Excerpt: Agent of the Light

Chapter 1
All she wanted was to be able to leave the house unnoticed.
Listening from her room, Valerie decided the house was a little too quiet for comfort. She waved her hand at her doorway and the door disappeared. She stuck her head out into the hall, pushing her blond hair out of her face as she looked to the left. She listened again, this time making out a few distinct noises. And smells.
Mom’s doing laundry, she thought. And that thumping noise must mean she’s washing my shoes. Again.
Last night, Valerie had had an interesting time explaining what happened to her new white shoes. She’d only had the shoes for two weeks, and this was the second time her mother needed to wash them. Valerie smiled ruefully, remembering the look on her mother’s face when she’d tracked mud into the house. Valerie had been sorely tempted to tell her mom something along the lines of, “You try to keep your shoes clean while running through a muddy field.” She’d restrained herself, though.
Yes, I rather like my head on my shoulders, she thought.
She actually didn’t mind being scolded about her shoes, and was glad her mother hadn’t noticed that she’d actually fallen down in the mud. Her dark brown pants had hidden the mud well, and she’d been able to sneak them into the laundry pile unnoticed.
Val grabbed her olive green canvas messenger bag from her desk, then stepped through the doorway. She reached back and pressed her hand to the wall, making the door visible again. The doorway was outlined for a moment, and then even that vanished. Val hesitated, trying to think of what to do with her messenger bag. She decided to hold it out by the strap, balancing herself as she tiptoed down the hall towards her mother’s office. The floor in the middle of the hall was squeaky in a few spots, so she stepped across the hall and crept along the side, hugging the wall. She edged past the little table covered with decorative trinkets, being careful not to bump it and make noise.
If only you’d remove the portal restriction, I wouldn’t have to sneak around like this! she thought.
She neared her mother’s office and carefully peeked around the open doorway. Madeleine was sitting at her desktop computer, typing furiously. She was facing away from the door, so Valerie stuck her head in further. Madeleine’s stereo was on, playing soft classical music. She was clearly absorbed in her latest novel, but Valerie knew that any slight noise would break her concentration. In one swift movement, Valerie moved past the office and around the corner. She nearly wrenched her arm trying to keep her bag from hitting the wall. She paused for a moment.
Valerie now stood in the foyer. In the utility room, the washer and dryer were running. They were usually almost silent, but Valerie’s shoes were thumping around in the dryer. She looked over at the Wall Terminal Computer and smiled, thinking of a plan. If she timed it right, the thumping noise from the dryer would drown out the soft beeping noises that the computer made. The beeping wasn’t very loud, but it would probably be enough to alert her mother.
Valerie stepped up to the computer screen on the wall and put down her messenger bag. She paused for a second, listening to the rhythm of the thumping, then she touched the screen. The beep sound was almost nonexistent. Valerie smiled and opened the security system. She didn’t know her parent’s password, but she’d written a quick program that would hack into the system and give her administrative access. She may have been able to bring up the security system from the wall terminal in her room, but she had a feeling that this new system might alert her parents if she tried.
Almost there, she thought, bringing up the hacking program on her wristwatch.
She took a breath and activated the program, doing a very short-range broadcast to the security system. A moment later, ACCESS GRANTED flashed across the screen, and she was in.
Yes!
Valerie grinned and quickly opened the portal protocols section, but then she saw something that made her pause. There was one name already on the “allow in-home porting” list.
Dad? What are you up to? she thought, frowning.
She shook her head, deciding to check it out later. She started typing her name on the allow list. A moment later, the dryer stopped and issued a soft buzz. Before Valerie could finish her task, Madeleine stepped out into the hall and caught her red-handed.
I was so close! thought Valerie, gritting her teeth and dropping her hand to her side.
“Val? When did you get home?” asked Madeleine, approaching her.
“Uh, about half an hour ago,” said Val, trying not to panic.
“What are you doing?”
Val turned around and said, “I was just—”
Madeleine looked closer at the computer screen and said, “You can’t get to that screen by accident.”
“I just wanted to—”
Madeleine held up her hand, cutting Val off.
“I don’t want to hear your lies, Valerie Ulrich,” said Madeleine. “I see what you were trying to do.”
Val opened her mouth, then shut it again.
“I don’t want you going out at night,” continued Madeleine. “I’m sick of finding out that you’ve snuck out and gotten yourself into trouble. And not just yourself, sometimes. You drag your cousin into it, too!”
