“So? We had an early morning meeting over breakfast, discussing our game plan for this impromptu demonstration Luke dropped on us out of nowhere.”
“Uhm… okay. If you say so…” I whispered.
“Don’t worry, Milo. We have bigger things to worry about than Melanie fucking Larson. Forget about her.”
I nodded, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that we’d just added a new enemy to our already large list of opponents in this dangerous game we found ourselves playing.
Jay and I spent the day working on the manipulator. Once I settled in to focus on the work, it was easy to forget about Melanie and Luke.
This was where I shone. In the lab, everything always fell away. It was just me and whatever problems I was trying to work through.
Now that I’d been able to get the output to not just hold onto memory, butmassageit with the oscillating feature I’d installed, the next piece was figuring out how we could mold and change memory into something we actually wanted.
As it was right now, we didn’t have much control over how the memories were changed, which was obviously dangerous.
I hadn’t had time to brush up on how to read NeuroGlyphs, so any testing we did needed to be on Jay so he could translate them to me as I worked.
We focused on small, unimportant memories that were low risk, on the off chance that I changed them to something potentially traumatizing.
I was working on convincing his brain that his memories of making pasta with his dad were actually memories of them baking a cake together, when the elevator dinged, signaling more uninvited guests.
I glanced up from where I had the manipulator pressed into Jay’s temple to find Seb strolling into The Cave.
Melanieof all people was tailing him, a smug smile plastered on her face as she entered The Cave.
Dang it.
Iknewshe was going to be a problem.
I powered down the manipulator so Jay could sit up without risking damage to the memory we’d been working on.
He turned to glare at Seb, who glared right back.
I swallowed loudly as I took in Sebastian’s expression. He was in another bespoke suit. This one was navy blue, and his hair was perfectly styled as always.
He flashed us a smile, showing off his perfectly straight, white teeth, though the smile didn’t reach his eyes.
He was angry.
So, so angry.
“Jay,” he growled, and Jay raised an eyebrow at him, his own expression nearly as dark as his friend’s.
“Seb. You’re interrupting. We apparently have an aggressive deadline we’re trying to meet. We’re currently unable to accommodate unauthorized guests in the lab.” Jay’s eyes fell on Melanie pointedly.
“Unfortunately, it couldn’t be avoided. Luke would like to see Milo in practical memory therapy immediately,” Seb deadpanned, referring to the lab Jay had taken us all to on our first day for a NeuroExtractor demonstration.
Jay scowled, but stood up, glancing at me quickly.
“Alright. We’ll head over in a few. We just need to clean up here.”
“No. You’re expected to keep working. Luke doesn’t want this to interrupt your workflow.”
Jay nearly fuckingsnarledlike a wild animal.
“A little late for that,” he snapped. “I can’t continue testing without Milo here. I might as well accompany him for whatever it is Luke needs him for.”
“Melanie will assist you in Milo’s absence.”
