar and sleeves to show his position as Consul. “Neither does this table or the coffee. ”
Hess ignored her and poured coffee into two delicate cups as pink petals sprinkled the table. Aria studied the gurgling sound, which was clear and sharp but oddly shapeless. The fragrant, rich scent set her mouth watering. Everything was the way it’d been for the past months. A fanciful Realm. This table and chairs. Strong, dark coffee. Except Hess’s hands were trembling.
He took a sip. When he set the cup down, it struck with a clack. He raised his eyes to hers. “I’m disappointed, Aria. You’re late. I thought I had impressed the urgency of your task upon you. Now I wonder if you need to be reminded of what’s at stake if you fail. ”
“I know what’s at stake,” she said tightly. Talon. Reverie. Everything.
“And yet you’ve taken a little detour. Do you think I can’t tell where you are? You’ve gone to see the boy’s uncle, haven’t you? Peregrine?”
Hess was tracking her movements through the Smarteye. It didn’t surprise Aria, but she felt her pulse pick up anyway. She didn’t want him to know anything about Perry. “I can’t go north yet, Hess. The pass to the Horns is frozen. ”
He leaned forward. “I could have you there tomorrow on a Hover. ”
“They hate us,” she said. “They haven’t forgotten the Unity. I can’t go charging in as a Dweller. ”
“They’re Savages,” he said, waving a hand dismissively. “I don’t care what they think. ”
Aria became aware of how quickly she was breathing. Roar sat up. He watched her intently in the real, sensing her tension. Savages. She’d once thought of them that way too. Now Roar’s presence anchored and calmed her.
“You have to let me do this my way,” she said to Hess.