I was going to besick…
But of course, it wasn’t Jay, which just made me even more anxious.
Where was he?
The vibrations had been notifications coming in from my Nexus app. The app was blowing up with posts from employees speculating on why Sebastian had chosenthismemory to be one of the options… because of course, they didn’t know that he was a prisoner here.
They didn’t know that Luke had likely chosen these memories to punish Sebastian.
‘Wow, I bet Sebastian regrets not telling his dad first! We should choose option B!’
‘So brave of Sebastian to do this so openly! We love a man who can be vulnerable! #BeLikeSeb’
‘Omg, poor Seb! Do you think Mr. Reynolds was horrible to him when he came out, and that’s why he wants to manipulate the memory? #TeamOption2’
I glanced back up at the screen, and Sebastian’s smile was still plastered on his face, but his complexion was now tinged green as Option 1 was revealed as the winner.
Luke’s wolf-like smile grew, and he met my gaze across the stage, gesturing to Seb’s prone form.
“Excellent! Milo, would you do the honors of being the first person in Neurovance history to not justextract,butrewritesuch a tender and vulnerable moment?”
I opened my mouth to protest, but Seb hissed at me and jerked his head to indicate that I was expected to follow through and do what I was told.
I shook my head minutely at him, my eyes feeling so wide I was worried they would pop out of my head.
Seb gritted his teeth together in frustration and flicked the switch on his headset off.
“Just fucking do it, Milo. Do it, or he’s going to know you’re free and we’re all going to be even more fucked.”
So he had seen Jay’s messages… Why hadn’t he responded?
Sebastian spoke low enough that only I could hear as Luke was still rambling to the crowd about how this technology was going to change the world and redefine trauma therapy as we knew it.
Seb was right.
If I disobeyed a direct order from Luke and didn’t obviously exhibit signs of pain, he would know I’d found a way to remove the chip, and we would never be able to free SebastianorJay.
I nodded and stepped forward, taking my place by Sebastian’s head and clicking on the NeuroManipulator.
“Be careful not to touch me,” Sebastian reminded me through pursed lips as he leaned his head back and closed his eyes.
I nodded, still feeling like everything was moving in slow motion. My brain wasn’t working as quickly as it normally did. The horror and shock of what I was being forced to do was rushing through me with the force of a tsunami, and my hands were shaking violently as I pressed the tip of the device to Seb’s temple.
“You’re fine. You’ve got this, Milo,” Sebastian tried to soothe me, but my eyes pricked with tears, and I knew before I activated the device that I wasn’t going to be able to do it.
Iwouldn’tdo it.
Everything fell away, and all I could think about was how if I was ever going to mess anything up, now was the time.
I wasMilo freaking Murphy.
Murphquake.
The human embodiment of Murphy’s law.
If anyone was going to fumble a giant, internationally televised event, it was going to befreakingme, and no one would be the least bit shocked.
For the first time in my life, the thought of that didn’t hurt me or make me sad.
