I’d had plenty of experience with Directors like him, and I didn’t expect him to respond. When he didn’t, I added, “The cities we won’t own will come around once they see our superior way of living.”
“Sounds like you have everything worked out,” he said. “But I’m sure you know I’m not simply going to mount my hoverboard and fly into the night.”
“What are you going to do?” I asked.
Jag! Vi shouted in my head, and I flinched at the panic in her tone.
“Sounds like your team has discovered what I’m going to do.” Darke stood up, his fingers pressing buttons along the wrist-port band on his left hand.
I jumped to my feet. Vi’s voice echoed in my head, but with no new information. I sprinted for the door, shouting, “Lock down!”
Irv’s tech leapt into action, securing all of the room’s exits, locking Darke inside. His rage followed me into hall, propelling me toward the stairs. My heart pounded as loud as my footsteps as I flew up them.
“Vi!” I barged into the bedroom where she had been camped out. She stood at the window. Terror flowed from her.
I joined her at the window, and she gripped my arm. My fear matched hers as I took in the scene outside.
The sky was filled with fire, with men on hoverboards, with taser blasts.
With death.
Time clicked by in breaths. One, two, three.
“Let’s go,” Vi begged. “Jag, come on!”
I tore my gaze from the scene outside. “You said Darke didn’t get what he wanted.” It sounded like an accusation, but it was a plea. I wanted Vi to tell me I was hallucinating. Something to make the men outside be Resistance members.
“He didn’t get the tech,” she said. “He got an army.” She bolted into the hall, screaming behind her, “Come on!”
I took one more look out the window. I looked toward the Rises. Bright lights flashed along the top of Twelve, signaling that they were under attack. I sprinted after Vi, my fear solidifying into fury.
* * *
“Straight up,” I said to Vi. “Please, Vi. Fly straight up.”
She glared at me. “I can help.”
“I know that,” I said. “But I do not know how to live without you. Please. Straight up.”
“You’re going straight up too, right?”
“Right,” I said.
“Fine.” She stepped onto her hoverboard and launched herself up. I followed her, climbing above the chaos raging through the Rises several miles away. She stopped a few hundred feet in the air, and I paused next to her.
Fire leapt from the roof of several Rises, the numbers of which I didn’t know.
“Two, Six, Nine, and Ten,” Vi said.
“Six and Nine,” I repeated. “That’s bad.” Zenn had gone back to his old flat in Rise Nine to set up a home base. Thane, Trek, and Irv were operating their communications hub and tech production out of Twelve. Isaacs had gone with them. Starr had gone back to her old flat in Six to establish an infirmary, taking Raine, Gunner, and River with her.
Laurel and Saffediene were part of my traveling team, and I’d dispatched them to Harvest to gather refugees who were willing to fight. They’d be gone until morning.
Darke had brought hordes of people with him. They all wore black, making them almost indistinguishable against the night sky. When their tasers discharged, white hot light marked their position.
My people had tasers too. Protective gear. Hoverboards. My spirits lifted as I realized we had the same equipment, the same drive to win.
I leaned into my board, pointing it toward Twelve. Vi followed, her voice in my head. What’s your plan?
Communicate with Zenn, Starr, and Raine, I thought. Let them know what’s going on, and let them know that we’re meeting at Twelve.
She didn’t answer immediately. A few minutes later, she thought, Done. Jag, what are we going to do?
“Fight back,” I said out loud. “We’re going to fight back.”
* * *
The scene on the roof of Twelve was organized noise. I didn’t see Trek or Irvine, but Thane was issuing directions to small teams of people.
“Status,” I barked as he sent a group of five men into the sky.
“Jag,” he practically sighed. “There you are.” He gripped my hand in a shake that lasted only two seconds. He hugged Vi in a fatherly gesture. “As soon as we saw Darke’s army, Zenn made new transmissions and Irv sent them out over the lines. He asked anyone who wanted to fight for a different future to come to Rise Twelve. The Rise is choked with people.”
“Nice,” I said. “Keep talking.”
