We Shadow the Stars

Lost Defiants Book One

Yolonda Kay

Chapter One

The legends about those who once inhabited Earth always fascinated me.

Sure, there were plenty of stories about our predecessors, those who took to the skies seeking the time needed to develop a technology that’d one day allow us to return to the desolate planet after one thousand years of drifting between hubs in a vast and starry universe.

But our history wasn’t the mystery. They taught us everything following Inception in school. The stories we didn’t hear about were those of the Desolate Age. The true mystery was everything left behind.

I wanted to hear the stories of Earth. The cities. The cultures. The people. Everything about the unknown of what awaited us on the ground.

The ground. The thought sent butterflies swirling in my stomach.

I’d someday have a place to settle down, and hopefully with it would come a place to belong, because I’d always felt out of place here in the Climoflyer.

My lips inched up into a smile as my forehead pressed against the cool glass, my eyes focused beyond.

There was hope for a future where my feet walked the ground. It was that hope that’d brought me to the observation level of the craft countless times since our journey from the Mars hub got us close enough for me to get my first glimpse of the orb, which was covered with stunning swirls of white and blue.

With my hand pressed against Observation’s viewing area, the pressure of an ambiguous atmosphere against my palm, it hit me how I’d never been closer to stepping foot on distant winks of land and deep-blue sea than now.

After a lifetime of living inside of a spacecraft designed to travel across a collection of planets and moons, I longed to feel real dirt and grass beneath my feet, maybe even sand between my toes.

A loud thump behind me startled me from my reverie, so I turned to the elevator.

When the doors of the shaft in the middle of Observation opened, my best friend, Addie, stepped out. She joined me on the viewing deck with 360-degree views of the world outside, with her arms out to her sides, her lips taut.

Her sangria-colored hair caught a puff of air from the elevator’s abrupt departure, and her shoulders stiffened as she took an anxious step toward me. 

“Thought I’d find you here.”

Years beneath the artificial UVs hadn’t darkened her pale skin a bit. It was still as smooth as when we were kids.

“Am I so predictable?”

“When they’re calling for a large Perseids display? Yes, you are. And give me some credit as your bestie.” Her right eyebrow lifted high above her rosy irises. “You’re always here these days, thinking about being down there.”

Addie lingered near the center of Observation, then her attention dropped to the transparent floor of the room, and she shuddered.

With a pensive smile, I waved for her to join me on the Ledge. “Come here. You can’t make the trip to the lowest point on the craftworld and miss out on this incredible view.”

She shook her head. “I’ll stick to what I know. Underfoot, out of mind, right?” 

My shoulders sagged with disappointment.

Her focus shifted to the monitors lining the wall near the elevator, each exhibiting footage beaming back from satellites and exploratory drones Hegiralon leadership kept in orbit to explore the planet whose troposphere we floated within.

One monitor showed images familiar to most citizens of this colony: oceans dotted with the occasional sliver of land that hadn’t felt the heartbeat of life in centuries. Each sprout of greenery the cameras captured made my stomach fizz with excitement. 

They were signs of life, yes. But even better, they were a sign we would repopulate Earth.

I’d finally have a home without artificial… well, everything.

“Do you know what that is?” My voice buoyed when a sizable tree displayed, some of its leaves still emaciated and dark, others a pale green that bled outward from the main shoot.

“Knowing you, you’ll tell me.”

“It’s a giant sequoia. It doesn’t look like much now, but they were once one of the hardiest trees down there, withstanding the droughts and fires for a long time. And they’re making a comeback, naturally.”

A bubbling deep in my stomach twisted my lips again. “We still need to do our part. I can’t wait to join the resettlement team after we launch. The thought of replanting all the flowers and plants we have on board is so exciting!”

Addie’s rose-gold eyes flickered in the glow of the light, her mouth sinking into a frown. “Your parents will cringe if they find out you’re more focused on flora than genetics. And don’t you dare give me one of your plants-over-people speeches.”

My back tightened with impatience. “I need to know plants are a priority in the Reacclimation Directives.” 

My passion didn’t affect Addie in the least.

“And if they reveal those directives, you’ll find out next month.” 

“When they reveal them,” I said, the words bolder than my confidence.

The freckles across the bridge of Addie’s nose emphasized when she frowned.

Like many, she doubted our founders could’ve so accurately predicted our generation would have the first opportunity to resettle Earth. So she didn’t want to hold her breath for the big reveal of their set of orders and rules for repopulating the planet.

“It only happens if conditions are favorable for us to launch. Confirmation of that is what we’re waiting on. And you’re never going to see me volunteer. You know that, right?” 

A thick knot of bitterness constricted my throat. The most heart-wrenching part of my decision to apply for reacclimation was knowing I’d leave my friends and family behind to return to the Mars hub once those selected to launch went down to the ground.

One day, when we’d established plenty of shelters and food and resources to sustain everybody, they could return, maybe. But it didn’t escape me how much could happen in the meantime. And how alone I’d be along the journey.

“I like Climoflyer living,” Addie continued, “and we don’t know what’s down there.” 

Though slightly terrifying, the possibilities exhilarated me. 

“I was born in the sky; I’ll die in the sky.”

“I’d never fault you for not wanting to stay.”

The opportunity for a safe, comfortable life inside the craftworlds—scientifically termed Climoflyers during Inception—satisfied Addie. A part of me wished she supported my decision to embrace the mission to rebuild the world our architects left behind as easily as I would support any decision she made.

“Did a bad session with your shrink send you running here tonight?”

My eyes narrowed on her.

“I ran into your dad.” She shrugged like this might make me spill my guts. 

“No,” I said. “And what she says doesn’t matter. My anxiety is under control.” 

The corner of Addie’s mouth twitched. “We both know that isn’t true. Denial is your coping mechanism. You want to pretend like you can jump ship before tomorrow.”

My throat constricted again.

The stress of what tomorrow might hold upset my nerves, but I removed my prescription bottle from the backpack slung over my shoulder and waved it in front of her.

“Doc says as long as I take two a day, I’m golden.” An upsurge of guilt lobbed warmth into my cheeks. Then I slipped the bottle back into my bag.

“At least you’re consistent with your refills.”

Every muscle in my stomach tightened.

“Promise me you’ll keep it up?”

A weak smile slipped out, but I avoided eye contact. She’d never know about how I disposed of the refills, replacing each pill with my concoction of natural herbs.

“I’m worried about you, Brin. You run here when you want to escape the reality of your life.” Addie knotted her fingers together, sighing as she did. “You’re a geneticist, not a botanist. A Skytreader, not a Groundwalker.”

My definite scowl didn’t hush her.

“Be in the now. Don’t be one of those people who misses out on the life they have wishing for another. People develop Climoporia that way, and severe anxiety is a stepping stone for it. You need to be prepared if a launch doesn’t happen.”

Classic Addie. Too much of a realist to be an optimist. 

“I’m fine.”

Addie crossed her arms while studying me.

“I came here tonight for the show.”

She looked at the floor, accepting defeat without fuss. “You don’t want to chat about what the doc had to say; I can take a hint.” 

“Thanks for not prying.” 

A grin emerged on Addie’s face when she reached into her tote. “Do me one favor, though. Tell me who your favorite person in this Climoflyer is.” She pulled from the bag a container of popcorn, then a bottle of wine—undoubtedly robbed from her father. “Tell me I’m the best!”

“You’re a bad influence.” I laughed. “Your dad will be so mad if he finds out.”

She shrugged, her lips in a playful pucker. “Because there’s one less bottle for him.”

I closed in on her, all mirth dying, before I pointed to the wine.

“Will this make tomorrow better?” 

“I don’t know about tomorrow, but it’ll make this Skyfire show we’re about to see a lot more tolerable, at least for me.” She peered out the windows, her eye twitching, probably from nerves.

“Finally, you look,” I said, my smile wide.

“Looking outside gives me anxiety. It’s much too far to the ground. Why do you come here to ward off panic attacks?” She animated a cold chill and rubbed her arms, then her attention returned to me. “This place could give me one, and I’m not prone. I hate any reminder of what’s down there.” 

“Being here puts me closer to what I want. It makes getting to the ground feel possible. Real, even. Something about that calms me.”

“Makes sense, I guess.”

I couldn’t help but smile. We hadn’t used the word Skyfire since we were kids. Not since we’d learned the truth about what a meteor shower was in pre-academy. Hearing her say it stirred a certain nostalgia inside me.

“Skyfire, huh?”

“Yeah, I didn’t forget,” she said, her lips pursed. She then twirled with her arms wide open to mock how vulnerable we were standing in the one place on the entire ship made of glass. “And did you even bring an air mask just in case?” 

I grinned. “I like to live dangerously.” 

“You wouldn’t want to be a Groundwalker if you didn’t.” Addie muttered a low curse, placed her bag on the nearest bench, then popped the top on the bottle of wine.

She took a sip as I grabbed a couple pieces of popcorn and tossed them into my mouth, making my way back to the Ledge with the savory taste of butter on my tongue.

After I stepped into the glass egress of the viewing box and pressed the release on the wall, the box tilted. Butterflies tickled my stomach, and my whole body radiated warmth. It stopped at a ninety-degree angle, outwardly leaving me standing on air, suspended high above the sea and distant mountain peaks.

By the time the first meteors sparked a netting of bluish-white light in the clouds, the sky had darkened to a flat shallow of indigo. More than a hundred shooting stars burst through the atmosphere, glimmering silver as their trajectory took them through Earth’s uppermost ether.

Some meteors were quick flashes. Others lasted long enough for us to track their brief course across the dark abyss. Occasionally, one would light up the night, leaving in its wake a dimly glowing trail. One meteor spurted into a web of golden fire so close that Addie squealed in fright.

The doomed expression on her face when I glanced back made me bust out in laughter. She bayed some harassing comment back at me as she fled to the elevator.

Finally, she laughed too. 

A piercing alarm ruined our moment.

“Are we getting hit?” Addie scrambled for cover against the wall of monitors. 

I leaped from the Ledge to be at her side by the time the earsplitting squeal of brakes flooded the room.

“That’s not a strike warning.” 

Gauges on the control panel beside the elevator flashed from yellow to red as it came to a roaring halt, now stuck in its shaft between Observation and the level above. Fingers quickly pried the doors open enough for a small person to slip through.

A younger boy, maybe twelve or thirteen, snaked his way out of the narrow opening with large hands grabbing at his ankles. The kid barked expletives like a stressed professional school student on accreditation day as he kicked at those trying to pull him back into the stuck elevator.

He kicked violently enough that one of his shoes flew off. It landed beside me. After a couple of hard knocks on their fingers, those trying to hold him lost their grips.

The boy dropped to the ground and landed on his side with a groan and a loud thud.

“Get back here,” said a man. 

“Piss off!” snarled the boy.

My knees buckled once I got close enough to make out the profiles of the three men he’d left behind in the elevator. They wore the navy-blue uniform of the Technocracy’s police force, the supreme servers of justice, in each Climoflyer of Hegiralon. They answered to the ruling technocrats.

The boy scrambled to his feet, and he pushed me away when I tried to help him.

“Engaging backup power. Elevator reboot in progress,” a robotic voice in the ceiling speakers informed. 

In a panicked daze, the boy staggered to the wall where yellow lights flashed beside large red buttons. He hit every button on the control panel, reading none of the labels beneath them, causing my heart to race. If he shut off something vital, something like the air supply, we’d all be in serious trouble. Embedded Respotech made breathing with limited oxygen possible, but it still wasn’t something I wanted to experience because he shut the carbon dioxide converters down.

“Elevator restart postponed,” said the mechanical voice.

A weight lifted from my shoulders when he stopped touching knobs. 

“What’s happening?” Addie cried. “How will we get out of here?” 

The boy never glanced at her. He didn’t look at me either. It wasn’t clear if he even realized we were in the room. A part of me figured he knew, but something about the way his eyes glazed over, the way he stumbled around as if he’d been on a lengthy partying stint, made me have my doubts.

He fidgeted as he moved around the room, cracking his knuckles, tugging at the yellow T-shirt on his back as beads of sweat formed along his brow.

In all craftworlds, colors were an indicator of one’s profession. Those with the most dangerous jobs wore yellow: maintenance workers, hatch operators, electricians, and vacuum charges, or those who tethered from the drop bay to clean and maintain the outside of the vessel.

This kid’s smooth, boyish face betrayed him. He didn’t look old enough to be in professional school yet, let alone be a graduate who’d transitioned into his designated trade.

“Listen, if you’re in trouble, maybe we can help you.”

Addie shot me a riled glare.

“Bastards won’t get in here if I can help it.” He tore open the door to the janitor’s closet, then tossed supplies on the floor like a madman. “Dosed drinks. Injections. Food crawling with mutant bugs. No more!”

I glanced at Addie, whose eyes were wide.

“Screw them. I won’t be a pawn because I’m broken!”

My chest clenched as my pulse hummed.

“They try to make you think you’ve lost it.” The boy whirled to face me. “That’s what they do to the glitched, ya know? They want you to know what a failure you are.”

The sight of him with a mop in one hand and a hammer in the other made my bones rattle. Addie grabbed me, pulling me into her. 

The boy’s bloodshot eyes bugged as he waved the hammer in a circle beside his head. “I haven’t lost it. I’ve uncovered the truth they don’t want anyone knowing about.”

“What truth?” I extended my hand to him, and Addie’s grip on my arm tightened.

