Page 113 of Shifting Tides

Tobias let out a sigh, the gesture somehow sounding conflicted.

“The simulations aren’t meant to kill you,” he said. “They’re programmed to stop when you either tap out or can no longer continue to fight. Maybe they thought you knew that.”

I frowned, popping my head backward so I could look at his face. “How the hell do you tap out? If I had known that was an option, I would’ve taken it immediately.”

He shrugged noncommittally. “You just basically say out loud that you give up. Then the simulation ends.”

I closed my eyes in a moment of self-irritation. I had thought some form of those words a dozen times when I was in the sim, and now he was telling me that if I had just said them, I would have been fine?Fuck my life.

I huffed out a breath. “Okay, so barring that, it would’ve stopped just before it killed me?”

His jaw ticked on both sides, and sorrow darkened his blazing eyes. “When I got here, the vampire had just bitten you, and ittook me a few seconds to abort the damned program. I believe that if I’d been a few seconds later, it would’ve ended when you passed.”

Something twinkled in his eyes, something dangerous and painful, and I wasn’t sure he believed what he’d said.

“I’ve only heard of two deaths in the sim’s history, and those were on the higher levels, and were the result of complications after the fact and not in the simulation itself.”

I took a moment to let that information set in.

“How is it even possible?” I asked, the question having plagued me from the moment the room turned into a forest. “How could a projection look and smell so real? Hell, how could a computer program bite me and actually suck my blood out? Is there some kind of magic to it?”

He shook his head. “No, not magic, and not a projection either. From what I understand, it’s nanotechnology. You can see it and smell it and feel it because, in a sense, it is real. The nanites in this room can form any object and are controlled completely by the programming in the control panel.”

I tried to concentrate on his explanation, but my growing awareness meant the bite in my neck was hurting much more. I hissed and put my hand to it, but the feel of the wet mangled flesh made me flinch and gasp.

Tobias took my fluttering hand and held it against his chest, rubbing his thumb lightly over the top of it.

“Hold on, Ajax should be here any minute. I’m sorry I didn’t get here sooner. I should’ve been here.”

I could hear the anger in his voice, and I didn’t want him to be angry at himself. He didn’t deserve that. This wasn’t his fault.

“I’m just glad you got here at all,” I said. “If you hadn’t come and the sim had stopped when I passed out… I’d have died by morning, wouldn’t I? I’d have bled out before anyone found me. It would have looked like a stupid accident.”

Tobias held me tighter. “I don’t know what I’d do if—”

Seconds after footsteps pounded down the hallway, a hyper blond boy burst into the room. He looked to be a few years younger than Tobias.

“Dude, I’m sorry, I got here as fast as I—” His eyes widened as he finally took me in. “Holy shit, she’s fucking bleeding out! You weren’t kidding!”

“No shit, Sherlock. So shut the hell up and heal her,” Tobias ordered.

“Yep.” The boy, Ajax apparently, came to my side and dropped to his knees to examine me closer. After a few quick glances over my body, he asked. “Just the neck?”

“Not sure, but we can check for other wounds after her neck is sealed,” Tobias said.

“Right.” Ajax nodded and obediently pressed a hand to the bite mark on my neck.

“Ahh!” I squawked at the brash touch to my wounded flesh.

“Sorry, but there’s no way around it,” Ajax said with a frown. “But after a few seconds, you’ll be fine.”

I wanted to bite his damn arm off for pressing so callously to my agonized neck. Why the hell did he have to do that anyway? As a matter of fact, how was a harpy supposed to heal me? I scrutinized Ajax, and he clearly hadn’t brought any medical supplies with him. Not even so much a bandaid. How the hell—?

A soft golden glow illuminated the corner of my vision toward the side he was touching, at the same time that a powerful but soothing warmth started beneath his palm. It felt so nice, likethe kiss of the sun on a warm spring day, the kind of heat that makes you want to bask in it rather than flee from it.

It was like only my neck was in the most relaxing hot tub ever created, and I no longer minded at all that he was touching me.

“Okay, that looks good.” Ajax suddenly pulled his hand from the side of my neck, making me feel oddly at a loss for the sensation.

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