He held up his hand for me to wait as he gave a destination to another group, this one all women. They wielded tasers, and determination flashed in their eyes.
“I’m sending out the groups. Trek and Irv have outfitted them all with protective gear and tasers, and Starr blitzed over from Six to help organize them into groups of five by like talents.”
“Like talents?”
“Starr can read minds incredibly well. She’s putting people with flying skills together. People with math skills. People with problem-solving skills. The leader of each group brings me a paper.” He took one from a man in the next group. “Based on their noted skill set, I give them a section of the city to defend.” He turned to the group and assigned them the prison camp in the south orchard. “Detain the prisoners by force if necessary,” he told them before they lifted into the air.
“We’ve recalled our traveling teams. Hope that was okay,” Thane said as he scanned the paper for the next group.
“Sure, fine,” I said, surprised he’d practically asked. I clutched Vi’s hand and watched as Thane sent out team after team after team. Pride welled inside me at the efficiency of my Resistance. From Irvine to Starr to Trek to Thane, everyone had risen to the task at hand.
“Where do you need us?” I asked after Thane had sent another team to Rise Six to put out a still-smoldering fire. “And what’s Zenn’s status?”
“Why don’t you go find out?” Thane said. “He’s in his flat in Rise Nine. And do something about the fire while you’re there. Trek just said we’ve assigned all the volunteers.”
“How many?” I asked.
“Thousands.”
“How many did Darke bring?”
“A lot more.” Thane’s voice pinched with worry. “Clones, most of them.”
“You stay here,” I said. “Work with Irv to keep the transmissions flowing. Maybe we can create a frequency only Darke’s clones can hear. Can we brainwash them that way?”
“I don’t know,” Thane said. “I’ll talk to Irvine.” He disappeared down the stairwell, leaving me and Vi on the roof.
The smell of ash and burnt metal filled the air. The city flickered with flashes of tech and flame. We launched from the shallow lip of the roof and aimed ourselves toward Rise Nine.
“You know the flat?” I asked Vi.
“Yeah,” she replied, the first words she’d spoken in twenty minutes. She led me to the balcony, and we both pounded on the glass door with our fists.
Laurel opened it not two seconds later, her face drawn. “Jag,” she said. “Thank the stars.” Laurel gathered Vi into a hug and drew her into the flat. Her relief at seeing her daughter alive was touching, but we didn’t have much time for that.
Raine and Gunner hovered in the corner near the kitchen, watching the flashes of fire outside. “Where’s Zenn?” I asked, noting his absence.
“You just missed him. He left to record another set of transmissions,” Laurel replied. Her voice held no tone, no emotion. “I came over after Starr went to Twelve to help with the volunteers.”
I frowned as Vi asked, “Another set of transmissions?”
“Irvine thinks he can isolate the feed to be heard only by Darke’s army,” Laurel said. “He needed Zenn to record the new transmissions.”
How did Irvine communicate with Zenn? How had he known to go? “Why Zenn?” I asked. Somet
hing didn’t sit right with me. My voice was four times what Zenn’s was. Gunner’s at least double. “Who asked for him?”
“Irvine,” Laurel repeated.
“Are you sure it was Irv?” I felt sick. “We were just at Twelve. Why couldn’t Thane have done the transmissions? I was there; I could’ve done it. We’ve been gone, what? Five minutes?” I started pacing. “Something isn’t right. When did Zenn leave?”
“I don’t know,” Laurel said. “Ten minutes ago?” She stepped next to Raine and Gunn and looked out the window.
“Who asked for Zenn?” I asked, knowing it hadn’t been Irvine. “Who brought the message?”
“Saffediene,” Laurel said. “She said the message came in while she flew past Twelve on her way here. She went with Zenn.”
Vi gasped. “No,” I said.
Could they abandon us now? Would they?
Should they? Could they? Would they?
Everyone looked at me. Gunner and Raine. Vi and Laurel.
