Dorothy sits at her desk and starts to make herself comfortable. She removes a few items from her purse: a bottle of water, a picture of her parents, and a couple of pens. Suddenly the computer in front of her turns on all by itself. She looks around to see if anyone else saw that. Then an energetic voice seems to emanate from the screen, “Hi! I’m Bolt, nice to make your acquaintance!”

Dorothy peers into the screen, bewildered. “Are – are you my computer?”

The voice laughs, then the owner of the voice pops up from behind the desk, revealing a kid in his early twenties. He wears hard-shell body armor and a clear plastic visor over his eyes that flashes with a digital heads-up display. He carries a small, dull dagger at his side that can be used to channel bolts of electricity. “Nope, I’m the human IT guy,” he answers. Dorothy nervously giggles to herself for being so silly as to think her computer was sentient.

Bolt shrugs, then holds out one of his hands. Dorothy is about to shake it when sparks erupt from his fingertips. Crackles of electricity extend from his digits out and into Dorothy’s keyboard. Instead of frying the plastic keys, the voltage enters the device underneath the buttons, traveling up through the connecting cable, and out into the computer.

On the computer screen windows open and close and apps are briskly installed. Dorothy watches amazed as Bolt controls her computer, remotely setting up her desktop.

She stands corrected. He’s not such a normal IT guy after all.

CRASH! Dorothy is about to inquire about Bolt’s abilities when an enormous commotion explodes from the other end of the office. Bolt casually yawns, “Hmmm, sounds like the first crisis of the day.”

Dorothy looks around for the source of the noise. “The first crisis of the day? Should I do something…?”

Bolt just shrugs. “I dunno, you’re the Office Manager.” Dorothy realizes that he’s right!

“Oh goodness! You’re right!”

She throws her hands up and runs in the direction of the crash.

Stay tuned for Chapter 7, coming out next Tuesday!

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