The World Which Is

Chapter 22

I run to the shower, cursing oversleeping and my aching body. Doesn't matter that part's normal after the kind of training session I put myself through; this morning is not when I can afford to be late.

Washed and dressed in my best clothes, I head out. I'll grab a food bar from the kitchen and—

I stop, seeing Dad at the table, reading.

He looks up as I force myself to go to the cupboard.

"Going somewhere?"

What is he doing here? It's well past when he should be at his workshop. I'd ask what why he's still here, but I expect the answer's going to be 'to make your life miserable'.

"Josie's choosing ceremony starts in twenty." I reach in, and into Base's inventory, for the bar. "If I hurry, I'll just make it on time."

The noncommital 'uh huh' freezes me.

I turn and he's looking at me with that 'oh, do you have something coming,' look. The book's closed and on the table.

"And exactly why do you think I should allow you to go?"

"It's Josie's ceremony," I say cautiously. "I promised her I'd be there."

"Was that before or after you thought it was a good idea to run off with Rich?"

That again? "Dad, I didn't run off. I know it was stupid, but he was really convincing. Base told me that something he's good at."

"I had warned you about him." His tone is sharp.

"But you never explained. Damn it, Dad. You and all the old folks just made him out to be this mysterious guy full of adventures. What did any of you expect us to do if we happened to meet him?"

"Run in the opposite direction."

I snort. "I don't know how you were as a kid, but none of my friends run away from what's strange. We aren't scared of a little danger."

"I am not—" He closes his mouth, and when his eyes narrow, I realize I'm smirking. Way to go, Dennis. Antagonize the guy with the keys to the door. "Don't you understand that this is for you protection? Maybe your friend's parents don't care what happens to their children, but I will not lose my only son to what's out there."

"I'm not going out there!" I stop and breathe. "I'm going to the command center. Unless you've forgotten, that's where Choosing Day takes place. That's where Josie is going to be."

"Along with some of your friends." I can hear the disgust in the word, and I almost tell him what I think of his opinion of my friends. I glance down and left and notice my willpower has dropped slightly.

Dad narrows his eyes. Not everyone has the system information in the same place within their field of vision, so he can't know what I'm looking at. But I'm sure he's imagining the worse. Like I have a way to send message to my friends and we're plotting going outside just to scare him. I could do that, if I'd thought to form a group with any of them, but I've only had a class for a few days. And most of them don't have theirs, so they couldn't join it.

"I have to leave now, if I'm going to make it on time," I tell him in as calm a voice as I can.

"Maybe you should have thought of that before—"

"Damn it! It's just the command center, Dad! You already have Base keeping me prisoner within his walls. Where the fuck do you think I'm going to go?"

"I don't know!" He's up, hands on the table, and for a moment there's something other than anger in his eyes, but it's gone before I make it out.