Lone Werewolf Duology (bxb)

17. The Evils of Technology

Volya stole into the kitchen for lunch and dinner, but he hid in his room instead of breakfast. A knock on the door interrupted his drooling over the video he was obsessing over.

"Come in," he called automatically, his mind still immersed into the image on the screen.

The door opened up and the same voice that sounded in his earbuds said, "Volya, the Mnemosyne is ready for you."

Volya juggled the iPad with numb fingers, unplugging the earbuds. Did he close the abominable app before Liam opened the door? He was worse with technology than a frigging monkey with the pliers. Sweat built up under his hair over the ridiculous worry that Liam would check his iPad over his shoulder. Stop it!

This wasn't his orphanage where the assorted idiots grabbed things out of your hands to see what you had there. Liam was a frigging soul of courtesy, when he didn't lie through his teeth. Besides, the frigging thing was off. He was pretty sure of it. There was nothing to give him away. He pulled on an American smile, so wide it made his jaw hurt.

Besides, even if Liam had discovered him watching the old music clips, so what? He was in apprenticeship to the guy. He was expected to do just that, discover the secrets to Liam's greatness, read up on the craft and yada, yada, yada.

"Hello, Liam. I'm ready." That sounded chill. Professional. And he said it in English! Just as he brimmed with pride, his iPad came to life to blast the music on full volume. The thing was heartless!

"Ah, that old thing. It feels like I sang it a century ago," Liam murmured. A faint smile flickered over his features as he listened to the song. "Glad you're studying up a bit, but we must go now. We'll do our music lessons later, I promise."

"Ah... huh." Caught out in the shameless I-stan-you moment, Volya felt heat building and building below his skin like he was a star about to go supernova. He lowered his face to the iPad, pressing the buttons with redoubled attention. It wasn't hard at all, so how did he miss it the first time?

Trying his darndest to sound nonchalant, Volya asked, "What'll this Mnemosyne do to me anyway? Will they plug electrodes into my brain?"

When he lifted his head, Liam wasn't even in the room any more. The poor sod must have remembered Volya chasing him out yesterday. Instead, he chilled in the hall.

Volya jumped from the bed, carrying the iPad and caught up to Liam. They walked a few steps before Liam replied, "It's a gel interface, non-intrusive and pain free." But his shoulder twitched uncomfortably.

Volya imagined himself covered in sickly green slime head to toe. "Eww. Does it wash off?"

"I think so?"

Volya was so intent on Liam's tone, that he'd almost ignored the translation. His efforts were rewarded however: he wasn't imagining it. Liam sounded distinctively constipated, despite the spring in his step.

"You think so?"

"Look, after what happened to Anabelle, I hated it. But after our dad... I didn't go near the Mnemosine. I sort of lost it."

"You? Lost it? I can't really imagine you losing it."

Liam chuckled without merriment. "I yelled at Lydia that I want to burn the lab to the ground along with this ranch and everything."

"Okay, that sounds bad and completely illogical."

"I'm not proud of it or anything."

"But the house is still standing."

"Lydia convinced me that keeping the facility running was the only way to fix things," Liam sighed, then stopped for a second to massage his eyes and his temples with one hand. The other still gripped the phone for translations. "She also locked away the matches."