“Adrien,” I said, putting my hand on his forearm, but he pulled away again.
“Maybe I’m not as broken as you all think. Maybe I’m just one of the few people who can see clearly now.” His voice was calm. It sounded like he thought it was a good thing not to be able to feel anything.
I didn’t know what to say to that. I wanted to yell at him that he was wrong, to grab his shoulders and shake him until he remembered how to love me. Instead I got up and started walking away, not wanting him to see my tears. Because unlike him, I could still feel emotion, and he was breaking my heart.
I turned back at the doorway. “Okay, well, I’m going on a mission tomorrow. See you next week, when I get back.”
He didn’t nod or acknowledge me. He looked absorbed again in what he was reading. It was like that sometimes. He’d seem aware and engaged one moment and then gone the next.
It wasn’t his fault he was like this.
Jilia said the neural pathways had to reconfigure themselves, that hopefully his body would teach itself to make those connections again. But it had been six months already with absolutely no change. I tried to stay positive and hopeful, at least in front of him. He had loved me once, but now he looked at me with no more interest than he would a stranger.
After so long with no evidence of emotion, even Jilia’s assurances carried a tinge of doubt. She tried to hide it, but everyone could tell. No one had ever tried to repair the kind of damage Adrien had. There were no guarantees it would work. He might be like this forever. The Adrien we’d known and loved might be lost to the caged spaces of our memories. Adrien’s mother, Sophia, looked haunted and drawn whenever I saw her, which wasn’t often. She made sure to visit Adrien in the mornings so we never crossed paths.
So yes. I understood hatred now. I hated the people who had done this to him—I hated the Chancellor, I hated Max, and I hated the system that gave the Chancellor so much power. But most of all, in the darkness of night alone in bed with nothing else to distract my thoughts, I hated myself.
Because how could I have let it ever happen? How had I been so self-involved I hadn’t noticed when Max switched places with Adrien? Max might have the power to disguise himself and impersonate other people, but I should have known. I thought back to that night of our “date.” At the time, I’d been so happy to have Adrien communicating and being open with me again, I hadn’t noticed anything off about the way he held me and kissed me. I shuddered at the thought that it had been Max, not Adrien, touching me so intimately. I should have recognized it right away, and we could have rescued Adrien before it was too late.
But as had happened so many times before, I’d failed when it counted most. First with getting my older brother killed, then not finding a way to sneak my younger brother Markan out of the Community before the Chancellor set a twenty-four-hour watch on him, and now with Adrien. I knew that even if I succeeded in this mission, I couldn’t atone for it all. My jaw clenched with determination. Still, maybe I could save others, even if they weren’t the ones I loved most. As General Taylor had once told me, there’s nothing more dangerous than someone who knows they have nothing left to lose.
Chapter 2
“DARL, DO HAVE SOME MORE of the bubbles.” Max offered a full sparkling glass to me.
I tried to smile as if I thought everything at this overly lavish Uppers party was perfectly delightful and fun. Fun. I choked down the impulse to punch the especially fat man beside me who kept leaning over and talking at me with his mouth full of food. Sometimes little bits of spit shot out as he spoke, and I felt like I’d need to take an hour-long shower with blasting hot water when this was all over.
Last night we’d successfully infiltrated Central City by posing as the Uppers couple Henk’s team had captured. The expansion of Max’s powers allowed him to project the vapid socialite’s face onto mine. As long as I stayed within a thousand feet of him, people would look at me and see her.
“Really, Darl, darling, bubbly makes you laugh, and everybody loves to hear your laugh,” said Max, sounding greatly amused with the bad pun on the name of the woman I was impersonating.
I reached to accept the glass, and smiled tightly at him. Of course Max had suggested we take on the shapes of this particular couple back when the Rez started researching the perfect way to infiltrate the Uppers circle in Central City. Darl and Nihem Westermin were the optimal choice because of their connections, their wealth, and the fact that their partying ways would make them the last people on earth the Uppers would suspect as planning to sabotage the Link.
