Unplugged (20 page)

Soon I reached the top.

Rain was only a few steps behind me.

I blocked the bright glare of the sun with my hand.
A wide beach lay before me. White sand as far as the eye could see to both the left and the right, and after it, deep-blue ocean. A wave crashed into the shore, then another, the surf sizzling as it flowed over the wet sand. I took a deep breath, inhaling the briny smell, the air sharp with salt and seaweed. The breeze was hot with summer.

Far off in the distance I could see the faint outline of skyscrapers.

Rain joined me on the dune's crest. “So what do you think?”

“I think I can't believe I'm at the beach. A real beach!”

“It's beautiful, isn't it?”

I tore my eyes away to look at him. “It's strange to see you care about things,” I said. “I'm not trying to hurt your feelings,” I added quickly. “I'm just being honest. You always seemed so bored by everything at home.”

“I know,” was all he said.

Then he kicked off his sandals and headed down toward the water.

I followed him, shedding clothing as I went. It felt so good to have the air on my skin. Without thinking I pulled off the tunic I wore. Underneath I had on the tiny tank top and leggings the Keeper had given me to wear. I loved the feel of the breeze swirling along my stomach.

We stopped at the high tide line. Rain dug his toe into the wet sand. He gestured at the clothing draped across my arm. “I'll hold that for you if you want.”

I handed the tunic over. Noticed how Rain averted his eyes. “Thanks.”

The sun shone warm on my skin as I stood before the surf.

I smiled—I couldn't help it.

Then I walked into the water, unafraid, and dove under.

AFTER MY SWIM,
Rain and I walked the beach.

There was nothing but sky and ocean and sand. Not another soul in sight. No sign of life, other than the occasional bird flying above or a crab scuttling across our feet. The sun and the heat dried my skin and the wind tangled my hair in knots. I didn't care. I loved how the long black strands were taken up in the breeze and drawn against the wide blue summer sky, as though they had a life of their own. I loved the randomness of the movement, my inability to influence or stop it from happening with an App. I enjoyed the feeling of being unable to control my image, my body, the landscape.

“See that house?” Rain pointed to a gray structure in
the distance that seemed only a tiny speck. It rose up from the place where it was nestled in the dunes. “That's where we're headed.”

I'd dried off enough by now and slipped my tunic over my head. “I'm ready. Let's get started.”

“Good,” he said.

The gray house got bigger as we approached, so big I realized it was another mansion, though very different in style from the one where the Keeper lived. More rustic. My strides got longer. The sand under my feet was packed from waves pounding it incessantly. It made my body itch for movement. I turned to Rain. “Let's test out your theory again.”

His eyebrows went up. “What were you thinking?”

“That I would beat you in a race,” I said. “I was fast at home.”

The left side of his mouth turned up. “You might be a little rusty.”

“Let's see about that.” I tapped my chin, thinking. “Last one to the gray house—”

“Has to sit in the passenger seat on the way back to New Port City,” he supplied.

My jaw dropped. “Seriously? You'd let me drive?”

“Only if you win. Well, and after a little practice in the parking lot.”

I laughed. “It's a deal, obviously.”

Then I took off into a run.

“I didn't say
go
,” Rain protested from behind me.

But I didn't care. I was too busy concentrating on putting one leg in front of the other. At first, my speed was disappointing. I stumbled in the hard sand and swerved left and right. It wasn't long before Rain had overtaken me, and when I looked ahead I saw that he wasn't even trying.

“Don't baby me,” I called out to him.

He glanced back, then sped up, the gap between us widening, the house getting closer.

I tried to “let go,” as Rain had put it, remembering how when I'd been gaming back home, everything was so automatic. I remembered, too, how fear could propel me, how it had taken over and helped my real body do all sorts of incredible things when I'd woken up on the cliff. Finally, I stopped thinking. Let my legs do what they longed to.

I began to fly.

My strides were long and fast, my feet beating the sand, my tunic whipping against my body. Rain's lead grew smaller. I pumped harder. I was getting closer, but so was our destination. A series of wooden slats set into the sand took shape. They cut the dune in two, leading straight up to the house. Rain swerved toward them and I followed. We sprinted up them, Rain tagging the wall of the house first. He turned to greet me as I arrived, a smirk on his face. I didn't care. All that mattered was what I'd proved to myself on both land and sea: with or without danger, I was fast and I was strong, and with a little more
time, I would beat anyone in a race. I couldn't wait to see what else my body could do.

