Chapter Four
Nila went to bed as soon as they got home around midnight, leaving Sireno to set up the couch for Kisavo to sleep on. He dug a sheet out of the linen closet and found a spare pillow and some blankets, doing his best to make the old couch at least somewhat comfortable. After pointing out where the bathroom was and telling Kisavo to help himself to anything in the fridge, he stood awkwardly in the doorway and watched Kisavo sit down and look around.
“So, um... You need to borrow some PJs or something, since we didn’t stop to get any of your stuff?” he asked after a moment.
“Nah.” Kisavo leaned forward and tugged his sweatshirt over his head, following it with the T-shirt he was wearing underneath. The subdermals twisted over his torso in elegant patterns, disappearing beneath the waistband of his jeans.
“Why’d you get those? Why the...” Sireno waved at his head.
“It’s a bit of a blur, to be honest.” Kisavo’s eyes slid away and he scratched at his shoulder, where a line of subdermals ended in a curl. “My memory’s all patchy from the past five years or so. I know I had them when Lina’s dad picked me up out of the gutter, but I kind of scrambled my brains with drugs for a while.”
“Kind of?” Sireno smiled a little. “So you don’t even remember getting these implants?”
“Not really. Stupid, I know.” Kisavo shrugged, trailing his fingers down to the crook of his elbow. “But they’ve come in handy. I can get online whenever I want, and people don’t like to get too close.” He looked back, grinning crookedly.
“You don’t... hallucinate? Attack people thinking they’re monsters in some game?”
Kisavo rolled his eyes. “Have I made one move towards you tonight? I’ve learned how to keep the parts separate. When I’m online, I’m online; when I’m not, I’m totally focused on the real world. But since we’re sharing, are you and Nila a thing?”
“Why, want to make sure I’m available?” Sireno meant it as a joke, but blushed when Kisavo just arched an eyebrow and smirked. “Me and Nila are... friends and sometimes we sleep together. Mostly to blow off steam. It’s not anything serious and we’ve been friends forever so it’s not like it’s a big deal and neither of us are clingy.” He stopped, aware he was starting to babble. “It’s just... fun.”
“Are you trying to convince me or yourself?”
“Shut up before I come over there just to pick up a pillow and beat you with it.”
“Instead of hiding in the doorway?” Kisavo patted the couch cushion beside him. “I don’t bite.”
Sireno hesitated a moment then crossed the room and sat down, leaning his elbows on his thighs. “How’d you get into NetLife anyway?”
“Saw an advertisement or something and figured it was something to do. By the way, why the gender switch in your avatars?”
“Nila thinks she gets more respect if she looks like a guy. Me...” Sireno shrugged. “Dunno really. Because it was fun and then I just got used to it. I mean, it doesn’t really matter in there, right? You can be anything you want.”
“Not judging, just curious.” Kisavo bumped his shoulder lightly. “Guess I should get some sleep, and so should you.”
“Probably.” Sireno looked at him for a moment then slid a hand around his neck and kissed him lightly, pulling back just after Kisavo got over his surprise enough to respond. “That was for saving our asses back there. Thanks. I owe you one.”
“You could kiss me again.” Kisavo grinned.
“Don’t push your luck.” Sireno got to his feet again. “Sleep well. I’ll see you in the morning.” He lifted a hand in half a wave and went down the hall to his bedroom, closing the door partway and stripping down to his boxers. He fell into bed and then into sleep minutes later, and didn’t wake again until his alarm went off just past 9.
He wandered out to the kitchen to find Nila already gone to class and Kisavo sitting at the kitchen table in nothing more than his boxers, eyes distant, absently eating from a bowl of cereal. Sireno waved a hand in front of his eyes and got no response. Shaking his head—and feeling a bit creeped out—he left Kisavo to whatever he was doing and went to the fridge to find something for breakfast. He was halfway through his bagel when Kisavo blinked a few times and shook his head, gradually focusing on Sireno with a smile.
“Doing anything interesting?” Sireno asked.
