Page 37 of Blood Brother Cursed

“Nope. People have never died in front of me, so at this point, I’m really not willing to risk something happening.”

Things were quiet as he pulled out the strange-looking tablet. Astrid tried to get a better look at it as he worked on it. When he finished and walked over to her, she asked, “Can I try it?”

“I’m serious; it will be hard to use other devices.”

“You seem certain.”

He smiled, “I thought I was high-tech until I met Elliott, and I used to build secret networks for a few companion organizations. So, yeah, I can honestly say it’s pretty muchimpossible to use human tech after using what Elliott has designed.”

She narrowed her eyes and tried to hide a smile. “Is that why you still have business cards?”

He sat in a chair next to her, his head moving back and forth. “No, like I told you, that’s for safety. Although, I’m not sure how much his equipment would be bothered by electrical pulses and the like.”

“Oh, right, the explosion.”

“Yeah, the explosion. Anyway, the stuff will be here this evening. And I told Levi he can just call you when we get your new phone.”

“Wait, what happened to my phone?”

“It was on your person when they shocked you, and it didn’t survive the aftermath.”

Her eyes widened. “What do you mean?”

“The hallway is pretty charred. I’ll make sure to have it fixed so that you don’t lose money for it.”

“Wait, I have to go back at some point. Otherwise, where am I supposed to live?”

“I’m not sure right now, but we can consider that later. Right now, we need to get the shock out of your system.”

“And figure out how to break the curse,” Astrid said insistently.

He turned to look at her, a defeated smile on his face. “If you insist. But I can’t go to Louisiana.”

“Why?”

“Because I have to work.”

“But how am I supposed to do the research if I don’t go?”

He thought for a moment; then he started tapping on his tablet. Once he finished, he handed it to her. “I’m warning you; this is going to ruin things for you.”

She giggled. “I think it’ll be fine.”

Looking at the screen, Astrid started to understand a bit about what he meant. It looked more like she could just walk through the screen. Her eyes went up to the man who was watching her. Unable to help it, she tapped the screen with her finger. “It almost looks like I’m there.”

“I know. It’s not quite the same as being there, but you can get around virtually. You can see what’s in books and stuff by touching them onscreen. I have no idea how he did that, but apparently, he’s been using that for a couple of decades for his research. I also think he’s working on a headset, but it’s not a priority, considering.”

“Considering what?”

He smiled. “It only takes us about 45 minutes to get around the world. If we want to go somewhere, we just go.”

“Well, that’s very… handy.”

“We still have to be careful not to be seen.”

Astrid turned her head to the side. “What about planes and governments?”

“We don’t worry about them. Most of us can either cloak or fly too high to be noticed.”

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