Ellie Sandberg would love to reinvent herself. When she earns a spot at an elite boarding school for young inventors, it seems like the perfect opportunity: A summer away from home, away from her overprotective parents, and away from the hopeless cr...
I sink down on the cold stone bench and close my eyes. I managed to hold myself together for the duration of the interview in Dr. Carlyle's office, but the moment I stepped outside, my nerves caught up with me. My knees have turned to rubber, too weak to support my weight.
I need to talk to Maddox.
I can't stop thinking about the evidence the Medical Examiner showed me before he sent me on my way. Bits and pieces of data—fragments of disjointed conversations—that the forensic analysts were able to retrieve from the memory card of the waterlogged InSight Visor. Most of it was stuff I could confirm had come from me before the visors were switched. There was only one thing at the end I didn't recognize.
Timestamp 07-26-19 20:05:14
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Timestamp 07-26-19 20:06:32
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
At first, I thought I was looking at the remnants of our clifftop beta test from weeks ago. But the timestamp made no sense... Three days ago? A few minutes after curfew? I was about to tell the interviewer that it must be a mistake, until he pulled out one more screenshot from his file—and the sight of it turned my blood to ice.
No more scared little rabbits, Ellie... I'll explain everything. Come to our spot. Tonight. I'll be waiting.
Try as I might, I can't seem to avoid the inevitable conclusion.
Maddox sabotaged the alert system. He was the only one who could have changed that parameter. He set it to -1 and then he sent me the invitation, knowing it would be after sundown by the time I made the hike uphill. Too dark to see clearly. So easy to make a misstep without a hazard warning to alert me to the danger.
Only the wrong Eleanor showed up. The other Eleanor had my visor. She intercepted that message and went to the cliff to confront Maddox in my place.
I don't want to believe that Maddox would intentionally hurt someone. The boy I like. The boy I thought I might love...
But what were those feelings based on? A few weeks' of app-facilitated flirtation. I can't escape the cold hard facts. I barely know him. The boy I thought I loved doesn't exist. He's an illusion. A piece of augmented reality. A more palatable version of the real boy beneath – a boy I've never seen.