The fact that they were traveling to Central City at the same time Chancellor Bright would be absent had cinched it. Central City was the only place that had the mainframes capable of uploading the Rez’s hack. We would disable the Link that connected billions of people together through the hardware chips in their heads that turned them into mindless slaves.
I’d been hoping for a nice sibling pair to impersonate—being a married couple meant I had to share a room with Max. Or better yet, I’d wanted to just slip into the city invisible, since Max’s power had expanded so that he could do that too. But we’d discovered part of the security protocol for entering the city was a complete vehicle scan to make sure there were no hidden bodies on board trying to sneak into the city. Invisibility was out.
So instead we impersonated Darl and Nihem. Max gave us their faces, and we passed the retinal scan with the tiny film Henk had us put in our eyes before we left. We’d prepped for the DNA prick by pooling some of Darl and Nihem’s blood under false pads on our fingertips. When we arrived inside the gates, we were met by the party organizer, who was asked to personally identify us before we were allowed past the last barricade into the city. Darl and Nihem were well known to him, so he allowed us in with only a passing glance. They took no chances when it came to security in Central City. Once you made it inside, though, there were far fewer precautions.
I put the glass of champagne to my lips and pretended to drink. I needed to be clearheaded tonight if I was going to manage my part of the mission. I would get my target alone, then flash the device Henk had given us in his eyes, and during the moment he was stunned, slip the key drive off the chain over his neck and replace it with the duplicate. The way the stunner worked, he would only feel a little disoriented, but wouldn’t remember anything from the last few minutes and would most likely just shrug it off as a momentary lapse in concentration.
I hoped no one would notice if my glass stayed full all night. Apparently Darl was a notorious drinker, preferring the extra mind-altering vintages where the vines had been crossbred with opium. I looked down at my glittering dress and momentarily hated the person I had to be.
Max-as-Nihem leaned over and whispered in my ear, “You need to drink at least a sip. People are starting to notice you’re not drunk. Now, there’s your target.” He nodded slightly to the right. I peeked up for a moment and saw the rotund, red-faced man he was looking at, Harole Warnost.
“And here’s the red wine.” He slid the goblet into my hand, smoothly exchanging it with my untouched champagne. “Make sure to douse him good with it. Then follow him to the bathroom and make the switch.”
I smiled widely, pretending my husband was whispering something sweet in my ear. I barely kept myself from rolling my eyes. I was the one who’d come up with the plan, I didn’t need a reminder of the specifics. All I had to do was follow my target to the bathroom. Max would make me invisible right after I stepped out of the party.
“And do take a sip,” Max whispered. “Darl would never walk around with a completely full glass. Everyone expects her to be drunk by this point in the night.”
Max pulled back, and I reluctantly took a small sip of the wine. I half choked with how strong the stuff was, but tried to turn it into a laugh instead.
“That’s my Darl,” Max said with a loud laugh before moving away, no doubt seeking out his own target. Tonight we’d get the two key drives, and tomorrow we’d infiltrate
the programming station while everyone else was at the fight. “Drink up like a good little girl.”
A couple people standing nearby laughed. I hated them a little more for encouraging Nihem’s patronizing support of his wife’s drinking.
Everyone’s sparkling clothing seemed to gleam brighter after I’d taken a couple sips. The added brightness only made the whole scene more menacing in its frivolity. Earlier we’d all sat at a long table where course after course of food had been placed in front of us. I’d eaten protein patties and hypoallergenic supplements for my entire life, so I didn’t even know what some of the foods were. Meats of many different kinds, rich creamy soups, pastas in buttery sauces, and vegetables of every color a person could imagine.
I learned after our brief dinner when we’d arrived last night not to eat as much as everyone else. My stomach wasn’t used to the rich food, not to mention the drinks. All night long, I was in and out of the collapsible med container we’d brought for me to sleep in. Tonight I had only nibbled politely at every dish, leaving the majority of it on the plate. The woman who’d sat beside me had clucked approvingly at my smaller portions, saying that I was right to try to keep my figure with a husband like Nihem.
