“Ms. Rae?”
The voice inside her Lens startles Dez so much she retracts the Lens without closing Asher’s Lifeline. When she finds Dr. Ezekiel on the other side, she jumps back.
“How did you do that?” she asks. “How did your voice get inside my Lens?”
“Special effects,” Dr. Ezekiel says.
“I thought these things were private. Soundproof.”
“You’re on probation, remember?”
“You scared me.”
“I bring good news,” he says with a warm smile Dez no longer trusts. “There’s been a change in the rules.”
“What is it?” Dez says, girding herself. Not like she’s planning to play by their rules anymore, ever again. But she understands they can still be used against her.
“Rafe came to see us this morning,” Dr. Ezekiel says.
“I don’t care.”
“You should. He’s requested that you no longer be required to complete the requisite fifteen hundred films. And we’ve come around to his opinion.”
“You’re sending me to Sheol?”
“On the contrary,” Ezekiel says. “We believe you’re nearly ready for ascension. Given the entropic energy in our world, the existential threats to the White Lights system, it’s only appropriate to accelerate your promotion.”
“I don’t want it anymore. I don’t want to ascend.”
“But you will,” Ezekiel says. “We request that you complete only one more Life Review.”
He turns toward Dez’s retracted Lens, where the image of Asher and her on the beach still shows on the screen. The old man smiles, like there’s nothing sick and twisted at the heart of Acheron.
“Oh, good,” he says. “You already have his Lifeline pulled up and ready to go.”
“NO,”DEZ SAYS, PUTTING HERSELFbetween the screen and Dr. Ezekiel.
“Your ascension begins in an hour,” he says. “Congratulations.”
“You’re going to kill Asher?” Dez realizes, her stomach churning. She grabs Dr. Ezekiel’s shoulders. “Please! I’ll do anything you want. Just don’t hurt him.”
He takes her hands off him, gazing at Dez serenely. “I’d get started on the film if I were you.”
Impossible. Moments ago, Dez was kissing Asher on a beach. He cannot die. How can this be happening?
Because Rafe is punishing her. Rushing her into ascension for his own benefit.
By making her do the one thing that will break her.
“Let me talk to Rafe,” she demands. She needs to know what kind of danger Asher’s in.
“We all play our roles, Ms. Rae,” he says calmly. “Your role is to make Mr. Ibrahim’s film.”
One hour until her ascension. That means Asher has less than an hour to live. Dez needs to stall for time. To figure out how to save him.
“I can’t make a film in an hour.”
“We believe you can. You’ve been working on it already,” he says pointedly. “All these months.”
