A sleek black floating desk was attached to the right-hand wall. As Clem had predicted, it was topped by an exquisite laptop. Eric ran to it as soon as his eyes landed on the machine.
“I’ve wanted one of these puppies forever.” He took a seat in the task chair in front of the desk and pressed his hand to the top of the slender laptop. The copper slab shifted and shimmered under Eric’s hand, individual keys emerging under his fingertips. A vivid green glow shone from between the keys, and my friend started tapping away with a wide grin across his face.
“Where’s the monitor?” I asked.
“In Eric’s core,” Clem said. “I’m not sure why they keep including the keyboards on these, honestly. We don’t need them. Once the laptop is attuned to you, everything happens in your core.”
I’d never seen anything like the quantic laptop. Almost nobody in the labor camps had been able to afford any kind of computer. The few I’d seen around the undercity now seemed hopelessly archaic next to the device Eric tapped on.
“You think he cares about seeing my room?” I asked. “Or should we just leave him here with his new girlfriend?”
Clem giggled and shrugged.
“Let’s go see what you ended up with.” She hooked her arm through mine and led me out into the hall.
We closed the door behind us and strode down the empty hallway arm in arm. I felt a sudden rush of emotion when I realized this was the first time she and I had been alone since last year. Before I could stop myself, a jumble of words poured out of my mouth.
“I missed you,” I said. “While I was on the road, I mean. I was so busy, though. Every time I thought of reaching out to you, we were already on our way to the next city.”
“I saw you,” Clem blurted out. “In Kyoto, I mean. My mom wanted to make sure you were okay after... everything. We tried to get passes to come backstage, but security was too tight. There’d been another anti-Flame attack in the overcity, and they weren’t letting anyone near you.”
The stone lions watched us move down the hallway, eyes half-lidded, yawning and swiping lazily at the floor beside our feet. The weight of the constructs’ awareness was heavy against my aura, and I knew they were far more prepared for a fight than they appeared.
“Your mom?” I asked, masking my discomfort with curiosity. “You didn’t want to see me?”
“No, that’s not, I mean, yes,” Clem stammered and blushed. “Of course I wanted to see you!”
There was a moment of uncomfortable silence as we wrestled with the implications of what we’d both said. Whatever there was between us was too big and complicated for me to get my mind around. We were friends, I had no doubts there. Clem had stood by me during the worst time of my life. She’d never stopped believing in me.
“I’m glad,” I said finally. It seemed the easiest and least obnoxious thing to say. “That you came. If I’d known you were there, I would have made the guards let you in.”
“You were busy.” Clem shrugged. “You had twenty fights that day, I think. I’m surprised you could stand up when it was over.”
“Some days I couldn’t,” I said, glad she’d steered the conversation toward safer ground. “They had trainers and medics keeping an eye on me every day and night. Massages, saunas, ice baths, jinsei treatments—you name it, they used it to keep me going. It was nice, but man it was tiring.”
“That must have been something,” Clem said, her voice distant and distracted.
Had I said something wrong?
“Oh, there’s Abi!” Clem pointed down the hall, her voice suddenly bright with relief.
We’d entered the common area at the same time as our friend. His white uniform stood out in stark contrast to the other students, and when he waved all eyes turned toward us.
“My friends,” he said as he met us in the center of the room. “You caught me on my way back to the portal station after my break. How are your rooms?”
“Great,” Clem said. “At least mine is. We were on our way to check out Jace’s digs.”
“I’m sure mine won’t be as nice as Clem’s,” I said. “The Thunder’s Children are of much higher status than the Shadow Phoenixes.”
“Don’t be a dork,” Clem said. “All the clans are treated equally.”
“Sure,” I said, but we all knew that wasn’t true. Even if the Phoenixes had gained popularity since I’d become champion, they’d spent years getting the short end of the stick. If my rooms were even half as nice as Clem’s, I’d be shocked. “Hey, Abi, I bet the portals are way more interesting than my stupid bedroom. Wanna give us a tour?”
My friend took a moment too long to respond. He stared intently at me through the silence, as if looking for a secret I was keeping from him. Finally, he let out a faint sigh and shook his head.
“It’s not allowed, I’m afraid,” he said. “Security is the tightest it has ever been. I’m scarcely allowed to view my assigned portal, much less show anyone else around. Maybe when the protests calm down.”
His scrutiny prickled my nerves, and my core wanted me to strike him down for the raw suspicion I’d seen in his eyes. Abi had been pleasant enough earlier in the day, but he clearly didn’t trust me.
“Sure,” I said, struggling to hide my irritation. “Well, we won’t keep you.”
“Thank you.” He sketched a hasty bow and took off
