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

didn’t come home, I knew something was wrong. I waited for you here, and soon Juan noticed me around. Once I told him the story, he agreed to hide me until you showed up.” Tears now welled up in her eyes. “I wasn’t sure if you’d show up, but here you are.” She leaned forward and kissed his forehead just like when he was young.

The last straw of reserve broke, and he pulled his mother in for a hug. Ignoring the fear and paranoia, he held on for dear life. Her smell enveloped him and soon nothing else mattered. For in his mother’s arms, he was home.

Turn the page to find out what happens next with Ari in SYNCHED

Synched

Hardwired Book 2

Chapter 1

Ari ducked to avoid the oncoming strike and spun away from her opponent, only it wasn’t enough. The staff hit her in the stomach, her breath escaping with a grunt. Thankfully, her suit absorbed most of the hit, and she carried the momentum though into a backward roll, her own staff still in hand.

“Faster.” Niomi drove Ari off the mat and into the sand.

Spinning the staff, she drove it towards Niomi, but Ari was a second behind. Again. Niomi countered, striking out at Ari. This time she blocked the attack with a mirroring forward cut, but Niomi kept coming at her, stronger and faster than Ari ever hoped to be.

Ari retreated.

“Think offensively. Make a plan,” Niomi ordered, with a steely determination in her eyes.

My plan is to avoid using my healing kit again. Ari couldn’t manage a response between her jagged breaths. Her arms burned with exhaustion, but she struck out. At the last second, she switched directions, hoping to catch Niomi off guard—like that was even possible.

Ducking low, Niomi avoided the hit and countered. That’s all it took. Before Ari knew it, Niomi had her staff in the back of Ari’s neck and a foot on her lower back.

Spitting out a mouthful of sand, Ari managed to speak. “Give.”

Niomi let go of her immediately and stepped back on the mat. “You can’t give an opponent that big of an opening.”

Ari pushed up on her hands and knees, struggling to catch her breath. Lifting her gaze, she squinted into the partly cloudy sky. “What opponent? You act like I’m going to be a gladiator in the VR programs. Remember, I was hired to program, not fight. I don’t need this.”

Since she joined VisionTech six months ago, she found the training was nothing as she imagined. Hired as a warper, she thought she’d be focused on programing inside the virtual reality world. Warpers were about as rare as conjoined twins. Why waste time on this? Ari still hadn’t figured out why the need for the intense cardio and martial arts training.

Niomi’s bright red lips sucked on her hydro pack. She said she was in her forties, but Ari didn’t see it with Niomi’s muscular body and fierce features. Niomi’s hair was shaved all around except for a strip of long blond hair on top of her head, currently wrapped in a bun.

Done drinking, she focused on Ari. “You also need to step up your cardio. You shouldn’t get so winded this easily.”

Sitting up in the sand, Ari laughed, not even trying to make it back to the mat. She took in the exercise area set up in the middle of this island paradise. Hell in the middle of heaven, she called it. “I think jogging five miles a day is plenty.”

Niomi offered Ari a hand and pulled her up. “Being in top physical and mental health will aid you in your abilities inside the program.”

“But I haven’t even spent that much time in the program.” Ari had been doing classes on logics, problem solving, world history and politics, in addition to her combat and physical training.

Niomi narrowed her eyes, her dark tattooed eyeliner knife sharp, matching the intricate tattoo on her ear.

“Okay, okay.” Ari raised a hand in defeat and reached for her own hydro pack.

“Finish your strength exercises and meet me in my room by one. We have something new to go over.” Without another word, Niomi took off at a jog towards their section of the Wave.

Mind turning with what Niomi meant by ‘new’, Ari was tempted to skip the exercises, but Niomi would know. Her required uniform, a sleek navy Fit Suit worth more than her old apartment, constantly read her vitals and reported everything back to Niomi. Heading towards the weight set, she re-braided her long brown hair. She may have the tanned skin of an islander, but her already wavy hair turned into a fizzy mess with the humidity on the island.

Nothing she could do about it now, unless she wanted to shave it off like Niomi. She wiped off the sweat with a nearby towel and went to work. By the end of the next hour every muscle ached with fatigue. Instead of running, Ari slowly walked, wishing she would have brought a board for the ride back. Maybe with enough boards she could just float black in a sublime position. She’d have to work on that.

Sweat continued to drip down her neck as she headed towards her secluded rooms in the Wave. Small monkeys chirped in the trees as they jumped from branch to branch with ease, as if almost mocking her. Niomi said working outdoors made training more realistic. Ari loved the view but hated the air. It made her feel like a human sponge, always damp. Watching the sky, it looked to her as if another storm was going to pass through tonight.

The Wave appeared in front of her, the main building of VisionTech. Constructed out of a crystalline photoelectric material that curved and rose like a ribbon waving in the wind, it could project a variety of images to blend in with the surroundings, though from the inside it was clear. It melded a perfect balance of nature and