“I guess I'll be driving us back,” Rain said between breaths.

I managed to smile, despite the way my lungs were gulping the air. “Next time, you won't have it so easy.” My hair was stuck to my neck. I was dripping with sweat. “I could use another swim. We should have raced first, then jumped in the ocean.”

Rain nodded toward the house. “You can shower inside.”

I looked up. It was three stories tall, the roof flat and covered in solar panels, with windows facing out to the ocean. They shined black in the sun, so I couldn't see through them. Like everywhere else, long, thin windmills rose high like palm trees all around. From the beach, the house's size was deceiving. This close, I could see that it stretched back and back and back—I couldn't even tell how far. Part of it seemed to dip underground, the roof descending until it was covered by sand and sea grass, parts of it peeking up in places throughout the dunes, all the way to the trees by the road. It was designed to blend in to its oceanside location, as opposed to sticking out. Unlike the other mansions I'd seen, it hadn't yet fallen into disrepair. Someone had taken good care of it over the years. “What is this place?”

Rain wiped a hand across his forehead. He beckoned
me to a shady spot under the eaves. “It's called Briarwood. It once belonged to my grandfather.”

My eyes widened. I was standing in front of the former house of Marcus Holt, the founder of the App World. How surreal.

“This is where all the seventeens gathered after the border closed,” Rain went on. He smiled. “There's a surprise waiting for you inside.”

“What kind of surprise?” I asked warily.

“A good one,” Rain said. “Promise.”

I followed him through a tall metal door cut into the side of the building. We entered a brightly lit hall, the gray slate tiles on the floor cold under my bare feet. I glimpsed the beach through a darkened window, but otherwise we might be anywhere. The air inside was cool, so it was impossible to know that on the other side of these walls was the blistering heat of summer. Recessed lighting lined our way as Rain led me around the corner and down another corridor to a second door. It was made of plain, dark wood. The design was simple—without any embellishments. Rain opened it and went inside. I stood there a moment before I walked in after him.

I found myself standing on a wide balcony that spanned the length of a cavernous ballroom. But, like everything else here, this one was far different from the one I'd seen at the Keeper's mansion. Big, but plain. There were no chandeliers or frescoes.

I joined Rain at the railing.

Then I looked down.

There was a crowd of people spread out across the floor. They stopped what they were doing to watch us. They definitely hadn't been engaged in the dancing for which this space was originally intended.

Some of them stood on thick mats, with padding on their elbows, knees, and fists. One person held a ball in the crook of his arm and another group was gathered inside a series of rings that lined the outside of the room, their chests rising and falling quickly, out of breath. A large area was set up as some kind of obstacle course, with barrels and walls and hurdles, and the entire right wall had been redesigned for climbing.

The ballroom had been transformed into a kind of training gym.

There were as many boys as girls, if I had to guess, with every color of skin imaginable. Almost all the girls had hair as long as mine, but a few had cropped it so short it was difficult to tell their gender.

Then my eyes landed on one boy in particular. He was taller than the rest, almost impossibly so, his skin even darker than my Keeper's. There was something familiar in his face, the way he looked up at me, that revealed his identity.

“Adam?” I called out.

He raised his hand. “Hi, Skylar,” he called back.

I looked at Rain.

He shrugged. Then smiled. “Surprise?”

I ran down the center staircase that led to the floor. Adam met me at the bottom. “I can't believe it's really you.”

“I feel the same way,” he said.

My face only reached the top of his rib cage. “You're a giant.”

“Yeah.” His voice was deeper. “I was a little surprised about that myself.”

I glanced behind him, remembering that everyone else was standing there, watching. A girl approached us. She was tiny, her skin brown, but a different shade from Adam's, her eyes wide and as black as her long wiry hair.

Adam turned to the girl. “Skylar, meet Parvda.”

“Hi,” she said softly.

“You found her,” I whispered.

Adam had love in his eyes as he took Parvda's hand in his, hers so small it seemed to disappear. “When I woke up, Parvda was with me. Not exactly the Keeper I was expecting.”

“I'm so happy for you.” My voice cracked. “And it's so nice to meet you.” I reached out my hand to Parvda and she clasped it.