“Mom,” groaned Val. “It’s not like I try to get into trouble.”
“Oh and I suppose breaking and entering is something everyone does these days. Just because you can do it doesn’t mean that you should.”
“Look, Mom, I have to go to the library—”
“But you thought you’d just hack the security system on the way?”
Madeleine exited the security system and said, “I just don’t know what to do with you anymore...”
The doorbell rang. Madeleine reached past Val and opened the view screen. It was Val’s cousin, Dierdre.
“See, now I’m late, Mom,” said Val.
“Don’t you dare try to turn this around on me,” said Madeleine, opening the door.
“Hi, Aunt Maddy!” said Dee cheerfully.
“Good afternoon, Dee,” said Madeleine. “Give my regards to your parents.”
“Will do. Come on, Val, Harrison is waiting.”
Dee grabbed Val’s arm. Val reached down to grab her messenger bag, then went out to the terrace after Dee. The door closed behind them.
“Yes, we don’t want to leave Harrison alone with that slut for too long,” said Val.
“I hate Karen,” said Dee. “I swear she goes out of her way to kill her brain cells. She must seriously be lacking intelligence.”
“It’s a good thing Harrison cares more about intelligent girls,” said Val, summoning a portal in the Terrace Porting Area.
“Though he may not be able to resist the magnetic pull of her sexy—”
“Ahhhh,” said Val, cutting Dee off and covering her ears. “I don’t want to hear it!”
Dee laughed and said, “If she wasn’t such a complete ditz, I’d be tempted to do her.”
“I’m sure,” said Val. “Come on.”
The two girls stepped into the waiting portal.
They appeared at one of the TPAs of the public library and they quickly stepped out of the portal circle. Val slung her messenger bag across her shoulder and walked through the entrance with Dee.
“There are a lot of students here today,” said Dee as the two skirted around the crowd at the circulation desk.
“I’d hate to see the crowd during midterms,” said Val.
“I’m sure the school library would be more crowded then.”
Dee caught an empty elevator before it closed. Someone was calling it to the third floor.
“What floor is Harrison on?” asked Dee.
“The third,” said Val. “He said he’d be in one of the study rooms.”
“Out of the sight of the general public?”
Val punched Dee in the arm and said, “Hey, he’s not a douchebag.”
“Geez, sorry,” muttered Dee, rubbing her arm. “You don’t have to be so grouchy.”
“Sorry,” said Val. “It’s just...now that mom caught me, she’s probably going to keep a close eye on me. I might not be able to go to the Chatroom tonight.”
“What! I can’t get in there without you.”
The elevator arrived at the third floor with a ding, and the doors opened. A group of people started to get in, then moved back to let Val and Dee out.
“Harrison might be able to get in,” said Val, walking through the group of people.
“Possibly, but he’s not as good as you. And anyway it wouldn’t be the same! He’s your boyfriend, not mine.”
“I’m glad it’s Friday, though. Mom and Dad are going out on a date, so there’s a better chance that Mom might let me spend the night at your place.”
Val and Dee walked by the study rooms. Val touched the doors to make the windows appear, and she glanced inside.
“And my parents are going on a mission tonight,” said Dee, “Who knows when they’ll be back?”
“He’s in here,” said Val.
Val and Dee entered the room, but Harrison was alone.
“Hey, girls,” said Harrison, looking up from his laptop.
“Where’s Karen?” Dee asked.
“She called about 10 minutes ago and said she couldn’t make it.”
“Oh, good,” said Val.
“I don’t mind tutoring a mindless skank every now and then,” said Harrison, “but I’m kind of glad she didn’t show.”
“Me, too,” said Dee, pulling out a chair and sitting down.
“You and your raging hormones,” muttered Val, sitting down next to Harrison.
“Hey!”
Harrison laughed and said, “She’s hot, but nothing compared to my girl.”
Val grinned. Harrison ran a hand through her hair.
“I meant,” said Dee, “I’m glad she’s not here so we can talk about the Chatroom.”
“Oh, right,” said Val. “The last thing we need is for her to find out about it.”
“We should take her there and let Ms. Laine have her!”
They all burst out laughing.
“That would be priceless,” said Harrison, twirling a piece of Val’s hair around his finger.
