Read Online Meta (Book 3): Rise of The Circle by Tom Reynolds - Free Book Online

many other people would have the same idea. There's only one bridge over the bay that separates the two cities from each other, and it's clogged with probably more cars than it's ever seen before. It takes hours of moving inch by inch before we even get close to the on-ramp. Derrick gets a text from Michelle fairly early in our trip to let him know that she's made it there already, apparently having beat most of the traffic we wound up stuck in.
    It's late afternoon by the time we finally reach the Skyville limits. I desperately need to go to the bathroom, but Derrick tells me it's my own fault for getting such a huge coffee before we left and makes me hold it until we get to the campus.
    When we finally pull up to the gates, the school isn't anything like how I'd imagined it. I hadn't really thought about what a school that had tons of money pumped into it over a decade ago would look like when that money dried up before completion. It's obvious that whoever initially started building this place thought it would look very, very modern, but ten years down the line, it looks ridiculous, just like most things made to look futuristic do once time has passed.
    The buildings all look very monolithic, with lots of metal and glass, but also with strange splashes of bright colors throughout, like someone got a good deal on highlighter fluid and decided to use it as paint. Garish greens, blue, yellows and pinks accent what would otherwise be impressive-looking large concrete buildings. All over campus there are workers scurrying around, mowing lawns and power washing years of grime off of buildings. They're hampered by the huge crush of students and families trying to get settled in before the first official day of classes on Monday.
    "So, what do you think?" Derrick asks me as he tries to find a parking spot somewhere, anywhere, on campus.
    "Looks kinda dated," I reply.
    "Well yeah, that happens when no one uses a place for as long as this place has been sitting in mothballs."
    "Do you know where we're going?"
    "Yeah. Sure. Kinda. I mean, I have a general idea."
    This is not the kind of answer you want when you have to use a bathroom as badly as I do right now.
    "I guess it doesn't really matter what I think of all of this," I say, gesturing out the window at some of the buildings we pass. "I'm going to be spending most of my time a mile down from here anyway."
    "That's not necessarily true. There'll be a lot of precautions in place to make sure that there isn't any suspicion raised about you or the other metas here, so you'll still be taking a full course load. Who knows, maybe you'll even graduate high school if you aren't careful."
    Derrick sees a car pulling out of a spot ahead of him and springs into action, quickly pulling into it a split second before another car with the same intentions rounds the corner.
    "Ha ha! Sorry sucker!" Derrick says, not realizing his window is open. The driver of the other car, a middle-aged woman dropping her son off, scowls at him. "Oh, sorry. Just kidding," he says with a nervous laugh.
    I roll my eyes and unbuckle my seatbelt before opening the passenger side door. This is exactly what I'm talking about when I say people overestimate how cool my brother is. I step out of the car and stretch my legs, which feels great after being cramped in there for so long, but I'm also instantly reminded of just how badly I have to pee.
    "I'm gonna go find a bathroom," I shout to Derrick as I cross the street and head toward the nearest building. Derrick isn't even out of the car yet, and I can hear him yelling for me to wait, but too bad because there is absolutely no way I can hold this any longer. I feel like I've got a time bomb ticking in my pants.

6
    W ow . I feel much, much better. It's like I've got a new lease on life. I leave the bathroom practically whistling and take a look around the building I'm in. I didn't notice much on my way in; I kinda had blinders on for anything that even vaguely