Digital Mutation (Book Five)

Chapter 24: The Game

Fanart by discofriches <3

"Or at least...I didn't think of her until a few weeks ago," Annalise says as the video shuts off and the tunnel plunges back into near-darkness. Destiny and Casey stare at her with shocked eyes and she looks away, chewing her lip. "I...I truly thought that she wasn't real, that she was something I created as a child, and when this all started, I didn't know what to think." She sniffs hard and wipes at the tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry that I didn't tell you, I just thought—"

"Hey, Blondie, it's okay," Casey says, reaching over to squeeze her shoulder. "We aren't mad. Right, wolfie?"

Destiny stares down the hall, arms crossed over her chest, and she takes a deep breath before she nods. "Right," she says. She looks to Annalise, not smiling. "It's hard to tell people about your past. I get it. You didn't want to dump that on us right when we were just getting to know you."

Annalise blinks rapidly, scrubbing at her cheeks again. "You...you aren't mad?"

She shakes her head. "Nope." She glances at the ceiling and smirks. "To think...she really did give us a villainous monologue of sorts."

Casey laughs and nudges Annalise with his elbow. "What'd she think would happen? We'd get mad and ditch you?" His loud, boisterous laughter echoes around them. "Seems like she's going to a lot of trouble just to get revenge."

Annalise nods a little. "Yeah, I guess, although..." She stops, gasping. "Oh...oh, wait."

"What?" Casey asks. Destiny's ears perk as she tilts her head.

"Didn't Sarina mention that she found out Circa's name when she went into her head?" Annalise asks, squinting hard as she rubs her temple. "I think she emailed me about it before Mikey picked me up? It was right before our date." She wags her hands about. "Gah, that's not the point! Circa was definitely inside Sarina's head. That's the point."

"Something like that," Destiny says. "Sarina said that Circa—" She stops as recognition flickers across her face. "Oh my god...Sarina's part robot."

"And the one thing Circa demanded of me when I was younger was a bigger, better body for her to use," Annalise says.

Casey looks up at the ceiling, eyebrows knitting together into an angry caterpillar. "Circa...Circa wants..." The girls look at him, expectant, and his eyes widen. "Wait, if Sarina is basically a robot, could Circa still control her like she did with the robot in Annalise's backstory?"

"Half her brain is completely electronic. It's how she stores all the stuff she knows and knows every human language, so I think it's possible." Destiny lets out a growl and lightly punches her thigh. "If we could contact her..."

"But if Circa has been inside Sarina's head, then why hasn't she taken over yet?" Casey asks.

"Maybe because Sarina isn't entirely robotic. She has free will, self-awareness," Destiny suggests. "What if she hasn't been able to make the jump or something?"

"I think she's biding her time," Annalise says, her tone a lot more serious than they've ever heard it. She keeps one hand on her chin, her words pouring out as she thinks them. "Circa is patient, but she likes efficiency. If she can help it, she likes being able to kill two birds with one stone. What do we know about her? One, she hates me, and two, she wants some kind of a body that can work on the Internet and in real life. Maybe she found some kind of connection between me and Sarina, maybe through Mikey watching my videos? Comments, cameras, all that tech Sarina and Donnie use could contribute. It's a bit of a stretch but it's the only thing I can think of that makes any sort of sense."