“It explains why you’re the only person her compulsion doesn’t work on, but why every other glitcher power still affects you,” Adrien said.
I looked between the two boys uncertainly.
“Zoe,” he took my hand. “I know this doesn’t make up for what happened. Nothing can change that. But your brother’s death could be the reason we’re alive. Because of him, you’re the one person with the ability to fight the Chancellor. You save lives. You can save all of us. Because of him.”
I couldn’t breathe. I pulled my hand away from his. “If I had the choice, I’d rather have Daavd back.”
“But you weren’t given a choice,” he said, his voice gentle. “And I’m so, so sorry about that.”
Tears welled up and my whole upper body began to quiver. Xona had said her mom believed that good things can come from the bad, that things always work out for a reason. But it seemed so wrong to be glad that my brother had died as part of some twisted web of fate so that I could fight against the Chancellor. Adrien had obviously meant it as a comforting thought, but I didn’t want to believe the world worked like that. And still, any way I looked at it, Daavd died because of me. A high-pitched buzzing sounded in my ears. I knew the feeling well.
“Oh no,” I said, blinking my tears away and looking at my shaking forearm.
Adrien took my hand in his, then his eyes flashed back up at mine. “Zoe, your emotions are triggering your telek. Can you calm down and get yourself under control?”
I tried to take several deep breaths, but all I could see was my brother’s bloody face. The shaking got worse. I could feel the power building up inside me, begging to get out.
Adrien put his hands on both sides of my face and looked straight into my eyes. “Zoe. You need to Link yourself. Right now.”
I whispered the words to reconnect myself. Color leached from the room. And with it, I felt my tumultuous emotions calm and dissipate too. The sliding door of the Link came down, separating me from my fears and anxieties, and replacing them with numb calm.
Simin stiffened in his chair.
“It’s all right,” Adrien said. “Her powers are under control now.”
“No, it’s not that,” Simin said, grabbing a small device from a shelf under the console and sticking it in his ear. He pointed at one of the monitors.
“What is it?” Adrien asked.
Simin raised a hand to silence him, but, after a few minutes of giving directions over the com, he turned to us.
“It’s the General. She’s coming in. With a lot of wounded soldiers.”
Chapter 11
ADRIEN’S FACE WENT ASHEN at Simin’s words. He headed directly to the Med Center where Jilia was already prepping beds. I followed.
He had told me I should go to my dorm room, but I stayed behind anyway. One look at Adrien’s tense face helped me fight the numbing Link enough for one clear thought of my own to shine through the fog: I didn’t want to leave him when he looked like that. At the same time, I didn’t dare un-Link myself. I couldn’t risk adding to the crisis by losing control of my power.
I pressed myself against the wall as Rez fighters came stumbling in with a loud chorus of shuffling boots, moans, and shouted instructions. Half a dozen wounded fighters were carried in and deposited onto the waiting beds. All of them bled from one place or another. The Link grayed color as much as emotion, but I could make out the dark stains on clothes and the floor, and the gashes on their skin. Adrien helped them all get situated. The cold readouts of the Link informed me of the size and breadth of each wound. One man’s leg looked like it had been blown completely off from the shin down. Another’s chest was half caved in, and Jilia laid her hands on him immediately. After a few moments though, her face fell and she cursed and moved on to another.
Adrien’s face reflected the horror I couldn’t feel.
In the chaos, a woman with sharp cheekbones and a hard mouth strode into the room. She wore the dark gray uniform of the Rez fighters. Her hands were stained with blood, but I couldn’t tell if it was hers. Professor Henry followed on her heels. “Are you sure you’re okay, Rosalina?” She must be the General.
“What happened?” Adrien asked.
The General ignored him and walked over to Jilia. “How are they?”
“I’m almost done triaging,” Jilia murmured, pressing on the abdomen of a woman Rez fighter. The woman winced but didn’t cry out. “We lost Tirpte. Jenald might need a bionic replacement.” Jilia lifted her hands and finally looked at the General. “But I think the others will make it.”
The General breathed out and closed her eyes. “We lost four more in the field. They were ready for us. There were only two cell commanders who knew we were coming.” She rubbed her forehead. “Chancellor Bright must have gotten to them.”
The Professor’s eyes widened. “Then all the cells in the northern quadrant might have been cracked.”
The General slammed her palm against a tray of instruments. “She knows our every move before we make it. And she’s being considered next in line to become Chancellor Supreme of Sector 6. If she manages it…” Her jaw tensed. “We can’t let it come to that.”
“Why were you in Central City?” Adrien asked. His voice was hard, almost accusatory.
The General’s eyes sliced over at him and something passed between them I couldn’t read. Her mouth tightened and a vein in her forehead stood out. “That’s none of your concern.” She glanced over at me. “No one should be in here except medical personnel. Leave now.”
Adrien pushed off from the wall and I followed him. He didn’t say anything once we got into the hallway, but he stopped and leaned over, putting his hands on his knees and breathing hard.
In the back of my mind, I felt a tugging thought that I should be doing something. But I didn’t know what.
“You should go to your dorm room,” he said, standing up and raking a hand hard through his hair. His facial features were contorted. The three long tones of Scheduled Subject Downtime sounded over the Link. Numbed by the soothing sounds, I moved my feet forward and shuffled obediently toward my dorm.
I paused and looked back before I turned the corner. Adrien was standing in the same place, his eyes wet as he looked down at the stains on his hands.
The next morning, Ginni told me to un-Link as per our usual morning routine, and immediately everything that had happened the night before rushed in again. The bloody soldiers. The General’s anger. And Adrien’s face when I left him.
“How are the soldiers who came in last night?” I asked Ginni, trusting that she’d have the latest news.
“One died, but the rest are going to be okay.”
I showered and dressed quickly, braiding my long dark hair while it was still wet. I hurried along to breakfast before Xona and Ginni were ready, hoping Adrien might be there. He’d been so obviously hurting last night, and I’d left him there. Just walked away. The Link had turned me into an unfeeling monster. I had to see him and try to make it right.
But other than the early-rising Rez fighters, the Caf was empty.
“He eats breakfast with his mom sometimes,” Ginni said as we dumped our trays half an hour later.
But Adrien wasn’t in our morning training session either. I came up to Ginni after class, wringing my hands anxiously. “Can you…?”
“Use my power?” she finished. She nodded and closed her eyes for a second, then opened them again. “He’s in the east bathroom.”