Dee turned on the interactive user interface of her wristwatch and projected it onto the table and the wall. A schematic of the main corridor of the Chatroom appeared. Harrison synched his laptop, and Val synched her wristwatch. Any information Dee added would show up on their personal copy of the file.
“So last night I ventured into Restricted Area A,” said Dee, drawing the additions on the table with a stylus. On the wall, lines appeared where she drew them.
“And Ms. Laine reamed your ass,” commented Val.
“I’m surprised you can sit,” added Harrison.
Dee gave an exasperated sigh and said, “Can we not talk about that?”
“Well, it’s interesting.”
“It’s embarrassing! I wasn’t careful and I got caught. End of story.”
“All right, fine,” said Val.
“Besides, it wasn’t that bad,” said Dee, looking at the wall. “I’ve heard that she’s done much worse.”
Dee started labeling the halls and a few rooms.
“Cells?” asked Val.
Dee nodded and said, “That’s what they looked like to me. Not extremely secure, but the rooms had actual doors.”
“Interesting,” said Harrison.
“There were kids in some of the cells,” said Dee.
“Clients?” asked Val.
“Not sure. Probably, though I have no idea why they’d be singled out.”
“They were teenagers, right?” asked Harrison.
“I suppose. They were all sleeping.”
“Sleeping? That’s kind of odd.”
“I know,” said Val. “They’re already asleep, that’s why they’re in the Chatroom in the first place.”
“I wish I could figure out how that building attracts sleeping kids,” said Harrison.
“Seems like Ms. Laine and the hall monitors keep them under pretty tight control,” said Dee, turning to look at Val and Harrison.
“I wonder if the mind readers can read minds in their own worlds.”
“I just really want to know how they can be here without using portals,” said Val.
“Not that they can’t use portals,” said Dee.
“No, but those incidents are accidental. Not to mention that Ms. Laine really lays into them if she catches them using the portals.”
“I still don’t see the point of that. They’re sleeping, so they obviously shouldn’t be expected to take responsibility for their actions.”
“Speaking of portals, have you had any luck trying to set different coordinates?” asked Harrison.
“Not yet,” said Val. “Seems the safest places to arrive are rooms 6, 8 and 10. I’m still working on it, though.”
“And you can’t even get out of your own house,” said Dee.
“It’s not my fault my parents installed that fucking scrambler! It is so hard to bypass, unless you’re on the safe list. And I came this close to putting myself on the list.”
“Your mom caught you again?” asked Harrison.
Val groaned and put her head in her hands. She said, “Yes. And I’ll probably have to rewrite the hacking program, because she’ll no doubt block my current program.”
“Why don’t you try it sometime when she’s not home?” asked Dee.
Val gave her a look and said, “When is she never not home? She only goes out when dad is home.”
“Hello,” said Dee, rapping her knuckles on Val’s head. “Your parents are going out tonight.”
“Oh, right,” said Val. “They’ll probably lock me out of the computer, though.”
“True. Let’s just hope you can come over to my house.”
“When should I meet you guys?” Harrison asked.
Dee turned off the interface projection and said, “We’re not sure yet. If Val is grounded or something, then we aren’t going.”
“Aww, man!”
“There’s no point in going if we don’t go together.”
“Yeah, I probably couldn’t get in,” said Harrison, frowning.
“I could make you an override sometime,” said Val.
“That’s too much trouble,” said Dee. “Better to wait until you come with us.”
“All right. I’ll go see if I can get mom to let me spend the night with you.”
“We’ll let you know if it works out,” Dee said to Harrison.
He nodded and closed his laptop. Val picked up her messenger bag, and the three left the room.
Val arrived back at home. Her dad wasn’t home yet, and her mom would still be upset about the computer incident earlier. She sighed and went inside, dropping her messenger bag by the front door. She heard typing, so she went around the corner to her mother’s office.
“I’m home,” she said.
“Mmhm,” said Madeleine, still typing.
“Uh, could I spend the night at Dee’s?” Val asked.
Madeleine stopped typing and turned around.
“Since you and Dad are going out tonight, I mean,” continued Val.
“I’m supposed to reward you for your bad behavior?” asked Madeleine.
Madeleine turned back to the computer and saved her document with a few keystrokes, then faced Val again.
Val hesitated, then said, “No, but would you rather leave me alone with the computer?”
Madeleine sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.
“I guess it’s better than leaving you here, alone,” she said, then looked up at Val.
