“The things they do in this place aren’t anythinganyoneout there knows about,” I reminded her. “Go ahead and give me the shot.”
It was a testament to how freaked out she was that she gave me the shot without arguing more. Or maybe not freaked out at all; maybe she knew how bad this was.
The concoction pushed into me in the same cold wash as whatever Alling had given me, and for a second the room went dark.
Then everything in my vision burst into purple. But this didn’t feel like it was making me sick. I felt stronger.
“It’s okay,” I whispered. “I’m okay.”
I didn’t open my mouth too wide, fearing purple flames might shoot out.
That’d be cool, so cool, but I’d save it for Alling.
Since he wasn’t here, I needed to conserve the energy for when I’d need it most. Slowly, I wrapped my arms around myself, breathing in at the same time.
I got off the exam table, and my knees wobbled, just for a second, as I stood.
My mom was suddenly at my side, holding me up with an arm around my waist. “Imogen honey?”
“I got it.” Bracing one hand on the stool, I locked my knees to make it true.
Next to me, the restraints dangled from the table. I reached out to touch the straps. The tough fabric was reinforced with metal thread that lit up with a hint of amethyst, like a fiber optics cable.
The VR glove had been just a crutch, I knew now, a way to externalize, focus, and aim the hive’s power. But as I’d learned from Mom’s physical therapy, sometimes crutches were necessary to get a body moving.
I cut the straps off the table with the scissors and bound the bracelets around my wrists. Flexing my hands to test the power, violet streaks raced through the metal threads, going ‘round and ‘round like atoms in a particle accelerator. Both my hands tingled, and the X flared.
The headband… Maybe that wasn’t necessary, but it would mimic my headset and keep my hair out of my face.
I went to the window that looked out to the rest of the lab. I wished for the [reveal] spell that had shown me the falling drones and the snipers in the hills during the switch from Dane to Alling, but I think it had only worked because my moths had piggybacked on whatever Alling’s bugs were doing.
I had no idea if I could pull off the same trick again by myself, sending my little monsters out into the bigger room to see what they could see, and I was afraid to use up all my power. Instead, I used my regular old human eyes to peer out as far as I could in all directions. Yay for BantaMatrix’s high electric bill.
“I don’t see anybody out there,” I said to Mom in a low voice.
“The door is locked. Can you blast it?”
Taking a step back, I focused on the doorknob. It was heavy-duty but not electronic like the front door security panel. Alling really thought he could hold a pissed-off, nanobot-powered college dropout with a couple inches of aluminum bolt?
Clearing my throat, I took another step back.
Mom did too. “Imogen…”
“I got this,” I muttered under my breath. The restraints tingled on my wrists, a familiar feeling. A good one.
I thrust out all my fingers like I was reaching to pick up a found object in Legendelirium using the [seize] command, except I aimed my gesture at the door, hissed out a breath, andscooped—
The whole lock assembly glowed purple then red then white, and a fist-sized chunk fell out of the door and frame. The piece clunked to the floor, the edges still molten purple.
Mom and I both stared down at it for a moment. “Holy fuck. I did it.”
“Watch your language.”
“Yeah, but—”Holy fuck.
“No buts. My daughter doesn’t say that.”
I drew a breath to argue that yeah, her daughter does, but…whatever. I grabbed Mom’s hand with my right hand. “Let’s go.”
