The AR Gamer Girl «Original story»

Chapter Twenty-Two

POV Jace

"Hey mom, where's Lyra? She was going to play Lenpato with me." I saw her eyes avoid mine. "She ... I'm sure she's at work ..." Her tone seemed off. "Mom, I know for a fact she doesn't have work right now, what's going on?" She sighed and brought her hand to her face. "The company just called ... She hasn't been seen and most definitely not seen home yet ..." What? I quickly ran upstairs and took my phone. Zane and I agreed to exchange phone numbers in case something happened again. I ran his number and he picked up. "He--?" "No time, do you know where Lyra is, she's missing?" I could tell he was shocked. "S-she is? No, I haven't seen her since school, she told me she'd go the classr-- ... She'd go to the classroom! Mia must've done something!" "Tell me, what did you say?" I was very confused. "Look, Jace, she said she was going to the classroom, 'cause Mia asked her to clean it. Something must've happened... I mean Mia hates Lyra ..." "Zane I'll call you when I know more, just stay home, thanks." I took my jacket and ran downstairs. "Mom, we think she's at school, but she must be stuck. I'll go see if she's there." Wait!" I looked at her. "What is it? We can't lose more time if she's been there since school ended she's been there for at least four hours now!" "You go, but I'll call someone from the company. If you're spotted alone, you'll get in trouble with the school." I nodded. "Thanks, mom, see you later."

When I arrived at school, someone was already jumping over it. "Wait! Are you the one from the company?" She smiled. "Nice to meet you! I'm Nala, I train Lyra. You seem strong enough, guide me to the classroom." I nodded. "Got it!" I jumped over, but when I wanted to run, Zane jumped over too. "Za--?! What are you doing here?!" "Look, man, if something happened I want to be there, let's not waste any time and go." Nala seemed suspicious. "Jace does he know?" I sighed. "No, but I think not for long and he will, but we'll explain another time, let's go." We all ran upstairs. I could see Nala's augma but just guided her to the classroom. "This should be it." Zane tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge. "Locked, should we kick it in?" Nala sighed and shook her head. "No we can't, we're already breaking in school we're just lucky the maintenance left the backdoor open. We should hurry before he finds us, or closes it. I'll scan the lock and open it." "Scan ...?" Zane looked questionable, but we didn't pay attention. Nala made her way over and got on eye-height with it. Now that she was looking straight at it, a small line appeared for a second and shot through the keyhole. "What the--?!" Zane was about to make a ruckus, but I signaled him to let her be.

Nala stood back up and nodded. "Okay, I'll fold a clip in the solution of the key. This isn't a highly protected door, so it should do. Give me a second while looking at the blueprints." "Okay, what is going on?" I turned to Zane and sighed. "Look, there's a lot you don't know right now, but that's because you're not supposed to know." He looked at me with fierce eyes. I could tell he wanted to know, but it wasn't my place to tell him. "Ask Nala later if she'll willing ... I want to tell you, but without permission, I can't." He sighed, but our focus switched quickly as we heard and saw the door open. "Where's she? Did we get the wrong classroom?!" I shook my head. "No, it couldn't be wrong ..." "As Jace said, it can't be wrong. This is her classroom and she wouldn't go to another classroom if she had to be in this one. The only question now is ... Where is she?" All of us scattered around, but we knew that she wasn't in this room. I spoke up. "Where else could sh--?" "Of course!" Zane quickly interrupted me.

"Where?" Nala asked firmly. I shook his head thinking. "We should've looked there in the first place ... The supply closet!" I looked around. "Why haven't we noticed ..." "Because it's blocked." I looked up at Nala. "What?" She sighed. "Yes, look, there should be a door behind this closet." Indeed! We all quickly ran to a side and pushed the closet out of the way, until a door became visible. "Hello? Lyra?!" Zane started knocking on the door, but there was no answer. "Let me." Nala forced the lock and opened the door. On the ground, I saw Lyra just laying. I wanted to go to her as fast as possible, but the shock made me freeze. Zane, on the other hand, jumped right in and took her hand. "She's freezing ... She's been here for a long time." He took off his coat and put it around her while lifting her up. I got out of my shock and put my hand on her forehead. "She has a fever, must also be due to the cold." Nala sighed and turned around.

