Code raced across my screen at lightning pace, but I had no issues following it. I kind of wished I had though because then maybe I’d get a more interesting job for the remainder of our suspension.

Stretching my arms above my head, I yawned heavily and cracked my neck before rubbing the bridge of my nose in a gesture born of habit. I’d only recently made the change to contact lenses, and my old nervous twitches were going to take a long damn time to shake.

“Hard night?” the guy beside me, Scott, asked, and I snorted.

“That’s one way to put it,” I agreed, thinking he didn’t know the fucking half of it. Between Kit taking off to rescue Austin’s sorry ass to yet another interrupted makeout... yeah, to say I was tired would be an understatement.

I’d been hoping for a bit of a reprieve, but when Kit and Austin had hauled ass back to the training center, I no longer had any excuses not to be at my assigned shift reading the most mundane code I’d ever laid eyes on.

“Why don’t you take off?” Scott suggested. “There’s nothing life or death going on here.”

“You sure?” I asked, hoping he was sure. Sitting in this cramped office, working through a backlog of data for Omega was not my idea of fun on any day.

“Yep, I’ve got it. Go get some sleep or something; you look like shit.” Scott grinned at me and turned back to his own computer. Unlike the rest of us who’d gotten placed here as a punishment, this was actually his full time job. Strange man.

“Thanks, man,” I said, groaning as I stretched. “Owe you one.”

Clapping him on the shoulder, I swiped my security pass and let myself out of the little room. Maybe if I got home early, I could do some more research on Kit’s ring and how to get it back. Or even what she’s supposed to do with it once she did get it back.

Nothing was just handed to her on a platter as far as her Ban Dia magic was concerned, so I seriously doubted it’d be as simple as just putting on the ring and then poof instant reciprocal magic.

I was halfway down the fire escape stairs when my vision began to swim, and I paused, leaning one hand on the wall so as not to end up falling face first down three flights of concrete stairs. Despite Kit having healed me already, I wasn’t totally sure she’d changed me and didn’t want to test the theory with a broken neck.

My vision spotted around the edges, and my ears rang like I was about to pass out or something, but it all faded quickly. Instead of the ugly gray concrete of the fire escape stairs, the scene before my eyes was something very different.

“Again,” a stern-faced man in Omega camo ordered, and a pretty, Asian girl groaned.

“Seriously? I just did it three times in a row,” she complained, giving the camo-guy a dirty look.

They stood in a clearing of forest somewhere on Omega’s grounds—I knew because I recognized the distinctive markings on the trees where comm surveillance systems were installed. I should recognize them, anyway, seeing as I designed the damn program. Two other men stood silently across the far side of the clearing, a lab coated medic who was scribbling on a clipboard and Director Pierre.

“You’ll do it as many times as the Director wants to see it. Now do it again,” the dickwad in camo demanded, and the girl curled her lip in a snarl at him…

Spots danced across the scene as it faded into blackness and the voices dissipated. For a quick second, I was back in the stairwell leaning heavily against the wall, and then the scene shifted again. This time the change was so rapid my stomach clenched and rolled like I was going to vomit.

“You’re so screwed,” Lucy snickered, handing Kit a takeaway cup of coffee. They must have been on a break from class because the two girls were standing near the coffee cart outside the training wing.

“Tell me about it,” Kit groaned, rubbing a hand over her forehead, then taking a long sip of coffee and moaning in a way that made my dick hard. If I even had one in this weird vision-thing, that was.

“What are you going to do?” Lucy asked, but the grin on her face said she was thoroughly enjoying whatever Kit was pissed off about.

Kit shrugged her elegant shoulders, her silken tumble of red curls sliding onto her back as she moved. “Nothing? Just hope that his own pride will prevent him from doing a shitty job?”

“Seriously?” Lucy squeaked. “You’re actually going to let him tattoo you? That’s like... permanent as shit, babe.”

Wait, what? Kit was getting a tattoo from Austin? When did that happen? Lucky prick. Kind of made me wish I had a more hands-on skill…

The prick in question was leaning against the side of the building, his gaze glued to Kit like she was the last woman on earth. It was only a matter of time before those two got over their issues, and then I’d have to share her time with him too.

He’s lucky I love him like a fucking brother.

“Girls, move it,” he called out, and I saw Kit roll her eyes dramatically to Lucy.

“Hey, Austin!” Lucy yelled back at him with a teasing grin on her face. “Eat a—”

Whatever the end of that sentence was, it was lost in high-pitched ringing as the vision faded out and I blinked my eyes rapidly against the dark spots.

Okay, back in the stairwell.

My hands ran a quick search and found all my body parts exactly where they were meant to be, and I was still leaning against the wall.

Thank god for small mercies, that I hadn’t collapsed and rolled down the stairs when... whatever that was just happened.

Given my history with strangely prophetic dreams, seeing visions of things that were happening elsewhere wasn’t a total shock. But it was definitely an advancement. I’d never experienced anything like that while awake before, so it was something I definitely needed to make notes on and monitor.

There was no sense in worrying Kit if this was just stress-induced hallucinations... right?