“None of us are what they say we are!”

“Kid is seriously tripping on something,” whispered Addie, her clutch like a vise.

“How can we help you?” I asked again.

Without answering me, he turned to one of the red boxes on the wall near the observation pod entrance marked Emergency and smashed the glass door open with the hammer.

Shards of glass dusted the floor.

“Everyone needs to know the truth.” He grabbed the fire extinguisher from inside the box before letting the hammer thud to the floor at his feet.

The men in the shaft hadn’t given up on getting into the room. They had pried the door open a bit more, though still not far enough for any of them to fit through the small opening from where the elevator was jammed. One man pounded buttons on the inside, trying to jar it back into motion.

Pulling the pin from the top of the fire extinguisher with a low growl, the boy approached them, aimed the hose nozzle into the opening, then squeezed the trigger.

A fog of white filled the chamber, making the officers inside cough until they were on their knees, gagging. He watched with pleasure etched on his face before he set the fire extinguisher down.

“I won’t face modification.” His voice fractured as the tiny hairs on my arms lifted. 

“Modification?”

“They won’t get me.” The boy paced the floor, his beady eyes taking in everything around him as he sandwiched his head between his palms.

His eyes widened on a trapdoor in the floor between telescopes bolted down for stargazing. As he neared the hatch, his arms fell to his sides, shoulders rolling back with a confidence that didn’t match his quandary. 

“Maybe you can bargain—”

“No more running.” His eyes softened as they bored into me, and I saw something familiar there. “If I have to die, I’m going out on my terms.”

He flung open the hatch, then dove into the void, disappearing.

“No!”

My ears popped as a powerful vacuum extracted all the air from my lungs, tightening my throat, leaving my cry to fade into extinction. A fresh medley of piercing alarms made the one for the elevator insignificant as the world became a spiral. The suction lifted me off my feet, lobbing me into the air. 

Addie screamed powerfully enough for the echo to bounce off the glass. 

The bottle of wine shattered, flecking the floor with spatters of red. I crashed into the monitors nearby, lightheaded. A chill trickled down my spine as my vision blurred, and by the time the hot flashes sweltering my body from the inside out surfaced, there was no fending off the panic attack.

A complete sense of losing control chained me to the floor, leaving me fighting to breathe.

Addie shouted my name, somewhere outside of the fog.

The distraction of bodies moving in around me helped to clear my vision. I caught my breath with a gasp seconds later, unable to tell if the observation center’s auxiliary oxygen supply had powered up or if my Respotech had kicked in.

Addie’s voice as she yelled my name sounded muffled, like we were underwater, until my ears popped with the twist of my jaw. In a panic, I whirled, searching for her. The rapid change in pressure had sent her into one of the glass boxes she dreaded, planting her face-first against the glass, seeming to cripple her with fear. 

“Addie!”

By the time the mechanical voice in the ceiling announced something about pressure equalization, the Blue Garb police force from the elevator were everywhere.

Many of them had their guns drawn, but they were a distortion as I shuffled to the Ledge and yanked Addie’s paralyzed body out of the viewing box, pulling her into me. Her hands shook as she clutched my shirt, and I took one in mine and squeezed it.

“Tell me that didn’t happen,” she said.

“Wish I could.”

The clank of the hatch slamming shut drew my attention to the forces barking orders while others recited signal codes, which meant nothing to me, into their radios.

The memory of the way the boy’s eyes locked on mine before he jumped—like we had something in common—twisted my stomach, making me flinch.

Addie must’ve noticed since her grip on my hand tightened. 

“He plunged himself.” Because he was afraid, and he wanted it to end. Permanently. A coldness hit me at the core. 

“Never thought I’d meet someone more desperate to get to the ground than you.”

My lip trembled, and I pulled back.

“Right.” Addie grimaced. “Forget I said that.”

The sudden need to have answers washed over me, sending my gaze to the wall of screens. Cameras attached to rigs floating somewhere below kept a freakishly close eye on the condition and temperature of the seas.

The minute my chest tightened with hope that I might see something, anything, the view shifted to the craftworlds that had ventured to the Earth base.

A collection of six Climoflyers, each one massive, floating high in Earth’s atmosphere, were attached to the glimmering dark orb in the center of the outpost acting as the “Mother Ship,” the hub controlling each Climoflyers’ operating system and ability to hover.

“You okay?” The officer in front of me wore a stern expression. “Did the boy say anything?”

My gut flipped while everything he’d said recapped in my head.

Someone—no, something—had frightened him.

Modification.

That was what he feared.

It hurt to swallow the lump at the back of my throat.

I’d heard the term once, eavesdropping on one of my parents’ guarded conversations about me after a therapy session. The way my mom’s voice cracked when she said the word made me worry she feared I might encounter this horrid procedure.

And it had to be horrible to cause a boy younger than me to feel jumping from the craft to his death was the only way out.

“We need to take you in for questioning,” said the other officer. 

“Doubt that’s necessary. He mumbled about getting to the ground after taking some powerful drugs, if you ask me.” Addie’s serious gaze landed on me. “Or maybe he had a severe case of Climoporia.”

Classified by the best physicians as a disorder caused by the seclusion of living inside a spacecraft, and most common in individuals with anxious tendencies, the citizens of the craftworld whispered horror stories about Climoporia.

“I’ll need to call my father if you take us in for questioning,” Addie said. 

This statement made the woman uncomfortable, and it showed from the way her face went slack, paling slightly.

“You’re Governor Parker’s daughter?”

“Adelaide Parker,” said Addie.

The woman’s eyes narrowed on me. “What did you make of what happened, Miss—” 

“Renata,” I croaked. “Brinya Renata.”

The comrades traded a glance, then eyed us like they weren’t sure how to deal with us.

“He came in here ranting incomprehensible nonsense,” I continued. “Nothing tangible.”

“He freaked out, and you know the rest.” Addie tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

“If you agree to keep what happened here to yourselves, you can go home.” 

Addie clasped her hands into a steeple as the officers swapped another apprehensive glance. “You can count on our silence.”

Finally, the man waved us away. “Go.”

Addie grabbed her bag from the floor. Then we hastened to the elevator, absconding every watchful eye.

When the doors glided shut, Addie sighed. “Never thought my father’s name would give me such relief.”

“Never thought I’d agree.”

“What did he mean by modification? Ever hear of it?” When her eyes locked on mine, a bitter tang filled my mouth. “Do you think it’s about tweaking our Genotech?”

I shrugged. “Never heard of it.”

Addie bit down on her lip as I forced my best smile, the lie drying my mouth and multiplying my doubts.

Chapter Two

By nine the next morning, I was halfway up the staircase leading to the front doors of Hegiralon Academy before a girl from Advanced Genetics appeared by my side.

"You're here early, Brinya. Are you sitting in for the practice test today, too?" 

"We all have to learn if the apps running our genes are glitching at some point, right?” When I forced a chuckle, her brow arched. "I’m meeting Caleb so that we can suffer together.”

When the bell rang, I was beneath the awning over the double doors, waiting for Caleb. The choice to take the practice test for verification that my Genotech was in pristine condition felt like a mistake now that I had proof that modification had occurred.

I sighed, then pressed the stone at the center of the ring on my index finger to project the time onto the back of my wrist.

I couldn’t wait any longer for Caleb, even if massive failure was all that awaited me inside.

Caleb strolled through the doors of the auditorium ten minutes after I’d taken my seat, looking like he’d crawled out of bed and loped out of the house without checking himself in a mirror.

Somewhere behind me, a couple of kids giggled as he made his way to a seat. They zipped their lips when the curator spoke.

“Good luck, everyone. Remember, once you finish, click submit at the bottom of your tablet screen. You’ll collect your results over there.” With a bony finger, she pointed to the compact silver machine in the room’s corner with a mouth for spitting out narrow strips of paper, then she left the room. 

The best part of mock accreditation was that nobody watched over your shoulder like they did for the real thing.

In under thirty minutes, I’d finished the written portion of the testing. With tricky multiple-choice questions, designed to gauge how well a person’s answer correlated to the expected response a normal, flawless Genoborg would give, my anxiety grew.

As if a sign my Cognatech wasn’t working, a pain in the back of my neck made me think my panel might spontaneously combust.

“Was it a breeze for you?” 

I flinched when I saw Caleb had jumped seats to take an empty one behind me, smelling of his usual cheap cologne.

“I’d rather not talk about it.”

“You’re the genetics legacy, so surely you blew it out of the water.”

“I blew it somewhere.”

“Oh, come on.” Caleb waggled his golden brows at me. 

“I get good grades in my genetics courses because it’s all my parents talk about. They shove Genotech down my throat.”

“But it’s a far cry from talking to plants?”

“There’s nothing wrong with plants.”

His lip quirked as he chuckled.

“I study my butt off to get the scores you, Addie, and everyone else can get without ever scrolling a tablet.” I dropped my voice some. “The built-in niche for my career path that makes yours and everyone else’s craft capabilities innate hasn’t kicked into gear for me. I don’t want to advance Genotech. I want to help pioneer plant life on Earth’s surface.”

Caleb offered a forced smile, the kind all Genoborgs could somehow pull off. One so fake it didn’t create any lines around the eyes. I’d have to concentrate hard to separate my emotions from my expressions so skillfully.

He leaped to his feet when the tablet in his hand vibrated. Mine pulsated not even a half second later, though I’d finished after Caleb.

Leaving the tablet on the desk, I grabbed my backpack from the back of the chair and trailed Caleb up the aisle, catching up fast enough to get behind him in the line at the grader. 

It didn’t take long for my turn, and while almost everyone had vacated the room by the time I ripped the ticket containing my results from the machine, Caleb leaned against the doorframe, waiting on me.

My eyes veered to the ticket, and I shoved it into the pocket of my uniform pants so he wouldn’t see.

“Everything okay?”

“Great.” I ignored the manic energy building inside of me, causing my feet to tingle and my hands to sweat.

Caleb moved closer once we were out in the hallway and out of the curator’s view. He reached into my pants pocket and stole my test results before I could react. 

“Give it back!” Anger coursed through my veins, and I all but tackled him for my ticket.

He turned to deflect my grasp as he read. When I couldn’t snatch the slip, I punched him in the arm instead. By the time he spun back to me, tears had pooled in my eyes.

Caleb stared blankly before guiding me across the hall to his locker. He opened the locker door and pushed me in closer beside it so the door would block me.

“You bombed the decision-making part,” he said, his voice low. 

“You don’t think I know? I’ve been struggling forever, but this confirms my worst fears. I’ll never gain accreditation.” Numbness traveled up my arms and to my face, making everything blurry.

“Calm down before you have one of those episodes again.”

Genoborgs with advanced tech like mine didn’t fail or break down. They didn’t cry. Crying meant breaking one of the 20 Unbreakables, the dominant laws in our Doctrine.

“You know I can’t help my panic attacks,” I snapped. “You and Addie need to stop acting like I have a choice. It’s not something I can control!”

He frowned but remained silent.

“You know as well as I do, my chances for accreditation are slim. My Intellitech and Cognatech aren’t functioning at the optimal levels. And my Sentitech—” I couldn’t bring myself to think about how the technology governing my emotions was breaking down. “Could be an indicator of a full panel crash. I’ll lose everything. My residency. My career. Any chance of going to the surface.”

“You can’t cry,” said Caleb.

With my head buried in his locker, the mass of his body blocking me, Caleb’s eyes turned down the hall. Thankfully, nobody bothered to look our way.

No one except for Addie, who bounced up the steps near the school’s entrance. Her red curls swayed with each step, clashing with our claret uniforms.

Like Addie, I’d always disliked our Crimsons, the uniforms distinguishing us as undergraduates without accreditation, undeserving of the uniform we’d get as accredited designs.

Addie gave us a cheery wave but, to my surprise, didn’t come to chat before she continued through the door of Mr. Lawson’s classroom. Once she disappeared, I let loose. 

Caleb leaned back, closing his eyes briefly. “All this weepiness freaks me out.”

“Sorry.” My hands trembled as I pulled the pill bottle from the side pocket of my backpack and removed a small spool of dried herbs from inside.

Caleb’s eyes narrowed as I chewed and choked down the herbs before returning the bottle to my bag.

“That’s not what’s supposed to be in that bottle, guaranteed.” Caleb pressed a finger to his temple, his mouth skewing in disbelief. “Are you robbing herbs from the arboretum?”

“It’s not stealing when you replant as quickly as you take.”

Fingers interlocked, palms out, he placed his hands against the back of his head, then let it tilt back against the neighboring locker. “The Blue Garb might not agree. And stop taking those before facing the board, please.”

“Relax,” I replied with my chin high. “All the ingredients in my supplements are legal. Kava kava. Chamomile. Turmeric. Some lemon balm. They don’t taste too bad either, like chewing on a tea bag.”

Caleb’s nose scrunched with disgust. “Yum.”

“And yes, I’ve planned out my doses. I’ll wean myself off before accreditation day.” My lips pursed on their own. “Taking nothing the week of the testing will be the true torture.”

Caleb grumbled something under his breath.

“I had to do something.” I nipped at the inside of my cheek. “Everything about my genetic wiring is wrong, Caleb. The lab messed up. All that laboratory revamping and stabilizing of hormones didn’t work either. I’m an imbalanced wreck.”

“Hormonal imbalance?” Caleb perked up, curious. “Can that happen? They claim not.”

