INTERWOVEN ADVENTURES | Circadian Earth: Book 1

Chapter 17

Layla watched as she was carried over the tall buildings of the city Amelix had brought her to, taking in all the lights. She didn't recognise this city at all, but perhaps that was because it was still dark. While she already trusted Amelix more than her sisters and mother, something about the robot seemed off. She didn't dare ask exactly where they were, thinking Amelix probably didn't want to say. She started thinking about the events of the past day, with Seven's awakening and her running away from the reactions of Azaleah and Wren. Had she just allowed herself to be kidnapped? What did Amelix really want?

"You alright down there?" Amelix asked.

"Yeah... just thinking about some things."

"I can imagine you're tired."

"How'd you figure?"

"You Trialians always get tired in the night. Don't worry, you'll have a bed when we get inside."

"Huh." Layla was starting to think that this wasn't an impulse decision by the robot. "You planned to recruit me, didn't you?"

"I've known about you for a while. It was just a matter of finding you alone."

"Right. How did you know about my life situation?"

"Your laptop has a camera and microphone. And your own hobby made it quite easy to find the source, and take control of what I needed."

"Seems unethical."

Amelix made a sound that sounded like a stifled laugh. "I wonder how many times I'm going to get to call you a hypocrite."

"Hey! At least I didn't actually take control of anything!"

"But what I did got you out of a tough life situation. Far as I see, we're even." Amelix carried Layla towards an opening in an especially tall and round building, one that stood taller than most of the other buildings in the city. This one had very few lights on in comparison to the brightly lit collection of buildings surrounding it.

"Welcome to my home. You have free reign of everywhere except the top floor."

Layla looked around. It was basic but pristine, the walls white and featureless. A clearing was ahead, and a spiral staircase was prominent in the centre, going both up and down. Multiple doors, equally bland, surrounded the central clearing.

"Just so we're clear, how many floors above us is the top?"

"This is the second highest," Amelix replied. "Your bedroom is on this floor, the one above here is off-limits."

"Okay..." Layla looked around again, and saw nothing that resembled what was usually present at the entrance of a typical house. "Is there somewhere I should leave stuff like..."

"You can take everything to your bedroom," Amelix interrupted. "Including your shoes, I don't care. Keep them on as long as you want. I'm no Trialian, the standard rules you have mean nothing to me."

"Huh. I guess it makes sense that this place doesn't have standard Trialian customs."

"Nope. There's only a couple of a rules, and I expect them to be followed. They're very basic, though, so I hope they're not too much of an issue."

Layla stared at the robot. "Go on."

"Firstly, you're not to leave the building alone. It's... not safe. Not that I think you'd want to, as there isn't actually a way down."

"Okay. That's reasonable."

"Secondly, we're not alone here. We're a team of three. You don't have to like Emily, but I expect you two to be able to have good team cohesion. If I haven't asked you to do something together, as long as you're not at war with each other, I don't care how you two interact, even if that means you don't interact at all."