“Just checking around. Things seem pretty quiet.” Kisavo reached across the table and snagged Sireno’s half-full mug of coffee, draining it in one long swallow. “Nila said she’d be back after lunch and I’m not allowed to do anything with you until she comes back.”
Sireno looked away from his smirk, laughing a bit. “She means anything online. Don’t get your hopes up.”
“What are we doing this morning then? Do you have class?”
“Nope, prof’s away this week.”
“Good, you can take me to go get my stuff.” Kisavo shoved himself up and went into the living room, reappearing a moment later fully dressed in his jeans and sweatshirt, tying his hair back with a tie. “Come on, move.”
Sireno held up his bagel. “I’m not done breakfast yet, so unless you want to walk yourself over and back, you can wait.” He saw Kisavo’s eyes flick towards the car keys, hanging on a hook by the fridge. “Nila will pitch a fit if you drive her car.”
“Nila pitches a fit if I breathe too much.”
“You did shoot her in the back.”
“In a game called Doublecross.”
Sireno bit back a grin. “Look, man, I’m neutral. You two battle it out.” He swallowed the last bite of his bagel. “Preferably not in the real world because I’m not picking up the pieces.”
“You’re a harsh man, Sireno.” Kisavo hooked the keys off the wall and dangled them from his fingers. “Let’s go.”
Getting to his feet, Sireno held out his hand for the keys. “Hand them over and I’ll go get dressed.”
Kisavo held them up in the air, grinning, though they were the same height. “If you want them, give me something in return.”
Sireno studied his grin for a moment then stepped forward, slipping an arm around Kisavo’s waist. He had a moment to see how Kisavo’s eyes widened and almost laughed before pulling Kisavo into a kiss that tasted of coffee and sugar. His other hand slid up Kisavo’s arm to take the keys from his unresisting fingers but he didn’t pull back right away, getting caught up in the kiss despite his intentions to just grab the keys and go. By the time he managed to make himself back up, he could feel his own cheeks were flushed and Kisavo’s eyes were still wide, and dark with lust. Swallowing hard, Sireno closed the keys into his palm and ducked away towards his room to get dressed.
He felt better by the time he led Kisavo out of the house and got into the car. Following Kisavo’s directions, he headed downtown, expecting to be directed to an apartment building. Instead Kisavo told him to turn into the parking lot of a small storage facility and dug a key out of his pocket as Sireno found a space to park.
“Want me to come, help carry anything?” he asked, killing the engine.
Kisavo paused halfway out the passenger door and shrugged. “Not much to carry but you can come along if you want.”
He led the way past the big storage garages and stopped at a bank of lockers, counting along until he found the one he wanted. Sireno watched him open it and take out a battered old hiking backpack, faded to a nondescript greenish-brown from obvious time in the sun, and a rolled grey sleeping bag tied with rope. The rest of the locker was empty and after slinging the pack over his shoulder and handing the sleeping bag to Sireno, Kisavo shut the door and locked it again, sliding the key back into the pocket of his jeans.
“This is it?” Sireno asked. “You don’t have an apartment or anything?”
“Nope. Who’s going to rent to a netjunkie? I have no job anyway.” Kisavo flashed him a quick smile. “I get by okay. In the summer it’s kind of nice to sleep outside, and in the winter there’s shelters and stuff. Sometimes I have enough money for a motel.”
“Jesus, and we let you buy us dinner last night.” He jogged to catch up as Kisavo kept walking towards the car. “How much you got in that backpack?”
“Uh, some clean underwear, socks, a spare T-shirt and a pair of jeans. Seriously, it’s fine.” Kisavo dumped his pack in the back seat and turned to face Sireno again, his expression a mix of amused and defiant. “I know how to take care of myself.”
“That’s really not the point. Get in, I’m taking you shopping. I’ll talk to Nila when we get back and set something up. Maybe if one of us co-signs for you, you can find somewhere to rent, or you can just stay with us. When this whole Utopia thing is over with, I’m sure you can make some money off the NetLife tournaments, without cheating.” He paused, taking in Kisavo’s expression. “Am I pushing too hard?”