“My time in the lab leads me to believe so.” It was an easier explanation to swallow than Climoporia ever would be. “Gene apps govern everything, yet everything is haywire with me.”

“What do you know about it?” 

“What we’ve learned in our Endocrinology lectures.” There wasn’t a single lab in any Climoflyer not controlled by the conglomerate called Biofuse Genetics.

Central Labs in Hegiralon City, the core of Climoflyer-1, was their headquarters, and I interned at the hub of genetic precision.

“Okay, maybe I know a bit more than you from my time at the lab. The apps attached to our chromosomes, regulating how the enhanced genes on them work, regulating cells and hormones, should make flukes nonexistent. I’m living proof there are mishaps, though.” 

Caleb swallowed hard, but I ignored it when heat flooded my cheeks. 

“I will not lose everything.”

His eyes widened when I yanked my results away from him. “What can you do?”

“First, I’ll have to withstand a few more sessions with my nosy shrink. She has to sign off on the fact I’m no longer experiencing any symptoms to prevent me from testing.”

“How are you going to pull that one off if you have apps glitching?” 

My heart ricocheted against my chest, sending a surge of bile up my throat. “I’m not sure, but nothing will keep me from going down to the ground.”

Chapter Three

Since I’d been trapped inside of a Climoflyer for 6,205 days, I longed to feel rain on my skin.

When I stepped off the purring commuter shuttle after my classes, a rush of excitement jolted through me.

Real rain would fall inside the core of this craft for the first time today, thanks to the administration ordering hatches opened for the first time since we had descended into Earth’s atmosphere far enough to begin reacclimation testing.

Storms were imminent, and scientists wanted to test the toxicity of whatever the clouds let loose.

Being alive to experience such an earthly marvel had always been a wish of mine. Others weren’t as excited about it.

Four people stepped through the air-locked doors of the transport loading dock and entered the waiting bay behind me. Before the accesses hissed shut, they headed for the coffee shop where they could wait it out.

Since we were as high in the troposphere as the tallest peaks of Mount Everest, many people feared that our state-of-the-art atmospheric controls might not regulate quickly enough for our gene apps to adjust to pressure changes.

Thanks to the incident in the observation center, I knew better.

Any change in atmospheric pressure or air quality would be short-lived and completely survivable for anyone not diving to their death.

My throat swelled with a dryness impossible to swallow at the thought of the night before, so I focused on my surroundings to ward off any panic attacks.

Through the glass walls of Terminal 15, there wasn’t a soul in sight. Not near the shops on the square nor in the many alleys that branched off from the square. Even the fountain in the center of the piazza hadn’t drawn its normal cluster of people.

Without making eye contact with anyone, I made my way to the exit. 

Light sliced through a cluster of dark “clouds” overhead, causing my built-in UV lenses to actuate the minute I slipped outside.

The rays reflected off the chrome trim of the shuttle tubes, each elevated as high into the atrium of the Climoflyer’s core as the residential layers cascading the perimeter hull.

The way opaque clouds rolled across the dark-blue ceiling, like one might see them do on the ground in a rainstorm, stopped me in my tracks.

Those in charge of artificial lighting and keeping the pixilated ceiling of video wallpaper that simulated the skies of the Earth never failed to amaze me. Today was no exception.

In the area sheltered beneath the shuttle post’s elaborate gable of contemporary triangles, a young man, maybe four or five years older than me, leaned against the wall. Dark-skinned with eyes to match, he watched me as I headed for the path leading to the school.

“I’d wait it out if I were you,” he said.

When I turned to him, he eyed my claret uniform, then pressed the Comsband on his finger. It projected a digital display of the time 15:57 onto the backside of his hand.

The lifeline of our city, nobody went without a Comsband. The tiny computer on our fingers connected us to everyone and everything inside our Climoflyer. Calls. Messages. Videos. Newscasts. Anyone who’d synced the ring to their panel could also receive notifications about their Genotech.

“You won’t get to where you’re going,” he said. “Don’t want to get caught out in the open if those rains are still acidic when they open those hatches.”

My attention scaled the maze of towers and flight tubes in the atrium above. Through the heat-haze caused by someone not keeping a tight enough rein on the humidity controls, along with the fleeting flashes of blinding sunlight, which I’d always called simlight, it wasn’t possible to see the hatches.

His eyes were still on me when I glanced back at him.

“No telling what’s out there.”

“I’ll hurry,” I replied with a grin.

He shook his head as I continued west of the square toward the gallery where some of my favorite boutique shops and art exhibits were.

A minute into my stroll, a tiny red-bellied hummingbird whizzed beneath the canopy of one of the feeders along the trail, making my lips sidle upward.

Even animals were taking cover. 

On the uneven blocks of the Café Du Porto’s patio, a couple of robot bussers tossed tarps over tables. A woman watched them through open windows, not daring to step outside. The digital billboard on the side of the building flickered beneath silver lights, drawing attention to the animated words jetting across the screen. A warning to all: HATCHES OPEN AT 16:00. 

A low thunder resonated overhead, signaling the time. 

The first droplets to hit my cheek didn't draw a scream—or a curse. They didn't burn like acid slugs. The rains were clear, not the color of rust.

One woman shouted something about inevitable death coming for us, a plight sent for embracing an uncertain external environment on the prophecy of a couple of our dead founders. Others bolted down the crystal-laid path as her words faded into the drops. 

The charcoal skyscrapers along the boulevard twinkled as simlight beamed down from fissures in the pixelated clouds. They glistened like black diamonds as water beads cascaded down their sleek exteriors.

A passing shuttle sailed through its sky tube over Hegiralon City, lurching between the high-rises and flashing winks of color down from the rainbow forming in the zenith of the Climoflyer’s vaulted core.

In the alley, a small boy lobbed through water slicks, trying to catch up to his mother, who dashed beneath the marquee of a sandwich shop.

An old man ducked into one of the public restrooms tucked into a niche in the restaurant-lined street. Each person huddled beneath a shroud of clothing, keeping the toxin-repellant umbrellas manufactured especially for this occasion over their heads.

Unlike theirs, my feet didn't budge. My shoulders were weightless. Nobody had eyes on me, which meant a few seconds of freedom. 

Unable to resist, I stuck out my tongue.

With my mouth wide open, eyes closed, I whirled around with my arms wide, letting the droplets dampen my eyebrows before they slid down my chin like tiny marbles of delight.

The taste of legend wasn't there. In its place was something unexpected. Cool, crisp, and refreshing rain, smelling of life and vitality.

Proof, maybe? Proof the founders’ predictions about Earth’s toxicity levels being well into the safe zone by the year 3060 were correct.

This fueled my desire to get to the ground.

Emotions inundated me as the rain mingled with my tears, a sense of calm washing over me. No one could judge or imprison me for allowing tears of joy to fall if they couldn't differentiate them from raindrops. I'd never had this kind of natural mask.

My smile dimmed when my eyes fluttered open to a couple of onlookers who had emerged from their hiding spots at the sight of me twirling in the volley. They too were curious, but far too gun-shy to risk a touch or a taste.

They kept their jackets taut against their chins and didn't dare an upward glance. The way they regarded me created an uncomfortable lump in my throat. In my excitement, I'd brought unneeded attention to myself. 

I wiped my cheeks in case someone could decipher tears from raindrops and flinched at the sound of Dr. Chandler’s voice not even a second later.

“Brinya?”

I whirled around to find Dr. Nora Chandler scrutinizing me from beneath the hood of her slicker, light eyes narrowed with concern.

“Everything okay?”

“Fine.” I pointed skyward. “Forgot today was hatch day.”

“I see.” She bit her lip, then continued toward the door. “You might want to dry yourself before our session. I’ll see you inside.”

As presumably the only person to have an actual dream in centuries, the ability was more of a canker than a blessing. Referring to it as a canker almost sounded too glib, especially when Genotech should control any such irregularity.

My grip on the chair beneath me tightened. Dr. Chandler’s words hit me like a whisper from some distant place. It took everything inside me to fight back a scream and keep up the facade of deep hypnosis.

But I did it. Another indicator something wasn’t right with me. While most Genoborgs couldn’t evade deep hypnosis, I never fully succumbed to her talent of trance.

I used that to my advantage, to feed her details from past dreams when she asked questions, tricking her into thinking she’d successfully placed me into deep hypnosis while remaining aware of my state and situation the entire time.

“Tell me what you see. I need to understand it, Brinya. How does it make you feel?” 

Her honeyed voice never got my attention to stray from the flowers in front of me. 

“It calms me. I’m in a meadow picking flowers. They’re yellow. Dandelions. I think that’s the name.”

“Why are you picking the weeds?”

They weren’t weeds.

“I’m making a wish. A wish to have something—” I stopped.

“What is it, Brinya? What do you want?”

I didn’t answer. I couldn’t.

“Tell me what you’re wishing for.” Dr. Chandler’s voice was soft but persistent. 

“I don’t know.” I couldn’t pinpoint it. Being on the ground was all I’d ever wished for with my eyes open. There, feet firmly planted in a meadow of vibrant beauty, one I had a hand in reestablishing life on, I’d have everything. It made little sense to want more. “I never get around to wishing for it before I wake up.” 

“You are aware it’s not real, correct?”

Not real? The prickle of grass beneath my bare feet. The sweet scent of the flowers. The tickle of the dandelion dust catching on a waft and puffing against my nose. It all felt real in my memories.

But I wouldn’t say that to her. I planned to pretend her hypnosis worked, like always.

“Sometimes. It depends.”

“Well, it isn’t real. All life left on the ground died, tainted by the many contaminants down there.”

“It doesn’t seem like it when I’m on the ground. On the ground in a dream, I mean.”

“Even a temporary blip in Neurotech can trigger visions, ones that seem real.”

Giving my shrink brief and indecisive answers usually got her to give up. “I know nothing about it is real.”

Sure enough, it worked.

With a sigh, she said, “I’m going to count to three, and you’ll open your eyes. One, two, three.”

When my thick lashes fluttered open, I sat in a soft brown chair in a familiar room.

After my parents first discovered my dreaming, they’d assumed that one or two visits with Dr. Chandler would do the trick for what they considered a growth glitch. Instead, I’d been seeing her a couple of days a week, for almost ten years, with no end in sight.

“Are you feeling well, Brinya?” Dr. Chandler’s skin had a polished look to it, as if she’d bathed in streams of vitality. Her eyes reflected the typical Genoborg indifference. “Sit and let your senses regroup. It’ll take a bit for your panel to readjust. Hypnosis is stressful on the body. Even the body of a Genoborg as young as you.”

“Okay.”

Her concern was bogus. Genuine concern for others died out long ago, with humans, yet society expected the fraud of a good show. She, like the lot of them, was a master at my version of the Hegiralon mantra: experts in expression, not emotion.

Like everyone else in Climoflyer-1, Dr. Chandler adored my parents. High-ranking scientists, well respected by the elites, my parents lived by our true societal mantra without fail: Those of us inside the Climoflyers must obey the creed and ensure the genetically perfected future of Earth. 

My greatest fear was living to see the day my name echoed in symbolism of Genotech gone wrong, disappointing my parents. It was the reason I had to launch. Because if I stayed, everyone would learn the truth about me. It was inevitable.

A sprawling white smile matching every piece of furniture in her office except the chair under my bottom traversed Dr. Chandler’s face.

Her teeth sparkled against her dark-red lipstick. The color added to her strict, professional appearance, but the lack of smile lines around her mouth reminded me not to trust her. 

“Do you worry about anything besides the dreams? Perhaps adjusting as you move through the next phase of growing up, career practicum?”

Wringing my hands on my lap, I shook my head. “Nope.”

“So, you’re excited to follow in your parents’ footsteps and leave your mark in genetics?”

My stomach clenched as her last word hung in the air. 

“I trust my aptitude scores will show I’m on the right path. My designers constructed me to perform on an optimal level, after all.”

Something undistinguishable suffused her features. 

“So, you’re not stressed about your upcoming accreditation?” 

“No,” I replied a little too quickly, my throat tightening.

“Maybe, since you’re at that age, you’re nervous about your upcoming birthday? It’s a major turning point in the life of a design, turning eighteen. There’s a lot of stress about with the required residency and transitioning into the heart of our society.”

A muscle in my cheek twitched, and I couldn’t be sure if she took note.

“It’s normal, at this age, to question your path and find yourself more interested in how a potential partner pairing might affect your life.” Her eyes bored into me like she could feel my increasing heart rate. “Once the government mandates their official partner selection, it can’t change. Not without violating number 3 of the 20 Unbreakables.”

Talk about probing into my comfort zone.

“Knowing this has led curious Genoborgs to do some experimenting before any pairing notice. Or before accreditation makes any such crime punishable to the fullest extent.”

Ignoring the prickle on my scalp, I swallowed hard. “I’ll manage. My apps are so advanced that I can’t stray or fail, right?”

Dr. Chandler lifted an eyebrow.

“Regardless of my parents’ worries, I doubt even my dreams are a serious issue,” I said with as much confidence as possible.

“They’re concerned your ability to dream is significant.”

I ran my fingers through my hair and slouched. “Unique qualities used to be the staple of humanity, am I right?”

