hadn’t quite done yet: accept us.
Choose me over him.
“I have,” she said, her voice whisper quiet. “And he knows it, which is why he hasn’t been to see me.”
Did this surprise me? I’d be lying if I said it didn’t. Vi wasn’t super great at making choices, and I didn’t know she’d gone so far as to decide between Zenn and me, and communicate such a thing to Zenn.
“I punched him after he tried to kiss me. Well, I mean, he kissed me, and I punched him.”
I laughed, the sound echoing through the infirmary. “No wonder his nose was all swollen a few days ago. He wouldn’t say why.”
Vi pushed herself into a sitting position. “Tell me what’s going on.”
Against my many protests, Vi suited up for flight after a late dinner. T-minus fifty-eight minutes until we would launch the second wave against the Association. We’d received word that Darke had indeed arrived in Castledale. He’d flown into the Security Department with a contingent of guards, and my report said he would depart at five the next morning.
Seven hours.
I paced, the anxiety a living, breathing thing inside my chest, pumping right along with my heart. Everything was set; everyone had been prepped. Now we just waited for the moment to strike.
I gripped the teleporter ring in my pocket. Zenn stood nearby, talking quietly with Saffediene. Besides checking with him about the receivers, I’d only seen him for five minutes during the past two days. We’d spoken maybe ten words.
I suspected he was hiding something from me, but I couldn’t feel any deceit from him. Just sadness and loneliness and indecision. Maybe he’d really moved on and didn’t need to spend his energy being angry with me anymore. I remembered when we used to play cards and laugh, and as he leaned closer to Saffediene with a small smile on his lips, I missed my friendship with him.
Zenn would be flying with Saffediene and a handful of others, leaving the city from the south and circling around to the Security Department on the fourth leg of the attack. Laurel had her team clustered together, their faces identical images of determination. They were flying out east and coming in hot on the second shift.
Thane stood with his back to me, Starr Messenger at his side. Since our earlier conversation, we hadn’t spoken. He’d taken a few shifts with Vi, but when I relieved him, he simply left and I sat down in his place.
He’d been assigned the third leg, which would attack from the west. Raine and Trek and a handful of others were staying behind, monitoring our tech and checking the feeds. I couldn’t afford to lose another technician, especially one as capable as Trek. And Raine, though she was improving greatly, still forgot her real name on occasion.
I was leading the first wave, and we were due to fly directly into the Security Department. I’d assigned Vi to my team because she refused to stay behind, and I hated to admit that her newfound ability might be useful in this fight.
As the hour drew near, the mood in the room shifted from eager anticipation to a dull fear. The talking gradually quieted, and finally I raised my hand. “Let’s move out.”
I led my team to the roof, where we stepped onto our hoverboards, and flew.
The night tasted bitter, like leftover smoke. Darke had forced everyone out, either with fire or mind control. Rumor had it that Harvest had taken in thousands of refugees. So had Arrow Falls, and I’d heard reports from cities as far north as Lakehead.
It didn’t matter. We had Darke’s agenda, and he was due to visit Harvest the day after tomorrow. After he changed their transmissions, the people would be forced to flee again.
I set my jaw. No, they wouldn’t. We’d stop him tonight.
Zenn
38.
Jag marched out with his team of twenty, his chin tilted up and his hand clutched in Vi’s. Seeing them together didn’t hurt as much as it used to. Certainly not as much as her fist connecting with my nose.
Ten minutes later Laurel’s team exited the building, leaving me with Thane and Starr. I hadn’t talked much with them. I hadn’t talked much with anyone since arriving in Grande, besides Saffediene. She was the only one who didn’t kindle old arguments and strained memories. I’d enjoyed being with her without a mission objective.
She’d come to the tech lab and sat next to me while I assembled the receivers. Turned out I wasn’t half bad at it. One of the rings Trek had fashioned, with the receiver I’d constructed inside to make it work, now sat in my pocket. Almost everyone had one; fifty hadn’t been quite enough for all of us, but close. The Insiders in Grande had done a great job of collecting tech materials.
Worry seethed just beneath my skin. I tugged on the sleeve of my jacket to release some of the anxiety. Didn’t work.
A flicker of light crossed the p-screen near Thane, but flatlined into nothingness. I didn’t realize how much I wanted to see Jag on that screen, though he’d only been gone a half hour and couldn’t have achieved victory so quickly. I needed to hear him say he’d completed the objective. Craved the sight of his triumphant smile.
Because I didn’t want to leave the safety of this building. In here I knew what to expect. Out there anything could happen. Anything at all.
When Thane departed with his squad, I started pacing. Besides Saffediene, my team consisted of three guys from Baybridge, and two guys from Harvest who’d learned to fly hoverboards yesterday.
They weren’t my top picks. Jag had assigned those people to his contingency. It didn’t matter. If the other teams weren’t successful, my pathetic team of seven wasn’t going to tip the balance.
I glared at the p-screen as if it were to blame for not broadcasting the images I wanted to see. All too soon the buzzer on my belt went off. “Time to go.” I strode toward the door with what I hoped looked like confidence.
The chilly air outside felt dense, thick as water, inside my lungs. When I cleared the roof and turned south, I caught a glimpse of fire to the north. The Security Department.
The top half of the building danced with flames. I hovered there, staring. Jag had done it. I didn’t know why, but I honestly thought we might never succeed. He’d been trying for so long. Trying—and failing.
“Zenn?” Saffediene asked.
I pulled my attention from the orange glow. She hovered with the others, waiting for my directions. “South,” I said. “Stick to the plan. We haven’t been alerted of any changes.”
I ignored the smoke curling into the sky. I ignored the emptiness in the streets and the buzz of techtricity hanging in the air.
All of it unsettled me. Something about this felt too easy.
As we circled in from the north, the unease grew. My breath came fast. I crouched low, scanning scanning scanning the horizon. I expected a flood of lights to illuminate the downtown area and an army of clones to make their appearance.
When they didn’t, I wondered why.
And then I saw someone that erased all my thoughts.
A low moan escaped my mouth.
My hands clenched into fists.
I braced myself—
just—
before—
ramming into—
My father.