“I just... don’t see why you’d bother.” Kisavo frowned a little. “I’m still basically a stranger and I’m...” He shrugged again, flipping his sleeves back to show the subdermals around his wrists.
“You’re a giant pain in the ass, yeah.” Sireno grinned at the look Kisavo shot him. “You’re obnoxious, arrogant, rude, and for 26 you act an awful lot like you’re 16. But I kind of like you anyway. And I think my life, and Nila’s life, are worth more than a few kisses, especially when we’re dragging you back in there.”
Kisavo studied him uncertainly, as though expecting Sireno to start laughing and say he was kidding, then stepped forward, throwing his arms around Sireno’s neck and hugging him fiercely. For a long moment Sireno just held him, feeling the heat of his face buried against his neck and the leanness of his body under the bulky sweatshirt. When Kisavo eventually pulled away, it was with a slightly sheepish smile.
They both got back into the car without comment and Sireno drove over to one of his favourite clothing stores, spending an entertaining hour teasingly trying to convince Kisavo to try on the gaudiest clothes he could find. By the time they left again, carrying a couple bags full of new clothing, it was nearly lunch time. After a quick check of the clock, Sireno stopped off to pick up Indian takeout and pulled into the driveway just as Nila was getting off the bus. She spotted them and jerked her head slightly down the street, making a face. Sireno followed her gaze and saw a cop car parked at the end of the block, its occupants little more than a pair of shadows under the pale late-fall sunlight.
Slinging an arm around Kisavo’s waist as they opened the back door to get their bags, he leaned in and murmured, “There’s cops on your tail from you hanging out around here.” He winced a little. “And probably since we reported you.”
“Thanks for that, by the way,” Kisavo said dryly. “I’ll keep my head down, let’s just get inside.”
With Nila’s help they only had to make one trip to carry everything into the house, and Sireno locked the door behind them with a sigh of relief. They dumped Kisavo’s things in the living room and went straight into the kitchen to eat, passing the takeout containers back and forth.
“So Kisavo’s been living on the street,” he said once he’d taken the edge off his hunger. “I told him he could come live with us.”
“Is this because I said no when you wanted to get a dog?” Nila stuck her tongue out then looked at Kisavo. “I’m not objecting. We still need you.”
“How magnanimous of you,” Kisavo said.
“I thought so.”
“Knock it off, you two,” Sireno said absently, watching out the window as the cop car came by. He thought it slowed a little at the foot of their driveway, but it didn’t stop and he didn’t see it return in the half-hour they spent finishing their lunch. “Kisavo can just keep crashing on the couch until we figure something else out.”
“Fine, but you clean up after him and take him for walks.” Nila grinned. “Let’s get online.”
“I’m not walking in with you,” Kisavo said when they’d managed to settle themselves on the couch in something approaching comfort. He took Sireno’s hand and traced the mark on his palm. “I’ll follow this in.”
“Don’t take too long.” Sireno settled his visor over his eyes and logged in.
They had to wait in line just to get inside Utopia’s front doors with the size of the crowd, but eventually they were allowed to climb the winding stairs to the third level. In front of the wooden door with its curlicue 3, he exchanged a glance with Nila and checked his palm for the symbol before cautiously opening the door and going in.
He found himself floating in a darkness so complete that only the sensation of Nila’s hand in his told him he wasn’t alone. He expected to see an avatar menu but instead the usual glowing blue script informed them that they were to play a matching game. Gradually the darkness faded into a grey light like the hour just before dawn and he saw Nila frowning, her eyebrows drawn down in puzzled annoyance. A screen appeared before them, tall enough that Sireno felt a little dizzy trying to look up at the top of it, feeling like it was looming over them and about to crash down. The screen filled with brightly coloured boxes and somewhere a jaunty little tune began to play as the instructions told them if they cleared the board completely they would win but if the board filled up completely they would lose.
“Are they kidding with this?” Nila asked, squinting at the flashing START button. “From nearly dying at the claws of a wyvern made of code to a game I stopped playing when I was 12?”
“I’ll take this over anything designed to kill us.” Sireno glanced around. “Where’s Kisavo?”
