Upgrade (Augmented Duology Book 2) by Heather Hayden (the top 100 crime novels of all time .TXT) 📕

attention. Who could be calling me? Frowning, I went and snagged the bag—I’d need some of my notes for homework, anyway. Fumbling out my phone, I answered it just before it went to voicemail.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Viki,” Dan said.

“Hi!” I smiled. “How are you?”

“I’m good. You?”

“Good. What’s up?”

“Not much. I have some free time tonight because my parents are getting home late, so I was wondering if you’re planning to play Realmshards tonight with your friend? I’d love to join you guys if it’s all right.”

“Sure it is,” I said automatically, then mentally face-palmed. “I mean, we were planning to play tonight, but I better check with my friend, give me a second.” I made sure my phone was muted and then glanced up. “Halle?”

Halle didn’t bother faking that it hadn’t heard the conversation. “Sure,” it said, its voice completely neutral. Too neutral.

We really need to talk about Talbot and the lab and Agent Smith… “I can tell him not tonight.”

“No, I do not want to alienate your new friend. Ask him what his character’s name is. I will send a request to join our party while you get upstairs. I have already loaded the game and your character, by the way.”

“Thanks.” I unmuted my phone. “Dan, you mind telling me what your character’s name is?”

“Sure, it’s Nelldar.” He spelled it for me.

“Awesome. My friend will send you a request. I’ll see you in-game.”

“Great. Do you want to do a voice chat thing or something? Do you usually do that with your friend?”

“Sometimes,” I said cautiously. “I’m not sure what Halle might think about it, though.”

“Hal?” Dan asked. “Is that his name?”

Oops. I need to be careful. Would a regular gamer know their online friend’s real name? I wasn’t sure. “It’s short for OdysseyHalle.”

He laughed. “That’s a great username. I’m on right now, so I’ll wait for the request and come find you guys.”

“We’ll find you,” I said. “You need help with quests we’ve done already, right?”

“Actually, I did a few earlier—maybe I’m closer to where you are now. Let me know what Hal thinks about a voice chat thing. If he’s uncomfortable about it, no problem, I’m sure we’ll have a chance to play together sometime.”

“Halle and I always play together. I’ll ask.”

“Cool. See you in-game.” The call ended with a quiet beep.

I took the stairs two at a time and kicked my door shut on the way to my computer, my backpack landing in an undignified heap near my closet. “Halle, what do you think about a voice chat?”

“We cannot let him find out what I am,” Halle said. “It will also make it more difficult for me to pass on information regarding the game.”

“Technically, using your ability to read the underlying code is cheating,” I pointed out. “We should be playing like normal people. This will be fun.”

“I hope so. Shall I ask him what voice chat he would like?”

“Sure. You might want to be a bit more informal when you’re speaking with him, though.”

“I speak the way I prefer. If he thinks it is too formal, that is his problem, not mine.”

I laughed. “Just don’t worry if he jokes about you being a cyborg or something, okay?”

“I will not let any sign of what I am be visible while he is in conversation with us, have no fear.”

I gave a theatrical groan. “Now you’re just doing it on purpose, aren’t you?”

Halle laughed, and I smiled, glad to see my friend’s good humor returned.

“He has confirmed his game location,” Halle said.

“Let’s just teleport there then. I have plenty of mana and I can recharge while we help him with whatever quest he’s on.”

“It is a boss quest. Just buff yourself.”

I nodded, applying protective and power-boosting spells to my character, and we were away.

A few minutes later, my voice chat pinged, and I asked Halle to answer it.

“Hi,” Dan said cheerfully. “Thanks for helping, guys, I really appreciate it. It’s hard to solo some of these bosses without healing.”

“You’re melee DPS,” I replied. “You shouldn’t be trying to solo them, at least not bosses this close to your level.”

“I know, but the guys I used to play with are a lot further along than I am. I didn’t play so much during the summer because of all the moving we were doing.”

I nodded, then realized he couldn’t see my head move. “Oh,” I said, for want of a better response.

“I’m guessing that the Halle in chat is your friend?”

“Yes, I am,” Halle replied.

“Sorry, Halle, your name’s pronunciation confused me. Are you a girl?”

“I prefer not to associate myself with a gender,” Halle replied. “Unfortunately, given the lack of a third pronoun in English, you are welcome to use whatever one you like.”

“I’ll call you Halle,” Dan said. “I don’t want to offend you or something.”

“Do not worry, you would not. Now, I believe this section has a triggered event. We need to be careful—last time we were surprised and Viki almost got herself killed.”

“Oh, you’re on first-name terms?” Dan asked. “I figured since you go by your in-game name—”

“Halle is also my actual name. I will call you whatever you like, though.”

“Dan’s fine, thanks.”

“Dan it is, then. There goes the trigger!”

We spent a few moments skirmishing with smaller monsters, and then moved on. I loved exploring Realmshards; the crisp graphics and smooth movements of our characters made me feel as though I was there in some strange, magical world.

By the time we’d completed the boss quest and a few quests following that one, Halle had loosened up some and was getting along fine with Dan, even if they weren’t quite friends yet. I’d had to catch myself a couple of times before I asked Halle to do