Max didn’t look impressed. “It’s tactically useless.”
“Max!” I said, not even knowing why I was surprised by his insensitive comments anymore. I’d been trying to stay calm, but the tension between the two boys was starting to rile me.
“I’m just stating the obvious.”
Adrien’s teeth seemed to grind together. “The Rez wants to provide a safe haven for any glitcher.”
Max rolled his eyes. “Don’t tell me you weren’t thinking it, too. If this Resistance of yours has any hope of surviving, someone better be thinking like this—of the bottom line. Of only taking calculated risks. Why should we risk ourselves for him?”
“Because it’s the godlam’d right thing to do,” Adrien shot back.
Max yawned exaggeratedly.
I stood up. I couldn’t help it. I was furious at him. “So going to parties and learning curse words is worth the risk, but a boy’s life isn’t?”
He stood up, too, facing me, his jaw working. “I do what I have to do to survive. And what’s the point of having all these emotions and powers if I can’t do what I want with them? Why should I risk everything I’ve worked for to help a stranger? I don’t even know this drone.”
“Because it’s a person we’re talking about. A person, like us.” Like my brother. I didn’t say it, but Max seemed to figure out what I meant.
“Zoe, get it through your head,” he said heatedly. “You can’t save everyone.”
“Why not?”
“Because! It’s going to get you deactivated!” He took my shoulders roughly in his hands, making me look him in the eye. “You have to start playing by their rules.”
“That’s enough,” Adrien said, knocking Max’s hands off me.
Max looked furious. “Don’t you dare touch me, you bastard!” He pushed Adrien hard in the chest.
Adrien stumbled backward and fell. His head was inches from bashing into the corner of a stack of metal containers when I shouted, “Stop!”
My hand reached out as if I could catch him. Without thinking, the high-pitched buzzing roared to life in my ears and Adrien’s body froze in midfall.
“You’re doing it!” Adrien said, sounding excited, even though his body hung suspended in the air, the sharp corner still close to his skull.
“Keep me up,” he said, “just like you practiced. Try to think about how you feel right now, what you’re doing.”
I blinked, the buzzing dimming now that I was consciously trying to hold on to it. I squeezed my eyes shut in concentration. The more I tried to focus on it, the weaker my powers became. I faltered for a moment and Adrien dropped a millimeter.
I let the panic overwhelm me again, losing control in order to gain control. It was a difficult balance, like going and stopping, pushing and pulling at the same time, but in that moment I felt myself connect to the perfect equilibrium. Even with my eyes closed, I could still see Adrien, but not like with normal sight—it was like I could feel his body broken into a hundred little geometric shapes, each plane curving and butting up against the next.
Everything around him was in sharp detail, too. Somehow I could feel all the corners and edges—like I was surrounding them somehow, like I’d brought them all inside my mind. The humming got louder in my ears as I felt out the contours of Adrien’s entire body.
I lifted my arm to direct my energy. I felt his body lift up and away from the stack of boxes.
“Keep going,” he said, still excited.
I moved him up higher until he was flush with the ceiling. He wasn’t heavy—I couldn’t feel his weight at all in fact. Gravity didn’t matter here. There was only a three-dimensional space and objects filling that space.
I opened my eyes, a rush of power coursing through my veins, ready to burst out of my eyes with a blinding light. That’s when I saw the look on Max’s and Molla’s faces. Max was smiling in a strange way I couldn’t quite decipher and Molla was clutching his arm in terror and wonder. They were both standing up now.
I glanced up and saw Adrien bobbing against the ceiling. I blinked a few times. My strength was fading in and out. I was starting to doubt myself.
I tugged Adrien down but lost control before he got all the way to the ground. The buzzing stopped and Adrien dropped the last few feet and landed on the concrete floor with a grunt.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, running over to him to help him up, but he was on his feet in an instant.
“That was cracking great, Zoe!” Adrien said, hugging me. I stiffened, casting an uncomfortable glance in Max’s direction before shrugging out of his arms. Adrien took it in stride, seeming too excited to take offense.