“Here.” He blinked in beside Sireno and looked up at the game screen. “Not what I was expecting.”
“I know, right?” Nila reached up and slapped the START button. “Let’s get this over with.”
They cleared the first few rows easily, falling into their natural easy working rhythm while Kisavo stood back and watched, his arms crossed over his chest. Quickly getting bored, Sireno zoned out a little, mentally going over information he needed for a test in class the next day while his hands knocked out combinations of blocks. In his distracted state he didn’t realize he’d tried to match blocks of different colours until the whole screen flashed white and the music gave a discordant wail. At almost the same instant a jolt went through him, starting at his fingertips and running through his entire body like an electrical charge.
He opened his eyes again and found himself flat on his back with his head cradled in Kisavo’s lap and no idea of how he got there. The muscles in his arms were still jumping and his head was ringing. Crouched beside him, Nila was squeezing his hand with a panicky tightness, her face very pale.
“What the hell just happened?” he managed, forcing the words out through numb lips.
“You made a wrong move and it zapped you somehow. Threw you right back and then you didn’t move.” Nila squeezed his hand again. “Fuck me, you okay?”
“I think.” His hand felt numb but he thought that could be because Nila was holding onto it so tight. “The game. It’ll start filling up.” He waved her towards it and let Kisavo help him back to his feet, leaning heavily on Kisavo’s shoulder. “Definitely didn’t do that when we were 12.”
“You have to recognize the pattern,” Kisavo said, studying the board where it was beginning to fill up with a steady stream of blocks coming down from the top. “Nila, remove only the blocks I tell you to move. I’ll keep you from getting trapped up.”
“What, are you some kind of pattern genius?” Nila snapped, but she moved back to the board and hesitantly placed her hands back on it to follow Kisavo’s instructions.
Logically it was ridiculous but Sireno still couldn’t shake off the nervous feeling in his chest as he watched Nila hurry to clear the board. His head hurt and the music began to take on an ominous note, almost drowning out Kisavo’s quiet voice as he directed Nila from one side of the board to the other. The screen seemed to fill up twice as fast as Nila could move but gradually one colour began to dominate, and when Kisavo told her to take out that colour, nearly the whole board was wiped clean. Nila ran to clear the last few blocks before a new row could drop down and then the screen went dark again, plunging them back into blackness.
Standing there in the pitch black, Sireno could feel his own heartbeat ramping up until it echoed in his ears. Beside him Kisavo’s breathing had gone shallow, and the arm he kept around Sireno’s waist was hard with tension. He thought he could hear Nila breathing but the darkness was so complete that he couldn’t tell if she was right in front of him or twenty feet away.
The blue writing informing them that they had won appeared almost grudgingly and Sireno sensed suddenly that it was sulking, even as he dismissed the thought as paranoia at best. Code script couldn’t have feelings, and whoever was behind Utopia had to be as human as he was. Assigning emotions to things that couldn’t possess them was a good way to completely lose his sanity and he was already feeling a little on the edge as it was. He was glad when the darkness cleared and they briefly saw the stairs leading down from Utopia’s third floor before someone—he wasn’t sure if it was Nila or Kisavo—killed the connection and put them back in the home system.
He took his visor off with shaking fingers and felt his stomach heave as he tried to sit up. Untangling himself from Kisavo and Nila—and ignoring Nila worriedly saying his name—he bolted for the bathroom and fell to his knees in front of the toilet just in time to throw up all the Indian food he’d eaten for dinner. Cool fingers stroked the back of his neck until he managed to sit up, and Kisavo reached over Nila to pass him a glass of water.
“Feel better?” Nila asked, still stroking his neck.
“Waste of good food, but yeah.” Sireno offered a slightly shaky smile and finished the rest of the water. “That’s three levels down at least.”
“Uh-huh. You look awful pale, Reno. Why don’t you go to bed?” She gave him a hand up to his feet and let him lean on her until he’d gotten his balance back.
