“Do you see this, Hairo?” I whispered into my comm.
Keep a grip on yourself, he answered by message.
I opened the door. With a blinding smile, Liam offered me a bottle of wine.
“Hey, Alex! Nice to meet you again!”
Tissa said simply:
“Hi.”
She didn’t even explain why the hell she’d brought that dumbass along! Just kept staring into my eyes. I saw tension, uncertainty, and at the same time a hidden triumph in her eyes. The pause stretched out. Music played behind my back and I heard the boys chatting. I tore my eyes from Tissa and took the bottle from Liam.
“Hi! Sorry, Liam, it’s just that nobody told me you were coming.” I smiled falsely. “To be honest, it’s a surprise even to see Tissa.”
“A nice one, I hope?” the girl asked. She stepped over the threshold to hug me.
Then I fist-bumped Liam’s extended fist and brought the guests inside.
“O, lower music volume to ten percent,” I ordered the home assistant. Then I raised my hand to get everyone’s attention. “Anyone who doesn’t know Tissa and Liam, please make them feel at home.”
My ex-girlfriend’s companion knew Piper and Alison, but the others he was meeting for the first time. As soon as he mentioned which clan he was in, everyone perked up and started questioning him about the plans of the Elites and Mogwai, and even about the Alliance’s business. T-Modus wasn’t participating in the holy war, and Rita and Karina didn’t know anyone in a position to know much. Even Ed, Hung and Malik were interested, so Liam quickly had everyone’s attention.
Soon the whole group was hanging off the boy’s every word and occasionally bursting into laughter—Liam turned out to be a great storyteller. After starting with a short self-introduction, he suddenly told a story about walking through Kinema with Mogwai and getting into some trouble that turned into a unique quest chain for the goddess Athena.
Tissa’s shining eyes were glued to him. She stood next to Karina. Unwillingly comparing them, I realized that it wasn’t Tissa’s looks that attracted me to her. Goosebumps had long blond hair, blue eyes, thick brows, rich eyelashes and luscious lips—just like Tissa. They looked almost like twin sisters, although Karina was a little taller in her high heels. But I felt nothing for her. When I looked at Tissa, I felt an abyss yawning inside me, full of the toxic waste of jealousy and anguish of the soul.
Tissa felt my eyes on her, turned, raised her head. I nodded and walked into my room, ordered O to activate sleep mode: the lights dimmed, the windows darkened, the music blasting through all the apartment’s speakers quietened in the room.
Half a minute later, Tissa appeared.
“A break…” I said. “When you said that, did you mean you wanted to end things between us?”
“Of course not, Alex!” Tissa walked over to me, touched me on the cheek. She bit her lip. “Let’s not talk about that? I really am happy to see you, you know. I’ve missed you.”
I wanted to shout out accusations— Bullshit! Don’t lie! You missed me? Wdiat were you thinking when you uploaded those photos of you and Liam? You befrayed me!— but I bit them back. Since I was a kid, I never could stand the scenes my parents put on. I always suspected that they didn’t talk about what really bothered them, but instead just tried to jab at each other harder and harder, often without regard for the consequences. I didn’t want to be the same, and I didn’t want to show weakness either. Not here. Not now. Especially not with Hairo watching. And, of course, I remembered the Alliance’s Great Game. It had been a while since I’d seen Tissa as someone close, dear to me. She had become, whether unwillingly or consciously, just another piece on the chessboard. Possibly under Otto Hinterleaf s control via Elizabeth or Liam, although the latter most likely represented Mogwai’s interests. So I suppressed my feelings, said simply: “I missed you too. How have you been?”
Tissa sighed in relief and then started to tell me about her life on the White Amazons’ private island, hesitating at first, but then continuing with more confidence when she saw no anger in me. To hear her tell it, she constantly felt guilty not only about me, but about the other boys too, although ‘we surely understood her.’
“We understood you, Tissa,” I said. “How’re things with Liam?”
“I don’t know. I like him, but we don’t see each other often—he doesn’t live on the island. He just came to visit a couple of times, that’s all.
We haven’t been on any dates, there were always people nearby.”
I got the impression she regretted that they’d had no dates, but she didn’t want to hurt me even more. But I was probably the one consoling myself and overthinking things.
“Yeah, shame,” I said.
“Actually, Liam found out that I was headed here and offered to fly together on his flyer. You really aren’t upset, Alex? At all?”
“Of course not. I thought I loved you, but to be honest, I don’t even know what I feel right now. I’ll figure it out, don’t worry.”
“So you’re not seeing anyone? I was told that you were planning to get involved with Wood or her blonde friend.”
“Who’s the telepath? Malik? I bet it was him,” I said. Tissa smiled, nodded. “Maybe. I don’t know. Like I say, I don’t know what I’m feeling right now.”
I heard an explosion of laughter from the lounge. Tissa looked at the doorway, but didn’t leave. Maybe she hadn’t got all the intel she wanted? My paranoia switched into “Enemies all around!” mode and I decided to give the girl a nudge. I changed the subject to Dis and Tissa told me about how stats went up so much after all those new adepts joined up