Val jumped and clapped her hands together, saying, “Yes!”
“But I don’t want to find out that you two were out until all hours of the night.”
You won’t find out, unless shit happens, Val thought.
“I know,” said Val. She put on her most sincere smile and said, “We’ll be good.”
Madeleine rolled her eyes and said, “Right.”
“Can I go now?”
Madeleine turned back to her computer and said, “You might as well. I’m not cooking tonight.”
“Ok, see you later, Mom.”
Val ran around the corner to grab her messenger bag. She heard her mother begin typing again. Val ran to her room and called Dee. Her watch’s speakerphone activated. She pulled the phone earpiece out of its little storage portal and put it in her ear.
“What did she say?” asked Dee, answering the call.
“She’d rather not leave me alone with the computer,” said Val, dumping the contents of her messenger bag out on her bed.
“Sweet! Oh by the way, I stopped at the store on the way home,” said Dee.
Val looked around for her pajamas, then remembered she’d left them on the floor in the bathroom. She walked into the bathroom and turned on the light.
“Oh? What did you buy?” Val asked, picking up her pajamas. She tucked them under her arm, then opened a drawer under the sink and pulled out a few toiletries.
“Black hairspray! I want to change my hair tonight.”
“Oh, yeah. We definitely don’t want that bitch to recognize you,” said Val, going back into her bedroom. “Anyway, I’ll be there in a few.”
Val hung up and looked around, trying to remember if she had everything. She spotted her glasses case on her nightstand and grabbed it, putting it in a side pocket of her bag. She’d wear her glasses to the Chatroom tonight. Val turned off the light and closed the door behind her. She glanced in her mother’s office on the way out, but didn’t say anything as she passed. She just wanted to leave before her mom changed her mind.
***
“Ack! You just sprayed my ear!” Dee screeched, looking in her bathroom mirror.
“Hold still!” Val said, holding the can of black hairspray. “It’ll come off with water. Quit moving around and it won’t get everywhere!”
“It’s cold!” Dee whined, but held still. She drew the black hairdresser cape tighter around her neck.
“And it smells like shit,” said Val, wrinkling her nose. “Maybe I’d better open the window.”
Dee grabbed the can and read the label.
“It says to use in a well-ventilated area, dipshit!” said Dee.
“You’re the one who bought it. Why didn’t you catch that earlier?”
Val stepped over to the small computer terminal on the wall and opened the window halfway. Then she turned on the fan.
“It would be just like us to knock ourselves out with toxic hairspray fumes,” said Dee, giggling.
“Quit laughing and hold still. I’m almost done.”
“How long is Harrison going to take?”
“He shouldn’t be too long. His dad wanted to have dinner with him.”
“Parents can be so annoying,” said Dee, shaking her head. “Ah! You got my ear again!”
Val finally finished covering Dee’s red hair with black coloring. It was a little stiff, but she was going to pull it up into a ponytail anyway. Val threw away the nearly-empty can and sat down on the toilet as Dee attempted to put her hair up. Val leaned forward and flapped the back of her t-shirt.
“It’s hot in here,” said Val. “Opening the window let in some hot air.”
“It’s not that hot,” said Dee. “Ow.”
Dee grimaced when she ran a comb through her hair, but managed to make a decent ponytail. Val stopped flapping her shirt and tried to cross her legs, but the satiny material of her pajama bottoms kept making her leg slip. She crossed her ankles instead.
“Should I go for the gothic look?” Dee asked, bringing out her makeup bag.
“Might as well,” said Val, standing up to look into Dee’s bag.
They both dug around in the bag, pulling out various items.
“I’ll wear my violet contacts,” said Dee.
Val nodded and said, “I can draw some glittery butterfly wings or something around your eyes.”
Dee looked at Val and said, “I’m going to look all fancy, but you aren’t going to wear any makeup at all.”
“You know I don’t like makeup much,” said Val. Then she smiled wickedly and said, “Besides, unlike you, I’m naturally gorgeous.”
“Hey!”
The doorbell rang.
“That’s probably Harrison,” said Val. “I’ll get it. You do your foundation and stuff.”
“Just let him in from that terminal,” said Dee, pointing to the wall.
“You can do that?” Val asked, approaching the screen on the wall.
“Yeah, it’s a new feature. Yours doesn’t have it yet?”
