said, “The techtric barrier presents the biggest problem.”
“It’s not a problem,” I said. “It’s a monumental issue.” Everyone swung their attention to me. Beyond that, guards and seeker-spiders would likely present another obstacle. And Enforcement Officers equipped with tasers and various special talents.
“So how do we get past it?” Zenn asked.
I had no genius ideas, so we labored over how to breach the barrier without the loss of life and/or an earsplitting alarm.
“What about coming in over the water?” Saffediene suggested.
Even Vi, who’d been simmering against the wall for the better part of the meeting, gave her full attention to the newbie.
“The water?” Zenn asked, shifting closer to her. He favored Saffediene because she was his first recruit. He’d always said she was smarter than us all.
“Yeah,” she said, taking a few seconds to think. “The ocean. We can fly straight east from here, over the water.”
The tension in the room skyrocketed. Most of it originated from Gunner, though Vi didn’t seem too happy about the flying-over-water thing either.
“What’s the problem?” I asked him. I used to fly over the ocean, playing hoverball with my brothers.
“I don’t know how to swim,” Gunner said.
“Last time I was in the water, I passed out,” Vi added.
I cocked an eyebrow—a story of Vi’s I hadn’t heard. It sounded like an interesting one at that.
“You won’t be in the water,” Saffediene said, glancing at Zenn. When his mouth twitched upward, she continued. “Just flying over it.”
“Still,” Vi said.
“The water is strictly off-limits in Freedom,” Zenn said. “No one knows how to swim. The Thinkers set it up that way so the population won’t try to escape. They don’t even know what boats are.” He kept his eyes locked on Saffediene as he spoke.
“We don’t need boats,” she argued. “We have hoverboards.”
“We’ll have two extra passengers. Maybe more.”
Their volley caused exhaustion to press behind my eyes. “It doesn’t matter,” I said, effectively cutting off Saffediene’s retort. “Can we get around the barrier if we go over the water?”
“I think so.”
“That’s not good enough.”
She crossed her arms and stuck out her hip. “Then, yes.”
“Do you know? Or are you guessing?” Someone had to be a jerk, and more often than not that responsibility landed on me. I caught Vi’s sigh, but I didn’t apologize or back down. This was my job. Keeping people safe— running the Resistance—was more important than coming off as everyone’s friend.
“I’m guessing,” Saffediene admitted.
Raking my fingers through my hair, I exhaled slowly. “Well, a guess is better than throwing a stick at the barrier and hoping it comes down.”
“Jag—” Gunner started.
I usually listened to every word he spoke, because he didn’t talk unless absolutely necessary. But I silenced him with a glare. “We’re going over the water.”
“Jag—” Vi said.
“No questions,” I barked. “Gather as many warm clothes as you can. Charge the boards. Pace, tether two extras to yours. We fly at dusk. Vi, I’d like a word.”
I left them standing in the war room. I didn’t wait to see if Vi would follow me. She would.
When she joined me in the alcove off the main room, her glower had become a cut-through-tech glare.
I didn’t have time to soothe her. “Can you sense the barrier?”
“What?” she snapped. “Now you need my help? I thought I was to ride behind Zenn and keep my mouth shut.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
I felt dangerously close to crying. Vi was mad at me. Zenn was uncooperative. Thane was to be drained. “I’m doing my best here, Vi. Please.” I pressed my palms to my eye sockets.
Vi touched my elbow, and that’s all it took for the tears to fall. I kept my hands up to cover my face. She yanked my arms down. “Don’t you dare break down now, Barque,” she commanded.
I looked at her through the water in my eyes. Her beauty made me ache. “I can’t do this anymore,” I choked out. “It’s too much.”
“No, it’s not. We’ll get Thane out. Raine too. Everything will work out fine. Yeah, I can sense the barrier.”
“Not that. That’ll work, or it won’t.”
She frowned. “Then what?”
I seized her in a fierce hug. Instantly the turmoil inside me began to quiet. I wished she wasn’t my drug, wished I could find solace in myself. But I couldn’t. Since the day I met Violet Schoenfeld, she’d calmed me from the inside out.
“You,” I whispered into her hair. “I just want you to be safe. If anything happened to you . . .” I closed my eyes and leaned my forehead against hers. “I just need you to sense the barrier. That’s all. Zenn will be there to protect you, okay?”
“I don’t need Ze—”
“Yes, you do. Thane took you once. Made you forget. I can’t go through that again.”
“Where were you all this time?” she asked, in a classic Vi-topic-change.
No one needed to know where I’d been, what I’d gone through. If she thought she couldn’t sleep now, Vi didn’t know the depth of nightmares she’d have if I told her.
I clung to her a moment longer. “Zenn’s flying mid-pack, but you guys will need to fly frontal with me until we make it around the barrier.”
I ignored the flare of disappointment that rippled through me when I released her. The twinge of guilt when she stepped back, those changeable eyes of hers set on super-angry.
I’d taken three steps toward the war room when she said, “Will you ever tell me?”
I half turned back. “I can’t.”
“Can’t, or won’t?”
“They’re the same,” I said.
“We shouldn’t keep secrets from each other,” she said. “
I bowed my head to acknowledge that she was right. Had I told her that? Yes. Should we keep secrets from one another? No.
“I love you,” I said, and walked away.
Zenn
6.
Next to me, Vi flew silently, her left hand held out to her side as if she was letting her fingers trail along a wall. In essence, she was. Vi can feel tech, and the barrier created a wall she could “see” with her hands. She’d been careful not to make contact as she guided us.
In front of her, Jag rode his hoverboard as expertly as ever. Whatever had happened to him during his eight-month disappearance hadn’t affected his flying ability.
Part of me admired that; another part wished he’d come back more broken. He remained as mysterious as ever, keeping people out and fortifying his barricades.