“Yes, but like always, societies improve with time. It’s what we call progress. And we’re the proponents of advancement, Brinya. It’ll be up to us to restore life on the ground one day, once the environment on the surface is such that our Genotech can keep us alive down there. We must ensure only the soundest designs will launch. Our methods for ensuring flawlessness will warrant survival, but it’ll also ensure we never ruin Earth the way Originals did. Those who repopulate must be Genoborg elite.” 

A couple of beads of sweat formed along my hairline.

“When the Originals realized their kind neared extinction, they laid the foundation for us to prosper. They wanted us to be better than them, to be better for Earth. We have the power to create the ultimate in genetic excellence—to ensure we care for Earth better than our predecessors. For a design like you, the possibilities are limitless.”

“I plan to be included in the 3060 Launch, so I hope you’re right about those possibilities.”

“You understand any selection hinges on the toxicity out there being low? And a passing accreditation score.”

I forced another smile, bracing for the fib. “Yes, and I’m finally outgrowing this.”

“Outgrowing? You believe this was a growth glitch and not a true tech malfunction?” Her brow rose, her misgivings apparent. “Your dreams seem less lucid based on what you’ve told me during our last several sessions. Is that why you believe you’re outgrowing a youth glitch?”

“Yes.” A quiver in my stomach caused me to swallow hard. “The dream of the meadow isn’t much more than a memory now. Even the memory is fading fast.” 

A momentary flicker in her eye didn’t match her deadpan expression. “All you’re able to do now is recap old dreams?” 

“Exactly, no new episodes in weeks.”

She frowned. “You’re sure you never got beyond the meadow of wildflowers?”

“Positive.”

She jotted something down on her tablet. My heart sank, all hope she’d let it go imploding. “I’d like to see you more often over the next few weeks.”

At the thought, my teeth clenched.

“We need to get to the bottom of this.” 

This. She couldn’t even bring herself to call it what it was: a freakish defect forbidden since the age of the unmodified human.

The Originals were the heralds of our kind. But these days, few people talked about them. Aside from their technology, which we’d improved upon, they’d eliminated most reminders and artifacts of humans.

“Even if this is a temporary glitch, I’d like to know if it had any meaning and what uncouth philosophies it might be capable of stirring in your subconscious years from now.” 

After Dr. Chandler’s torture, I sauntered out of her office and slammed the door behind me. It didn’t surprise me to see my parents waiting for me in the long corridor. They had an uncanny habit of showing up to ensure I went to all of my sessions.

They were sitting patiently on the only bench, a wrought-iron island piercing the sea of white marble flooring. Pretending not to notice them, I stalked by.

Through the oversized windows that made up the walls of the corridor, dark towers lined the street. The massive structures stretched upward into the atrium, like a thousand fingers reaching for a sky they’d never touch.

Thanks to the craftworld’s hull, they’d have a better chance at piercing the animated ceiling, which currently displayed a rendering of daylight bleeding into sundown, than ever piercing the real clouds of the world outside of this Climoflyer.

Golden tubes called sky arches connected some of the buildings that catered to those who lived their lives never leaving this district who wanted an easy way to navigate.

My heart flipped over the strange connection I had to those iron buildings. Like everything in this Climoflyer, I was a product. Someone's design. My parents’ design. Created to be whatever they wanted me to be. 

“Brinya, stop right there,” Father called.

“What’s wrong with you?” Mother asked. 

I faced them.

Father’s eyebrows furrowed over his squinted eyes. My mother flicked her long dark braid over her shoulder. Looking at my parents as they stared at me, eyes full of concern—or fear of embarrassment—lugged my pulse into my throat. 

“Did she validate your claim that they’ve stopped?” She dropped her voice even though we were alone in the hall. “Does she believe you’ll have any issue gaining accreditation?”

I shook my head, not attempting to answer, as the muscles in my stomach tightened.

It was time to look to science to guarantee my future on Earth. Without getting caught.

Chapter Four

“Miss Renata?”

My head shot up from the flower I sat doodling on my tablet at the authoritarian tone of Mr. Lawson’s voice.

Tall and lean, Cooper Lawson taught many generalized courses at the academy, as well as every class in genetics. He was as strict as he was handsome, which terrified some students and entertained the rest of us.

“Are you following along?” His eyes dipped to me.

Addie, two seats ahead, flashed me a worried look as a few snickers filled the room. 

“Yes, Mr. Lawson. I’ve been listening to the lecture.”

“Then you know what happens to a pair of alleles during gamete formation?”

Mendel’s experiment of crossing purebred white flowers and purple flower pea plants, hoping to get a blend of the two colors, but getting a purple flower, was renowned.

“The genes for unique traits segregate independently, Mr. Lawson.”

“And what’s the offspring called?” 

This was backhand knowledge to me. “The F1 generation.”

“It sounds like you’re ready for the next quiz.” He scowled as the snickers turned into cheers. At least in my corner of the room.

I shoved my elbow into Caleb’s arm. He’d stopped laughing but continued to grin in the seat beside me. He kept his nose down in his tablet tritely like the tech-worm he was.

“Good job,” he whispered, “but now my arm is killing me.”

He feigned a whimper and rubbed his upper arm. Maybe it did hurt since I had punched him twice this week. We’d known each other since we were children, and he hadn’t changed much.

Born to two lower-level labor class Azures, Caleb’s parents could only afford to give him one advanced app besides the standard Genotech.

They chose Intellitech to be the one for its heightened intelligence and memory promoting transmitters. He loved to joke about how his parents had to use what little money they had wisely, designing him to have brains over brawn.

“All right, class, that’s enough.” 

All attention returned to Mr. Lawson, who’d reclaimed his perch at the front of the room. 

“Some of you Crimsons are preparing for accreditation, but that’s no excuse not to pay attention in this course. You must prepare to—” 

“—ensure the genetically perfected future of Earth.” Caleb mouthed the last half of the mantra in amused imitation. 

“We’ll pick up where we left off tomorrow,” Mr. Lawson concluded.

With that, Caleb, Addie, and I followed the stampede of students out the door.

“That was oppressive.” The word played on my tongue a lot lately.

“It’s called structure.” Caleb’s joking tone didn’t match his serious expression.

“Structure is tiresome.”

“If my parents hadn’t created me with the best tech, I swear I’d be over it.” Addie tossed up a hand. “I’ll work in business. All this genetics talk sucks. Can’t wait till next semester.”

“At least you only have to take the basics,” I said. “I have three more years of this on top of my residency, which I’ll only get to after my current internship and gaining accreditation.”

Addie’s lip curled in disgust as we made our way to our lockers.

“Well, some of us didn’t get the elite attributes implanted into the governor’s daughter,” Caleb quipped. “You’ll both get promoted from Crimson to Gray without an issue. I only have low-level Azure social ranking to look forward to. I so wish I was a well-off Gray.”

Addie flashed me a smile as she shoved her supplies into her locker.

As agreed, we hadn’t mentioned the observation center incident since that night. But deep down, it bothered me how Addie seemed to have forgotten all about the boy who plunged himself on our watch. A huge part of me wanted someone I could talk to about it.

“I should head to the library. I still have a bunch of hours to put into my internship before facing the accreditation board.” By the way Caleb looked at me, he wanted to forget our conversation from practice exam day. And probably my results, too. “What about you, Brinya? What’s going on at your parents’ lab?”

“It’s going fine. They’re moving me from biology up to chemistry.”

“Oh, movin’ on up.” Addie grinned, and I frowned.

“I want to skip all this introductory bull and get to the genetic work already.”

Addie’s attention snapped back to me, a surprised look on her face. “Yeah? I thought you couldn’t stand the thought of being mandated to follow in your parents’ footsteps. Not to mention you’re set on the whole botanist path.”

“I am.” I slipped my hands into the pockets of my jacket. “I’m trying to make the best of my current situation.”

“Ah-ha.” Addie dipped her chin. “You’re a Renata after all.”

Caleb’s nose scrunched, his habitually unreadable eyes full of doubt. 

“You told me to live in the now, Addie.”

“Soon this transition period will be behind us.” Caleb raised one eyebrow mysteriously. “I want to be prepared when I meet my partner.”

“Your partner?” Curiosity rose in my voice. “Your parents told you about your partner?”

“They can’t share details, but they know the board is about to make their final selection.”

I forced a smile as we continued down the hallway toward the cluster of students waiting to exit the building through the security checkpoint.

“I hope it’s someone who suits me,” he whispered. “Not sure how I'll handle it if it’s somebody who doesn’t understand me.”

“Who wouldn’t understand you?” I asked. “You’re flawless, like you’re supposed to be. The fact you’re from an Azure family won’t matter, not even to a Gray.” 

The corner of Caleb’s left eye twitched. 

“It’s me that’ll be stuck with somebody who’ll never accept me,” I grumbled.

“But the whole dream issue is behind you, right?” Addie questioned.

My lips dried as fast as my tongue.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

It was hard to shrug and pretend nothing bothered me. 

“You didn’t do so well on the practice tests, did you?” 

Before my lips parted, Caleb mediated.

“Pretty sure Brin fears the whole dreaming hiccup caused other issues.” He pretended to clear his throat. “They definitely hindered her decision-making capabilities.” 

Grimacing at Caleb didn’t help my cause.

“And triggered other Original traits, like a true understanding of the difference between emotion and expression.”

“Caleb, zip it,” I snapped. 

By the way her eyes widened, Addie read the panic as it overwhelmed my face.

I shook my head, annoyed at myself for not hiding my emotions better. Maybe I could fool Dr. Chandler, but not my friends.

Addie crossed her arms, her eyes boring into us. “He knows you didn’t pass, doesn’t he?”

Caleb dropped his voice in the almost-empty foyer. “Stop worrying about not passing the mocks, Brinya. They mean nothing. You’ll pass when it comes to the real deal.”

“I knew it.” Addie shook her head.

“Sorry,” Caleb whispered through clenched teeth. “Too late now. She knows.”

Addie and I exchanged a glance before she sighed. “Not sure why you two wanted to keep it from me.” Her gaze sank to the floor, and she blinked a few times more than usual. “There are so many secrets lately… I won’t tell my father if that’s what you think.” 

I gestured for them to come closer as we filed into the back of the line behind the last remaining students waiting at the turnstiles for the doors.

Then I whispered, “I’m not worried about that. I overheard my parents talking a few weeks ago.”

My heart thudded in my chest before I continued. “My mom said something about my dreaming. She believes, even if the dreaming was an adolescent growing glitch, there might be side effects that’ll keep me from accreditation.”

It took me a minute to spit out the rest. “She also said modification might be the only way to correct my glitches.”

“What?” Addie drew a hand to her mouth with the sort of disbelieving look on her face that told me she wanted to smack me for keeping this from her when she’d asked me about modification the other night.

Caleb tipped his head to the ring on my index finger. “What do your monitors say?”

“No red flags, last I checked.” Comsbands not only kept us connected, but they also synced with our Genotech and allowed us to monitor every reading from our panels. Every morning, for three months, I’d checked to see if the panel reports showed any indicator of app glitches. Nothing.

“You’re fine, then.” Caleb’s shrug got rewarded with a scowl.

“I have some serious flukes, Caleb.” I rubbed my hand over the panel implanted at the base of my neck, dread transforming my veins to ice.

Maybe I could recalibrate the apps rooted inside me. If my panel was going bad, however, that was all bad. Complete panel failure would kill me. Trying to tweak the panel… Well, it could have the same result.

He and Addie stayed silent for a couple of breaths.

“I know what my mom said. If I fail accreditation, they’ll send me back to the cutting board. They’ll tinker with my genes. If the dreams caused other abnormalities, I need to figure out what they are. So I can fix them. They won’t lock me up somewhere and do it for me.”

“If modification exists, why haven’t we ever heard of it?” Addie’s teeth clenched as if baiting me for an answer why I hadn’t been honest with her the other night. 

“Could they do it in another craftworld?” Caleb asked. “Maybe that’s why it’s illegal to travel between Climoflyers.”

“Maybe,” I said. “I don’t intend to find out.” 

At the turnstiles, we let the biometric scanners securing the doors of the academy scan our palms. We then funneled out of the building into the heat of the afternoon.

In patches of faux grass bordering the sidewalk, a couple of dozen students sat in masses, eating their lunches. A kaleidoscope of brilliant emeralds and golds hit their faces as simlight reflected off the path’s inset gemstones.

“Slow down, Brin.”

I turned to find Addie and Caleb behind me.

“You don’t have to be a part of this,” I replied. “I don’t want you to be. Neither of you.”

A flying taxi sailed around one of the shuttle tubes near the station before it disappeared behind a distant tower. Taxis were for the elite who could afford them. For most, the shuttle had to do, soaring at lightning speed by harnessing water energy propulsion to propel through near-frictionless tubes.

It wasn’t until we were in the piazza, a couple of yards from the entrance, that the people watching made my heart palpitate.

A young girl, maybe eight or nine, with blond curls bouncing against her shoulders, bolted out of the station with two Droid Detainers in hot pursuit. The wheels of their shoes screamed across the black tarmac of the footpath as they roared for the girl to stop. 

As Detainers for the Technocracy’s Blue Garb, who couldn’t be everywhere, the Droids looked so much like the rest of us that nobody could tell when one was around.

The most significant difference was that their design took place in a warehouse stocked with mechanical parts rather than in a genome housing lab, technically making them robots rather than Genoborgs. 

“We accuse you of improperly disposing of a candy wrapper inside the station.” The Droid’s voice was harsh and mechanical, its dark eyes flickering green the instant it brushed her hair aside to scan the panel beneath her skin for her identity. “Per Doctrine law, you violated code #246888332-1, making you an environmental safety threat.”