"Come on, let's go. We'll all go to your house, Jace. I need information on what happened to Lyra and Zane you follow too. No one from this incident is leaving until I am done. Of course will the people who did this be punished, but that's for another time. If we don't go now, we might get found out. Let's put everything back the way it was and leave." Zane and I both agreed, so we nodded. I helped Nala put the closet back in place, while Zane held Lyra close. He wouldn't let go and made sure to hold her in his arms. She had no sign of waking up, but we still tried to be as careful as we could. After closing the side door of the classroom again, we snuck out of the school. With everyone following me, we went back to my house. When we arrived, my mom took us in quickly. "What happened?!" Every one of us sighed. "We'll explain later mom, but where's a blanket? Lyra's freezing." She quickly went with us to the living room and Zane slowly put her down. It seemed like he didn't want to let go. "Come on, let's let her rest." Zane still seemed reluctant, but realized it was for the best and followed me.

"So," Nala began, "what to do with you?" I sighed. Zane wasn't supposed to know, but if he did, the school would be easier for Lyra and maybe in the future he could help her with the Augma too. My guess was a shot in the dark, but it would help Lyra, the company could improve the system too and Zane wouldn't be so left out. Even though I didn't really like him all that much for everything he did, he was still the person she cared about. And I was starting to regard Lyra as my close sis. "Maybe it's best if he knew. Remember 'that' feature? I think we can improve it. Not saying it will, but... It's a guess." Nala smiled. "Aha! So that's what has been going on... Well, glad to let you know the company decided to make some changes. Then Saturday, Jace and Zane, get Lyra and this other guy called Will too and come to the company. Lyra can lead you through everything. Tell her to come to me at 10 am and I'll explain everything there. Now, since everything is settled until then, I will be going home." She handed me some papers. "Let Lyra write a report of what happened here. Also, don't do anything to whoever did it but wait until Saturday and everything will be clear. Now, have a good night's rest and I'll see you in 2 days."

I walked Nala out and she left. My mom also went to bed and I went back inside to find Zane sitting down next to Lyra. "How're you doing?" He stayed silent but sighed. "... I should've known... I knew Mia didn't like Lyra, so why did I let her go alone, not even checking up on her ...." I went to sit next to him. "Hey man, she's like my cute sister and I also didn't check up on her..." "You did call me for her? You went to go look..." I rolled my eyes. "If you hadn't said anything about Mia then I wouldn't have known she was there in the first place." Zane looked at Lyra. Her skin looked pale and her lips were dry. "I'm sad to see her like this you know... She's always full of color... Full of joy...." I chuckled darkly. "She's sad you know..." Zane immediately shifted his eyes to me. "What do you mean?!"

"Shhh don't wake her. But sometimes I find her crying alone in her room... You should be nicer to her. I know you're jealous and I don't trust Will either, but don't do it at the cost of her happiness." He looked down, but I looked in his eyes firm. "If you hurt her you won't get off nicely." He scoffed. "I won't let myself off nicely." I nodded and stood back up. "As long as you know. But anyway since you're probably not planning on leaving I'll grab you a blanket and I'll warm up some tomato soup. If you need anything, you can just grab it from the kitchen, we don't mind. Just let us know if we run out of something. Celest is sleeping upstairs so don't make too much noise. And that's all I think. I'll be upstairs if you need me." I handed him a blanket and the warm soup. "Goodnight and don't be a stranger here." I went to go upstairs but looked back. Zane was sitting next to Lyra stroking her hair while the soup cooled off.

Maybe it'll get better from now on ...