Silence - eARC by Mercedes Lackey, Cody Martin

computer to be seen. So…not a net-cafe. But there were other kids, kids who weren’t like the ones at the Burger Shack, and who were watching her surreptitiously as they continued low-voiced conversations or read. There were a couple Goths—not tricked out in piercings and white-and-black makeup, but since they were the only people she’d seen so far who were dressed head-to-toe in black and had black-dyed hair and heavy silver jewelry, it was a good bet they were Goths. The rest at least weren’t in the grunge uniform.
    “Can I help you?” She started at the sound of a raised voice, and turned; it was the guy behind the counter, who had put down his book. Maybe he’d figured she’d stood there long enough, and he wanted to give her a little prod. But he didn’t look unfriendly…and he didn’t look all fake-friendly, either. “Do you need help finding something?”
    “Uh, just looking around. Someone—a friend, I guess—told me about this place. Figured that I would check it out.” She glanced around. “It’s nice. First nice place I’ve seen in this entire town, actually.”
    “Would you be Paula Kerry’s girl?” he asked. Staci felt her heart drop down into her stomach for a moment, before the man put one of his hands up. “It’s a small town, so word travels fast. We don’t often get many new faces around these parts, you know?”
    “Yeah, I’m starting to get that,” she said ruefully.
    He extended a hand towards her. “My name’s Tim. Welcome to my store, Miss…?”
    “Staci.” She tried not to sigh. He might take it as being bored, which she wasn’t. At least not right now. “You look like the only person who might know; is there any way at all to get high-speed net around here?”
    “’Fraid not.” He shrugged, but it wasn’t dismissive. “We’re the land that time forgot. All we have is old copper phone cable, and count your blessings that we aren’t still on party lines.”
    “Uh…what?” she asked.
    He chuckled softly. “Before your time. Count your blessings, whipper-snapper. Anyway the best you can do is around 24-baud, dialup, from your home phone. Since Paula works at night, at least you’ll have access to it while she’s at work.” He craned his neck a little. “Go on back to the table nearest the coffee bar and ask for Seth. He can help you get set up with a dialup modem and show you how to optimize your computer so you can at least read email.”
    For one moment, she had to fight back sudden and unexpected tears. This was the first person—the only person—who had pointed her towards something like her old life. Connections, at least. “Thank you,” she managed. “I mean—really—thank you—”
    He smiled. It did a lot to soften his stern expression. “No problem. Seth’s a good kid and nothing makes him happier than being able to flex his geekdom.” With that, Tim picked up his book again; it was a sturdy-looking hardcover. The artwork on the front caught her eye; it must have been science fiction, since it was a robot eagle, wreathed in golden and orange flames, doing a dive over a burning city. It looked like something that belonged on a thrash metal album cover instead of a book.
    Staci made her way to the back, where the coffee bar was. It wasn’t hard to pick out Seth; thick, hard-to-break glasses, shaggy brown hair, and a Firefly T-shirt. What did surprise her was that he was with three other people, and they were all talking and joking together. Not too loud, but it didn’t seem like they were afraid that making any noise would end the world, like the people at the drive-in. They were clearly all friends.
    One was one of the two Goth kids in the store; a girl about Staci’s age with shoulder-length, straight black hair, dark red lipstick, and what she recognized as the self-satisfied smirk of someone that was used to being right. Or at least happy with being snarky.
    The other two were snuggled up on a loveseat; a boy and girl,