Page 1 of Hide and Seek

PROLOGUE

Myles

“Come on,”my friend Cipher says through my headphones, a teasing lilt to his voice. “You know you want to.”

Chuckling, I spin back and forth in my chair and pop the tab of my energy drink. “Nice try, but those kinds of taunts don’t work on me. I have younger siblings, remember?”

“Did you just open another energy drink?” Echo asks, her voice filled with disapproval. “How many times do I have to lecture you about the adverse effects of excess caffeine on the body, especially the heart and kidneys, before you listen to me?”

“At least a dozen more.” I guzzle down some of the drink, slurping as loudly as possible in my headset.

The overwhelming taste of chemicals and artificial sweeteners triggers a sort of Pavlovian reaction where my heart speeds up even before the caffeine has a chance to work its magic. Maybe Echo has a point.

She heaves a dramatic sigh and makes severaltsksounds. “What am I supposed to do with you?”

“Keep lecturing us while we keep being morons and ignore all your well-intentioned suggestions?” Cipher asks.

“Yeah, that sounds about right.” Echo snickers. “Why am I friends with you guys again?”

“Because we know way too much about you, and it’s safer to keep us around than it is to let us out into the world unsupervised?” I tease.

“True story,” she agrees, and I can hear the smile in her voice.

“How’re things now that you’re back at school?” Cipher asks.

“Fine.” I tap a few keys on my keyboard and run a quick check on the code I need to hand in to one of my professors in an hour.

The assignment was given to us in the first week of school, and we’ve had over four months to do it. Originally, we were supposed to hand it in before the Thanksgiving break, but enough of the class begged and pleaded with our professor for more time that he gave us an extension.

I started working on it when I got back to my dorm a few hours ago, and I’m not even the slightest bit concerned about leaving it to the eleventh hour. I’ll get an A+ on this, the same as I do on all my assignments and tests.

“Fine?” Echo prompts. “That’s it?”

“Yeah, my dude. Let us live vicariously through you. Not everyone gets to go to a secret school for the world’s elite. Throw us some crumbs of gossip or nuggets of insights into your world,” Cipher urges.

“Crumbs and nuggets?” Echo asks. “Have you eaten any real food today? You only talk like that when your brain is screaming for nutrients.”

“Do two bags of hot Cheetos and a half dozen pizza pockets count?” he asks.

She heaves a big, theatrical sigh. “No, none of that counts as real food. Have you not heard of fiber?”

“Nope, don’t know her,” he says innocently.

“Did you at least drink water?” she presses. “Andjustwater. Not coffee or soda or juice or energy drinks. Actual water in water form.”

“No comment.”

“Hopeless.” She clucks her tongue again. “Phoenix, what about you? Is the dining hall open, or are you also surviving off sugar, forever chemicals, and microplastics?”

“It’s open,” I assure her.

“Good, at least one of you is actually eating food.”

“But I missed dinner hours and wasn’t here for lunch, so…” I let that hang in the air.

“I swear both of you need handlers,” she says with a chuckle.

“That’s why we’ve got you.” Cipher makes kissy noises over his headset.