“Not that I know of,” said Val. “You always get the new stuff first.”
The screen had a little pop-up window of the front door’s security video feed. Harrison stood there, carrying his backpack over one shoulder. Val saw allow and deny buttons, so she pressed allow.
“Where are you guys?” Harrison called from the foyer.
“In Dee’s bathroom!” called Val out the guest-side door.
Harrison peeked into the guest room, then walked through it to the bathroom.
“Are you guys ready?” he asked, setting his backpack down.
“I need to put on some makeup,” said Dee, applying foundation to her forehead.
“I like the hair,” he said. “I doubt anyone would recognize you when you’re done.”
“I wish I could wear a medieval-style gown,” said Dee. “But alas, I’m stuck with pajamas.”
“Hey, it’s not so bad,” said Val. “You have that new black silk set, remember? It should go perfect with your style tonight.”
“Or you could go naked,” said Harrison.
Val punched him in the arm.
“Hey, I was kidding,” he said.
“Why do you always flirt in front of me?” Val asked, frowning.
“I do?”
Dee laughed and said, “Yeah, you just don’t notice it.”
“Sorry,” said Harrison, hugging Val.
He sounded sincere, so Val let it go. She hugged him back.
“Why don’t you two kiss and make up?” Dee asked, layering dark colors of lipstick.
Val gave Dee a look in the mirror.
“Oh, right. I forgot you two are ‘celibate’,” said Dee.
“I just don’t want my hormones to get the better of me,” said Val.
“I maintain my opinion that kissing is perfectly safe.”
“Not when your girlfriend is as beautiful as Val,” said Harrison with a wink.
“Well, whenever you two get over this ridiculous notion, I want to know!” said Dee. “Come do my eyes, Val.”
Val pulled away from Harrison and set to work drawing on Dee’s face with glittery eyeliner pencils.
“Wow,” said Harrison, looking over Val’s shoulder.
Dee slipped away into her bedroom when Val finished.
“I really wish I could be older,” whispered Val. “Then birth control wouldn’t be so much of an issue with my parents, and we could—”
“Mmhm,” said Harrison, nuzzling Val’s neck.
She pushed him away softly, and Dee came back into the bathroom.
“And the transformation is complete,” said Dee.
“You look awesome,” said Val, eyeing Dee’s black tank top and pants.
“Ms. Bitch definitely won’t know it’s me,” said Dee. “Though I plan to avoid her if at all possible.”
“I doubt anyone actually wants to run into her,” said Harrison.
“Except Caspian, perhaps,” said Val.
“One of these days I’m going to get to the bottom of that,” said Dee. “I swear they’re doing the nasty.”
“I almost feel sorry for him if they are,” said Harrison. “She seems like the kinky type.”
“Just because she carries around a riding crop doesn’t mean she’s kinky,” said Val.
“No, but you know it’s probably true,” said Dee, then she frowned. “And she doesn’t just carry that damned thing. She uses it on unsuspecting people!”
“I won’t let her get you this time,” said Val, hugging Dee. “In fact, I want to explore some of restricted area A on my own. Why don’t you take a rest from exploring?”
“I should,” said Dee. “I haven’t sat back and enjoyed the place in awhile.”
“Val, maybe you shouldn’t go poking around so soon after Dee got caught. Ms. Laine probably upped the security around there,” said Harrison.
“I doubt it,” said Val. “And I’m going to be careful, anyway.”
They moved into Dee’s bedroom.
“Keep an eye out for Maryam,” said Dee. “I’ve seen her wandering around in the restricted area.”
“Oh?” said Harrison. “I thought she was just a hall monitor. Why didn’t you mention this earlier?”
“I just remembered. I saw her right before Ms. Bitch nabbed me.”
“Now that I think about it, what did you do with your other pajama bottoms?” Val asked. “I hope you threw them away. They were so ruined.”
“Like I’d leave them around for mom to find them,” said Dee. “Not something I want to try explaining to her. Though I think she was suspicious anyway. I skipped breakfast so I wouldn’t have to sit down in front of her.”
“I don’t blame you,” said Harrison. “Oh and Val, what did your mom say about your clothes?”
“She didn’t notice the pants, but she pitched a fit over the shoes,” said Val.
“Well, you didn’t know that you were going to be running through that field with them,” said Dee.
“I know! But I can’t very well tell her that.”
There was a moment of awkward silence.
