***SMH! I'm supposed to have this book done in two weeks LOL On the bright side, the plot is interwoven with "I Never Knew", so we should be okay with the deadline!

Also, *cough* pay attention to this chapter. *COUGH*

I think that's enough coughing for now...

Also, this song is a very...eclectic piece LOL***

***(Zane's POV)***

***Music Cue***

I have never had difficulty paying attention in class...until today. Perhaps I have contracted one of the many sicknesses my companions seem prone to. I have never experienced illness before, but it is possible that the strange feeling in my stomach and wandering of my mind are due to one.

I gather my belongings from beside my desk, rise, and head out the door. My next period is lunch. Perhaps PIXAL would be interested in joining me?

But then, if my illness is contagious, would she want to be around me?

And why would she desire my presence in the first place? It seemed that she enjoyed my company earlier, but what if she was only being kind?

I suppose there is no harm in inviting her.

I gently grasp her wrist as she exits the room, and she offers me a smile.

"Zane. Why are you touching my arm?"

"I..." I release her. "I apologize, I intended only to gain your attention."

"There is no need for apology," she reassures me. "I was just unsure of the motion. Tell me, Zane, why do you desire my attention?"

"I...merely wanted to ask if you'd appreciate company at lunch. I am sure my friend group would enjoy meeting you."

She beams. "I would be absolutely thrilled to accept your invitation, but..." Her face falls. "I have...a call I must make. I am sorry."

"Oh." Sadness course through me. "I...do not be sorry. The offer remains open, should you complete your phone call before the lunch period has ended."

"Thank you, Zane," she smiles prettily. "Shall I see you in class this afternoon?"

"I'm afraid not. I only take courses until the lunch period." I swallow, looking at the ground. "I...until tomorrow, then."

"I look forward to it. I don't...I'm afraid I'm not sure what the status of our relationship is, so I cannot properly see you off. You said we are friends, correct? Are we...friends who wave? Friends who hug?"

I extend my arms. "I...would enjoy a hug."

She cautiously enfolds me in one, causing a grin to tease my lips.

"Goodbye, Zane," she chirps, giving me a squeeze before she steps back. "I shall look forward to our meeting tomorrow."

"Yes. I...farewell." I watch in awe as she walks away.

"Hey, Zane," Lloyd greets, standing beside me. "I would offer you my notes from chemistry this morning, but I assume you're already an expert on electron orbitals."

"Y-yes," I say quietly, still staring after PIXAL.

Lloyd pokes my arm. "You okay, buddy?"

I blink and turn to him. "I – I am fine, thank you. Just dazed."

"Okay. Hey, how'd your tour go with that new student?"

"She is quite amiable," I muse, beginning our trek to lunch. "And we are friends now."

"Aww, that's great, Zane. I know it's hard for you to connect with a lot of the students here."

I nod wordlessly, knowing he doesn't believe his girlfriend to be wicked. I think he would formulate some excuse for her behavior if I informed him of her bullying tendencies.

But Lloyd sees something in her that the rest of us do not.

"So, Zane, Wu was telling me something interesting about what happened with Kai and Skylor this summer."

I snap to attention. "I...my apologies, Lloyd, but may I ask you to repeat yourself?"

He gives me a strange look. "I was talking about Kai and Skylor. Hey, are you feeling all right?"

"I'm not sure," I admit. "I seem to be lost in my mind today. Please elaborate on your comment, though – the one concerning Kai and Skylor."

"So, you know this past summer when we had to go get them out of the Cursed Realm?"

"Yes, I do remember. And if my memory serves me correctly, Nya stayed at the hospital with Jay. It was only you, me, and Cole."

"Yep. And those two idiot thugs we found were easy to get through – they led us straight to Yang's lair. The thing was, the whole place was abandoned when we got there. Kai claimed he'd heard voices from inside the various rooms, but the only body we found was Yang's."

"Yes. I did find that intriguing."

"Well, apparently, you can sometimes hear those voices when everything else is quiet. It doesn't happen very often, but the place is now being called Yang's Haunted Temple."

"That does not make sense," I frown. "Ghosts are not real."

Lloyd shrugs. "Who knows? I just thought it was interesting." He suddenly stumbles forward.

I look over to see Nya has hopped on his back, her arms around his neck.

"What's up?" she smirks.

Lloyd groans. "Nya, we're at school. Can we not do this right now?"

"Come on," she groans. "Training was super hard yesterday. My legs are sore."

"Ask Jay to give you a piggyback ride," Lloyd mumbles. "He wouldn't mind. Nya, you do remember that I have a girlfriend, right? And she's the really jealous type?"

She sighs, sliding off of him. "Fine, fine. That girl ruins everything."

He readjusts his backpack straps. "I like her."

"Zane's with me on this one." She elbows me in the side. "Wouldn't you agree that Harumi is a witch?"

"She is not a witch," I correct her. "To our knowledge, she does not practice magic."

"Yeah, but isn't she evil?" Nya goads me.

"I...suppose you could refer to her as having that quality." I look to Lloyd, hoping I have not emotionally wounded him.

He shrugs. "You guys just don't know her well enough. She's had a hard life."

"So have you," Nya points out. "And I. And...I don't know, Zane, have you had a hard life?"

"You could call it such." I don't offer any more information on my backstory.

In actuality, I don't remember my backstory.

"Anyway," Lloyd goes on, "Nya, I was just telling Zane about Yang's Haunted Temple. It's – "

"A haunted house?" she asks, excitement lacing her tone.

"Yeah. Have your brother and Skylor told you much about Sensei Yang?"

"No. Who's he?"

"Uh..." Lloyd looks to me.