She’d never see the ground, not with an E2 violation.

“We'll notify your parents and transport you to the Hegiralon Correctional Institute,” said the other Droid. “There, you will spend the next one thousand ninety-five days.”

My vision blurred, panic swelling inside me at the thought of what my punishment would be for all my shortcomings if this girl could get three years in lockup for a candy wrapper.

The girl screamed as they carted her away, and I stood speechless, my knees about to buckle until they rounded the corner of a building and disappeared.

Most passersby carried on as if nothing had happened.

My head dizzied with fear, and for the first time, I understood why the boy whose name I’d probably never know had jumped.

“Brinya? Brinya!”

Caleb’s voice yanked me out of the fog.

“Tell us your plan, if you don’t want us to help you.”

My stomach muscles tensed even more.

“See?” He smirked. “You have none.”

My grip on my bag strap tightened. “I’m still deciding on a route to take.”

When I entered the shuttle station, a brisk burst of air puffed hair across my face. Caleb and Addie trailed behind me as I brushed the dark stray strands aside.

Our shuttle slid into view opposite the transparent barrier as we entered through the vacuum-sealed doors of the loading bay, squeezing in the middle a group of people with children from pre-academy. It glided through its outsized hydro-propulsion tube, rattling the video billboards lining the waiting area.

A silver submarine sashayed to a stop; it rose out of the water, humming as it slid into the safe zone of the system’s conduit. Once its door secured to the jet bridge, the propellers under the belly of the vessel spurted a faint mist. The loading bay doors slithered open, signaling safety.

One by one, people disembarked, leaving to go about their normal, mundane day. Many of them glanced skyward as soon as they exited, gaping up with indifference through the geodesic glass roof, inspecting the simulated sun high in the sky, each fearful they might see rain.

When a droplet leaked from a cylinder pushing water into the shuttle’s momentum system landed by my shoe, my attention returned to my friends.

“Condensation from the hydro tubes,” I whispered.

Caleb dabbed his brow with his shirtsleeve as we boarded the shuttle. “Great. It’s so hot, even the transport is sweating.”

His humor made me chuckle.

We made our way down the narrow aisle between swing-style seats offering 180-degree views out of the shuttle as Caleb grumbled about how the climate regulators that controlled the self-sustaining ecosystem inside the craftworld were disappointing him in recent days.

I took a seat near the wall and pulled the safety bar across my lap, prompting the swing to clunk into its locked position. My friends squeezed in beside me.

As we climbed the aqueduct away from the station, the view transformed into a whirl of aqua. It reminded me of being in the surf rider at the indoor water park in Caleb’s home borough, a rotation of water emulating being inside the pipe of a massive wave.

We shot out of the sendoff tube into the flight tube with a lurch. The transition sent flutters through my stomach as we accelerated, climbing high into the core.

Shuttles offered a bird’s-eye view of the verdant terraced layers on our verges and the city below. Cottages, shops, and multiplexes heaped in chaotic abundance on the fringe rings were too distant to make out. The metropolis became a distortion of steel and glass as we sailed over the city blocks.

“Are you going to spill your guts about what those gears in your head have come up with?” Caleb leaned against me so nobody else could hear.

“The end goal is gaining accreditation,” I replied.

“Your end goal is the ground.” He didn’t hide his disapproval.

“The way I see it, I have two options: Find a way to rig my test results, which would be impossible, or correct the wrongs inside me.” With my chin down, I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “With my access to the lab, my odds of pulling off the latter are better.”

Caleb’s jaw slackened. “You’re talking about using your internship to tweak yourself?”

“Are you serious?” Addie shook her head. “That’s dangerous.”

“She’s right,” said Caleb. “Not only could you get busted, but something could go wrong. You haven’t mastered genetics on that level yet to go trying genetic modification on yourself.”

“It’s more of a mutation silencing.”

Palm against his forehead, Caleb shook his head.

“There are gene apps inside of me glitching, sending poor signals. I must find something that’ll block those signals. As a studying geneticist, I can do this.”

Addie rolled her eyes. “Piece of cake.”

“With my residency at Biofuse Genetics, I’m positioned to do this.” The gentle hum of the shuttle’s propellers caused the seatback behind my head to vibrate ever so slightly.

“I can’t help you with the whole genes and DNA bit,” Caleb finally said, running his fingers through his hair, a nervous habit of his, before slumping in his seat. “But I know something you might need: books.”

“I can’t find books that’ll help me. I’ve looked.” My eyes veered back out the window to the city below us. At the animal preserve, giraffes were no bigger than the average Greyhound dog, all grazing in their synthetic savanna. “I need something too specific.”

Citizens on the city paths were small, no bigger than ants, as the shuttle sailed through its tubes, skimming water the whole way. We shifted to the right and then the left, missing any collision with the limitless fingers of steel rising into the vaulted atrium of the core by centimeters.

We were so close to the buildings that anyone inside would feel the spray off our tailwind, if not for the tubes keeping everything contained.

“They left the books I need behind. They would’ve never loaded them on the Climoflyers before sending them to the Mars hub.” I returned my gaze to Caleb. “I need something about the link between genes and dreams in humans.”

Caleb’s eyes narrowed.

“Whether they admit it, scientists created us by modifying human DNA, integrating tech. My dreams are either caused by, or brought on by, variants supposedly silenced that are resurfacing in my genes. I need books to tell me which genes to focus my re-silencing plan on.”

“Rewiring yourself?” Addie closed her eyes, a finger pressed to her temple. “What you’re talking about doing is both stupid and illegal. Using your privilege at the lab to fix yourself? Forbidden books? Gene manipulation? You’re talking treason. People get plunged for that shit.”

Knowing the risks made me swallow hard.

“Are there even books from the Original era not destroyed?” Addie asked.

“There are,” Caleb confirmed.

Addie scowled. “Don’t enable her.”

“Sorry, Addie. Brinya is right. Her internship gives her an opportunity if she’s serious about this.” Caleb glanced at me like he hoped I wouldn’t confirm my seriousness.

“I am.” Those two words seemed to crush his hopes.

“As crazy as it sounds, the lab is the best option.” A thin strand of his wavy golden hair fell in front of his narrowed eyes as he leaned closer to Addie. “Taking the gamble of rigging her accreditation results, with those who administer the exams and the board members present, would be even riskier.”

I hated how Caleb knew me so well, well enough to know I had decided.

Caleb leaned back against his seat. “There’s a slew of Desolate Age goodies at the library people don’t know about.”

“Using your internship to help me?” I asked. “That’s risky, too. I won’t get you involved in this. It’s too dangerous.”

“If it’s dangerous, then you shouldn’t do it alone,” Caleb replied.

Addie shook her head, seeming reluctant to still be here.

“You guys won’t be with me in the lab.”

“No, scientists and Droids will be all over the place instead.” Addie rolled her eyes.

Before the intercom static gave way to the announcement that we’d arrived at our destination, Caleb lifted the bar keeping him in his swing. He stood up as soon as the shuttle came to a halt.

“Promise me you won’t get too involved,” I said. “I’ll accept help with the books, but you have to leave the lab stuff to me.”

Caleb led the way off the shuttle. “We’ll discuss it at the library.”

Chapter Five

Hegiralon City Library loomed over every other structure in the Historic District.

A splendorous edifice with at least a half dozen citadels on its roof, its French Neo-Gothic design was deliberate. Our builders modeled this zone in the core of Climoflyer-1 after a place called the French Quarter—a place long ago swallowed by the sea.

Built with an exterior of faux sandstone, the library took up an entire craft block. The inside boasted four pillars holding up a central glass-domed apex, and beneath it were four stories of books. Verandas of meticulously carved railings, accessible by dual escalators, separated each level.

With Addie tackling the reference section, I searched through the rows of books on the ground floor. By the time we reached the shelves in the west corner of the building, my head pounded with frustrated exhaustion. Caleb had left us earlier, saying he’d return.

“Find anything yet?” Addie’s voice bounced off the reader tablets between us.

“Nothing.” I pulled a misfiled microelectronic book from the shelf in front of me.

The screen read Hegiralon: Building Our Society. I pried the divided sides of the silver reader tablet open, feeding my curiosity about the contents.

With the tip of my finger sliding up across the smooth surface of the side-by-side screens, I scrolled page one on the left side and then moved on to page two on the right. My focus broke when Addie grumbled again.

“It could take us a year to search this place,” she said.

“I don’t have a year.”

Addie changed her tone, her hand reaching through an open space on the shelf to rest on my hand. “It’ll be okay.”

“If we find what we're looking for, you won’t have to worry about modification.” The sound of his voice turned my attention to Caleb. He motioned us down another hallway. “Follow me.”

“What’s that?” Addie eyed the shiny object in his hand.

Caleb held up a long, gold key.

“Can’t believe you’re doing this.” I followed him to a round table at the center of the room.

As I took a seat in a chair beside Caleb, Addie hurried to join us.

“Is this safe?” she probed.

“Sit down and hold on. I killed the security cameras to buy us some time.”

I gasped. “You did?”

At his nod, Addie and I obeyed, then watched him slide an unnoticeable sliver of raised glass at the center of the table to reveal a hidden keyhole.

Caleb glanced around, double-checking that we were still alone, and then he inserted the key. As soon as he turned it, the platform the table sat on descended into the floor.

My shoulders stiffened, and Addie wiggled in her seat as the library shelves around us disappeared. My grip on my seat tightened as we dipped into a much darker chamber, like stars consumed by a black hole.

The platform came to a stop in a dingy, forgotten underground room where millions of dust particles floated, tickling my nose.

I watched in awe as the clandestine panel glided shut overhead, closing the gap we had sunk through. This circular cavern was sturdy, built of uneven, weathered stones that glowed with a hint of red in the dim radiance of recessed lights.

The same jagged stones that comprised the walls made up the floor beneath our feet.

The existence of this immense room was impressive enough, yet the shelves hanging from floor to ceiling left me speechless. Each shelf overflowed with books. Real books. Books that hadn’t seen life in centuries.

The thought of touching them made me nervous, but once I did, my body relaxed. Something about this place transported me to a mysterious time and place known only from stories.

These books held so much information forbidden from my kind.

Dust hung thick in the air, causing Addie and me to sneeze almost simultaneously.

“I told you I’d get you secret books.” Caleb beamed. “Never said they’d be dust free.”

“It’s unbelievable that the library has an undercroft,” I said as Caleb rummaged through shelves.

“No one’s supposed to be down here. Not even me. Especially not while I’m still a Crimson,” said Caleb. “Lucky for you, I’ve known where they hide the key for weeks. All books salvaged from the Desolate Age are here, those banned from our Story Scrollers.”

“Banning books is like taking the biggest step to erase the past,” I whispered.

“Erase the past, and you erase the odds of a new, ingenuous society repeating past mistakes,” Caleb continued, “or at least that’s the theory as the founders saw it.”

“Terrible theory,” I said.

Caleb shrugged.

Addie darted for a shelf and grabbed a random book. “These have pages, paper pages.”

“Some are thousands of years old.” Caleb grinned. “Many are nineteenth and twentieth century. A bunch from the twenty-first, too. All published long before Climoflyers. Several blazed our course into the thirty-first century.”

“Explains the yellow pages.” Addie nodded, as if proud of herself for putting it together.

“Well, they didn’t have our Story Scrollers. We’re techy here in 3058, Addie.”

She gave him an evil eye.

“They keep these books secret?” I had to repeat it to let it sink in.

“Our Doctrine,” Caleb began, “states to never read a banned Desolate Age book or even a dictionary. They had to ensure it somehow.”

With my lips pursed, I listened as Caleb continued.

“They wrote the rules on censored books for these books here. These books contain information no one wants us to know. But they’re too valuable historically to throw away.”

I crossed my arms, giving Caleb a sideways glance. “You’re taking a substantial risk bringing us down here.”

“I live to find this kind of information. And I’m not about to ignore a friend who needs library information without at least trying to help. What would that say about my career path?” He winked at me. “Who wouldn’t want to take the opportunity to hang out on a secret level of this craft, one that’s below the city?”

He had a point, but if my friends got caught helping me, I’d never be able to forgive myself.

“I’ve been dying to get down here.” He sidestepped me to grab a couple of books from the shelf in front of him and shoved them into his bag before I realized it.

“Then let’s hope there’s something down here that’ll help me.” My gaze caught on a couple of titles on ancient genetics. I grabbed the most intriguing and read the back cover.

Ethics of Genetic Engineering: The Undesirable Consequences of Changing Human Genes.

Ethics? I’d never given much thought to the ethics of our existence.

My stomach tied itself into knots as I skimmed the short blurb on the inside sleeve. Humans considered genetic designing and editing such a revolutionary feat that thousands of scientists, doctors, policymakers, scientific advisors, and politicians vehemently opposed the idea.

Until they needed it to ensure all traces of them didn’t vanish from Earth after they’d pushed the planet to the brink of environmental collapse.

Following Caleb’s lead, sneaking a peek to see if he’d notice, I slipped the book into my backpack and picked up the next one on the shelf. My lips dried as I read the title: The Study of How Genes Influence Dreams.

With my heart rate skipping, I slid the book into my bag with a faint smile playing on my lips.

Behind me, Addie gasped. “Look at this!”

“What?” I raced to her side.

