I twisted my hair into a ponytail, tucking it under my cap and lowering the brim. Then I took a final look around the room full of strangers, wondering which of them would help me escape, and which would try to kill me. Oh well. It didn’t matter until tomorrow anyway.
I exed out of the Courthouse’s security program and brought up Hector’s Rinth profile. I wasn’t proud of it—it would fall apart under official inspection, but I’d sold Nessa a week ago, and I didn’t need to get into college, I just needed a day of no one staring at me. Just long enough to be sure the trial went as planned.
I put on a pair of glasses and, setting my face in Hector’s squint, took a QuickShot of myself on my Lab and Rinthed it.
Hector Scythe. 21 years of age. Student of Computing and Mathematics at Midas University.
Perfect.
I stared at his profile pic, wondering if it wasn’t a little overkill. Hector was shirtless, glowering and flexing his wimpy biceps. But maybe it would keep people from looking twice if they were inclined to dwell on my less-than-masculine form. I adjusted my loose T-shirt. I wasn’t an amateur.
Technically, I was under house arrest. Practically, however, there were ways around that. Like ditching my Lab and climbing down the fire escape. Sometimes, the old ways are best. I had, of course, hacked a false tape into the security camera for my room, but that would have been a given, going out or staying in. I hated people spying on me.
*****
Jason’s house is five blocks away. If this were a normal incognito operation, I would have shot some cheesy pick-up lines at girls along the way to stay in character, but I just wanted this to be over with.
I recognized the song that filled his room. I had bought it for him, two years earlier. If his music was playing, he would be back soon, but I lingered an extra moment on his window sill. I felt sick as I pulled on my gloves and stared at the dagger. The doorknob turned. In one of those adrenaline-filled, thought-empty moments, I flung the weapon under Jason’s bed and yanked off the gloves.
“What are you doing here, Ariadne?” Jason asked. His blue eyes met Hector’s squint.
“It’s Hector, actually. I don’t think I need to give you another lecture about Rinthing me before you say my name.” I suppose it would have been awkward if Jason had found a stranger standing in his bedroom, but it still irked me that he was always able to see through my disguises. “And I’m here because you offered me a haven if I ever needed to get out of the house.”
“I’m not sure that offer applies when you’re under house arrest,” he said wryly.
“All the more reason to get out of the house and into a home,” I said innocently. I had lived alone since I was fourteen, but Jason, at eighteen, still lived with his family, and I was the first to admit that it was nice to have a mother around to force some homemade cookies into you every once in awhile.
“Mom’s not here. She didn’t want to be in town during…”
“My trial,” I finished flippantly, leaning back against his pillows, “She always did think of me as a daughter.”
“If you’re planning on staying awhile, you’d better take that hat off and stop squinting. I can’t take you seriously when you pretend.” If only you had know, Jason.