As much as it galled me to waste food—I knew the amount of food I’d left uneaten on the plates would have fed a family for a week at the Foundation—I couldn’t afford to lose more sleep. It was exhausting enough to use my telek constantly to keep my mast cells in check so I wouldn’t go into an allergy attack. Central City buildings were all above ground of course. The Uppers had never believed the lies they fed to their drone labor force about the surface of the earth being destroyed by nuclear weapons. It was just another way for them to control us, keeping us underground while they all lived happily soaking up the sunshine on the Surface.
But this was what I had trained for. The past four months had been spent perfecting my control so that I could come on this mission. There had been a few brief discussions about whether someone else should come on the mission instead of me because of my allergies, but in the end I’d convinced them it had to be me. If something went wrong, my particular Gifts would be needed if there was any hope of getting out of the city alive. But nothing would go wrong, I reassured myself. I would accomplish the mission and finally bring the Link system crashing to the ground. We would free my younger brother and all the rest of the drones, at least the ones under eighteen that hadn’t yet had the last deadening adult V-chip implanted. It would change the world. It’s what I’d dreamed of since I began to feel emotion for the first time—I wanted everyone else to be able to feel these amazing new things too.
I clutched my glass tighter and headed toward my target, pasting a wide smile on my face. But before I could get to him, the woman who’d sat beside me at dinner, Checil, came up to me. She was only a few years older than me, but her skin was sallow and the heavy bags under her eyes were only partially concealed by her too-heavy makeup.
“Are you amped for Fight Night tomorrow?”
I shrugged, trying to look bored. I glanced quickly over her shoulder. My target was talking with a group of other white-haired men. “It’s really more of Nihem’s thing,” I said. “It’s what he dragged us out here for in the first place. I’d rather be cozy back at home. As it is,” I smiled tightly, looking around, “I’ll need a stiff drink to get through it. Or four. Speaking of, I think I need something stronger than this wine,” I nodded toward the open bar and tried to brush past her.
But she took my arm in hers and pulled me forward, almost sloshing the wine out of my goblet. I had to stop myself from pulling back from such an intimate touch. Again I was amazed at Max’s ability. No one ever saw through the disguise he’d given me, no matter how close they were.
“I know exactly what you mean. Have you seen my husband?” She waved at a man with thinning hair and a portly belly. He must have been more than twice her age. He was one of the men in the circle talking to my target, Warnost. He nodded back at Checil, but didn’t move from his spot. He swiped another small cake from a passing drone server’s tray.
Checil wrinkled her mouth in distaste.
“I loathe him, but not all our parents are legacy owners in Comm Corp like yours! The rest of us have to do what we can to keep our proper position in society. Even if it means marrying a saggy old man with perpetually greasy fingers.” She steered me around the perimeter of the party.
I glanced back and swore internally. I needed to extricate myself from this clingy woman, and quick. The party was almost at its end. We’d waited intentionally for the later half of the night to strike so our targets’ disappearances wouldn’t seem out of the ordinary, but if I didn’t act soon, I’d miss the opportunity completely.
Checil went on, oblivious that I wasn’t responding to her. I learned quickly that she was the kind of person who could keep up a stream of chatter no matter her audience. I suspected she enjoyed the fact that I didn’t speak much, and that she enjoyed even more walking and letting herself be seen with someone of Darl’s position. As she’d said, Darl’s parents were important people.
“Look, I really have to go—” I tried to interject, but Checil just kept talking.
“He’s determined to put a baby in me.” Checil went on as if I hadn’t said anything. “Continue the pure line of Uppers and all the bash that gen goes on and on about. Even though he already has three children. At least one of his sons is debauched and delicious. I’ve had him of course,” she laughed again. “If I ever do decide to let a parasite destroy my figure like my darling husband wants, I just might let the son take care of it. Then at least the little monster would look like family.”