“Let’s fly,” I said. “Gunner, you get to Twelve and report to Thane. Tell him to check on the transmissions there. Send anyone you can to help us look for Zenn and Saffediene.”
I was surprised my hoverboard achieved any lift what with the sinking feeling in my stomach.
Zenn
54. I followed Saffediene until she turned away from Rise Twelve and flew toward the western wall. Something wasn’t right—had she lied to get me out of my flat so we could run away? Now?
I called after her, but she didn’t turn. Her blond hair streamed loosely behind her unwavering back. I stalled in midair, a war brewing inside me. I could fly away amid the confusion. Leave. Find a tiny apartment in a tiny city and live out my days with Saffediene by my side.
I could join the troops Ian Darke had brought back with him, though I knew there’d be no going back to the Resistance after that.
Or I could fly to Twelve and see where my talents were most needed.
Saffediene had said she believed in me. That I used to speak with conviction. I’d recorded the transmissions to urge people to make their own choices. All around me, people had done exactly that.
But Saffediene had made this decision for me. “Zenn?” She hovered in front of me now. “Come on.”
“Where are we going?”
“Someplace safe,” she said.
“I can’t abandon the Resistance,” I said. “Not again.” I swung my hoverboard away from the wall and faced the fighting before me. “We can’t leave.”
I’d left before. I’d left Vi to face the hovercopter pilot alone, when I was thirteen.
I’d left Blaze standing in that alley to await his death.
I’d left Jag without a contact in the Goodgrounds.
I’d left Vi to attend training with the Special Forces.
I’d left my brother in Castledale, and now I didn’t know where he was, or if he was still alive.
I’d left my father’s memory in the recesses of my mind, never thinking about him, never doing anything to find him.
I’d left Saffediene in an electro-net, and all my friends to fend for themselves during the last battle.
I would not be remembered for those acts. I would not be the person who simply left when things got really hard.
“It’s not who I am,” I said.
Saffediene hovered next to me, silently crying.
“I will fight,” I said. “Because it’s the right thing to do. Because it’s what I believe in. Because I want to.”
“I love you,” she whispered. “Because you fight for what you believe in. I just thought you believed in us.”
“I do.” I didn’t tell her I loved her, because I wasn’t sure if I did. I knew I wanted to spend more time with her. I knew she could be as important to me as Vi once was.
“But some things are bigger than two people,” I said. “We leave now, and we’ll always regret it.” I reached for her hand, and she let me hold it. “Trust me, I know. I’ve turned my back on my friends many times. I’ve always regretted it.”
“Zenn, I just want you to be safe.”
“You don’t need to worry about me,” I said.
“I’m scared.” She drifted closer to me, and I threaded my fingers into hers.
“Me too, Saffediene.” I leaned in and kissed her. “Me too.”
I pulled away and took a deep breath. “But today, Saffediene, we have to face the future. Today, we fight.”
“Okay,” she said. “Okay.”
We flew toward the Rises, our tasers drawn and activated, as a scream pierced the sky.
A figure dropped in front of us, a streak of pale skin and dark hair.
“Vi!” I cried, even as the darkness swallowed her.
Jag
55. I watched Laurel fall through the sky in slow motion, her scream stretching into thin ribbons. The sound of it would never leave me.
Someone screamed Vi’s name, and the timbre of it startled me from the shock of witnessing a Resistance member’s death.
“Zenn,” I said. Saffediene stood next to him on her own hoverboard. They both watched the disappearing form of Laurel Woods.
“Thane, it’s Zenn,” I said, mostly because he was the closest person to me. Vi hovered several feet away, her mouth open as she stared into the sky that had swallowed her mother.
I circled down and stalled in front of Zenn. “Zenn, look at me.”
He raised his shell-shocked eyes to mine, and a shudder rippled through his body.
“She knew the risks,” I said as the others joined me. “We all know the risks, right?”
A sob escaped from Saffediene. Vi nodded, along with Raine. Thane stood there, looking at me without moving. I’d never seen someone hold so still, especially while riding a hoverboard.