With her help he made his way down the hall to his bedroom and got his jeans off, then sprawled on the bed. Kisavo brought him another glass of water and a couple of painkillers to wash down with it. His last memory before sleep claimed him was of Nila stroking his hair back from his forehead, and though he thought he heard them arguing later, by morning he’d forgotten all about it.
“So, um... You need to borrow some PJs or something, since we didn’t stop to get any of your stuff?” he asked after a moment.
“Nah.” Kisavo leaned forward and tugged his sweatshirt over his head, following it with the T-shirt he was wearing underneath. The subdermals twisted over his torso in elegant patterns, disappearing beneath the waistband of his jeans.
“Why’d you get those? Why the...” Sireno waved at his head.
“It’s a bit of a blur, to be honest.” Kisavo’s eyes slid away and he scratched at his shoulder, where a line of subdermals ended in a curl. “My memory’s all patchy from the past five years or so. I know I had them when Lina’s dad picked me up out of the gutter, but I kind of scrambled my brains with drugs for a while.”
“Kind of?” Sireno smiled a little. “So you don’t even remember getting these implants?”
“Not really. Stupid, I know.” Kisavo shrugged, trailing his fingers down to the crook of his elbow. “But they’ve come in handy. I can get online whenever I want, and people don’t like to get too close.” He looked back, grinning crookedly.
“You don’t... hallucinate? Attack people thinking they’re monsters in some game?”
Kisavo rolled his eyes. “Have I made one move towards you tonight? I’ve learned how to keep the parts separate. When I’m online, I’m online; when I’m not, I’m totally focused on the real world. But since we’re sharing, are you and Nila a thing?”
“Why, want to make sure I’m available?” Sireno meant it as a joke, but blushed when Kisavo just arched an eyebrow and smirked. “Me and Nila are... friends and sometimes we sleep together. Mostly to blow off steam. It’s not anything serious and we’ve been friends forever so it’s not like it’s a big deal and neither of us are clingy.” He stopped, aware he was starting to babble. “It’s just... fun.”
“Are you trying to convince me or yourself?”
“Shut up before I come over there just to pick up a pillow and beat you with it.”
“Instead of hiding in the doorway?” Kisavo patted the couch cushion beside him. “I don’t bite.”
Sireno hesitated a moment then crossed the room and sat down, leaning his elbows on his thighs. “How’d you get into NetLife anyway?”
“Saw an advertisement or something and figured it was something to do. By the way, why the gender switch in your avatars?”
“Nila thinks she gets more respect if she looks like a guy. Me...” Sireno shrugged. “Dunno really. Because it was fun and then I just got used to it. I mean, it doesn’t really matter in there, right? You can be anything you want.”
“Not judging, just curious.” Kisavo bumped his shoulder lightly. “Guess I should get some sleep, and so should you.”
“Probably.” Sireno looked at him for a moment then slid a hand around his neck and kissed him lightly, pulling back just after Kisavo got over his surprise enough to respond. “That was for saving our asses back there. Thanks. I owe you one.”
“You could kiss me again.” Kisavo grinned.
“Don’t push your luck.” Sireno got to his feet again. “Sleep well. I’ll see you in the morning.” He lifted a hand in half a wave and went down the hall to his bedroom, closing the door partway and stripping down to his boxers. He fell into bed and then into sleep minutes later, and didn’t wake again until his alarm went off just past 9.
He wandered out to the kitchen to find Nila already gone to class and Kisavo sitting at the kitchen table in nothing more than his boxers, eyes distant, absently eating from a bowl of cereal. Sireno waved a hand in front of his eyes and got no response. Shaking his head—and feeling a bit creeped out—he left Kisavo to whatever he was doing and went to the fridge to find something for breakfast. He was halfway through his bagel when Kisavo blinked a few times and shook his head, gradually focusing on Sireno with a smile.
“Doing anything interesting?” Sireno asked.
“Just checking around. Things seem pretty quiet.” Kisavo reached across the table and snagged Sireno’s half-full mug of coffee, draining it in one long swallow. “Nila said she’d be back after lunch and I’m not allowed to do anything with you until she comes back.”