Caleb followed.

Addie held up a book. The cover showed a man and a woman entwined in a stark-naked position. This wasn’t a modern-day story.

“E-rot-i-ca,” she read from the back cover. Her jaw dropped in amazement. “Do you suppose this is what the Originals read to get ready to… well, you know. Procreate?”

Caleb laughed as I took the book. “Legend says they didn’t need books to do it.”

The clenching in my chest strengthened. I’d never had vivid thoughts about that, about sex, or erotica as the book called it.

And my suspicion proved correct—none of my friends had fantasized about it either. As Genoborgs, they’d built us not to, but even a complete lack of sexual interest didn’t affect our ability to find a certain amount of comfort in having close relationships with others, albeit not intimate like in those books.

I’d always wanted the sort of intimate connection that left me entranced by someone on an intellectual and emotional level, knowing full well my capability to feel powerful emotions probably left me wanting more in that regard than my friends.

The fact that Originals had babies from their bodies without the need of pods had also always fascinated me. As a child, it had been a dream of mine to see a baby born in the way of the Originals someday.

I kept this wish to myself. It was too personal to reveal, even to Caleb and Addie.

“Don’t you wonder how humans would’ve ever enjoyed it?” Addie asked.

“No,” I simplified, clearing my throat.

Caleb said something under his breath.

“Maybe it felt pleasant to have made a baby that way,” I said, examining the cover. “So, naturally, without the need for incubation pods? You have to admit there’s something about it that dulls everything we can do with science and technology.”

Addie’s nose rolled back in disgust. “I’d rather never be a parent. Growth pods are the way to go. Science is magnificent.”

Caleb stood silent for a moment, then shrugged. “We’ll never know. That’s the best side effect of the exodus from Earth. If the toxins hadn’t made every surviving human sterile, our way of existence wouldn’t exist. We wouldn’t exist.”

“Good riddance for progress is all I’ve got to say.”

Caleb seemed to agree with Addie. He took the book from my hand and placed it back on the shelf. “Enough of looking at books like this. We’ll leave this smut in the past where it belongs.”

I swallowed the dry lump in my throat.

“I’m sure there are a few books referencing the mutations on your genes down here in this jumble.” Caleb’s eyes shone with humor. “If we’re lucky, we can find a way to help you pass yourself off as normal.”

With massive failure, I attempted a chuckle when he grinned at me.

Rewiring myself to be “normal” would be much harder than expected. Maybe even impossible.

Chapter Six

By the time Caleb made it through one unit of books, I’d rummaged through two entire rows. Addie kept her distance from the romance section, arms folded tightly against her chest. Caleb ignored her as he perused the relics from the past.

This undercroft was massive, and there had to be more here than books on ethics or relationships. I wandered beyond the human history section to the rear of the room, where the dark, dusty boards creaked beneath my feet a little with each step. Luckily, the high-arched walls around me didn’t echo the noise.

The way this place smelled of earthy timber wasn’t something familiar. I stumbled when a board bowed under my feet but caught myself against one slab of limestone making up the wall.

Grainy beneath my fingers, it reminded me of the pumice nuggets in my shower. It took a couple of seconds for me to realize the stones I’d fallen against were the framework of an entryway leading to another part of this subterranean vault.

The small recess acted as the breezeway between two chambers, this one much smaller than the other. Though almost impossible to make out in the dark, there were more books in the alcove.

They ran floor to ceiling until meeting up with the large steel door on the other side of the bay which, by the looks of it, had been designed to prevent people from ever knowing what was on the other side.

To see the alcove books better, I tapped the center button on my Comsband for a flashlight.

The hardbacks in front of me created a rainbow—with spines of blues, purples, oranges, and reds. These books differed from those where Caleb and Addie were. Grime did not dull them, and they sat on shelves protected by doors of glass.

With my hand on one of the cool panes, I wondered why these books were special enough to deserve the added protection.

I hadn’t considered it long, only having time to read the titles on two of the spines, which read Webster’s English Dictionary and New Testament, when a commotion recaptured my attention.

“Brinya? Brinya!” Caleb called for me in a panic.

“Go,” said Addie.

I ducked out of the nook to see what they were fussing about in time to see Caleb waving a hand at me while shoving Addie through a small door.

Addie’s eyes were large, her face pale. Their tight-wired reactive personalities, the kind expected from a sound Genoborg, getting the best of them was a bone-chilling sign something wasn’t right.

“What?” A muscle in my leg twitched.

“Someone’s coming,” Caleb replied. “Hurry.”

Biting my lip, I took one step toward him. He threw his hand up to signal me to stop. The minute he shook his head, the sound of footsteps filled the air. The first squeaking board told me I didn’t have time to make it to Caleb and Addie.

“Go.”

Caleb disappeared through the door behind Addie, vanishing from sight. My pulse lurched into my neck when I ducked back into the alcove, panicking as it hit me that hiding was my only chance.

Two of the shelves at the bottom of the bookcases were half full, and if I tried, I could squeeze inside.

The approaching footsteps accompanied the unmistakable hum of voices.

My heart thrashed in my chest as I lifted one of the lower doors, shoved all the books to one side, and climbed inside. With my face pressed against the dictionary, I powered down my flashlight.

The tight spot wouldn’t do anything to calm me, so I bit down on my lip. The salty taste of blood helped to distract me from the intensifying sense of suffocation settling on me.

The scent of the pages, camphoraceous, oily, and woody, soothed me somehow.

Clutching the book poking into my side helped, too. It became my focus object as I counted back from one hundred with my eyes closed, like Dr. Chandler always advised me to do if a panic attack came on.

I pictured myself on the ground while counting. It worked, and soon the heaviness in my chest lessened. I flickered my eyes open to materializing silhouettes walking out of the shadows.

“What will the board tell the other governors if they ask questions?” a man asked, his voice unfamiliar.

“We’ll tell them we made our decision with the best interest of the citizens of Hegiralon in mind, not just those in this Climoflyer,” replied the woman.

I recognized the voice as Laboratory Controller Reed, an icon around Biofuse Genetics. Her voice repeated on intercoms throughout the halls of Central Labs.

“The governors of the Otherworlds never question my judgment.”

My throat swelled. Addie’s father: Governor Andrew Parker.

“They know it’s best to obey orders coming from Climoflyer-1, as we have the best interest of everyone in each Climoflyer in mind.”

Though I couldn’t go anywhere, my body reflexed back when the profiles became bodies. One wore the standard Azure uniform, a vivid cobalt blue.

The other two donned suits of white with gray and blue pinstripes, blending the colors of our Gray and Azure social rankings—and the symbolic white of purity—identifying them as elites, members of the current administration, the highest-ranking of all Grays.

The clank of the controller’s heels echoed against the glass I coward behind as they continued past and stopped at the steel door.

“This is a direct order from the president.” Governor Parker pressed his thumb to a biometric scanner on the door. “I trust we can deter questions from inside the administration.”

With a beep and a spark of green light, the machine probed the governor’s fingerprint. Once it finished, the door retracted into the wall with a hiss of air. From my hiding spot, I watched them enter a hidden room.

Another room filled with books on shelves around the perimeter and, from what I could tell, an assortment of cases scattered along the floor, preserving display cases like those found in the museum. Glimpsing the book Governor Parker held in his hand made my blood run cold: The Founders’ Doctrine.

“To refuse public viewing of the Reacclimation Directives in those final chapters, when you’ve revealed all other chapters of the Doctrine according to the founders’ schedule, will raise red flags,” said the second man.

Long-limbed and pudgy in the belly, his face caught the light on the other side of the door long enough for me to recognize him as Grant Donovan, chief librarian, Caleb’s mentor, and a respected Azure of not much older than thirty-five.

“That’s why we’re here.” Governor Parker’s flat tone left everything to my imagination.

“I suppose so,” said Donovan.

Within seconds, they were deep in the chamber and out of view, which meant I was out of theirs. Hopefully.

I lifted the door of the bookshelf and climbed out. Careful not to scoot my shoes on the floor, I darted my eyes between the way I should run and the way I wanted to go.

On one side, my friends waited. Caleb and Addie had probably already made their escape. On the other side, there were secrets to uncover.

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I peered through the open door to see them huddled together about fifty feet away, near the center of the room, their backs to me.

I couldn’t leave it alone.

With sweaty palms, I bolted into the room and dropped behind the nearest bookcase. Considering the conversation never paused, they didn’t see me. Crouching low, crawling on hands and knees, I navigated the labyrinth of shelves, getting as close to the elite Grays as possible.

This room smelled of a strange combination: grassy notes blended with the tang of acids and a hint of vanilla over an underlying flatness.

“We don’t have the support of every board member,” said Controller Reed, “so we need this to stay between those of us in this room, at least for now. Is that understood?”

I pictured her eyes of ice boring into the chief librarian.

“Y-yes,” Donovan sputtered. “Most certainly, Madam Secretary.”

Madam Secretary?

My shoulder smacked the buried contraband when I lost my balance, and a book almost hit the floor. I caught it and recovered without giving myself away, despite my heart thrashing wildly against my ribs.

The way the Technocracy ruled allowed them to remain anonymous. They barked orders to the individual governor of each Climoflyer, and those governors imposed those orders with an iron fist, essentially becoming the face of the administration.

Never in a million years would I have pegged Central Labs’ controller as the clandestine Secretary of Hegiralon. This revelation made me wonder who else operated as an elite under my nose.

“Those not in agreement with replacing the outdated creed with one more closely in line with current goals must never learn of this move. Not now. Not right before the reading of the 3060 Reacclimation Directives.”

“Going back on the promise of the founders, a promise the people have been looking forward to for years, especially this generation, would raise too much suspicion.” Governor Parker cleared his throat. “The people expect to have the founders’ predictions reaffirmed, and the last thing we want to do is create any kind of panic. One capable of sending thousands of people into a state of Climoporia.”

A chill trickled down my spine.

“You can count on my full discretion,” said Donovan.

“No one can ever reveal certain information in the Doctrine’s final chapters.”

Shifting on my haunches, I inched closer, trying to ignore the droplets of sweat slinking down my back. Once close enough to peek around the shelves, my view of Governor Parker cleared.

My fingers clenched the rumpled edges of some old magazines scattered on the floor beside me as he took the book from Donovan Grant’s hands and placed it inside the display case with a raised lid.

He stared down at the book and then took a step back, closing the cover over the Doctrine as he did.

“There can be no mention of the Founders’ Doctrine being here.” Andrew Parker ran his fingers through his salt-and-pepper hair, and my chest constricted as my lungs screamed for air.

The fact that technocrats would order the guiding principle of our existence hidden caused my nerves to burn. They’d pulled away from the Mars hub to return to Earth and had even opened hatches according to the founders’ instruction after 998 years, but they had no intention of giving citizens access to the full Reacclimation Directives.

Donovan must’ve read my mind.

“The reading date is set,” said Donovan. “You aren’t going through with it?”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Mr. Grant.” Andrew Parker’s voice became gruff, and I pictured one of his famous no-smile-line smiles on his face. “The people will hear the founders’ predictions, their outline for our reacclimation.”

It took extra effort to hold back a gasp. They were going to create and read a forged version of the Reacclimation Directives. And the people would take it as foresight passed down from our founders. They could—would—twist the future to their will.

“Anticipation is high over the conditions on the ground.” Mr. Grant’s voice tensed.

“The people wonder if the founders could’ve accurately predicted Earth’s 3060 survivability, yes.” Reed’s voice held an even greater hint of certainty. “Many dread launching to the ground, and we don’t need to give those people more to fear. That’s why we’ll proceed with a public reading.”

“The people expect the government to follow the creed,” said Donovan.

Secretary Reed folded her arms across her chest.

“We want to protect what we’ve worked centuries to accomplish,” said Governor Parker.

“I understand.” Donovan dipped his head, then removed what looked to be a key from his pants pocket. He locked two latches on the side of the display case, then inserted the key in a slot on the front and locked the book inside. “It’s secure.”

“Excellent,” said Reed.

“I’m well aware it’s part of my job not to ask questions—” Donovan stopped. “My reference book tells me there are two more copies of the Doctrine. Should I expect those?”

Governor Parker turned to Secretary Reed.

“No,” she said. “I’ll handle the copies. For now, both are secure at Central Labs.”

This provided more incentive to search the labs in my off-hours.

Donovan nodded.

Fearing they were about to wrap up, I crept back to the door. Once they left the room, they’d seal it up and lock me inside. That wouldn’t put me in a position to find out what those pages contained.

This was an airtight chamber. If entombed in here, I’d have all of twenty minutes, at most, to find a way out. Even bodies with the most advanced Respotech couldn’t survive a brain starved of all oxygen for much longer.

It didn’t take me long to weave my way back through the hardbacks, but my heart soared into my throat once the footsteps echoed off the walls before my dash for the access.

“We’re always happy to be of service to the Technocracy.”

By the clarity of Donovan’s voice, they were close, the doorway within their view. My toes curled inside my shoes.

With my heart slamming, I sucked in a breath and prepared to show myself, making the mistake of ignoring my shaking limbs. I lost my balance and fell against the shelf beside me, hitting my head.

Everything blurred momentarily, but not for long enough to miss how the books stacked on top of the bookcase wobbled—all before falling, causing a domino effect of tumbling books down the length of every bookcase in the room.

“Shit!” a voice yelled while I sat with a lump in my throat and books in my lap.