Tears pressed at the back of my eyes. I was truly happy for them, that they'd found each other again in this world just like Adam had wanted, but I was also jealous. Sylvia
had gotten left behind and I hadn't managed to see my family at all. Out of the three of us, only Adam had gotten what he'd wanted. I took a deep breath and willed the tears to stay put.
Soon
, I reminded myself, searching the space until I found Rain again. He was climbing down the stairs to join us, his footsteps ringing out against the wood.

“You were right,” I said when Rain reached us. “This was a good surprise.” I stood there, thinking, a lump in my throat. “But why did Adam get to wake up here, with Parvda, and I didn't?”

“Adam wasn't on the New Capitalists' radar.”

I sighed and looked around. People were whispering and pointing. “So these are the seventeens who have banded together? The ones who got left on this side of the border and didn't choose to join the New Capitalists?”

Rain watched me as he said his next words. “Yes. They witnessed what you did on the cliff. They saw how you fought back. The fact that you
could
fight. It made everyone, myself included”—he blinked—“realize that maybe we aren't so powerless to Real World politics. Maybe not to App World politics either.”

I glanced at Adam. He nodded. I watched as one boy ran on a track that circled the gym, and a girl scaled the climbing wall to my right, grabbing at the handholds, occasionally slipping but managing not to fall. “They're testing their skills,” I said to Rain. “They're testing this
theory about the plugs altering brain chemistry and how this might affect our bodies.”

Rain joined me in watching the activity in the gym. “That's the idea,” he said. “But we can talk more about it later. There are a few other things I need to show you.”

The crowd parted as we moved across the gym, everything coming to a halt once more. All eyes were on us as we walked toward a door at the far end of the room. No, all eyes were on
me
. There were whispers as we passed.

“I can't believe that's really her,” said a girl to my left, loud enough to hear.

“She looks different this close up,” said another wearing elbow and kneepads, her long blond hair in a ponytail high on her head. “Not as pretty.”

The breath left my body, the hurtful remark making me wince. Had everyone really seen me on display? I pulled the tunic closed around my neck, ashamed. Disappointed, too. These were seventeens, sure, but that didn't make them friends. Not yet, at least.

“Yeah,” said another girl, sounding defiant. “Well, up close she looks way stronger to me.”

This comment turned my head. My eyes went over this newest girl, her clipped brown hair and brown eyes, her skin the same color as mine. Her hands were on her hips. There was something familiar in her expression. “I know you,” I said as a memory flashed. “You were on the cliff. You helped me the day I woke up here.”

She nodded. “I'm glad you made it. I'm Jessica.”

“Nice to meet you. And thank you,” I said softly. Then I smiled.

She smiled back. “Nice to officially meet the real you. Welcome,” Jessica added.

I headed toward Rain, dazed by all the attention, especially the attention that was unkind. I'd much rather disappear into the crowd than stand out. I followed him out into another hallway, this one dimmer, the walls and floors painted black. The door shut behind us with a soft click.

“It won't always be that way.” Rain glanced at me. “They'll get used to seeing you more as just another person involved in our cause.”

I shrugged. My confidence seemed to have gone on break. “I guess.”

“Try to be patient,” Rain said.

I pulled my arms around my body. “But the way everyone stared . . .” I trailed off. “It's just so . . . so hard to get used to.”

“Everyone in this city knows about you, Skye, and they all have opinions about you as a result,” he said quietly. “It's a lot to take in, but just like they'll get used to seeing you, you'll get used to seeing them. Before, you were the girl the New Capitalists held up as a symbol for their new plan, the girl we were going to try to rescue. Then you were the girl who up and nearly rescued herself.
You surprised everyone. Most everyone in a
good
way. I promise.”

Rain stood close. We seemed connected by a strange electric current. It ran across my skin, making the tiny hairs stand on end.

“I think I'd rather go back to being the girl nobody ever noticed.”

Rain nodded. “I know what it feels like to have a famous face. I know how difficult it can be, how harsh people can be when they judge you. How it makes you yearn for anonymity.” He looked over my shoulder, at some unseen thing in the distance. “One of the things I love most about being in the Real World is that even though the seventeens know who I am, there are only so many people who can watch you at once. Not having thousands of voyeurs has helped me remember—has freed me to be—the person I really am.” He sighed. “It's such a relief.”

Now I was the one reaching out to Rain, placing my hand on his arm. The touch sent that current from my fingers to my heart. He studied my hand a long while, my fingers curled across his skin. I could see hope enter his eyes hesitantly, and I didn't turn away from it.