“We’re all needed,” I said, looking at my friends. Their talents were catalogued. Practiced. Coveted by the Association. “We all have something valuable to contribute.” I looked at the people flying around me. I thought of those who had volunteered to fight for freedom only a few hours after listening to Zenn’s messages.
“This is what we’ve been working for,” I said. “This is the night we win. The night we take back the control from those who have kept it from us for lifetimes.” My voice sounded with pure authority. “Tonight, this night, we instate a free government.”
I looked at each of them as I spoke. Vi nodded; Thane too. Raine looked worried, but pressed her mouth into a thin line of determination.
Saffediene was still crying, but Zenn said, “Tonight, we fight.”
“Two groups,” I commanded. “Thane, you’re with me. Raine, take Saffediene to Rise Twelve. Report to Irvine about Laurel”—my voice caught, but I quickly cleared it away—“Laurel’s fall. Zenn, Vi, I want you together.” The words meant so much. I knew Zenn understood what I really meant. He nodded. “Vi, tell Zenn about his dad.” I ignored the hope and worry coming from Zenn when I said that.
“We’ll go get Darke,” I said, “and meet up with everyone at Twelve when this is over.”
No one questioned my directions. Raine flew away with Saffediene, and I turned my attention to the guards nearest me. “Stop this,” I said, employing my most powerful voice. “Go home.” They flew away without a second thought. Thane smiled grimly at me, but I felt no satisfaction.
“Vi,” I said. “Do what you need to do.” I didn’t look at her. “Zenn, keep her safe.”
I watched Vi and Zenn zoom away, desperately hoping that wasn’t my final good-bye with the girl I loved.
Thane and I flew into the fray, and I used my voice at every opportunity. Thane did too. We’d managed to ground a dozen enemies in just a few minutes. Someone above me dropped his taser, and it discharged against my board. Waves of techtricity streamed through me and my board, causing my back to arch and my board to stall.
Again I saw Laurel falling through empty space, but this time my face replaced hers.
I clenched my teeth against the pain but could do
nothing as my board fell. I landed on something hard. Someone kicked away my useless board. When I opened my eyes, I was looking straight at Thane Myers.
He’d saved me. Again.
“Thank you,” I breathed out, my heart still pounding hard with the fear of free-falling. “Can we fly double on this thing?” I eyed his standard-issue board.
“We have no choice,” he replied. “I’ll navigate. You order people around.”
Thane was a good flier. He maneuvered us through streams of guards, and I commanded hoverboards to quit, leaving Darke’s clones stranded in the air.
The Citizens of Freedom then tased, bound, and took the prisoners to the camps Irvine had set up near the orchards.
I told people to go to sleep. I told them to go home. I told them to join our side. I said whatever felt right at the moment.
It seemed like Thane flew forever, from one end of the city to the other, again and again. And still there were guards and clones to command.
On the third trip north, Thane brought his board to a full stop. Darke stood in front of us, his hoverboard humming with energy. He folded his arms and regarded the two of us.
I stood in front of Thane, anger burning through my body. Thane put his hand on my shoulder and whispered, “Patience.”
I didn’t have much of that. Thane had been fighting from the inside for twenty years. He had untold stores of patience.
“Leave,” I said. “Leave now, and we won’t kill you.”
Darke threw his head back and laughed. I fingered the tech along my belt, wondering if any of it would kill him. I fought against the urge to throw everything I had at him.
With the last of his laughter hanging in the air, I plucked a tech grenade from my belt and launched it toward him. He raised both hands and shoved them toward me.
The tech grenade reversed direction and landed between me and Thane on our hoverboard. Thane kicked it away, and it exploded in the air. The surge of energy forced us upward, and I dropped to a crouched position so I wouldn’t fall again.
“That was not patience,” Thane said. “Let him make the first move.”
We hovered above Darke in the sky now. “Nice try,” he said, ascending to our level. “Did you really think I’d let you overthrow my Association with a few tech grenades?” He drew closer and closer. “Did you really think I’d return unassisted?”