When it sank in that the voice belonged to Caleb, my back stiffened and the ringing in my ears subsided. The surrounding room went quiet as I shoved all the books aside, crawling to my knees.

“Mr. Kent?” Donovan Grant’s voice was louder now, harsher.

“I’m so sorry,” said Caleb.

“What are you doing, coming down here?” his mentor questioned.

From my crouched position, I peeked through an opening in the partition to see the librarian between the governor and the controller, all three of them moving toward Caleb. My nerves frayed with horror that Caleb had guaranteed himself a severe punishment—for me.

“I ran into Trish upstairs, and she said you went this direction,” Caleb answered, talking with his hands like he always did when he got nervous. “When I found the descending hatch open, I thought you might need help, since I’m supposed to observe my mentor and all.”

“Ah, Trish.” Donovan placed a hand on Caleb’s shoulder, a sluggish smile developing. “Always keeping my apprentices on their toes.”

Caleb pointed to the mess. At the same time, Governor Parker and Secretary Reed stopped by Donovan’s side. “I tripped coming in and cannot believe I knocked everything over.”

Donovan’s eyes widened on the disorder.

“I’ll clean everything up, sir.” Caleb’s expression hardened. “Even if I have to stay late.”

“No.” Donovan sighed, then faced Governor Parker and Controller Reed. “Let me show our guests out, then I’ll help you clean this mess up.”

With another glance over his shoulder at the disarray on the floor, Donovan Grant motioned for the technocrats to follow him. When they walked by, Caleb dipped his head to them.

“Caleb, my daughter says you enjoy your internship.” Andrew Parker’s voice carried.

“Yes, Governor Parker, I do.” Again, he waved a hand at the books and loose pages scattered across the floor. “Don’t let today be an indicator of how well I’m doing either.”

Donovan chuckled.

“Good to hear. Take care, Caleb.”

“You too, Governor.”

When they disappeared, I emerged from the blockade of books to find Caleb stalking toward me with a scowl on his face. I didn’t get the welcoming embrace I hoped to receive when I threw my arms around him.

Instead, he pushed me away. “What were you thinking?”

“I—”

“You almost got caught!” he shouted.

“I had to know what they were up to,” I replied. “You’ll never believe it. They locked the Founders’ Doctrine in a vaulted case over there.”

Shaking his head, Caleb grabbed my arm and steered me toward the door. Once we were back in the main chamber of the library’s undercroft, I double-checked that the books I’d taken were still in my bag and glanced around the room one last time.

“Caleb?”

“Go before Donovan returns.” Caleb gnawed his lip. “Forget what you saw. If they locked that book away, you’ll never get it out. Biometrics seal those cases.”

“I know,” I replied. “But there are two copies somewhere in Central Labs, and I bet I can get my hands on one of them.”

Chapter Seven

“This way, Brinya.”

Father led me into one of the most spacious testing zones of Central Labs. After weeks in biology, the time had come for me to broaden my horizons and move into the chemistry wing. He wanted to be the one to introduce me to my new mentor.

The main building, erected in a circle with outer walls of glass and inner walls of steel, was large enough for the founders to develop and implement the inaugural stages of Genotech in.

By the looks of the tables stocked with the latest in scientific technologies in the chemistry wing, no one here ever went without the best: from microscopic machines to gene sequencing and DNA testing machines.

Biofuse Genetics had a habit of accruing the best of the best, flaunting it across the colony as a reminder of how powerful they were. They had become even more formidable in the sky than they ever were on the ground before Inception.

My father waved at a woman in a lab coat who stepped forward from a group of scientists when we entered the room.

“Brinya, this is Dr. Ingrid Hoctor.”

The wine-red tips of her hair showing dark roots curled inward against the lapel of her jacket, which was the first thing I noticed when she gave me an introductory nod.

“Ingrid is one of our best toxicologists,” Father continued. “Her specialty is serums, drugs, and vital fluids. Most of the time, you’ll see her here in chemistry, but occasionally, you’ll find her running serum tests for Dr. Lannon in genetics.”

I offered a placid, compulsory smile to the lanky woman gazing across the table at me with opulent yellow eyes, no doubt a side effect of a choice her parents had made.

Since everyone could design children with eyes in their favorite hues, most people had unique eye colors, but hers were different, almost matte in appearance when the light hit them.

“She’s agreed to show you the ropes as a favor to me. Ingrid will be a great mentor.” My father offered Ingrid his full attention. “You’ll report her progress.”

“Yes, of course.” Ingrid signaled me to follow her as my father walked away.

I trailed after her but watched over my shoulder as he scanned an ID badge I’d never seen before to open a windowless door, behind which he disappeared.

Ingrid’s insipid glance landed on me, lingering a moment longer than usual.

“Where does that lead?” I stopped beside Ingrid when she halted at a table full of beakers and racks with vials of colorful fluids.

She transferred a vial from one of the tabletop agitators to a larger sequencing machine. “The CRISPZA zone.”

A surge of curiosity pulsed through me. “The what?”

“CRISPZA. That’s what we call that wing,” Ingrid said. “Don’t worry. It’ll be years before a young girl like you has to worry about access to the restricted areas.”

“Restricted areas?” My brows arched. “What do they do in there?”

“It’s where the gene-snipping and genome editing of bacterium and viruses happens. Risky stuff. The best of the best work there and in the adjoining division.”

“Adjoining division?”

“Forget I mentioned it. CRISPZA is not for the faint of heart, nor the weak-minded.”

Ingrid said it like she meant it to scare me, and it worked.

“Even I keep my distance. I prefer to focus my talents on serums rather than contagions.”

“Altering the genetics of viral pathogens sounds dangerous,” I said. “I don’t see the purpose, either.”

“They focus on scientific progress, so leave it at that.” Ingrid handed me a pair of safety gloves and an empty tube. “Progress is what we’ll teach you. Put these on and we’ll begin.”

I took the gloves and slid them on before taking the tube. She then offered instruction while handing me a vial of pink liquid.

“Pour the contents of the vial into the empty tube.”

I did as instructed but couldn’t forget about CRISPZA. If as fortified as Ingrid claimed, one of the Founders’ Doctrine copies might be in there. There might also be Genotech blueprints, which I’d need to discern what apps governed which specific genes in my chromosomes.

“How difficult is it to undo a genetic alteration should something go wrong?”

Her face went ashen.

“I mean, not saying it would happen with us, but should a bacterium or virus come out of the process unsound, that would carry consequences.”

Ingrid’s lips compressed. “Like I said, not my department.”

She shut me down, hard.

“How many annex buildings are a part of the lab now?”

“Four,” Ingrid answered dully. “A fifth is going up, soon to be followed by a sixth.”

“A sixth?” I hadn’t realized the government approved annexes to the main laboratory built at such a fast rate. “And I thought there were already five.”

“You’re counting the supply warehouse over on the island,” Ingrid replied. “No one works over there; runners go when we need something.”

“Are new designs being created at a faster rate?” I held my breath as she stared at me.

“No increase in creations. They approve new specimens for development and incubation as they’ve always been, a new birth allowed after each expiration.”

The word expiration made me wince, as it always had.

“Population control has become vital since our detachment from the base.” Her aloof expression lingered when she motioned for me to place the tube in a holder and follow her.

“Preparation for reacclimation,” I whispered.

If Ingrid heard, she gave no sign.

We approached a door at the end of the hallway. One of the biometric security ports placed strategically around the building scanned Ingrid’s eyes with a beam of light. When a beep granted her access, I followed her through a revolving door into an unfamiliar area.

An assembly line of workers wearing lab coats and remote guises, like Ingrid’s, swarmed around a couple of dozen tables.

Some poured bright, colorful liquids from test tubes to cylinders and from canisters to large glass beakers. Others trundled metal carts, swathed in white sheets, to the large steel freezing vats lining the back wall.

“Are they freezing embryos?”

Ingrid chuckled, the first real hint of emotion out of her. “We don’t freeze embryos. We keep them incubated.”

My mind drifted to the book on ethics I’d found as my stomach knotted. Again, I wondered about Biofuse Genetics’ capacity to choose how to swap one life for another.

“We keep the genetic components added to the Genoborg pods frozen.” Ingrid pointed to three large pools at the far end of the lab. “We store the precious genetic material used to create the future of our world in those vats. This is where it all begins.”

When my anxiety flared, I twisted the ring on my finger, shifting my focus to a collection of beakers on the nearest table.

With so many lab personnel nearby who believed they couldn’t create an imperfect baby, I couldn’t help but wonder what might happen if they figured out the truth.

“It’s overwhelming, I know.” Ingrid breathed calmly beside me, never looking at me. “It’s difficult to believe no one alive in this colony wasn’t first micro-spliced right here.”

Ingrid snapped out of her reverie and gestured for me to follow her down a row of desks.

“Today, I’ll show you the basics of what I do. In a week or two, I’ll start letting you go through the processes. With my supervision, of course.”

Over the next several days, I crammed in as much lab time as possible, going straight there after the academy and spending any day I didn’t have classes there.

Ingrid answered some of my app questions but made it a point to tell me that tech had never been her niche every time she did.

Aside from the constant need to focus my complete attention on vials, cylinders, syringes, and microscopes, the learning experience wasn’t half-bad. My dedication to my work gained me Ingrid’s confidence.

Ingrid, to my surprise, even cracked a faint smile occasionally when no one else was looking. It was difficult to tell if she was truly this stony, engrossed-in-the-lab's-mission sort of individual that she appeared to be, or if there might be something more to her.

Though I couldn't fathom what that “more” might be.

Chapter Eight

A one-of-a-kind opportunity presented itself to me the following Friday. At the end of the hectic week, Ingrid sent me to fetch some supplies from chemistry.

The lab was empty when I walked in, so I quickly gathered the needed vials and syringes, but a row of drawers in one of the lab cabinets caught my attention on my way out. These drawers were always closed, accessible with secret passcodes.

But today, the tops of a few white folders peeked out.

I hesitated and then darted for them.

Organized by number, files overflowed inside. The names on the top of each label meant nothing to me—until I spotted my name. Each had check-marked boxes to the right of each name, but the boxes on my folder were blank. Each box was labeled with one of three words: Successful, unsuccessful, or improvement required.

My heart stalled before thudding to life in my chest.

Desperate to find any information besides the standard—who my parents were, to whose house I belonged, the profession selected for me—I combed the file.

Some despairing part of me needed to know the deep stuff they might know about me, things like whether they suspected any flaws in my Genotech. Or my parents’ partner nomination for me.

Even uncovering the date they’d scheduled my panel to crash, triggering my expiration, would be better than finding nothing at all.

This file contained zilch.

This was nothing more than a standard employee file. One kept for all resident interns, probably. Nothing about app integration.

No blueprint for how they’d coded standard and advanced tech to govern specific genes. Nothing about how recoding or patching glitches might be possible. These paper files contained info that was public knowledge.

Paper? Why use paper?

Considering the strict paper policy, it made little sense.

Disappointed, I jammed the folder back into the drawer. When I stood up, another name jumped out at me.

Ingrid Hoctor.

It didn’t surprise me to see Ingrid’s name among the files. If these were employee files, hers would be here, too. The check mark beside her name stunned me to the core.

“Improvement required,” I whispered.

I couldn’t imagine Ingrid—the duteous, work-driven woman—having ever needed to improve on anything. By all accounts, she was as flawless as every other accredited Genoborg.

Solemn, dead to every emotion not simulated, and devoted to enforcing the mission of the Technocracy, described the Ingrid I knew.

Curiosity getting the best of me, I flipped the file open, guilt tightening my throat.

“What are you doing?”

Unable to speak, I let the file fall to the ground, standing to face an unfamiliar man.

“Are you stealing protected information?” His accusatory tone was as threatening as his steely eyes as he retrieved the file.

“No. No, I’m not.” I choked on my words.

“Come with me.” He grabbed my arm and lugged me out of the lab.

Tears stung the back of my eyelids as my body stiffened. All that stopped me from bawling as he dragged me through the lab—toward the elevator that would take me upstairs to face my judgment—were the tense, silent expressions on the faces of everyone watching us.

Ingrid being one of them.

As the man shoved me through the elevator's widening doors, he clutched my wrist tight. I winced but stayed silent, hoping the burning in my chest and the beads of sweat at the base of my neck wouldn’t induce a panic attack.

Ingrid pushed her way onto the elevator as the doors were closing.

She frowned at me, then over at the man, who gave no indication he noticed her. The thought of what the laboratory overlords would do to me for breaking one of the 20 Unbreakables, showing emotional depth indicative of humans, gave me the strength to keep my face expressionless.

When the doors of the elevator opened again, the man steered me down a hallway with mirrored floor tiles and glitzy mosaic walls of dazzling green and blue to an office of rich, unspoiled white.

I almost expected to see Doctor Chandler, before realizing this room was even more perfect than the psychiatrist's office, sullied by one brown chair.

“Carsen.” Controller Reed greeted the man from her seat at the center of the table before us, but she didn’t stand.

Her ivory face remained insipid as we stopped at the base of the platform, which held her table slightly suspended in the air.

Her platinum hair graced the shoulders of her uniform but did nothing to add color to her demeanor. Eyes on us, the ladies seated beside her emulated her in appearance and shrewd mannerisms.

Ingrid’s footsteps shattered the silence.

“Caught this one in the personnel files.” Carsen handed Ingrid's file to Controller Reed.

