My skin tingles; my breath catches. The energy in the air around us swirls, concentrating on this boy, this moment. I have the feeling I’m about to learn something big, something huge. Something that will push my world off its orbit, and life will never be the same again.
“Your sister has another ability,” he says slowly. “Her Receiver ability—the one she shared with you—was just her preliminary ability. She has a main one, as well.”
I blink. “What are you talking about? Most psychics develop their preliminary ability when they’re toddlers. Callie’s Receiver ability didn’t manifest until she was seventeen.”
“Because you weren’t around. Think about it. You’re the Sender; she’s the Receiver. One is useless without the other. You were supposed to have been born ten years earlier. Because you weren’t, she couldn’t become a Receiver until you became a Sender. Her preliminary ability laid dormant until it manifested in you.”
Cold air hits the back of my throat, and I realize my mouth is hanging open. Deliberately, I close it. “What’s her main ability, then? I never saw one. Neither did Mikey or Logan. At least, they never mentioned one to me.”
“She can manipulate memories.” His eyes fasten onto mine. “She can change parts of a memory so that it looks like something new. Take a red ribbon and turn it blue. Latch onto an image of her little sister and sculpt it into a man with crooked teeth and a mole on his chin.”
I frown. “How do you know this?”
“We didn’t, not until we had her in a coma and under our care. Over the past decade, we scientists have probed every part of her brain, excavated every bit of her memories. That’s when they saw what she was trying to do with her future memory. Instead of killing you, she was trying to change it so that she killed her future cheating husband.” He shrugs. “Who knows? If she’d had more time, maybe she would’ve succeeded.”
My brow creases further. “That wouldn’t have really worked, would it? Even if she changed the memory, that doesn’t mean she could change reality. I mean, who is this guy with the crooked teeth and the mole? Does he even exist?”
“No one knows. But Dresden’s convinced the only reason Callie was able to change her future is because she has this ability.”
“No.” I shake my head sharply, and the wet strands of my hair whip around my shoulders. “Callie changed the future because of her force of will—and inspired so many people because of it. Angela, Zed.” Me, I think but don’t say out loud. It’s because of Callie that I don’t have to resign myself to a future as Dresden’s assistant. “We know that we can shape our own futures. By her example.”
“Honestly, I don’t know. The research into this area is murky, but it’s what the chairwoman believes. And she wants the ability for herself.”
My head jerks back. “You mean she wants the ability to manipulate people’s memories?”
He nods.
I press my fingertips against my head as the full extent of his meaning sinks in. Of course she does. That’s why she’s so obsessed with manufacturing fake memories, even the innocuous kind. In a world where future memory exists, this ability would give Dresden unprecedented power. Power so staggering it takes my breath away. She could show people exactly what she wanted them to see. She could manipulate the entire world to her liking.
Even worse, in a future that executes Mediocres, she alone would get to decide who is exceptional. She alone would get to determine who lives—and who dies.
I look at Tanner. He doesn’t know about the vision of genocide. He doesn’t know what the woman for whom he’s been working is capable of. He merely thinks she’s a power-hungry leader—but it’s time he knows the true extent of her evilness.
It’s time I tell him. Everything.
28
I tell Tanner about the vision of genocide. The one that made my sister stab herself in the heart, the one our world is in danger of becoming now that future memory has been invented. The one that Chairwoman Dresden showed me. The one that revealed I would someday be her assistant.
I even tell him this part, something I never thought I would share with anyone. Because he gave me his secrets, and maybe it’s time I gave him mine. Because Dresden’s been controlling not just him but also me.
By sharing the vision with me, Dresden reinforced my sense of shame. She made me hide from the people closest to me. She cut me off from those who could’ve helped or at least supported me.
Not anymore. I’m done being ashamed of something that hasn’t even happened. Something, if I have anything to do with it, that will never happen.
When I finish, I realize Tanner’s face has turned parchment-paper pale. “I didn’t know,” he whispers. “Nobody ever told me.”
“Most people don’t know,” I say. “Just the members of the Underground. That’s why Zed was trying to torture the vision out of Olivia—because he wants to show the world. Mikey always said if we wanted to be believed, we had to wait until the timing was right. I guess he thinks that time is now.”
“That’s why the people are rioting. That’s why they’re so upset.”
“Yes,” I say softly. “They know what the invention of future memory might mean for our world.”
He shakes his head, over and over again, like he can’t believe it, and then he crawls away from me and lets loose a gut-curdling scream.
I blink. I expected him to have a strong reaction—but not this strong. Hesitantly, I put a hand on his back. It vibrates under my touch. “Tanner, are you okay?”
He flings his body up, knocking off my hand. “No, I’m not okay. I’m never going to be okay again. I…I’ve been assisting Dresden my whole life.” He bangs his head against the trunk of a tree, harder and harder.
Shocked, I grab his shoulders. “Stop it, Tanner! You couldn’t have known her end goal.” I wrench him around to face me. His skin is split across his forehead, and a trickle of blood drips down his face. “You’ve been trained to be a scientist since you were six. You were doing only what you were raised to do.”
“I knew she tortured me. That should have been enough. But I told myself she wasn’t all bad. I told myself she did what she had to do for the good of society. I had no idea she was actually evil.” His eyes beseech me to understand. “I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.”
“I do.” It’s true. I never thought I’d say this, but for once, I can separate the vocation from the cruelty. Tanner may have the same occupation as the people who strapped me down, but he’s not like them. He studies science for the pursuit of knowledge; they twist it to serve an evil master. He’s an innocent pawn in Dresden’s schemes, as innocent as I am. He’s been tortured and traumatized ever since he was a little kid, and I…I don’t want him to suffer anymore.
I wrap my arms around him and murmur in his ear. The way my mom used to before I left civilization. The way Callie used to when my mom was at work. I don’t have much experience comforting others, but the words come easily, naturally.
“It’s okay. You’re okay. Everything’s going to be okay.”
I think of another boy, much younger, who was hurt at too young an age. Grief floods my heart, making me sicker than any motion-coaster. For Eli, it’s not okay. Neither I nor anyone else will be able to comfort him ever again.
I hold Tanner tighter, until his breath slows down and evens out. There’s not much I can do to change his past, but I can give him this moment.