Sireno looked away from his smirk, laughing a bit. “She means anything online. Don’t get your hopes up.”
“What are we doing this morning then? Do you have class?”
“Nope, prof’s away this week.”
“Good, you can take me to go get my stuff.” Kisavo shoved himself up and went into the living room, reappearing a moment later fully dressed in his jeans and sweatshirt, tying his hair back with a tie. “Come on, move.”
Sireno held up his bagel. “I’m not done breakfast yet, so unless you want to walk yourself over and back, you can wait.” He saw Kisavo’s eyes flick towards the car keys, hanging on a hook by the fridge. “Nila will pitch a fit if you drive her car.”
“Nila pitches a fit if I breathe too much.”
“You did shoot her in the back.”
“In a game called Doublecross.”
Sireno bit back a grin. “Look, man, I’m neutral. You two battle it out.” He swallowed the last bite of his bagel. “Preferably not in the real world because I’m not picking up the pieces.”
“You’re a harsh man, Sireno.” Kisavo hooked the keys off the wall and dangled them from his fingers. “Let’s go.”
Getting to his feet, Sireno held out his hand for the keys. “Hand them over and I’ll go get dressed.”
Kisavo held them up in the air, grinning, though they were the same height. “If you want them, give me something in return.”
Sireno studied his grin for a moment then stepped forward, slipping an arm around Kisavo’s waist. He had a moment to see how Kisavo’s eyes widened and almost laughed before pulling Kisavo into a kiss that tasted of coffee and sugar. His other hand slid up Kisavo’s arm to take the keys from his unresisting fingers but he didn’t pull back right away, getting caught up in the kiss despite his intentions to just grab the keys and go. By the time he managed to make himself back up, he could feel his own cheeks were flushed and Kisavo’s eyes were still wide, and dark with lust. Swallowing hard, Sireno closed the keys into his palm and ducked away towards his room to get dressed.
He felt better by the time he led Kisavo out of the house and got into the car. Following Kisavo’s directions, he headed downtown, expecting to be directed to an apartment building. Instead Kisavo told him to turn into the parking lot of a small storage facility and dug a key out of his pocket as Sireno found a space to park.
“Want me to come, help carry anything?” he asked, killing the engine.
Kisavo paused halfway out the passenger door and shrugged. “Not much to carry but you can come along if you want.”
He led the way past the big storage garages and stopped at a bank of lockers, counting along until he found the one he wanted. Sireno watched him open it and take out a battered old hiking backpack, faded to a nondescript greenish-brown from obvious time in the sun, and a rolled grey sleeping bag tied with rope. The rest of the locker was empty and after slinging the pack over his shoulder and handing the sleeping bag to Sireno, Kisavo shut the door and locked it again, sliding the key back into the pocket of his jeans.
“This is it?” Sireno asked. “You don’t have an apartment or anything?”
“Nope. Who’s going to rent to a netjunkie? I have no job anyway.” Kisavo flashed him a quick smile. “I get by okay. In the summer it’s kind of nice to sleep outside, and in the winter there’s shelters and stuff. Sometimes I have enough money for a motel.”
“Jesus, and we let you buy us dinner last night.” He jogged to catch up as Kisavo kept walking towards the car. “How much you got in that backpack?”
“Uh, some clean underwear, socks, a spare T-shirt and a pair of jeans. Seriously, it’s fine.” Kisavo dumped his pack in the back seat and turned to face Sireno again, his expression a mix of amused and defiant. “I know how to take care of myself.”
“That’s really not the point. Get in, I’m taking you shopping. I’ll talk to Nila when we get back and set something up. Maybe if one of us co-signs for you, you can find somewhere to rent, or you can just stay with us. When this whole Utopia thing is over with, I’m sure you can make some money off the NetLife tournaments, without cheating.” He paused, taking in Kisavo’s expression. “Am I pushing too hard?”
“I just... don’t see why you’d bother.” Kisavo frowned a little. “I’m still basically a stranger and I’m...” He shrugged again, flipping his sleeves back to show the subdermals around his wrists.
