My memory replayed that moment over and over again. Her, leaning on me, my breath catching hers. Her lips colliding with mine. Her hands on my hips. Her hair. Oh my... her hair. No way I could get rid of that. The moment had stuck in my head, not like an obsession... but pretty close, let's be honest.

Heather had returned to work before me, and I hadn't seen her since that day. My recovery treatment had ended, which meant I'd be returning too. I kind of hoped she'd visit me again... but she didn't. I guess she was busy.

Besides, I didn't want to see her. Wait. Liar. I did want to. It's just... you know that feeling when life throws something """""""exciting""""""" at you, but you are in a bad moment in your life, feeling like a mushy sticky noddle and totally squeezed like a raisin without a single shred of energy to handle it? That kiss felt like an endless fall to an abyss of that. Plus I had these weird outbursts, for example, I really wanted her to want to see me, but at the same time, I was scared out of my mind. Is it weird to want people to feel things instead of wanting to feel them yourself? Does that even make sense? Ugh. Okay, calm down.

Mark and Laura waited for me in the hall, and the moment I walked in, they practically pounced on me. They were holding a poster with colorful letters that read: "Grace: 1, Acid Rain: 0."

I'd bet my kindly it was Mark who came up with the phrase.

"We missed you so much, suicidal roommate!" Mark said. "Do you like my art?"

Told you.

He straightened the poster better so I could reread it.

"I love it."

Laura rolled her eyes as she approached me and moved Mark aside with an elbow nudge.

"Leading with Mark is not the same without you, don't leave again."

I laughed. "I missed you too, guys. How has everything been around here these days?"

Mark let out an exasperated sigh.

"Quite boring, to be honest. After your adventure in the tower, we've been helping with repair work, especially at the border since transfers will start again soon." Laura explained.

Mark crossed his arms on his chest annoyed. "Yeah, and don't forget to mention we've been training for the combat exam, which is in three days."

Damn it. "The combat exam! I had totally forgotten." Fuck.

Laura placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry, Grace."

"Yeah, don't worry Grace," Mark echoed in a mock-serious tone. "Even without training, you'll still be better than me."

"Well, I don't want to just be better than you," I said, smiling at Laura. "I want to be better than this lady over here."

She shook her head, smirking. "Oh wow. Look whose fame has gone to her head now that she's a hero."

"Just kidding, but I really want to get into training soon. All this time stuck in a hospital bed..."

Mark grimaced in sarcastic horror "Sounds like a total nightmare, just sleeping, no work at all..."

I laughed, and Laura gave Mark another elbow nudge, this time in his ribs.

"Ouch!" He complained, rubbing his side. "You're lucky I'm too tired to fight back."

"As if you had a single, tiny, miserable chance against me." Laura said.

I laughed again. Despite their usual bickering, It really felt nice to be back. I had missed these two. Laura rolled her eyes, ignoring Mark's complaints, and focused on me.

"By the way, you got a message while you were at the hospital. It came from the city."

"Really? I didn't get any notification."

"It's an old traditional message, you know... not a Reg Bracelet one," Laura said.

"Yeah, it's on your bed," Mark added, still grimacing in pain.

I rushed to the room and found an envelope waiting for me on my pillow.

I opened it.

I've tried to call you but you're not answering. We need to talk. 13th at 18h in the central station. Come, please. - Erik.

Oh-oh. The 13th? That was today. 18h? One hour from now. I had to hurry. I left all my stuff and ran to the door without realizing there was someone about to knock.

I nearly ran straight into her.

"Whoa!" She said as she stepped back to avoid the collision.

When I steadied myself, I realized it was Heather.

"Oh." A pause. "You." Another pause. "Sorry, and... hello."

She stared at me for a moment with that neutral expression that was so hard to read. Her hair fell loose with her perfect and incredibly soft (I could confirm that now) waves falling to her shoulders. Her scars had almost healed, her skin had regained its natural, flawless tone, and her eyes were blue and white once more. No bloody pools this time.

