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

tree filled island. The castle itself was finished and glorious. From polished floors to artwork hung on finished walls. The serenity she could find in Somnia was in here with her. Everything around her was beautiful. And yet, she felt like she was in danger and that at any given moment…

She shook her head. “I’m not wearing a headset.” That was enough. Just the simple statement that almost made her cry. That couldn’t be right though, could it?

“How?” Telvar’s eyes grew distant, and if she looked closely, which she really wanted to do right then so she could distract herself, she could see algorithms flashing through them as he delved into the system to figure out how she was doing what she was very obviously doing.

“Because I know it so thoroughly.” She couldn’t help the sarcasm. She was scared. The next step would be scarier if it didn’t happen. Though she was sure it would. Wouldn’t it?

“Murmur.” Telvar was standing there in front of her, hands gently on her upper arms like he was trying to ground her thoughts from spinning out of control. She closed her eyes for a moment, remembering the time he’d had to rescue her from pounding her friends into the ground with the sheer force of her mind’s will. Murmur really should have learned by now. Slowly, she calmed, her logical mind kicking in at last.

“There.” Telvar took a step back, releasing her. “Much better. I know you’re frustrated, but we can figure this out.”

Telvar’s tone was soothing and caring. That was Telvar. She could do this if he was here.

“You’re going to have to talk to Somnia about this,” he said, like he’d suddenly become her older brother. “It seems like you’re attached to the world whether you want to be or not—seriously attached. There’s no way for me to break you free that I can see. It’s more like you’re…well, a part of it. Both here and not. Regardless of where you are.” He sounded perplexed, like it shouldn’t be possible, and Murmur was very much with him for that whole not being possible thing.

“I guess it at least makes sense why my abilities manifest in the real world too, then,” she half joked, but this time Telvar looked alarmed.

“Why don’t I know about this?” His voice was hushed. “You don’t want James’s employers getting hold of that information. That’s dangerous, Mur.”

She raised an eyebrow, surprised at his worry. He was taking on more and more human traits every day and they were an excellent distraction from everything else she should be concentrating on. But this went even beyond this. He was obviously far more aware of the ramifications than she was with a reaction like that. What hadn’t she considered yet? “I know it’s dangerous, but it’s happening, so I have to deal with it. We’ll figure it out. But most of all, I need you to try and figure out if this is happening to the others. The other ones we gave modified headgear to.”

Telvar nodded and sighed. Like he wanted to say something but felt torn. Apparently not torn enough though. “If you weren’t suffering from severe lack of sleep, I’d beg you to stay in here for a while and test some boundaries out with me.”

“It sounds so tempting, but nowhere near as tempting as about six hours sleep does to me right now.” She smiled sadly, but then brightened up. “But once this is over and we have all our little getashis in a row, we’ll take time for it then.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” He smiled at her, but she could tell he was still worried and just putting on a brave face.

“You bet.” She laughed nervously, worried why she never told Telvar before, but her brain was so fuzzy with fatigue. She would have to leave all that to future Murmur, so she willed her interface to log her out.

Suddenly she was back on the floor, blinking up at the ceiling. The thoughts running through her head didn’t allow for sleepiness. Pushing herself up off the ground and trying to make as little noise as possible, she climbed into bed. She was scared. More scared than she’d ever been. What was happening to her? She moved closer to Harlow, needing to feel a bit of warmth, and looped her hand loosely into Harlow’s who squeezed her fingers briefly. Even that small bit of reassurance helped settle her.

But it was a long time before she managed to fall asleep.

Storm Entertainment

Somnia Online Division

Game Development Offices - Shayla’s Office

Day Thirty-One

Laria ran the numbers through her head. But all she could focus on was that the dungeon had been finished. The information flashed across everyone’s vision. That meant Mur should be home sleeping soon. She wanted to get off and go check on her.

“You should just go, you know.” Shayla didn’t even make eye contact. She just kept working at monitoring the anti-virus. “You’re going to be utterly useless to me if you don’t just go and check up on her now she’s not stuck in that stupid portal situation.”

“True.” Laria chuckled, feeling lighter than she had in ages about the way things were going.

Right now, it seemed like they might even see some light at the end of the tunnel. Even with all the overtime she’d always worked, all the long hours…lately she felt like she never saw her daughter. And she missed her more than she’d ever thought possible. Laria frowned, not entirely sure how to go about it, but there was no way she’d let this game fall apart. Not after they’d come so far.

She took a breath and sat back down. “I have a bit of time. I mean, she’ll be asleep right now, or I hope she will. That kid has to learn she can’t run on empty for that long.”

“Shush. You were just as bad, if not worse, if I remember correctly.” Shayla raised an eyebrow meaningfully. “Yeah. Exactly. You don’t have