Abandon

He’d secured an unconscious Thane to a hoverboard. Zenn mounted his board, and the tethered trio started to rise toward the air duct at the back of the lab, as per our plan. We’d assumed Officers would be arriving on scene via the hallway before we could exit that way.

Gunn held Raine’s hand, his eyes never leaving her face. Vi followed Zenn, a heavy dose of worry coming from her. At least she’d gone with him. I didn’t want to think about what would happen to her if she got caught.

As I remained alone, I logged the direction Zenn steered his board. The ceiling loomed three stories above me. Every wall except the one behind me glared back with metal surfaces. The single door in the back of the lab now bulged with white-coated technicians waiting for the code to be entered so they could swarm inside.

From her position near the ceiling, Vi threw me one last look over her shoulder before the glass wall behind me exploded.

I landed on top of Van, his hot breath searing my face. I scrambled away from him as a team of silver- suited Enforcement Officers entered the room from the hallway. One of them handed Ian, then Van, a pair of sound-canceling headphones while I wiped blood from my forehead and felt an ocean of pain coming from my back.

Trapped, trapped, trapped, I thought. No way out. Can’t get out.

I stumbled toward the back of the lab, pulling my folded hoverboard from my pocket.

Trapped, trapped, trappedtrappedtrapped.

“Expand,” I croaked. The board did nothing, as it didn’t recognize my voice when it was filled with particles of glass, dust—and fear.

I jabbed at the buttons and leapt on the board as the first electro-spheres dropped at my feet.

“Up!” My board shot toward the ceiling, which I rammed with my skull. My back arced when the techtricity hit me, and my board faltered.

Go, I said in my head. Go.

Maybe I said it out loud. Maybe I didn’t. But my board went. I’d fallen to my stomach, and that suited me just fine as my board careened only six inches from the ceiling. There was so much pain in my back, it felt like it had caught fire.

Out, I pleaded, the edges of my vision turning dull. My head felt heavy and soft. Voices shouted below me. Electronics sparked, sending bright bits of techtricity into my path.

Blood dripped from my chin, pooling on my board. I felt so, so tired.

Trapped, I thought as a very solid wall loomed closer. My mind looped on that thought. Trapped, trapped, trapped.

Through it all, I heard Ian’s voice. “You’ll never get out of here alive.”

Was he right? Maybe. But he didn’t have to be so arrogant about it.

Out, I thought. “Please,” I said aloud.

I managed to maneuver the board along the perimeter of the room. Below me, smoke curled, men shouted, and electro-spheres continued to discharge. No escape presented itself in the next corner, so I made another right turn. Soon I’d be back where I started, and I knew what waited for me there.

Up ahead I spotted the air duct. Zenn had already removed the vent. Two feet from the opening, my board bucked. A new pain radiated from my thigh. I lifted my body enough to peer over the edge. A grappling spider spread its legs, hooking itself to my craft.

Ian would then reel me in like a bloated fish. Cage me in that capsule again. Death would be better. My breath clogged my lungs. I couldn’t think clearly; I’d lost so much blood.

“Deactivate,” I said, brushing at the spider with my hand. “Dislodge.”

The spider obeyed my voice, retracting its legs before the green lights of its eyes winked into darkness.

A small—possibly pointless—victory. My board now vibrated because of the damage, my thigh was bleeding, and I’d passed the air duct.

I looped back around and positioned myself below the opening. An electro-sphere landed on the board next to my head. I snatched it up, intending to launch it right back to the floor.

Instead I held it. Felt the humming tech beneath the ball’s aluminum surface. If I timed it just right . . .

I checked my position again. Straight up to freedom.

I dropped the e-sphere. Said, “Up.”

My board obeyed, and the sphere detonated about five feet below me, sending a shock wave of techtricity in all directions.

Including up.

I rode the wave through the duct system as far as I could. After that I twisted and turned and doubled back inside the ventilation system until it spat me out into the too-bright sunshine.

Oxygen greeted me, and I couldn’t suck it in fast enough. I expected EOs to be hovering, but a commotion on the ground had drawn them all away.

I recognized River’s tangled hair in the fray before I nosed my board toward the ocean. Clever girl.

I did not have the strength to sit up. Or speak. For now, breathing was enough.

The soothing sound of the ocean called at me to sleep. What can it hurt? I thought. I closed my eyes against the malicious sunrays bouncing off water.

I thought, I’ll just rest for a minute.

I thought, It’s a twenty-minute flight anyway.

I thought . . .

Zenn 10.

After our return to the hideout, Vi had attended to Raine, who’d lost consciousness on the flight.

Then Vi turned her attention to her father. Neither of them looked good, but at least Vi was alert, which was more than I could say about Thane.

Now she chewed her nails as she paced the length of the war room. Back and forth, back and forth. I couldn’t watch Vi anymore, worried about her beloved boyfriend. I returned to the hospital nook, where Pace was working over Raine. “How is she?”

Gunn wouldn’t leave Raine’s side, and he didn’t glance up when he answered. “She thinks she’s Arena Locke.” His sigh came out in bursts. “She seems to remember me, though. She called me by my name. When I said her name was Raine Hightower, she . . .”

“She’s been Modified,” Pace said. “It’ll take time.” He put his hand on Gunn’s arm and gently pushed him back a step so he could administer meds to Raine. She lay on the bed, her eyes closed. Her skin looked like white plastic, and her hair like translucent strands of wire.

Raine and I may not have seen eye-to-eye on some things, but she was a dedicated Insider. A friend to Vi. A friend to me. “What can I do?”

Pace stepped back and Gunn filled the empty space next to Raine. He stroked her hair and leaned close. “Your name is Raine Rose Hightower,” he whispered. “I’m Gunner Jameson, and I love you.”

Pace swallowed hard and wouldn’t look at me. “Gunner is going to stay here and tell her what her life used to be like. Sometimes the unconscious mind can recover more than when it’s awake.” He returned to his medical tools, leaving me with Gunner and Raine. I’d spent the better part of the last two months with them. My chest felt so tight. What would I do if that were Vi?

I knew what I’d do. I’d do exactly what Gunner was doing. I’d hold her hand and tell her I loved her and beg her to come back to me.

“Gunn,” I said. He glanced up. “Come get me if you need me.”

He nodded and returned his attention to Raine. I strode back to the war room, catching Vi’s hand as she paced past me and looking her in the face. She opened her eyes in surprise as I leaned forward. I didn’t want to kiss her—fine, I did—just get close enough to achieve some measure of privacy.