Hard Wired Trilogy DeAnna Pearce (if you give a mouse a cookie read aloud txt) 📖

retrieve it, and she obliged. When she had it in hand, he told her to check it out on his protected computer and upload it to the network.

He then turned his attention back to Ari, pulling up a nearby chair. For a moment he actually appeared concerned, but maybe Ari was reading him wrong.

“What happened in there?”

She froze, unsure of where he was going but knowing he was asking more than his words said.

“It was dark. I was searching for my program and this pain took over.”

“Was there anything else? Any changes to the program?”

Ari remembered the code she tried to push into the program to no avail. He didn’t need to know that. “No, sir.”

“It could have been a virus or something else. I will run a diagnostic to see what I can find.”

Mica approached them, shaking her head slightly. “It’s empty. Totally wiped. I checked our school backup network and can’t seem to find anything stored there either.”

Ari’s mouth hung open as unintelligent gasps came from it. All of her projects, homework, and notes were on that drive. Her mind flew through the possibilities of what could have happened. She had been in the library last night, less than twenty-four hours ago.

Then Wake popped into her mind—annoying, evil, beady-eyed Wake.

“It was Wake.” The words came out as a whisper.

“What?” Dr. Coleman leaned forward.

She straightened in the chair and looked her professor in the eye. “It was Wake. He was in the library last night when I forgot my drive.”

“That is a serious accusation, Ms. Mendez.” His face tightened, questioning her.

It was the only explanation. Wake had been out for her since day one. “It’s the truth.”

“Okay then.” Dr. Coleman stood, smoothing out the wrinkles in his pants. “I’ll send a report to your advisor and the ethics board and see what happens. In the meantime, I would start on your project.”

“What? That took hours to complete. There’s no way it will be good enough in time.”

“It will be quicker the second time. Better get started.” He strode off, obviously not willing to discuss it further.

Ari bit the inside of her lip. Her emotions coiled tight inside of her—any leak and she wouldn’t be able to stop the flow. Ditching her last class and praying she wouldn’t get another demerit for it, she spent the afternoon in the library re-creating her program with triple backups. She didn’t finish as much as she wanted before she received a message, or more like a command, telling her she had a meeting with Advisor Williams at 3:30pm.

Not willing to waste any time, she hurried to his office. As much as she hated meeting with that man, she had a tiny hope that he’d found her original program. She wanted to squeeze it out of Wake’s little throat.

“Ms. Mendez,” Advisor Williams greeted her, seated behind his large antiqued desk. “Take a seat.”

She lowered herself into the leather chair and placed her bag on her lap. The familiarity of this office officially bothered her.

“I’ve been reviewing your complaint and the incident in your class today.”

“Did you find my program?”

Williams shook his head. “There was no evidence of the accusations you made against your fellow student.”

Ari’s mouth opened, but she had nothing to say. She closed it and lowered her head, struggling to keep her gut-wrenching disappointment tucked away until she was alone and could afford a meltdown.

Advisor Williams ignored her silent pain. “We searched Wake’s system, and nothing was to be found. The accusation will stay on his record in case this happens again. But reviewing your hacked drive, I discovered something else.”

Her eyes flashed up, as her self-pitying turned into fear.

He glanced to the screen on his computer. “You never finished your VR evaluation before coming to our program. How is that?”

“I have, I mean, I’ve a great fear of VRs ever since I was ten.”

“Due to the business with your father, no doubt. No wonder about your brother. With your exceptional scores on all of your written tests, your phobia may have done you a favor. Yet, this unfinished virtual needs to be completed as soon as possible. I’ll schedule it for tomorrow.” He turned to his computer.

“No,” Ari blurted out before she could stop herself. She couldn’t think of a reason why she couldn’t take the test, but there was a problem. She was a warper. Maybe could just not use her power? But the government tests went way beyond normal, and no one was exactly sure how they worked.

Advisor Williams peered over his sharp nose. “Excuse me?”

“Sorry, I just meant that I have to finish my project first. All my work for finals is wiped, and I have to finish, or I will fail. If I’m kicked out, I won’t need the eval anyway.”

He paused a moment. “You can complete the evaluation on Monday.”

She released a shaky breath. “Okay.”

“It is procedure mostly. But looking over the recording of your time in Dr. Coleman’s class, I think it would benefit everyone to make sure you are in the right assignment.”

“The right assignment? You mean they can change my assignment.”

“Not usually, but it is a possibility. We all have to serve our government where needed.” For the first time, Advisor Williams smiled. And the freak smile unnerved Ari more than his usually grim expression. “Please schedule the exam with my assistant. Good day.”

Without another look, Ari was excused. After scheduling the test, she left the building. The sidewalks were already cleared from the previous snowfall, piled up on the lawns with icy perfection. Light snowflakes continued to drift down. She felt like one of those swirling flakes; despite her best intentions she had no clue where she would land.

Ari could almost relate to Marco and his desire to escape from the reality of others wanting to make choices for you. Maybe the control of a virtual world could give something that the real world couldn’t. Choice.

Continuing towards the student center in a bit of a daze, it took her a