let you overthrow my Association with a few tech grenades?” He drew closer and closer. “Did you really think I’d return unassisted?”
“Your clone-guards are almost defeated,” I said, gesturing to the almost-quiet sky. “We’ve nearly got them contained now.”
Malice glinted in his dark eyes. “All of them?”
Sudden fear struck me, struck me hard. Darke touched his temple. “One thought, and I’ll have another five thousand clones here in under five minutes.”
I didn’t detect any deceit. He really had more clones.
Before I could respond, a cheer rose up from the crowd. It sounded wild and free, and I knew my Resistance had won.
“I’ve instructed them to regroup at Rise Twelve,” Thane murmured in my ear.
I nodded slightly, glad one of us had a cache to keep in contact with the group. Rise Twelve would be the best place for our troops if Darke was rallying for another attack.
No one seemed to want to make the first move. I exercised my patience, and waited for Darke to act. With his personal tech security systems on, my voice wouldn’t do much. My tech gadgets could be used against me. So I waited,
waited,
waited.
The pressure in my chest pinched tighter and tighter with every second. I opened my mouth and screamed in an attempt to release the pressure inside.
The hoverboard under my feet lurched. I stepped back to regain my balance, expecting to bump into Thane.
But he wasn’t there.
He was flying through the air, straight toward Darke, his hands outstretched. Thane hit Darke full force, clenching his hands around Darke’s throat. Together, they landed on Darke’s hoverboard, which shimmied and started to tip sideways.
My fingers fumbled along my belt, desperate to find something that would incapacitate Darke, but leave Thane unharmed.
The two tangled together, wrestling against one another. “Jag!” Thane yelled. “Jag, now!”
I struggled for a solution, but I seemed frozen. Everything happened so fast, and their hoverboard tilted and tipped, yet they stayed on.
“Jag!” Thane screamed.
My fingers closed around a spherical object. Darke threw a punch. Thane’s head snapped back, and he slid from the hoverboard as I launched the grenade.
The resulting explosion filled the sky with bright yellow light that illuminated Thane’s slack face as he fell into the depths of the night.
Zenn
56.
“Tell me about my dad,” I demanded as soon as we flew away from Jag. “Vi, tell me.”
She looked me straight in the face. “He died in Rancho Port—helping Jag to escape.”
The air left my lungs. Dead. My father was dead. Part of me died with her words. “When?” Though it didn’t really matter, I needed to know.
“A few days before they brought Jag to Freedom,” she said. “About six weeks ago.”
Just over a month. One month. Shame filled me. I should’ve looked for him. I’d had the resources in Freedom. I’d had the leeway. But I didn’t. I was afraid of finding him, afraid of that familiar pride I’d find in his eyes for the things I’d done, afraid of telling him about the mistakes I’d made.
I flew as if in a fog. I spoke without thought. The battle raged around us, despite my voice-controlling clone after clone to descend to the ground and freeze. Despite Vi’s mind control and the line of guards she sent to the camps, where they’d be detained.
“Zenn, it’s not enough,” Vi said, and her voice shook with frustration. “I have to do something different.”
She stepped from her board to mine, lacing her arms around my waist. I instantly snapped out of the
She’d looked at me this way before. When we’d snuck to the Abandoned Area. When Ty had disappeared. When I’d told her I was leaving for the Special Forces. We’d been there for each other for years, through fear and loss and heartache.
“I love you,” I said before I could stop myself.
“I love you too,” she said. “Please stay with me. Don’t drop me.”
I didn’t understand what she meant until her eyes rolled back into her head and she slumped against me. The guard flying toward us suddenly jerked, climbing above us on his hoverboard. He smiled coldly at me before he started firing on the three officers that were flying with him.
And then I knew. Vi had given herself in order to control others.
I lowered her to the board and crouched over her still form. I would stay with her until the end, whenever that may be.
I navigated the board through the fray, following the guard as he annihilated those around him. When taser fire hit my board, I ignored the pain in my chest even though the heat reminded me of the fires I’d seen on the propaganda vids. The crackle of flames sounded in my ears though the night sky wasn’t filled with fire.
Something sliced through my right arm, but I pressed my bleeding wrist to my side and kept navigating after the guard. I leaned over Vi’s body and voice-ordered anyone who got too close to turn themselves in at the camps.
I glanced at Vi’s body. Drops of blood decorated her face. My heart leapt in fear—had she been hit? Then I realized the blood was dripping from a gash that ran from my wrist to my elbow. The pain was held at bay by the adrenaline pumping through me. My board bucked, sharp heat exploded in my chest, and in the distance, I heard someone call my name.
It sounded like my father, but I knew that was wishful thinking. I ignored the voice—and the pain rising through my body—and kept following the guard. Minutes or hours later the officer finally turned to look at me. His chest heaved with the effort it took to breathe. I knew exactly how he felt. I pressed my hand to my heart and felt a sticky warmth there.
“Go,” he said, and then his body crumpled to his board.
I could barely support my own weight. I couldn’t get enough air. Vi was soaked with blood, and so was I.
“Rise Twelve,” I croaked.
“Whoa. Are you guys okay?” a girl asked.
“She took control of someone’s body,” I said as we hit the roof hard. I rolled onto my back, still cradling Vi in my arms. My breathing was ragged and sounded wet. “She told me what she was doing. She told me not leave her.” I sucked in another breath and looked into Starr’s eyes. “I didn’t leave her.”
“You need medical attention,” Starr said. “Go get help; I’ll take care of Vi.”
I shook my head, which felt detached from my body. “No, I’m staying with her. She asked me to stay with her.”
“Go get Fret,” Starr said to someone I couldn’t see.
“Yes, Fret. I need to see my brother.” I sighed as another grenade exploded nearby. Its light illuminated two