“You were controlling it!” His eyes were shining with energy and it made my breath hitch in my chest, reminding me of last night.
Max pulled away from Molla and hugged me, swinging me around in an arc before putting me back on the ground again. I laughed, feeling giddy. I hadn’t been able to control the power in so long. I’d been secretly afraid it wasn’t working anymore. Just being able to access it again made me feel centered, more in control of everything.
“Now if I could just do it all the time.”
“You will, with practice,” Adrien said.
“For once,” Max said, “I agree with him. We can practice together, at my place.”
I nodded, trying not to look at Adrien, the complexities of the situation settling back in again. I had to talk to Max about my feelings for Adrien, but I didn’t even know exactly what they were. Like friends, but different from Max. More.
“I’ll try to contact Juan,” Adrien said. “I’d initially wanted to wait a little longer before getting us all out of here—” He glanced at me, then back at Max. I knew what he was thinking. He wanted to wait longer to give the allergy injections a better chance of working. “But I think maybe we should bring this last glitcher up to speed and get out as soon as we can. I feel the Chancellor circling closer and closer, ready to make her move. I don’t like it.”
He looked uneasy. His meeting with the Chancellor must have really put him on edge.
“How?” Max asked.
“I’m working with my contacts in the Rez. They’re coordinating our escape, plotting out the maps and codes required to hack the system and give us enough room to get out undetected. They’ll map out our route and the multiple safe houses we’ll have to stop through to make sure we lose anyone who might be tracking us. When it’s all in place, we will contact each of you individually. But be prepared to move soon, and quickly.”
“And Markan? How will we get him out?” I asked.
“That’s one of the things we’re working on. We’ll have to stick an external drive in his neck port with a program that will make him follow without trouble till we’re all safe.”
I lifted my hand to rub my own neck uncomfortably.
“I’m sorry,” he said, seeing me. “I know you hate that, but I think it’s still the safest way.”
I nodded. “Of course.”
Molla suddenly let out a squeak. I startled and looked over at her. I had momentarily forgotten she was there, she was usually so shrinking and quiet.
“Someone’s coming!” she hissed frantically.
My heart leapt into my throat. No. Max dropped to the ground out of sight behind one of the small overturned tables just as the door opened.
I hurried to the wall where some furniture was stacked but Molla was still just standing frozen in the middle of the room. Before I could hiss at her to get down, a brown-uniformed man stepped in. He was of medium height and build and his brown clothing identified him as a service worker. He looked at Molla dispassionately and followed her horrified gaze to me.
“You shouldn’t be here. You do not have authorized access. This is anomalous.” He moved to touch his arm panel.
Chapter 19
I SAW ADRIEN tense in the shadows, getting ready to launch himself at the man, but before he could, the Chancellor rose from behind an overturned table.
/> “Stop,” she said calmly, ostensibly to the brown-uniformed man but I knew it was also meant for Adrien. Adrien froze and looked at Max’s disguise in disbelief. He’d never seen Max’s power in action before.
“Chancellor Bright,” the man said, his hand paused in midair.
She tilted her head and trained her hawklike gaze on him. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m on a Resource Redispersal task. I was working down the hall when I heard voices. It was anomalous, so I came to look.”
“Is anyone else here with you? Did you tell anyone you were leaving your post to investigate something which is none of your concern?”
“Anomalous events are the concern of every conscientious subject,” he said robotically. “And, no. No one knows I’m here.”
“Good,” said Adrien, who had crept up behind the man while he talked to Max. Adrien raised a heavy-looking metal brace and slammed it into the man’s head.
I gasped as the man crumpled to the ground. I clapped my hand over my mouth to keep back a scream.
Adrien looked over at me, then down at the brace in his hand. He dropped it to the ground with a clatter and took a step back from it like it was toxic.
