“Wish I could come! Are you going to get one of those virtual assistants to help you do everything?”

I laugh and say probably not. We chat for a bit. It’s not that difficult at all to be my sister. I was worried it would be, with how much she’s changed the last few years. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to bridge that final gap. Perhaps it was just different hair, a different face, a different job. I can slip into her personality almost as easily as my own. I thought it’d make me feel braver, but it only makes me all the lonelier.

Diane never asks me what’s wrong, or if I’m feeling all right. I’ve masked everything behind Tila’s mannerisms. She’s brasher, doesn’t self-edit before she speaks. Or at least she doesn’t appear to, so it makes it seem she has nothing to hide. Though, obviously, she did.

I say farewell to Diane and make my way through the other names on the list. The only people I don’t ping are the friends from Zenith, since Nazarin says we’ll be going there soon enough.

When he first proposed that, so soon, I thought he was crazy. But now, as I say goodbye to Tila’s last friend on my list, I think it won’t be as bad as I fear. Although I have a lot less experience with seeing how the “hostess Tila” acts at work. Her job is a far cry from anything I’m used to doing—the machines I work with don’t speak to me, as I’m not in robotics—and I wonder if they’ll see straight through me as soon as I set my foot through the door.

After I finish pinging everyone, I lie down in an actual bed in my room and doze.

Nazarin comes for me a few hours later. When he knocks I tell him to enter, forcing myself to sit up. Though he’s only slept four hours, he looks refreshed, whereas I’m sure my hair is frizzy and my makeup has smeared halfway down my face. “No rest for the wicked, I’m afraid,” he says. “I’m to plug you back in. I’ll be going back out again. I’m needed.”

I get up, pulling my sweater around my shoulders. “What for?”

“Security for a Verve drop.” He sighs. We go downstairs. My feet drag on every step.

“Who are they selling it to?”

He grimaces. “They’re bribing a Zeal lounge, one of the shitty, off-grid ones, to spike the Zeal with Verve.”

My eyes widen. “Why?”

“I think they’re experimenting with it on a wider scale, and using the Zealots as a testing ground.”