I tried not to let my abhorrence show on my face. This woman would betray her husband without thought, disgrace him, and laugh about it in the same moment. I’d heard other women talking about Checil last night when she wasn’t there—about how her family had no money anymore and were only still Uppers because of the family name. Checil’s marriage to the husband she so casually dismissed was the only reason she was able to still appear in society, wear fancy dresses, eat this fancy food, and have these friends. As we circled the party, some of those so-called friends looked right at her and then turned away and chattered some more, laughing behind their hands.
“Well, I think I better see where Nihem’s gotten off to—” I glanced back at the circle of men. Several had left the group, but Warnost was still talking to Checil’s husband.
Checil’s smile faltered and her grip on my arm tightened. “To tell the truth, I’m just out of sorts because it’s been too long since my last infusion,” she said, her voice low. “There’s a dealer here of course, but all on the quiet since Bud and some of the other old gens look down on it. I have to steal all the credits I can to even get my hands on a tiny bit.” Her eyes flashed with anger before she turned to look sweetly up at me. “But I’ve heard you’re quite the infusion enthusiast as well. I’d be happy to introduce you to Central City’s most prominent dealer. Maybe we could steal away and go have a real party.” She raised her makeup-darkened eyebrows and smiled. It was a desperate smile, almost feral.
I had no idea what infusions were, but I suspected it had something to do with her bloodshot eyes and dilated pupils. I almost felt sorry for her. Almost. I smiled sweetly and disengaged my arm from hers. “Thank you so much for the kind offer, but I’m fine for tonight. Now, I must go find Nihem.”
I turned to go but she grabbed my arm again, her eyes wild. Her fingers felt like claws in my skin. “But you have to help me! I mean, I don’t quite have enough credits for another infusion, but if you come, I’m sure the dealer will overlook that.” Her voice wavered between persuasion and panic. “He really has the best clientele. He heard of your … your interest, and asked me to introduce you.”
“Really, I can’t right now.” I couldn’t keep the impatience from my voice. My target had shaken hands with Checil’s husband and was walking toward the exit.
“But la
ter? After the party?” Her fingers were still digging into my arm.
“Sure, whatever,” I said, forcing a smile. Anything to get rid of her.
She nodded vigorously, finally letting me go. “Meet me at the fountain at midnight. We’ll go then.” It was a command, not a suggestion. I was sure Darl would have put her in her place for her attitude, but standing her up tonight would accomplish the same thing.
I hurried toward Warnost’s retreating back. But before I could get to him, he exited through the double doors. I stopped, wondering if I should follow him down the hall. He’d be alone, just like we wanted. Maybe this whole thing could work to our advantage. But when I looked behind me, I saw Checil’s bloodshot eyes on me, a small frown on her face. It would look odd if I didn’t go find Max like I’d said I would. And worse if it looked like I was following my target out. The way these people gossiped, every one of them would know by morning.
I balled my hands into fists in frustration but then made my way over to Max until I saw who he was talking to. It was the second target, a woman who was far too old to be wearing the outfit she had on, a short red dress with so many cutouts that it looked like a hastily wrapped bandage.
The way she was leaning into Max’s chest, I could tell his plan was working. I’d been skeptical when he’d been so sure he could get her alone without a trick like spilling wine, but now I saw why he’d been so confident. He was a natural at this, far more smooth than he’d been a year and a half ago when we’d still lived in the Community and he’d clumsily tried to seduce me. I was sure he’d had plenty of practice since then. I swallowed my disgust.
Then again, as I got closer I could see the tiny key drive hanging like a pendant from a glittering gold chain around her neck. As long as Max got results, that was all that mattered right now.
This might still work after all. We’d planned on getting in a public fight tomorrow afternoon to explain our absence from the main attraction of Fight Night, but doing it now would work just as well. And then maybe I could still leave to go track down Warnost without suspicion.