AT THE SAME TIME
ISABELLA
The storage room lights flickered once, twice. Then the entire cafe goes dead silent. Not quite, silent. No street noise, no espresso machine, no customers. Even the fridge hum cut out like someone muted the world. The door behind Wanessa and me swings open slowly. All three of them stand there. Aiden seemed tense, Xavier looked furious, while Zavier alert, and then the air split open. The system appeared full screen for the first time. No transparency, no flicker.
"CHAPTER 17 ACTIVATED TITLE: THE UNAUTHORIZED HEART."The system said.
"Oh no." Wanessa whispered. "It upgraded."
The relationship bars slammed into existence.
"Xavier - 38%, Aiden - 40%, Zavier - 44%."The system said.
Then, beneath them a fourth bar tore its way onto the screen. Not fading in, but forcing in. T - 52%. The cafe lights buzzed as if something were overloading.
"Explain."Xavier stepped forward first.
The system doesn't look at him.