Max morphed back into himself, a look of pure fury reddening his features. “I thought your visions always warned you of danger. How did you not see this, Future Boy?”
“I don’t know!” Adrien said, sounding just as upset. He ran his hands through his hair. “It shouldn’t be possible. It shouldn’t be…” For a moment he looked lost and helpless and desperate.
I wanted to go hold his hand, but I myself was frozen in terror.
“What do we do now?” I tried to keep the hysteria out of my voice. I needed to stay calm. I went over to the man on the ground. I could see his chest rising and falling with each breath. Okay. We just needed to keep calm. Think logically.
“A blow to the head won’t erase his memory, and he’s seen all our faces,” I said, trying to figure out a plan as I talked. I turned to Adrien. “Do you have some equipment that can erase memory?”
“No.” Adrien looked at me, both hands still on his head. “I don’t carry that kind of equipment with me most of the time, in case I ever get searched.”
“You shouldn’t have disabled him,” Max said, advancing angrily on Adrien. “I had everything under control. I could have just told him not to mention he’d seen me.”
“It wouldn’t have mattered what you said,” Adrien said. “Protocol is to make note of all details of anything anomalous, no matter what. If it’s an incident involving an Upper, they just ignore it, but if the Chancellor saw this man’s report, we’d have been cracked for sure. I couldn’t take that chance.”
“So how do we make sure he keeps silent? Do we deactivate him? Can we remove his memory chip?” Max asked.
“Max! How can you say that?” I hissed.
“Look, he’s seen us. The way I see it, it’s him or us, and that is an easy one for me,” said Max. “Besides, he’s got an adult V-chip. The guy is a drone for life. What difference does it make?”
I glared at him. We both turned to Adrien, but he hadn’t even heard us.
Adrien was still staring at the fallen worker, a look of shock on his face. “I don’t know how I didn’t see this coming.” His voice was high-pitched and frustrated. “It’s never happened before. I’ve always been able to count on my visions.”
“We’ll worry about that later.” I put a hand on Adrien’s shoulder for a moment to calm him down, and then I crouched down beside the man. Logic. Order. “First we figure out what to do with him.”
“What did the Resistance do before you developed all your advanced tech?”
“Unfortunately, the Rez did sometimes deactivate people,” Adrien said grimly. “But a deactivation would still trigger an investigation, and I’d never do something so barbaric. But maybe…” He looked at the wall, his brows knit in thought.
“What?” Max said.
“Well.” Adrien looked down at the man and frowned. “I did see a Rez fighter do a manual memory wipe once.” His eyes flicked up to mine. “But it isn’t pretty.”
“Would he—” I looked down at the unconscious man and a shiver ran down my spine. “Would he be okay afterwards?”
Adrien bit his lip. “If I do it right, then yeah, he’d be fine. His recent memory will be fuzzy, but otherwise he’ll be fine.”
“And if we don’t do it right?” I asked.
Adrien looked away and didn’t say anything. He closed his eyes and swallowed hard. When he opened them again, his jaw was set firmly and he was all business.
“Zoe, bring me my tablet. Max, remove his shirt and then we’ll turn him on his stomach so I can get to work.”
My hands were trembling as I brought Adrien his tablet case. He clicked it open as Max rolled the man over.
“Make sure his head is to the side and that his breathing remains even,” Adrien said to Max as he pulled out his tablet. To my surprise, he didn’t turn it on but instead tipped it sideways and then cracked it gently against the concrete floor. Adrien pried the two halves of the case apart, revealing the inner electronics.
Adrien paused, looking up at me. “Do you have a spare hairpin?”
I slid a slim metal pin out of my hair and handed it to him without asking any questions.
“Molla, keep watch to make sure no one else comes this way.” He pulled the two thin metal prongs of the hairpin apart until it was one long slim piece. “Max, see that fan in the corner over there?”
Max nodded.
“Strip its power cord and bring it over here.”
Max moved to do what he said as Adrien worked to flatten the metal hairpin out. “Zoe, grab me one of the broken chairs over there.”