"Already back in action?" Heather said.

"Well, no, I'm just... I need to... " I couldn't get the words out. Erik's note had grounded me and now everything felt even weirder than before.

"I'm sorry, but I need to go. A friend is waiting for me in the city," I finally managed to say. Heather took a quick look at my hand and saw I was holding a note.

"Sure, I heard you were back and just wanted to check on you. But I won't bother—"

"You don't bother me!" I quickly interjected, maybe a bit too loudly? Why did I have to be so clumsy about this?

A pause. A breath. "Thanks for checking on me, and also... thanks for the apple pie. It lifted my spirits."

It was the plain truth, though it wasn't the only thing that lifted my spirits during those days at the hospital...HA.

Heather's eyes softened. "I'm glad."

"Do you work tonight?" Whoa. Okay, Grace. Okay.

"No. But I have a plan."

"Oh."

"A plan you can join." She said.

"What's the plan?"

She smiled. "You'll figure out."

I frowned. "Um... okay...I guess."

"Trust me."

"Sure. I'll look for you then." I said.

"Meanwhile take care out there." She turned to leave.

"No worries. Running under acid rain or stopping a fire is not on my to-do list today."

A soft laugh faded as she left. Then, her voice. "Great. Just stay away from any random explosions, okay?"

· · ·

I arrived at the central station as soon as I could, stuffed in a Transit Capsule full of Techno-humans. I was late and I couldn't answer Erik, would he still be waiting for me?

I moved among the throngs of people when a large screen caught my attention. It was showing a too-loud ad in a loop. A woman appeared, checking her life expectancy on her Reg Bracelet, only to discover, horrified, that it was scarily low. Then a message flashed on the screen: "Get the life you deserve." An animation showed a sleek implant being inserted into the back of her head as easy as pie. "No risks" another text. "No pain" another text. After the implantation, she checked her life expectancy again and... surprise! It had increased like crazy. Unexpected, right? "Ready for implantation! Get your additional minutes of life now." The final text. Then the woman faced the camera and said, "Technology Now, for a New Human Tomorrow."

There it was, the most famous slogan in the Reg Society. And well, I had to admit it had succeeded, you just had to look around to realize. They had managed to make people believe that technology could make them more human. But what was "human" anyway these days? Mark and I had had this argument one thousand times, and the debate always reached a pointless scenario that felt quite useless to me.

I wasn't so concerned about what a human was "essentially" or what this tech was doing to "human nature", I was more worried about who could actually afford this technology and how that would shape the world. For me, the debate was there, but not many people seemed interested in that, and to be honest, I wasn't going to push it either. I had had enough in my life.

Once I got out of the station, I saw Erik next to a street food stall. He was constantly looking around, probably searching for me, and he seemed a bit impatient. I was nervous too. It had been a long time since we had crossed paths in the city, and our last conversation had been... a bit of a shake for both of us.

I waved at him and he smiled kindly as he approached.

"Finally, you're here." He said, seeming relieved to see me as if he wasn't sure I'd come.

"I'm so sorry. I know I disappeared, but there's an explanation." I immediately said.

"No worries." He hugged me. "I want to know everything."

Once we were at a bar, I told him about the whole adventure with the acid rainstorm and why I hadn't been able to answer his calls. But of course, I didn't tell him about my kiss and... twisted—could we call it a relationship?—with Heather. I thought it was wise to omit that part, at least until further events, right?

"I knew something had happened to you." He said. "I was so scared."

"I'm sorry. Everything happened so fast."

"No need to apologize." He sighed. "I'm just glad you're okay."

"Me too. For a moment, I thought I wouldn't make it."

"Don't say that, please." Erik closed his eyes, as the comment had genuinely hurt him. "I don't have many real connections here... and you, Grace, you're very important to me."

