The Kingdom Ch. 12

I picked up the book and began rereading from the beginning. It was just as brutal of a read as I recalled it being. But every time I found my attention wavering, I found motivation by looking down at the curly-haired brunette drooling on the pillow beside me. Before long, I was over a third of the way through.

I was at the chapter about weight-loss and exercise restrictions when my phone buzzed beside me. Laying the handbook down, I picked up the phone to see a notification at the top of my screen.

Message from 01:

INCOMING MESSAGE. FOR YOUR EYES ONLY. ONCE ALONE, CLEAR NOTIFICATION. URGENT!

I sighed and rolled my eyes. This dude seriously needed to dial it down. I'd just had my first good evening since... damn... I couldn't even recall how long. The last thing I needed was spy drama.

Having no interest in getting out of bed to be alone, I unlocked my phone with Katie still beside me. Immediately upon clearing the notification, a new notification popped up at the top of the screen.

Message from 01:

AT 3:12AM, 4 HOURS PRIOR TO THE TIME ATTRIBUTED TO HER "ALLERGIC REACTION",...

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... KATIE HUFF'S PROFILE WAS OFFICIALLY REVISED. ONLY ONE DETAIL WAS CHANGED. TAP THE LINK BELOW AND READ TO THE VERY END.

HTTP://KINGDOM.ARCHIVE/11.5A/HUFF.K/ASPX?ID=%2EPDF&PARENT+%2FPERSONAL/PROFILE.PRO

I instantly felt queasy... Katie's name was honestly the last thing I expected to read in Alpha's message. How did he even know that I knew Katie? Did he know she was here? Why is he interested in her? I leaned my head forward slightly to see if Katie had visibility of the phone. Fortunately, her face was buried in the bedspread.

My finger hovered hesitantly above the link provided until I finally worked up the courage to tap it. Suddenly, the Kingdom app opened, followed by the browser app. After a few seconds, a PDF image loaded, titled "Huff.Katie.11.5A".

I felt my heart pounding faster as I began to scroll through her stats. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary... that is, until I reached the very bottom of her profile. Despite not grasping it's significance, the last line hit me like a ton of bricks. I stared at it for several seconds, unsure of what to make of what I was seeing...

Suddenly, my phone buzzed again, snapping me out of my thoughts. Another notification had suddenly appeared at the top of the screen.

Message from 01:

AS I SAID- TRUST NO ONE.

With a fresh feeling of dread, my eyes returned to the bottom of Katie's profile. The last line read-

Allergies: None