I came back with the chair and Max brought the frayed power cable. Adrien was busy carefully prying out one of the hair-thin wires in the tablet.
“What are you doing?” Max asked.
Adrien didn’t answer, just bit his lip. “Can I have another hairpin?”
I pulled out another and handed it to him. He used it like a pair of tweezers and slid the tiny wire under another cluster of thin cables. Finally he breathed out. “There. That should do it.”
“Do what?” Max asked.
“I rerouted the power coupling in the tablet to regulate the amperage it can output.”
I gasped as I looked at all the components gathered in front of Adrien and realized what he was going to do. “You’re going to electrocute him!”
“I’m not going to electrocute him,” Adrien said quickly. “Just his memory chip.”
“’Kay, Molla,” Adrien turned to her. “I’m gonna need you to use your Gift—you can see through objects, right? I have to get this piece of metal,” he lifted my hairpin, “into his head, but this won’t work unless it makes contact with the memory chip. I need you to be my X-ray unit and tell me when I’m in. I know you can do it.”
My mouth gaped open in surprise. I’d wondered if Molla had an ability and if it manifested yet. They must have talked about it before I’d arrived.
Molla’s frightened eyes flickered to Max. He nodded. “Show them what you can do, Molls.”
She came and knelt close to the man’s head. I moved back to give her room. I felt helpless, but I knew the only thing I could do was stay out of the way.
“So why’d we take off his shirt?” Max asked.
Adrien wiped away some beading sweat on his forehead with his arm and swallowed hard. “To use as a rag for the blood.”
My stomach lurched. Adrien swallowed again, then slid the pin into the tissue right beside the existing access port.
“Max,” he said, “hold the chair. We’re gonna have to use the leg like a hammer to get this thing in deep enough.”
I forced myself to watch, even though I winced every time they tapped the slim hairpin further into the man’s skull.
“Careful!” Max hissed. “It’s gonna bend if you don’t hit at
the right angle.”
A line of blood seeped down the back of the man’s neck. I wiped it gently away with the shirt.
“Okay, Molla, am I close?” Adrien asked, his voice sounding strained.
“Another half-inch,” she whispered, “and you need to angle more down, to the left.” She pointed on the outside of the man’s head and Adrien nodded. After several more gentle thunks of the chair leg on the hairpin, Molla held up her hand. “There! You got it. It’s touching now.”
Adrien gave one more gentle knock. “I want it a little embedded in the chip but not too far. How is it now?”
“Good,” she said, and Adrien sat back on his heels, letting out a low breath.
“And now for the electricity.” He grimaced.
Max handed him the cord, and Adrien touched the metal contact from the frayed end of the fan cord to one side of the tablet. Then he lifted the tablet so that the other side was touching the metal sliver sticking out of the man’s head. “Zoe, will you go plug in the cord now?”
I nodded and swallowed. I took the cord, my hand hovering over the plug in the wall for a second. What if this didn’t work? What if when I plugged this cord into the outlet, I killed the man? My stomach twisted at the thought.
“Zoe?” Adrien said. “Do you need me to do it?”
“No,” I said, forcing my voice to be calm. “I’ve got it.” I plugged in the cord.
There was a slight pop and spark from the tablet board and the service worker’s head twitched once. Adrien pulled the tablet case away from the pin. “Okay,” he said, finally smiling. “I think we did it.”
“And he’s okay?” I hurried back over to the man, putting my hand on his chest. It kept rising and falling. He was still breathing. I grinned up at Adrien, who nodded.
“He should be fine.” Adrien breathed a huge sigh of relief, then let out a shaky laugh as he gathered up the equipment. “Okay, we need to get out of here. Max—”
“Already ahead of you,” Max said, and the next second he looked exactly like the service worker lying on the ground. “He probably had a small trolley if he was moving furniture. I’ll get it, then we can cover him up and I’ll move him somewhere far away from this part of the Academy.”