guys.”
“And that worked?” I asked skeptically.
“It did once Doc convinced her that the only way the building could have blown like that was if it had been wired from the inside. The Chancellor was willing to blow up her own people just to get Zoe.”
“Me?”
“Yeah,” Ginni said. “The Chancellor told all of them to click their transmitter once someone saw you. They didn’t know, but it set off the device for the bombs.”
“That’s horrible,” I whispered. “The Chancellor had the girl bring the place down on top of herself. All because she was so desperate to kill me.” I pushed my bowl away, afraid I was gonna be sick. I suddenly felt I deserved all those accusing glares. I was a walking target, endangering everyone around me.
“Yeah,” Ginni said. “When Saminsa figured all that out, she stopped talking. Hasn’t said a word since. But she hasn’t tried to kill anyone, so that’s a good sign.”
City leaned forward. “A good sign? You didn’t see what she did. When she made the first orb, it cut Rez fighters in half like they were made of butter.”
I shuddered. I’d seen bodies on the floor, but I hadn’t looked too closely. If Eli and I had gotten any closer before Tyryn took her down, we would’ve been killed too.
“It wasn’t her fault,” I said. I seemed to be saying it a lot lately. But it was still true. All of us were pawns in this game.
“The Chancellor wasn’t around,” City said. “The girl wasn’t under any compulsion. She attacked us all on her own. And she could be biding her time before she does it again.”
“The Chancellor took her from the Community, from her home, and filled her head with lies,” I said. “As far as Saminsa knew, we were the enemy. Any one of us would have done the same thing in her position.”
Ginni seemed to understand. She rested her hand on top of mine. “I heard your friend was in the building when it went down. I’m sorry, that must have been hard.”
I swallowed. I wasn’t ready to talk about Max yet, but I attempted a smile to show her I appreciated her concern.
“Just keep the girl away from me is all I’m saying,” City said.
“She can room with us,” Xona said. “Anyone you’re that scared of I’m bound to like.”
“I’m not scared of her.” City exploded off her chair.
“Sure sounds like it.”
City’s face turned red with anger. “Says the plebe who wasn’t even allowed to go on the mission.”
Xona shot up out of her chair too. Ginni put a hand on her arm to calm her. Xona shrugged it off and glared at City for another moment. But then she sat down without another word. I was surprised. In the past, she wouldn’t have backed down until a punch was thrown. Then again, I’d noticed Xona’s attitude had improved a lot lately. I’d been afraid she would be angry or mistrustful of me again after that ridiculous test Sophia had set up, but Xona had just taken it in stride.
“What about the other glitchers? The ones we rescued?” I asked, trying to redirect the conversation.
“A girl and two boys,” Ginni said. “The girl’s a human lie detector. Awesome, right? And the boys are twins. They’re telepathic, but only with each other.”
“None of them are very useful to us,” City said. “We need glitchers with offensive talents. The General wasn’t too happy.”
“That’s not fair,” Ginni said. “Besides, they gave us some good intel on some of the other glitchers the Chancellor has, ones that were too valuable to leave behind in the building to get blown up. Apparently there’s this red-haired boy who can make you hallucinate and see things that aren’t there. He liked to terrorize the other kids. The twins got all shaky when they talked about him.” She shuddered. “It creeped me out just listening to it. I hate powers that can get inside your head.”
“The Chancellor’s getting more and more powerful,” Xona said, frowning. “She’ll keep stocking up on glitchers she can use against us.”
Xona’s words hung ominously for a long moment.
“What happens next?” I asked. “The General didn’t get whatever it was she was looking for.”
“I don’t think even the General knows what to do next right now,” Xona said, her voice subdued. “This past week alone, ten Rez cells were cracked. Double agents working for the Rez keep getting found out and imprisoned. It’s not safe anywhere except here.”
“I heard the floor below ours is flooded with Rez fighters who managed to escape the safe house raids,” Ginni said.
“Just soldiers?” I asked. “What about civilians and families?”
“The General doesn’t want to open up the Foundation to nonmilitary personnel. We’d go through rations too quickly. She worries about the visibility of every shipment of supplies coming in as it is. But I also heard she does have a plan,” Ginni leaned in and dropped her voice to a whisper. “Something big.”
“What?” I leaned in too.
“I don’t know the details,” Ginni said. “But I overheard her arguing with the Professor. She said something about how she was gonna change the world.”
“Change the world?” Adrien suddenly leaned in, his green eyes flashing.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
Ginni shrugged. “That’s just what she said. That if it was the last thing she did, she was going to change the world.”
Chapter 18
“EVERYONE, THIS IS SAMINSA.” Jilia stepped into the room and gestured forward to the girl standing behind her. She was a slight little thing, with cropped brown hair and a heart-shaped face.
“Hello!” Ginni said and bounded toward the girl with open arms. The girl flinched back, moving behind Jilia again.
“Don’t freak her out,” Xona said, jumping down from her bunk.
“Oh,” Ginni stopped, visibly trying to rein herself in. “Sorry! I’m just so excited to meet you. Look, there’s this empty bunk right over mine. This is Xona by the way,” she gestured, “and that’s Zoe. Oh,” she paused nervously, “I guess you’ve already met Zoe.”
Ginni’s face reddened. I imagined she’d just realized exactly where and how I’d met Saminsa. “But—I mean—well now you can be properly introduced!”
Saminsa eyed us warily. From her tense stance, she looked like a cornered animal, ready to attack or flee at any moment.
“It’s safe,” Jilia said gently. “I promise. You’re safe now. No one will force you to do anything anymore.”
Saminsa’s eyes flicked up at Jilia, but she still stayed silent, her mouth a hard line. She looked slowly between Xona, Ginni, and me. Cautiously, she eased forward and grabbed the bedding out of the bunk above Ginni’s and tugged it over near the doorway.
“What’s she doing?” Ginni whispered, frowning deeply.
“She’s taking up the most tactically advantageous position while in a new territory,” Xona said with a smirk, her eyes twinkling with approval. “I wouldn’t want to be stuck in a box within an enemy camp either.”
“But we aren’t enemies!” Ginni exclaimed.
“Guys,” I hissed. “Stop talking about her like she’s not here.” Saminsa looked both terrified and fierce as she dropped the bedding and stood with her back to the wall, her quick eyes flicking back and forth between us all.
“Come on,” Jilia said, “I’ll show you the bathroom and shower.” The girl followed Jilia out.
I went back to the drawing I’d been working on, but I couldn’t stop thinking about Saminsa. I could only hope that with time she’d see we weren’t the enemy. I looked down at my paper. The Professor had given me colored drawing pencils, and I was trying to figure out the best way to blend the colors together.
