Grid Seekers (Grid Seekers Book One) by Logan Byrne Page B

holding onto Liam, okay Alexia?” Peter asked.
    “I can do that,” I said.
    “Great. Now, do you see an opening about ten feet ahead of you? On the left?” Peter asked.
    “Yeah, I see it,” Liam said.
    “Walk towards it and take the turn,” Peter said.
    Liam and I started walking, the ground shifting as we did, no matter which direction we went in. I stumbled a little at first, though Liam stayed pretty stable, the absence of the real ground causing a little virtual dizziness.
    Liam and I got to the turn and took it. The maze looked a little more intense. We continued to walk forward, taking Peter’s orders, as he said he was decoding the surroundings to try to find any foreign objects that weren’t the stacked boxes all around us.
    “I’m scanning the areas around you as you move, so it’s important you keep moving unless I tell you to stop. I’ll inform you of any turns you should take,” Peter said.
    I could smell the cracked pine boxes, my hair bouncing as I walked, my right hand firmly on Liam’s shoulder, even though he was a little tall, at least compared to me. I looked up at him. He kept his eyes forward, the mask still on his face, the simulation not removing it to make it just a little more realistic. As I looked I noticed something, something I hadn’t seen before. It was a scar, a fairly faint one, just below his sharp jaw line.
    I wondered what it was from, maybe a childhood accident? I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed it before, as it was all I could see now. Wait, what was I doing? I needed to get my head in the game and stop looking at a stupid scar, especially when I was doing a simulation in front of everyone .
    “Stop!” Peter exclaimed.
    “What is it?” Liam asked.
    “It’s around you. I’m not sure of the exact location, but it looks like it’s to your left. There should be some shorter stacks of boxes, much shorter actually,” Peter said.
    “No, they’re pretty high,” I said, looking to my left.
    “I see it,” Liam said.
    “You do? Where?” I asked, as I looked around.
    “There. There’s an opening, though it’s pretty small and narrow. I can’t get through there. You’re going to have to,” Liam said.
    “Me?” I asked nervously.
    “I know you can do it,” Liam said.
    “I can see the object. It’s about fifteen or so feet up. It looks like it’s on top of a stack of some boxes, but you’ll have to go through that opening to get to the stack,” Peter said.
    “ Fifteen feet ?” I asked in shock. “I can’t do that. That’s too high,” I said, feeling my heart rate pick up.
    “You have to go, Alexia. I’m too big,” Liam said.
    “I don’t know. I don’t think I can,” I said, eyeing the opening, the rather thin opening.
    “Hey,” Liam said, grabbing my hand, causing me to turn my head and look at him.
    “What?” I asked, as his grip tightened on my hand.
    “I know you can do it. I didn’t get teamed up with you for no reason. I did because we’re going to win this. I wouldn’t ask you to do something I didn’t think you weren’t fully capable of,” Liam said.
    I looked back, eyeing the opening one last time, the thought of climbing fifteen feet up a bunch of rickety boxes like a sharp knife in my mind, holding me back from finishing this, not wanting to look like an absolute fool in front of the other teams.
    Without saying a word, I let go of his hand, walking up to the opening and turning sideways, and sliding myself through, the pine boxes periodically snagging against my shirt, pulling it a little before the snag let go. I got through the opening into a space barely large enough for me to comfortably stand. The boxes were stacked up, making steps for me to climb.
    I took a deep breath, looking up. The top box appeared to be a mile high, and I felt my palms get sweaty and my knees shake ever so much. I knew this wasn’t real, that it was virtual reality, but for some reason I couldn’t shake it. I couldn’t just brush it