“So, should we go then?” asked Harrison.
“I think I should make some escape portals,” said Val.
“That’s going to take a long time,” said Dee.
“I’d rather wait and have a way to get out,” said Harrison.
“Good point,” said Dee.
Val sat down at the foot of Dee’s bed. She opened up her portal program and started working on the three escape portals, first setting them to return to the school. She always used the school as a return point, in case they might be followed somehow. She didn’t want to lead any guards to Dee’s house, or her own.
Harrison found Dee’s remote and turned on the TV. He went around her bed and sat on the other side, flipping channels. Dee jumped up on the bed and lay back, stretching, then she flopped onto her stomach to face Val and Harrison.
“I was meaning to ask,” Harrison said to Dee while still looking at the TV, “do you know what your parents are up to tonight?”
“All I know is it’s a mission,” said Dee. “I did ask, but Dad said he couldn’t give me any details.”
“I want to be an agent,” said Val. “But Mom and Dad really don’t want me to, and they won’t tell me exactly why.”
“I want to be an agent, too,” said Dee. “My parents probably will let me join the program next summer.”
“I don’t think mine will be so inclined, but I’m just glad that they let me go to the summer camps over the years.”
“Remember the first time we met Ms. Laine?” asked Dee.
“How could I forget!” said Val, looking up and rolling her eyes.
“You two knew her before?” asked Harrison, turning to face Dee.
“Oh, yeah. We met her like eight years ago,” said Dee, rolling onto her back.
Harrison raised his eyebrows. Val continued working on the escape portals and let Dee talk.
“So Mom and Dad convinced Val’s parents to let her go with me to Light’s summer camp,” said Dee.
“I always wanted to go to that,” said Harrison. “But no, Dad made me go to summer school.”
“That sucks,” said Dee. “Light camp is great.”
“How did you run across Ms. Laine?”
“Val here made a bonehead mistake.”
Val snerked.
“She wanted to port us directly to camp instead of using the normal route through the school,” continued Dee. “But somehow she fucked up the coordinates and we ended up at the Dark camp!”
“No shit!” said Harrison.
“Ms. Laine was running it, and she was training a bunch of evil little kids. Actually, the younger ones weren’t so bad. The older ones really bought into her shit, seems like.”
“How long were you there?” asked Harrison.
“A day,” said Dee, propping herself up on her elbows. “Ms. Laine had some minor portal dampers in place, and it took Val awhile to get through it.”
“Awhile?”
“I was only six,” said Val, looking up. “Give me a break.”
“Oh, right,” said Harrison. “Wow, I’m impressed, actually.”
“You should be,” said Dee, sitting up. “And we got out of there just in time, too. The Light camp was mostly a day thing, with the option of sleeping there. Our parents didn’t want us doing the sleep-away thing that first year. The Dark camp, however, was different. You had to stay there. In fact, it was more of a lock-in. And from what I heard later, there were much stronger portal dampers in the sleeping areas.”
“I got us out of there right when the older kids started herding the younger kids to the sleeping areas,” said Val, looking up again. “It really was close…we probably would have been stuck there all night.”
“And of course our parents were furious,” said Dee. “They almost didn’t let us go to the Light camp the next day.”
“I’d be furious if that happened to my kids,” said Harrison. He glanced at the TV, then turned it off and dropped the remote onto the bed.
“I’d hate to see what my parents would do if they found out I was going to the Chatroom,” said Val. “And they’d probably blame me for ‘taking’ you guys with me.”
“Well, it was your idea in the first place,” said Dee.
“I didn’t force you!” said Val. “And anyway, I’m finished so we can go now.”
Dee looked down at the cream-colored quilt on her bed and said, “Shit, I got black stuff all over my mom’s quilt.”
Val stood up and brushed her hand over some of the black specks. They came right off.
“Oh, good,” said Dee. She stood and started brushing some more black specks onto the floor.
Harrison stood too, then moved around the bed to Val.
“You did the portals with the tripwire?” he asked.
“Yeah,” said Val. “It’s a bit more involved, but worth it in the long run. Especially if you get into a pinch, which is entirely possible.”
Harrison nodded and held out his wrist. Val synched one of the escape portals with his watch. Dee walked over to Val and her watch accepted the second portal. Val set the third to work with her own watch, then summoned the portal that would take them to room 6 of the Chatroom. They stepped into the portal and vanished.