"You're important to me too." I smiled softly as I gave his hand a gentle squeeze.

Then, he looked around as if checking if someone was paying attention to us.

I followed his gaze, not really knowing what I was supposed to be looking for. I didn't notice anything suspicious.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

He nodded and then leaned over, moving his chair closer to the table. "I want to talk you about something."

"Sure."

He lowered his voice. "I think I've figured out how we can contact Michael."

"What?!"

I raised my voice, and Erik quickly shushed me. I glanced around again. Thankfully, the only other people in the bar, a Techno-human at the counter and a girl in the back absorbed in some kind of video game on her Reg Bracelet didn't seem to notice.

Erik continued. "At least, I think I know how we can send him a message. But I'll need your help."

I leaned toward him too. "Of course. I'm willing to help in any way I can."

Erik smiled. "Look, since I work at the radio station, I've learned how they transmit information throughout the city. I believe I can slip in a message that can be intercepted from The Other Side without alerting the Reg Society."

"Really?" For once seemed that one of our assignments would pay off.

Erik nodded and his eyes seemed to have a new glow, as if that discovery had brought him back a bit of hope.

"That sounds quite risky. Are you sure it's safe?" I said.

"Nothing is safe. But it's possible, and that's what matters."

"You're right." It was scary, of course, but there wasn't much we could do. "How can I help?"

Erik locked eyes with me. "When the time comes, I'll give you this device I'm building" He explained and lowered his voice even more. "You'll need to place at the highest point of the border. That's all you'll have to do.".

"A device?" I repeated out loud, more to myself than as a real question.

"Yes. It's a signal bouncer. It will move the signal to The Other Side. Just think of a place where you can leave it; the higher, the better."

I pondered for a moment. The electric tower was the highest place I knew. Maybe I could climb up there again, though I had no idea what excuse I'd use this time. Still, if that was how we could get a message to Michael, it'd be worth the risk. No doubt about that.

"I'll do it."

"I knew you would. I'll write to you again once everything's ready. Until then, we have to be extremely cautious. Don't trust anyone, especially at the Narval House." He said.

"Of course."

· · ·

When I got back, everyone had already gone to sleep. A bit early, to be honest, which could just mean, everyone was freaking out about the combat exam. I should have been scared too... like a lot. But I mean, I had so much on my plate I barely had space to feel anything else.

So much so that on my way back, instead of thinking about Michael, Erik, or the secret message we were supposed to send, I spent the entire time pondering about the weird interaction Heather and I had. She told me I was invited to a plan, but didn't bother to explain what it was... And then she said I'd figure it out?

Besides being bossy, though, a natural leader, I should add "mysterious" to the list of her facades now.

I was hoping to find some kind of evident event but the Narval House seemed a cemetery. Had she been pulling my leg?

I made my way up to the leads' floor and knocked on Heather's door. What else could I do? No answer. I wandered around, checked the terrace, the training field, the service area... pretty much the whole Narval House. Nothing. No secret party anywhere. The last place to check was the underground floors. Where I wasn't allowed to. I'd only been on the -2 floor once when Heather showed me Michael's footage, but I knew it was impossible she'd be down there, it didn't make sense. But what about the other two floors? The minus one and the minus three?

I guessed there was a chance on one of them. The minus one was just full of storage rooms for food and clothing, not exactly a spot for any big plans. My real shot was the lowest floor, the -3. I had no idea what I'd find down there, but I had to check.

The stairs got narrower as I went down, and soon I was standing in front of two large gray metal doors. They looked thick, like whatever was behind them needed to be kept safe by some seriously solid walls.

I pushed them open.

A strong scent of chlorine enveloped the air before I could see what lay in front of me. Cerulean lights cast a glow across the surface of an astonishing underground pool.

And there she was, Heather, swimming so focused she didn't realize I was there.

"Is this your secret hideaway?" I said crossing my arms on my chest.

She raised her head from the water and gazed at me.

"You found it."