Override

“I didn’t mean to burn her hands,” said Rand.

City scoffed. “You aren’t the bad guy here, Rand. She pulled a laser weapon. She could have sliced someone’s arm off by accident.”

“What exactly just happened?” I asked.

“Rand melted her weapons.” A short girl with long frizzy brown hair got to her feet from where she’d been crouching on the ground with her arms covering her head. She beamed at Rand. “He can turn metal molten.”

He winked and waved at me, his palms turning a glowing orange. City smacked him hard in the shoulder. “Now if he just could learn to tone it down sometimes.”

He rolled his eyes. “Because you are always so controlled with your lightning.”

“It’s electricity, not lightning. And it’s not supposed to be subtle.”

“Why don’t I introduce you all officially,” Adrien said. He gestured to the blonde. “Zoe, this is City. She can produce spirals of electricity from her bare hands. Then there’s Eli, Wytt, Tavid, and Cole.” He nodded at the ex- Regs. Three of them didn’t move at all. They just stood looking at the far wall like they were on guard. The fourth looked my way and nodded.

“Where are the other ex-Regs?” I asked. Ten had come with us after I freed them from their V-chips, if I remembered correctly.

“The rest are on active duty with other Rez squadrons.” Adrien turned to the stocky boy who’d burned Xona. “This is Rand. You saw his power in action.”

Rand grinned.

“And I’m Ginni,” said the frizzy-haired girl. “We’re all so excited to meet you and welcome you to the team!” She came forward and gave me a huge hug. I patted her back awkwardly. I’d never really been in such close proximity to anyone except Adrien.

“Uh, hi.”

City snorted in the background, and Ginni pulled back.

“Ginni can locate people anywhere on earth,” Adrien said, smiling. “Down to a few feet.”

“Oh,” I smiled. “Adrien told me about you.”

“He did?” A grin split her face.

“Now that you’re actually here maybe we can finally see some action,” Rand said, rubbing his hands together.

Ginni leaned in. “Can you really do everything they say you can? Juan told us you ripped metal-reinforced doors out of the wall. Is that true?”

“Um, yeah.”

“Telekinesis is such an awesome power. And one day you’re gonna be the leader of the Rez,” Ginni shook her head slightly, looking awestruck. “To think, I get to be on the same task force as you.”

“She’s not a leader yet,” City said. “Everyone on the task force is of equal rank.” She looked at me sourly. “Except some of us have actually trained for years and been on missions.”

“Aw, don’t get your tunic in a twist, City,” Rand said.

City’s hands balled into fists. “I’m not getting anything in a twist. I’m just telling it like it is.”

“Okay, guys,” Adrien intervened. “Everybody out. Let’s let Zoe get some rest now.”

He ran a hand through his hair after they all left. “I’m sorry about how they acted. They can be a lot to handle all at once.”

My skin prickled up at the thought of so many people with such intense expectations of me. I ran my hands over my arms rapidly. “Everyone here knows what I’m expected to do. How can I possibly live up to that? It’s too much pressure.”

“I know, I’m sorry. But news travels quickly around here. And it’s been so long since we’ve had good news,” Adrien added. “People latch on to hope wherever they can find it.”

I suddenly felt bad for my outburst. They needed me, not just because I was supposed to help them win, but also because simply believing in me was helping them stay strong.

“Do you want to go get some more sleep?” he asked. “I can show you to your dorm room. Or we can go grab some food if you’re hungry.”

I cringed at the thought of the protein mix. “No,” I took Adrien’s hand. “Is there somewhere we can go to be alone and get away from everything?”

“Hmm,” he drummed his fingers on his thigh. “Jilia will be back after she takes care of Xona’s hand. But everyone else is at lunch, then they’ll have class after. We could go to your dorm room.”

I nodded. He led me out of the Med Center and down the hallway, but, instead of continuing down the way we’d come, he took a hallway that forked off to the right. At the end of the hallway were several doors. He stopped at one and pressed on the panel to open it. The lights turned on as we walked in.

The room was about twice the size of my old room back in the Community, but there were four beds built into the wall like shelves, two high. A curtain ran along the length of each, for privacy I assumed. A long metal table with four chairs took up the far wall of the room.

“Looks like you’ve got your choice of beds,” Adrien said. “Ginni’s been living here alone. I’m sure she’ll be beyond thrilled at having you and Xona for roommates.”

I nodded. Ginni seemed nice, but I wasn’t so sure how I felt about rooming with Xona. She was so hostile. “As long as Jilia takes away Xona’s weapons.”

Adrien laughed.

I pushed back the curtain and sat down on the other bottom bed beside Ginni’s. Adrien sat beside me. But suddenly, I didn’t know what to say. A couple nights ago everything had seemed so simple. Adrien and I were finally together again, and that was all that had mattered.

“What now?” I asked, turning to Adrien and searching his eyes.

I’d meant it in the larger sense, but he seemed to take me literally. “Well, we could read for a few hours.” He pointed at one of the tablets on the table. “Your tablet should be loaded with the texts for our Humanities class.”

I was quiet a moment.

“I could help you catch up. I mean, I know you could read it on your own, I thought it just might be nice—” He looked down.

“No, that’s really sweet.” I put my hand on his, and wished once again that we weren’t separated by my suit. What I really wanted was to curl up into his chest so he could stroke my hair and kiss me. But settling in beside him and listening to him read was a close second. “I’d like that.”

He grabbed a tablet from the table. Then we arranged some pillows behind our backs against the wall and he started to read. I felt all my muscles relax at the sound of his voice.

The text was strange, about a man in ancient times, even before the Old World. A king received a vision from an oracle that his son would kill him and marry his wife, the boy’s own mother. The king decided to abandon the boy out on the rocks to die as a baby, so he wouldn’t grow up and do what the vision had said. But someone rescued the boy, and it all happened exactly as predicted anyway.

As odd as the story was, I was fascinated. I’d only ever read history texts before. We didn’t have stories in the Community. It was so interesting to hear the tale unfold through the different characters.

Better than the drama of the story, though, was hearing Adrien as he read. It seemed I could never get enough of looking at his face or listening to him. After everything that had happened over the past few days, it was calming to lose myself in the lilting cadence of his voice. I settled my head against his shoulder as he read.

After a couple of hours, Adrien finally put the tablet down.

“So, the stranger Oedipus killed for insulting him on the road was actually his father?” I asked. “And the queen he married after ridding the city of the Sphinx turned out to be his mother?”

Adrien didn’t look up at me. He just stared down at the tablet, his eyebrows drawn.

“It’s a disturbing story,” I said, thinking that’s why he looked sad. “I wonder if people were all like that in the Old World before the V-chip. Killing strangers on the road and gouging their own eyes out.” I shuddered. “There was so much violence before the V-chips.” Then I thought about the Chancellor, the Uppers, and the Rez fighters here at the Foundation. It seemed no one without the V-chip could stay peaceful for long. Maybe that was the price of having emotion, that the bad always came along with the good.

Adrien didn’t respond. He seemed preoccupied, and after a few moments of silence, he looked up. “Do you