Romans & histoires I See You In Avatar

Everyone looked at me like I was a walking plague. Lucas hadn't arrived yet, but Victor was already waiting outside Lucas' office like a dog begging for its owner's favor. I sat down at my desk and did nothing, just stared quietly at the screen. … At exactly nine o'clock the next morning, the AI system booted up on schedule. "Good morning, fighters. A new day has begun. Please greet today's challenges with your fullest passion." The same familiar opening. Victor immediately flashed a smile at the nearest camera—bright to the point of being fake—and his voice turned sickeningly sweet. "Good morning, AI system. Another day full of hope."

Ava's smile reached her eyes for the first time in days. She looked at me over Maya's head. "This is what they want to destroy. This right here." I smiled, my heart full. "They will not. We protect this. No matter what." Later that night, Ava lay in bed, her eyes wide open. "Stay awake with me. Just a little. Please." I held her, my arms around her. "I am here. Tell me what you see. I'll watch with you." Ava pointed at the clock. "It flickered. Did you see it?"

I never did, and Hunter, King of High School or not, won’t be the first. “Earth to Ava!” she whispers a little louder, but it sounded so far away like I was at the middle of a tunnel, while her voice echoed at the end. Amy noticed me in my trance and she waves her hand in my face, and I finally blink. I rolled my eyes as she waggled her brows playfully, nudging me in the chest like she always does when she’s feeling horny. “So? Fess up. Is the arrogant future alpha of the Cruelcrest Hounds Pack your fate—?”

But she wasn’t there. Not completely. Inside her mind: Flashes. A cold room. A voice humming an old lullaby. A screen showing faceshers. But not her. Dozens of them. Then one last image burned through: A child. Small. Afraid. And she was holding Ava’s hand. She looked just like her. But younger. And smiling. Ava’s eyes snapped open. She gasped, reaching for Luca like she’d surfaced from underwater. “I saw her,” she said. “Another one. Not the imposter. A child. She was inside me.”

Hot tears ran down my cheeks as I buried my face in the pillow while Javier and Ivan gave me a weird look. “You saw the vision?” Javier asked. I nodded, “Yes, I just didn't know if my mind was playing tricks on me especially since I was sexually sated.” Ivan frowned, “I don't understand, Mia, how didn't you know it was a vision?” “I just didn't. I thought I was imagining things,” I answered, at a loss for what to say. “What exactly did you see?” Javier asked. I wiped the tears that were on my cheeks and blinked back the ones in my eyes. I needed a clear and calm mind to be able to recall what I had seen.

AVA I have experienced betrayal. Kidnapping. Gas chambers. Death threats. Nothing chilled me more than seeing my own face blink on a screen, flawless, soulless, and spreading. "She is not real," I kept repeating. But the world did not care about reality. It cared about persuading. Julian stated that the avatar had already emerged on two ancient security camera networks in Berlin and Moscow, depicting shadow images of me roaming streets I had never visited. Genesis was not only replacing me physically. He was reinventing my past.

The look in her eyes I had seen before. "Someone's here." She said. I turned around and Thinker's lion avatar was standing only a few feet away. I wasn't fearful of him now, but glad to see him. It was like seeing a long lost friend, even though I'd only truly known him for an hour. "Ed?" I asked the avatar, confused by his presence.

“Then let’s dig. I’m done running from shadows.” Outside, in a black SUV two blocks away, Ava watched through a zoomed camera lens. She smiled. “You’ve taken the bait,” she whispered. “Let the game begin.”

Her eyes closed and I thought she was going to start chanting like that other girl did. “I must warn you that sometimes my visions aren’t accurate. When I envisioned you dying in the past, I had thought an apocalypse was going to happen. Thankfully, that hadn’t happened, although the vision I had wasn’t at all what I expected. I don’t recall you dying in a cave.” Ava spoke, with her eyes still closed. “But you hadn’t been wrong, I still died, the details weren’t that important.” I smiled at her, even if she couldn’t see it.

With a flick of my wrist, I summoned my supernatural powers, unleashing a fierce attack on the rogues. They were no match for me, and soon they lay defeated at my feet. As I turned to leave, I caught Ava's gaze, and our eyes locked in a moment of understanding. I nodded to her, hoping she knew I was there to protect her, even if she couldn't see me.