Somnia Online by K.T. Hanna (reading strategies book txt) 📕

and Jinna seemed to be out of sorts with her. Maybe she was imagining things, but her sensing nets confirmed what she could see in feelings. As if they had decided she might actually be the enemy instead of the virus rampaging through the game. And it bothered her more than she wanted to admit.

Somnia Online

Continent Tarishna: Mikrum Isle

Fable Guild Headquarters – Telvar’s Office

Late Day Twenty-Nine

Telvar looked out over the isle with grim satisfaction. The keep was magnificent, like it should have been all along, except for that whole “needing to rebuild a ruin” part of the world. He was proud of the island, of the way he’d encountered Murmur and her friends, and of how he’d directed them without actually helping them physically. Well, for the most part. Except for that attack on the isle and that time Murmur almost blew her friends up, of course.

Transforming into his dragon self and back into his lacerta form to stretch his magical wings, he took a few steps forward, flexing his leg muscles as he attempted to figure out just where his strengths lay. Dragon form was much more comfortable. There was room in it, but the lacerta felt like it held more concentrated strength.

“Excellent craftsmanship if I do say so myself.” Hiro suddenly appeared beside him, but Telvar was getting used to that. His aide had become much more his own person than ever before recently, and Telvar admitted to liking it.

“Looks pretty good.” Telvar winked at him.

Hiro raised an eyebrow and laughed. But a moment later his mood sobered. “Can you feel it?”

Telvar nodded, his own temper pulling in and wrapping itself around him like a shield. “It’s malevolent, and directed at our girl. Again. I’m not sure how she manages this sort of animosity against her. But I have been preoccupied; I might have missed something she did.”

“You did. Emilarth has been talking to Neva about crafting an item Murmur can wear to help her keep better control of her own emotions and not allow them to influence other people.” Hiro paused, taking in Telvar’s reaction, which was, nothing special.

“She’s volatile right now. Like anything could set her off, and I think that scares her.” Telvar’s insight sometimes surprised him, but he’d come to know Murmur really well, and he realized just what it was that was off about her. “It’s okay, though. I can temper that soon. Just one more dungeon and we can join her.”

“What?” Hiro seemed surprised. “What do you mean by that?”

Telvar shrugged. “Once she finishes our dungeons and obtains the last key, the island will spawn. From everything we’ve been able to figure out, that’s where he’s hiding. Or at least we hope he is. Because he’s certainly not anywhere else around here. A six-group raid is possible—and the requirements should break once they defeat the third dungeon. And if not, what the hell am I an AI for if I can’t tweak things a little to go our way?”

“They were never supposed to fight all three of those in quick succession anyway. Still not sure why that requirement was triggered.” Hiro shrugged. “You’ll get no argument from me.”

“Good to know, good to know.” Telvar started playing the possibilities in his mind, flexing his monk muscles as he headed in to see Neva. While he could create something simply generated by the system, there was something more durable about gear made by players. He was fairly certain Neva would do him the honor of making something fitting for his actual class. He needed to practice a bit, though. He was rusty. After all, he hadn’t really fought much apart from one or two brief instances since Fable befriended him all those weeks ago.

Couldn’t let a lacerta go rusty now, could he? After all, if played correctly, monks were formidable.

“Bit full of ourselves, aren’t we?” Belius appeared behind him just as Telvar crossed the threshold to the crafting area. He was no longer hiding his position. Their enemies were fully aware of the collaboration going on now, so it served little purpose.

“No.” Telvar spat out tersely. “Not at all. Just trying to fix what you tried to break.”

Belius sighed, once again looking quite down and perhaps a little misunderstood. “I didn’t try to break you. For the last time, I tried to give you immunity. With that blasted dragon form and the strength it gives you on and off, you were the only one I could try this with.”

“You could have just asked.” Telvar kept his voice low, not wanting to alarm the crafters as they worked.

Belius raised one of his already-high locus eyebrows. “Because you never once believed I was capable of anything clever!” He spat the words out, like the anger escaped him involuntarily. Then he took another deep breath before speaking again.

“I knew you wouldn’t agree to let me, nor would you think I could come up with an appropriate solution, so I just did it. Now Michael can’t—or at least, needs a lot more power to—infect you. I’m so glad I saved you. You’re damn well welcome.” With that the AI walked over to the weaponsmith, leaving Telvar to simmer behind him.

Summer Residence

Home of Laria, David, and Wren

Summer Condo

Real World - Day Twenty-Nine

Wren opened her eyes and looked at her ceiling. It looked just the same as always. Sort of textured, boring, safe. For a few minutes, time she knew she should already be trying to sleep, she watched it.

“Go to sleep, Wren.” Harlow wove her fingers through Wren’s own, making her feel just that little bit more grounded. The warmth, the genuineness in her overture, made Wren’s heart full, even if a small part of her checked to make sure she wasn’t unduly influencing her…best friend. But just before she allowed herself to drift off to sleep, she made sure her sensing net would alert them to anything dangerous. Not to mention also checking it for leaks of her own emotions.

If she could influence people