Divided Read Online Free Page B

my intentions were twofold back then, considering I was doing it to drug him in order to keep him away from my Alt, safe.
    You? Making me breakfast? In bed? No way this is happening, West Grayer. The way he shook his head, the way he laughed.
    Shut up. My instant response, a typical one for me back then.
    I stand aside as I wait for a customer to leave the restaurant—the entrance is too narrow to fit more than one person at a time. Just a guy, but one who is vaguely familiar, in that odd, warped way people tend to be when you see them out of context.
    It clicks. “Kasey?” I call out to him.
    He looks over at me at the sound of his name, and dawning recognition has him smiling. His hair is a mop of reddish brown curls, most of it hanging over eyes that are half squinted against the dropping sun. “Hey, Grayer! Whoa, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
    “Since late fall maybe?” I say, trying to place when I last saw him at Torth Prep. Right before I went active, I’d see him in the halls once in a while, his goofy bellow of a laugh reverberating off the walls like a low, pleasant rumble. But it was only because he used to hang out with Luc a bit that I knew him well enough to tell him apart from the other students. “I didn’t even know you got your notice, Kasey. When did you complete?”
    “How did you—”
    I look at the thin black cuff strapped around his upper arm.
    “Oh, yeah, of course.” He grins. “Just over a month ago.”
    “Well, it’s good to see you again.” Acquaintance code between Alts for I’m glad you didn’t die, even if I don’t know you that well. Now I gesture more pointedly toward the cuff. “And this explains why you haven’t been back, I guess.”
    The black cuff is required dress for completes on a tour. Monthlong stints of manning the barrier, tours are required of all completes, to be fulfilled once a year for five years. Protecting Kersh from the Surround during a tour is usually viewed as an honor because of the path it takes to get there, but it doesn’t mean the completes have earned the right to coast. Sometimes the tour is standing guard along a portion of the barrier’s length, watching for signs of it being breached. Sometimes it’s collecting data brought back by drone scouts sent in the form of bot birds and bot snakes and any incoming audio over the airwaves that could be taken for assault codes and sending all of it off to the Board to be deciphered.
    “Yeah, this thing.” Kasey lifts his arm with the cuff and I can see the code BPS15J etched into the black label: B for Barrier, P for Patrol, and S15J for Sector 15, Jethro Ward. So he’s walking the barrier for this tour, then, and I look over to see that his expression is both proud and weary. He meets my gaze, his face suddenly clearing. “So, heard you’re working for Baer after you completed. Now, that’s brave.”
    I have to laugh. “Some days I think I must have been crazy to accept.”
    “That guy had me cleaning knives every day after school for two weeks when I was in weaponry last year. Made the mistake of nodding off while he was talking. He wouldn’t let anyone wake me up until the end of class, just so he could say I slept the whole time. Opened my eyes to the point of a blade an inch from my nose.”
    No, Baer wouldn’t take Kasey’s less-than-rapt-attention too well, and I have to laugh again. Argue with Baer as much as you want, but never let him think you’ve got nothing else to learn. “How is falling asleep even possible, Kasey?”
    He shrugs. “Not sure. I’m probably still the one and only, considering the punishment.” He shifts the takeout container he’s holding from one hand to the other. “Hey, Grayer, how about you?” It’s how he used to address Luc— Hey, Grayer, can I grab a ride? Hey, Grayer, let’s go grab some food. “You do a tour yet?”
    “Not yet. Soon, I think.” Once Julis signs off on me being fit, then I can look into registering. “So how is