If her brother did not tell her about his experience there, he most likely does not desire that she know of it. He hasn't even told the rest of us the extent of what happened. Most of what we know is from experience being in the temple itself.

All it took was a glance through several clothing drawers to see Yang was prepared for...well, he was prepared to take Skylor as his wife, as Kai put it. I fear there was much viler intent.

Nya doesn't appear to be worried. "A haunted house! That's cool," she smiles. "I haven't been in a haunted house since the Day of the Departed. And I missed out on that one, since Jay was absolutely terrified and I had to coach him through it."

"I still have photos of that on my phone," Lloyd smirks. "It was pretty amusing."

"I lost circulation in my hand, he was holding it so tight." Her eyes light when she sees someone. "Jay, come here a moment!"

Jay looks up from where he's speaking with a student in our chess club. Jay and I are the only team members to have joined, but we find it quite interesting.

Well, I find it quite interesting. Jay seems annoyed with the game by now, given that he usually partners with me. And I win at chess every time.

He finishes his conversation with the student quickly, blushing and approaching us.

"H-hey, Nya," he smiles. "How are y-you?"

"I'm good. We were just discussing our encounter with that haunted house on last year's Day of the Departed. I thought you might give us your take on it." Her expression is smug.

"O-oh." He toes the floor. "It, um, was f-fun."

"Fun?" Nya chuckles. "You were freaking out the whole time! I had a giant bruise on my hand when I came to practice the next day!"

"I put that there?" he swallows. "Gosh, I'm sorry, Nya."

"It's okay," she waves him off. "It was funny. Hey, has anyone seen Cole?"

I think for a moment. "I have not. Is his last class not with you and Jay?"

"It is," she frowns. "Huh." She beams up at Lloyd. "Wanna go look for him with me?"

"Sorry, but I promised Rumi we could talk before lunch."

"Oh." She rolls her eyes. "I see."

"I-I'll go with you," Jay suggests. "If you're, um, interested."

She hitches a shoulder. "Sure, whatever. Let's go." She grabs his hand and drags him down the hall.

The look on his face could only be described as "goofy".

Lloyd runs a hand through his hair. "I hate to disappoint her, but...I do have a girlfriend."

I nod. "And it would be rather careless to spend your time with Nya when she so obviously has a huge crush on you."

"I know," he moans. "And the thing is, I kind of do like Nya. I just...I like Harumi more. I'm in love with her. And I don't want to mess up the friendship that Nya and I have."

Lloyd enters the cafeteria without looking back.

"Did you not say you intended to meet Harumi before our meal?" I inquire.

"I did. I lied so I wouldn't hurt Nya's feelings. I can't be around her so much anymore, or I'm afraid I'll do something to betray Harumi. And then I'll run back to Rumi, and in doing that, I'll betray Nya, and...yeah."

"I see you are quite conflicted."

He gets a far-off look. "Let's just say I have an idea that destiny doesn't like me."

***(PIXAL's POV)***

I eagerly tap in my creator's number on my cellular device. He will be excited to hear what I've already learned from the outside world.

He picks up on the first ring. "PIXAL! How did it go?"

"Extremely well, Mr. Borg. I was well-prepared for all my classes, so the updates we performed recently must be accurate."

"Excellent! Tell me, how are your interactions with your fellow students going?"

"Quite well. I seem to be able to carry myself as they do. And I have already made a friend." I furrow my forehead. "Mr. Borg..."

"Yes, PIXAL?"

"The boy who led me around school today – according to my scanners, he is an android." Like me. "Do you know if any other experiments of this variety are being performed? Experiments where a robot is sent into an educational institution and observed?"

"Another android?" my creator muses. "It must be one of our competitors! I don't know how my experiment was leaked. Tell me about this android – did he seem to fit in better than you with the public-school environment?"

"Yes, but his words made it seem as though he'd been here for some time, Mr. Borg. And...it appears he does not know he is an android."

"He doesn't know?" he exclaims. "How is that possible?"

"I am not sure, Mr. Borg. His memory was wiped six years ago, according to my scanners. However, that does not explain how he hasn't located a power source or has had no need for major repairs in the time since he lost his memory."

"This is peculiar," he frets. "You have to follow him, PIXAL. Observe his actions. See if he is somehow being controlled by another company. If so, we have a leak in Borg Industries!"

I pull at the edge of my sweatshirt. It's a nervous move I've seen humans portray, so I've adopted it. It has become what is known as a habit.

"Mr. Borg, is it not unethical to stalk Zane? He seems just as human as the rest of the students here, just with processors and mechanical parts."

"Don't think of it as stalking, PIXAL. Think of it as a kind of...protective observation. This is for the good of our company." I hear him typing on a keyboard. "Your skills in ethical decision-making are increasing, PIXAL. You're becoming more humanlike every day!"

"Thank you, Mr. Borg. Is there anything else I should inform you of?"

"When you arrive back at home tonight, let me look over your homework. I'm sure you got all the answers right, but I'd like to see your compositional skills."

"As you wish, Mr. Borg. Have a good afternoon."

"You as well, PIXAL." He hangs up.

I sigh, guilt swirling around my heart. Or energy source, as would be the case.

I had thought it was wrong to stalk Zane. But...perhaps I can help him? If he doesn't know that he's an android, becoming a close companion of his might help him trust me enough that I can explain his difference. He deserves to know, right?

Or is there really such a thing as blissful ignorance?

***So, there ya go! <3 For those of you who haven't read the other books in this series, "At Second Sight" is about Kai and Skylor's dealings with Sensei Yang.

Also, I should start posting every other day-ish for this book <3 ***