Page 24 of Bliss & Her Idols

“What if he’s trying to fly free from the cage?”

“Why didn’t you tell me about this before?” I demand. “We’ve been friends for a year. Don’t you trust me? It kind of hurts.”

“I do trust you, Bee,” Cricket replies, “more than I’ve ever trusted anyone. I wouldn’t have risked what I have — suffered what I have — if I didn’t. But Jin’s letters are private. He’s chosen to write to me. I sent him a package with a knitted golden cricket that I made for him and just laid out my soul about my own life not because I expected anything back…I’m invisible to everyone. So, I never dreamed that someone like Jin would see me. But I wanted him to know how much his music meant to me. My life is difficult, but Jin’s music helped me through it. I thought that he got enough hate online from trolls and people who only cared about how sexy he is. I was shocked that he’d actually read my letter. He said that it helped him too. He sent me one backwith a knitted dragon inside. It’s the only soft thing that I have. It smells of him.My Dragon.I like to think that he kept my cricket too. I couldn’t betray his trust. Please tell me that you understand?”

My expression softens. “Of course I do. But why are you telling me now then?”

“Because in the last month, I’ve become increasingly sure from the cryptic and unusual way the letters are written that Jin is working codes into them. After the letter that arrived this week, I’m certain.”

My heart is beating wildly.

I run my hand through my hair.

A code? Smuggled out in fan letters?

Jin must be using the code to hide whatever the message is from his staff and security team.

I knew that I wasn’t being paranoid about those vlogs.

“Are you an expert at codes as well as a hacker?” My pulse speeds up, as excitement rushes through me.

This man is extraordinary.

If Cricket is an Omega, then I’d bet my year’s supply of coffee that Piper tries to recruit him into the BPU.

“Well, I’m a better hacker than I am code breaker, or I’d have worked out what Dragon was talking about sooner,” Cricket admits. “That’s why I’m one of the FBI’s most wanted.”

I freeze.

What. The. Hell?

I cough and then clear my throat.

“Are you still there, Bee?” Cricket says in a small voice.

“Yep,” I force myself to squeak, even though adrenaline is rushing through me. I thought that I’d been the one who was hiding the deadly secret. All this time, however, my geek has been one of the most wanted criminals in America. “Surely there aren’t many hackers who are…? I mean, there’s Knot Crusher ofcourse but he’s…and you couldn’t be…? After all, he’sthehacker who has been causing disruption to billionaire, corrupt Alphas everywhere for the last… Fuck, you are, aren’t you?”

“Congratulations, you’re the first person to find out who the anonymous hacker Knot Crusher is.” Cricket sounds proud and shy at the same time, which is an impressive thing to pull off. “It’s another reason that I contact you at night. My pack are all asleep, which is when I can use my brother’s computer and pull off the stunts.”

I throw myself onto my back with a laugh. “Fuck, you’re awesome. I follow Knot Crusher. Every liberal pack and most Omegas do. You’re so funny. Your memes and subversive stealth attacks are legendary. Last month, when you changed Immortal’s album cover to the six Idol bosses illustrated as shadow vampires sucking Immortal’s lifeblood was epic. Especially, when the picture mysteriously appeared on the front of every music magazine.”

Yet I battle to hide my fear.

Knot Crusher is infamous.

If the authorities ever catch Cricket, then they’ll make an example out of him just like they did my parents.

If he’s an Omega, he wouldn’t simply be sent to the Institute to be reconditioned and then auctioned to a pack, or if an Alpha, to the Alpha Center.

He wouldn’t merely be broken.

He’d be executed.

“Mockery is the secret weapon of us Omegas.” Cricket chirps in excitement. “I want those powerful Alphas who think that Omegas are weak and can be controlled to know that we can fight back.”

Omega.

My Omega.

---