“You’re a giant pain in the ass, yeah.” Sireno grinned at the look Kisavo shot him. “You’re obnoxious, arrogant, rude, and for 26 you act an awful lot like you’re 16. But I kind of like you anyway. And I think my life, and Nila’s life, are worth more than a few kisses, especially when we’re dragging you back in there.”
Kisavo studied him uncertainly, as though expecting Sireno to start laughing and say he was kidding, then stepped forward, throwing his arms around Sireno’s neck and hugging him fiercely. For a long moment Sireno just held him, feeling the heat of his face buried against his neck and the leanness of his body under the bulky sweatshirt. When Kisavo eventually pulled away, it was with a slightly sheepish smile.
They both got back into the car without comment and Sireno drove over to one of his favourite clothing stores, spending an entertaining hour teasingly trying to convince Kisavo to try on the gaudiest clothes he could find. By the time they left again, carrying a couple bags full of new clothing, it was nearly lunch time. After a quick check of the clock, Sireno stopped off to pick up Indian takeout and pulled into the driveway just as Nila was getting off the bus. She spotted them and jerked her head slightly down the street, making a face. Sireno followed her gaze and saw a cop car parked at the end of the block, its occupants little more than a pair of shadows under the pale late-fall sunlight.
Slinging an arm around Kisavo’s waist as they opened the back door to get their bags, he leaned in and murmured, “There’s cops on your tail from you hanging out around here.” He winced a little. “And probably since we reported you.”
“Thanks for that, by the way,” Kisavo said dryly. “I’ll keep my head down, let’s just get inside.”
With Nila’s help they only had to make one trip to carry everything into the house, and Sireno locked the door behind them with a sigh of relief. They dumped Kisavo’s things in the living room and went straight into the kitchen to eat, passing the takeout containers back and forth.
“So Kisavo’s been living on the street,” he said once he’d taken the edge off his hunger. “I told him he could come live with us.”
“Is this because I said no when you wanted to get a dog?” Nila stuck her tongue out then looked at Kisavo. “I’m not objecting. We still need you.”
“How magnanimous of you,” Kisavo said.
“I thought so.”
“Knock it off, you two,” Sireno said absently, watching out the window as the cop car came by. He thought it slowed a little at the foot of their driveway, but it didn’t stop and he didn’t see it return in the half-hour they spent finishing their lunch. “Kisavo can just keep crashing on the couch until we figure something else out.”
“Fine, but you clean up after him and take him for walks.” Nila grinned. “Let’s get online.”
“I’m not walking in with you,” Kisavo said when they’d managed to settle themselves on the couch in something approaching comfort. He took Sireno’s hand and traced the mark on his palm. “I’ll follow this in.”
“Don’t take too long.” Sireno settled his visor over his eyes and logged in.
They had to wait in line just to get inside Utopia’s front doors with the size of the crowd, but eventually they were allowed to climb the winding stairs to the third level. In front of the wooden door with its curlicue 3, he exchanged a glance with Nila and checked his palm for the symbol before cautiously opening the door and going in.
He found himself floating in a darkness so complete that only the sensation of Nila’s hand in his told him he wasn’t alone. He expected to see an avatar menu but instead the usual glowing blue script informed them that they were to play a matching game. Gradually the darkness faded into a grey light like the hour just before dawn and he saw Nila frowning, her eyebrows drawn down in puzzled annoyance. A screen appeared before them, tall enough that Sireno felt a little dizzy trying to look up at the top of it, feeling like it was looming over them and about to crash down. The screen filled with brightly coloured boxes and somewhere a jaunty little tune began to play as the instructions told them if they cleared the board completely they would win but if the board filled up completely they would lose.
“Are they kidding with this?” Nila asked, squinting at the flashing START button. “From nearly dying at the claws of a wyvern made of code to a game I stopped playing when I was 12?”
“I’ll take this over anything designed to kill us.” Sireno glanced around. “Where’s Kisavo?”
“Here.” He blinked in beside Sireno and looked up at the game screen. “Not what I was expecting.”
“I know, right?” Nila reached up and slapped the START button. “Let’s get this over with.”
