Amanita: Poison Shot

Chapter 117: Drunk

Did I hear that right?

Me?! Expelled from the group?!

"What?!" I exclaimed with wide eyes.

"I will still protect you and keep your nanochip in my alternative network," Agape went on without an ounce of remorse as if she believed that was the best for both of us. "Otherwise, your chip would spill the beans to the clones and we'd all get killed. You will need to return your hacked mobile phone, your parrot, and your special gadgets like the ticks and spiders. But most importantly, I forbid you to have any contact with us ever again – not even with Sigi."

My heart made a deadly backflip.

I. Couldn't. See. Sigi. Again.

"NO!" I yelled with fury while tears were threatening to spill from my eyes.

"Or Gabi, K8, Kono, or Ray, you know," she continued as if it was nothing. "I know that you're friends and co-workers, but it's obvious that our relationship needs to end, so you must end yours with them. No contact."

"Can't we work it out?!" I asked with bewilderment. "Find an alternative. I could..." She chuckled and shook her head.

"I will find you an alternative accommodation and job, don't worry," she went on. "As for Eros, you're forbidden to interact with him again, as well. You need to be gone, as if you had died. As for Apollo, I'm going to give you a new ID and notify the death of young Daphne Peneus through your hacked nanochip due to a DNA incompatibility with the Neon Sea's pollution stuck in your eyes or something.

"You'll need to keep a low profile. If someone tells you that you resemble that ad girl or Apollo's love interest, you will deny it. If you need to disappear again, do it. Start wearing glasses, a different clothing style, or makeup. Cut your hair a lot shorter, even. You need to hide who you really are from the world from now on."

"You can't be serious about this!" I felt exasperation bubbling inside me like the champagne inside a shaken bottle.

"I am. I don't want to see or hear from you ever again," she went on, serious as cancer. "I'll keep tabs on you, just in case. If you misbehave, I'll know."

"But...!"

"No buts. You could put all of us in danger!" she argued. She was right, to be honest, but it hurt. "Once I've won this war, you may do as you please; but for now, you'll do as I say," she insisted with a firm tone of voice.

I didn't know what to say. All I wanted to do was cry. I was about to lose all the people I loved.

"I don't want to go!" I complained.

"Anyway, you may stay the night here," she went on as if she hadn't heard me. "In the meantime, I'll get you your new ID, your new job, and your new accommodation ready for tomorrow morning, before the Kiss of the Sun hits us hard and all electric equipment with no insulation suffers the consequences, but then I want you gone... for good."

"NO!" I yelled.

"Is that understood?" she insisted with a deadly tone of voice.

I had no words. There was no way to convince that woman.

Eventually, my tears were stronger than me. I had no control over them anymore, just like I had no control over my life.

I left her office in a hurry. A sob escaped from my lips when I was crossing the threshold of K8's and my bedroom. Well, it would be only K8's soon enough.

My lungs were going rogue, breathing in and out roughly. I hated how dismissive Agape had been towards me. I couldn't bring myself to sleep in that room in the basement of Amanita that night, to be honest. I realised that I didn't feel at home there anymore.