Exposure Read Free

side.
    “Oh, man!” Shelton had both hands on his dome. He seemed winded, despite not having moved during the attack. “Things just got real in here.”
    “I’ve said it before, Tory.” Hi shook his head in wonder. “You have a natural gift for pissing people off. And not just kinda mad. Like, lose-your-freaking-mind, rush-the-stand-in-open-court bonkers.”
    My eyes rolled. “Thanks.”
    Harris smoothed her suit with trembling hands. “We need to clear the courtroom.” Despite everything, I detected an undercurrent of excitement in her voice. “I’ll walk you out.”
    I cast a final look back at the stand. Judge DeMerit stood frozen behind his bench, gavel in hand, a stunned expression on his face.
    I hear that.
    Kit gathered me with one arm and we hustled from the chamber.
     

S helton pulled the portal shut behind us.
    My heartbeat finally slowed.
    I sank into a chair beside our bunker’s circular worktable.
    What a day.
    “I still can’t believe he came at you like that!” Hi, for the third time. He dropped into the space-age super-chair attached to our computer workstation. “That was a pure psycho move right there. What a loon.”
    Hiram can be described as husky or chubby, depending on your generosity. A funny kid, with twinkling brown eyes and wavy brown hair, Hi has quick wits and a razor-sharp tongue. He’s also a science nut, and loves setting up complex experiments.
    Hiram had ditched his school uniform, and was now sporting faded brown cargo shorts and a red Gremlins tee. He was obsessed with retro gear—half the time, I’d never even heard of the subjects.
    Hi was always happy to explain. At length.
    “Sorry I froze in there, Tor.” Shelton frowned as he shirt-wiped his glasses. “Not exactly my ‘One Shining Moment,’ huh?”
    I waved off his apology. I knew Shelton hated how skittish he could be.
    “Hey, I froze, too.” My skin crawled at the memory. “Let’s just hope the jury got a good look. And that Parrish doesn’t find some way to spin it. That man is a snake.”
    “True story.” Shelton had changed into Bermuda shorts and a yellow polo. Both hung loosely on his skinny frame. Shelton’s dark chocolate skin mirrors that of his father, Nelson, but he’d inherited the soft facial features of his Japanese mother, Lorelei.
    Our computer ace—a cyber-hacker extraordinaire—Shelton’s equally adept with codes and puzzles. An expert lock picker, too. He’s not, however, much of a thrill seeker. Shelton’s list of phobias is a mile long.
    Shelton had turned sixteen in November, the second Viral to clear that lofty bar. He’d gotten his driver’s license just after Christmas, and now spent countless hours searching used-car websites, hunting the perfect ride.
    I’d celebrated my fifteenth birthday six weeks before the trial. We’d kept the festivities low key—just Shelton and Hi, Kit and Whitney, a few gifts, and a three-course meal at Husk. I’d been more than satisfied, though why Hiram thought I’d want an Angry Birds T-shirt was still a mystery.
    No Bolton Prep kids had been invited, not even Jason.
    He’d understood. The last thing I wanted was to broadcast how young I was. How I’d skipped a grade, and was “so smart.” That hadn’t worked out for me in the past.
    Maybe next year.
    Ben hadn’t been invited to my birthday, either. That was harder.
    But facts were facts: Ben had worked with the Gamemaster.
    He’d known who that lunatic was, all along, and said nothing.
    I hadn’t seen Ben much since his confession the night of the hurricane. Not that I’d wanted to see him. He’d turned seventeen in December, and I’d been invited to a celebratory dinner—along with Hi and Shelton—but didn’t attend.
    How could I?
    “You have to admit,” Hi said suddenly, “that wacko is pretty agile. He got, what, halfway to strangling you? Not a bad effort.”
    Shelton blew out a breath. “When the Gamemaster started moving, I just couldn’t believe it. His