They cleared the first few rows easily, falling into their natural easy working rhythm while Kisavo stood back and watched, his arms crossed over his chest. Quickly getting bored, Sireno zoned out a little, mentally going over information he needed for a test in class the next day while his hands knocked out combinations of blocks. In his distracted state he didn’t realize he’d tried to match blocks of different colours until the whole screen flashed white and the music gave a discordant wail. At almost the same instant a jolt went through him, starting at his fingertips and running through his entire body like an electrical charge.
He opened his eyes again and found himself flat on his back with his head cradled in Kisavo’s lap and no idea of how he got there. The muscles in his arms were still jumping and his head was ringing. Crouched beside him, Nila was squeezing his hand with a panicky tightness, her face very pale.
“What the hell just happened?” he managed, forcing the words out through numb lips.
“You made a wrong move and it zapped you somehow. Threw you right back and then you didn’t move.” Nila squeezed his hand again. “Fuck me, you okay?”
“I think.” His hand felt numb but he thought that could be because Nila was holding onto it so tight. “The game. It’ll start filling up.” He waved her towards it and let Kisavo help him back to his feet, leaning heavily on Kisavo’s shoulder. “Definitely didn’t do that when we were 12.”
“You have to recognize the pattern,” Kisavo said, studying the board where it was beginning to fill up with a steady stream of blocks coming down from the top. “Nila, remove only the blocks I tell you to move. I’ll keep you from getting trapped up.”
“What, are you some kind of pattern genius?” Nila snapped, but she moved back to the board and hesitantly placed her hands back on it to follow Kisavo’s instructions.
Logically it was ridiculous but Sireno still couldn’t shake off the nervous feeling in his chest as he watched Nila hurry to clear the board. His head hurt and the music began to take on an ominous note, almost drowning out Kisavo’s quiet voice as he directed Nila from one side of the board to the other. The screen seemed to fill up twice as fast as Nila could move but gradually one colour began to dominate, and when Kisavo told her to take out that colour, nearly the whole board was wiped clean. Nila ran to clear the last few blocks before a new row could drop down and then the screen went dark again, plunging them back into blackness.
Standing there in the pitch black, Sireno could feel his own heartbeat ramping up until it echoed in his ears. Beside him Kisavo’s breathing had gone shallow, and the arm he kept around Sireno’s waist was hard with tension. He thought he could hear Nila breathing but the darkness was so complete that he couldn’t tell if she was right in front of him or twenty feet away.
The blue writing informing them that they had won appeared almost grudgingly and Sireno sensed suddenly that it was sulking, even as he dismissed the thought as paranoia at best. Code script couldn’t have feelings, and whoever was behind Utopia had to be as human as he was. Assigning emotions to things that couldn’t possess them was a good way to completely lose his sanity and he was already feeling a little on the edge as it was. He was glad when the darkness cleared and they briefly saw the stairs leading down from Utopia’s third floor before someone—he wasn’t sure if it was Nila or Kisavo—killed the connection and put them back in the home system.
He took his visor off with shaking fingers and felt his stomach heave as he tried to sit up. Untangling himself from Kisavo and Nila—and ignoring Nila worriedly saying his name—he bolted for the bathroom and fell to his knees in front of the toilet just in time to throw up all the Indian food he’d eaten for dinner. Cool fingers stroked the back of his neck until he managed to sit up, and Kisavo reached over Nila to pass him a glass of water.
“Feel better?” Nila asked, still stroking his neck.
“Waste of good food, but yeah.” Sireno offered a slightly shaky smile and finished the rest of the water. “That’s three levels down at least.”
“Uh-huh. You look awful pale, Reno. Why don’t you go to bed?” She gave him a hand up to his feet and let him lean on her until he’d gotten his balance back.
With her help he made his way down the hall to his bedroom and got his jeans off, then sprawled on the bed. Kisavo brought him another glass of water and a couple of painkillers to wash down with it. His last memory before sleep claimed him was of Nila stroking his hair back from his forehead, and though he thought he heard them arguing later, by morning he’d forgotten all about it.