The woman stood, faint lines forming around her white eyes as she scowled at me.

I tried to swallow but couldn't. Those eyes were like none other, and it wasn’t their paleness. They were lifeless. Where Ingrid's eyes had been inimical at first, her eyes were frightening.

Perhaps my knowledge of her position as an elite in the administration made her more intimidating.

Her attention darted to Ingrid the instant she took the folder from Carsen’s hand and read the label. “Why does this Crimson want your file, Dr. Hoctor?”

Ingrid took a step forward, hands clenched in front of her body. She lifted her head high enough for the knot in her thick hair to touch her lab coat’s collar.

“I’m afraid this is a misunderstanding, Madam Controller. I needed something from it. Should the blame have to fall anywhere,”—Ingrid’s eyes fluttered a quick glance at me—“let it fall on me.”

The beads of sweat at my neck began to prickle. What was she saying?

Reed’s unwavering stance didn’t change when her eyes narrowed, her expression as taciturn as ever.

“I sent her to fetch supplies for me and to retrieve a piece of information from my file.”

The fact Ingrid would lie for me caused a heaviness in my stomach.

“I got too busy to pull my Iriscard from the machine I had it in so Brinya could start the next phase of her assignment. I sent her to get my passcode from my file so we could use the code instead of my card for her machine. That’s the trouble with needing either a card or a code for everything we do. A person can get sloppy when rushing to multitask.”

“You don’t have your code memorized?”

“It’s a new code, Madam Controller. From the most recent security update.”

The controller glowered at Ingrid and then at me. “Allowing anyone access to your Iriscard or your passcode is a breach of security.”

Ingrid heaved a sigh, eyes on the ground. “Like I said, sloppy.”

Afraid trying to help would make things worse, I stood silent.

Jaden Reed crossed her arms. “Carsen, take the girl back downstairs. Sound the bell to release all employees for the day.”

Carsen’s grip on my shoulder tightened again as he steered me back toward the door.

To keep my anxiety grounded, I glanced at the illuminated animated posters covering the walls. Each one read the same damn thing, Biofuse Genetics’ infallible slogan: Where innovation and devotion to the creed unite to support the genetically perfected future of Earth.

When we reached the door, my irritation paled compared to my concern for Ingrid as the controller 's icy voice resonated behind me.

“Ingrid, you stay.”

Outside the laboratory gates, I paced back and forth as the sun simulation sank behind the skyline of downtown.

Across the lawn of Central Labs, beyond the trench that sliced through the grounds to the east, stood the annex Ingrid called a supply warehouse. It sat behind an independent inner gate on an island of its own. Outwardly, they’d isolated the building from the rest on purpose. Strange for a supply outpost.

In front of the main building, Droid Detainers made their rounds. They stayed by the gate for a moment, then crossed the bridge serving as the only connector between the supply warehouse and the rest of the property.

They were in high gear as they made their way toward me. Once they got close enough, I expected them to turn up the stepping-stone sidewalk toward the titanic ivory-white marble building of the main lab to secure the front doors. Instead, they returned to their small guardhouse.

An upwelling of relief washed over me when Ingrid exited the outer gate, pulling it shut behind her. The locking mechanism echoed sharply in the glowing sunset.

“Ingrid.” My whisper made her flinch.

“Why are you still here, Brinya?”

“A-are you okay?” I stammered.

“A perfected design wouldn’t worry about if I’m okay.”

My eyes narrowed, catching the faint smile that swept her face. “No design with operational advanced Sentitech would lie to the laboratory heads to cover for a Crimson either.”

“No advanced Sentitech here.” She shrugged.

“You wouldn’t have done it even with the standard tech.”

Her eyes became gentle, and she tapped her fingers against the strap of the bag over her shoulder and glanced around. “Guess it’s lucky for you I coded a wrench into my Sentitech long ago. Some of us have also mastered the art of blending in. You might want to try it.”

There were several minutes of silence between us as we walked side by side to the nearest shuttle station. The turf paths were empty, the distant flicker of lights from the next approaching shuttle sailing into the station the only break in the darkness.

We made it to our stop and boarded, taking seats next to one another. We were two of only six on board, to my relief.

“This wrench you mentioned?” I asked, fishing for Ingrid’s secret.

“Shush.” She tilted her head in the direction of the intercom speaker above us.

I took the hint and remained silent. By the time we reached the last stop before mine, I assumed there’d be no further discussion of what had happened. Ingrid surprised me when she signaled me to stand up when she stood.

“How about some warm cocoa at my place? I’m here in the financial district.”

I gave a keen nod. “Close to my place.”

“You’re in Hegiralon Towers, right?”

“You know it?” Dumb question. Everyone knew every residential building in my district: Core Mecca, home of many Grays.

The district was one of three residential areas within the limits of Hegiralon City where people lived without having their home outside of the core of the Climoflyer…

…meaning they lived somewhere on the fringe levels of the craft. The fringes scaled the circumference of the craft surrounding the city in a way that made the city feel like it was the nucleus of our existence.

And to me, it was, although the Originals had intricately modeled each level after a municipality on Earth, much like Hegiralon City mirrored New Orleans.

Ingrid didn’t elaborate. Instead, she glanced down at the ring on my finger. “Message your parents to let them know you’ll be late.”

Chapter Nine

A downpour transformed the city into a backdrop of luminous jewels, leaving me captivated as I stared out the window of Ingrid’s kitchen into the night. The way the bands flowed slightly to the left made the current tilt and motion of the Climoflyer noticeable when it normally wasn’t.

As Ingrid prepared some treats at the stove, I ran my index finger down the window, tracing several streaks of the raindrops pooling on the glass. My creation held my attention for a minute, then I wiped it away, turning around in time to catch Ingrid staring at me.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“Don’t be.” My shoulders sagged as she stirred the liquid in front of her. “I should be apologizing.”

“Why?”

“I shouldn’t be drawing on your windows.”

“Don’t apologize.” She smiled, the warmth reaching her eyes like it was bringing back a memory. “It’s been an eternity since I watched someone draw.” A flash of sadness filled her gaze, and she glanced back down at the stovetop. “Unless a limited, implanted trait, most Genoborgs don’t have the innate creativity it takes for art.”

I wasn't sure how to respond.

“Was it someone you knew? I mean, clearly you knew an artist given those drawings in your entryway.”

She offered a gentle nod as I took my seat at the table after she pulled a tray of hot cookies out of the oven. The welcoming scent of chocolate chips stirred memories from pre-academy, back when my mother baked. She hadn’t baked since the dreaming started. And I missed it.

I missed her cookies, her muffins, the unstrained relationship we had years ago. Those days being gone twisted my stomach into knots. Mom changed when the dreaming began. S

he became distant, almost frightened. The fear lingered at the back of my mind that her behavior stemmed from her not wanting me to spiral into a state of Climoporia like her mother had.

I chewed my cookie, watching Ingrid hustle around the kitchen. She poured a generous amount of hot cocoa into the mug in front of me. With the froth how I liked it, coating the top, each sip was a savory pleasure. Ingrid leaned against her counter, watching me.

“What?” I wiped away the remaining foam mustache.

“Why did you ask about my tech?” Her eyes were soft, compassionate.

I hesitated, unsure of what to reveal. For some inexplicable reason, this woman made me feel unequivocally comfortable. “I have dreams.”

She lifted her chin. “We all have goals for the future that are all our own.”

“No,” I said. “This isn’t a euphemism. I have actual dreams, like Originals did.”

Her eyes widened, almost with more interest than surprise.

“I’m worried my tech is glitching. Maybe my parents went overboard giving me every available advanced app.”

Ingrid sighed, then nodded like she understood.

“It’s a complete tech meltdown, isn’t it?” The muscles in my back clenched while I waited for her reaction.

“I wouldn’t jump to the worst plausible conclusion.”

“You never told me who drew the art in your entry,” I probed a bit more, hoping to get her to crack. “Was it you?”

“It wasn’t me, and it was a long time ago. I’m ending the discussion there.”

My attention sank to the warm mug between my palms.

Ingrid gave me a pity smile. “Believe me, it has nothing to do with you. Or not trusting you. It’s something I can’t bring myself to speak of.”

Reassured a little, I grabbed another cookie and broke off a piece. I shoved the bit into my mouth, letting the chocolate chips melt before I spoke. “And your flaw?”

She looked at me for a moment, her thin lips pursing. “I can’t tell you.”

My shoulders drooped, but Ingrid continued.

“I have to show you.”

She guided me to the bathroom, then perched herself in front of the mirror. The sight of her pulling back her eyelids made me cringe, and I nearly fell over when she popped something indiscernible out of her eyes.

A skin-crawling sensation caused me to flinch. “What is that?”

“These are my real eyes.” She turned to reveal eyes once covered by a flexible insert.

Unable to respond, I stared at her. Bewildered, I inspected eyes smothered by a white film that masked the actual color of her irises. The creepiness made my mouth fall open, but I recovered and gained control of myself for Ingrid’s sake.

She chuckled. “Like nothing you’ve ever seen before, huh?”

“There’s a film over your eyes? And where are your real eyes? I mean, those you pass off as your real eyes?”

“They’re painted contact lenses.” She held out her hand, and two small eye-shaped pieces of flexible plastic, each created specifically to emulate a real eye, lay in her palm.

“Painted?”

“Painted in a vague sense of the word. I created them, every cell, every tracer formulated with such precision that even the Iriscard scanners can’t detect the difference between these and my eyes before the film.”

“The film doesn’t affect your vision?”

“Things are fuzzy, but I can see. The inserts have their perks. I put all the latest technology into them. My Oputech is among the best. I can record and play back everything I see with the inserts in. It’s like always having a device to store memories for you, and I can upload them to any computer.”

“The whole ‘having to put something in your eye’ part doesn’t sound awesome.”

Ingrid chuckled when my nose tugged back.

“How do you do it?” The thought of touching my eye, putting a foreign object inside, made me cringe.

“Long before Genoborgs, Originals often experienced things like this. It was a common anomaly a thousand years ago. The natural lens of the eye clouded over, causing blindness in extreme cases. Cataracts. That’s what Originals called it.”

“It’s caused by a mutation? One you corrected by recoding or somehow blocking the glitch in your Oputech?” My hope buoyed, creating what felt like thousands of tiny bubbles to fizz in my stomach.

If Ingrid could pull this off, maybe I could find the dream-triggering genes inside my body and shut them off.

“Yes,” said Ingrid. “It took months of research, but I had to do something after losing all my iris color. The administration would’ve never allowed me in public with such a defect.”

“Does your research hold any use in other tech?”

“That’s what you were seeking at the lab, wasn’t it?” Understanding flashed across Ingrid's face. “You’re after a way to ensure you gain accreditation.”

“They’ll infiltrate my dreams when they put me to sleep if I can’t find a way.”

“Yes, they will.”

My breaths caught in my chest with a second of hesitation. Something told me I could trust this woman. After all, she’d exposed her most precious secret to me. Even so, revealing my deepest, darkest secret to someone like Ingrid stirred a certain level of unease.

“I might’ve figured out a solution to my problem, though,” I said.

Ingrid’s shoulders tensed.

“I’ve been investigating. From what I’ve discovered, humans isolated a few specific genes responsible for their dreams. They could stop dreams and nightmares in their entirety by suppressing certain mutations. Our Genotech is supposed to govern us in such a way that no mutation can get through—a massive firewall within our panels as the hub—but I think a glitch in any of our apps causes a fissure, allowing those long-buried mutations to surface on the genes. I’m pretty sure I can copy the Originals’ methodology to seal—or at least patch—the fissures if I can pinpoint which genes to focus on.”

Ingrid’s right eyebrow arched.

“I’m just not sure how similar our genes are to humans, considering they only had forty-six total chromosomes and we have sixty-eight. Ingrid, tell me it’s possible.”

Ingrid cracked her knuckles. “Anything is possible, with research and time.”

My blood ran cold, my head going foggy. “Time isn’t something I have a lot of.”

“I understand.” Ingrid pressed her lips together. “Your problem is bigger than mine ever was. I think it’s safe to say you can’t attribute your issues to a glitch in a single app. And multiple apps mean a lot more genes are involved. It’ll take a lot to find a permanent fix for you. You’ll have to discern the genes governed by your advanced tech from your standard ones, then go from there.”

Wrapping a strand of my hair around my index finger did nothing to ease the tension mounting inside of me. “Sounds like it’ll take forever. What about something temporary?”

“Using a memory is how I did it,” said Ingrid.

“That’s how you passed?”

“Maybe,” said Ingrid, offering a grim smile. “It could’ve been a stroke of luck.”

“What do you mean?”

“What I tell you here must never leave this room. Do you understand me?”

“I swear on my life.”

“The first time I went in for accreditation, I didn’t get it.”

A muscle in my jaw twitched.

Ingrid stood to correct herself. “My results were inconclusive, rather.”

“What happened? What did they say to you?”

“The week of my testing was the worst week of my life.” Ingrid’s clouded eyes filled with tears. “My father expired two days before I faced the board. I hate to say it, but while it broke my heart, his death saved me. The Technocracy allowed me to retake my accreditation exams, one time, on bereavement. A special clause the founders wrote into the Doctrine or something. With the extra time, I pulled myself together. The second time I tested, I flooded my head with memories. And I passed. It could’ve been technique, but it also could’ve been pure luck.”

“Did you tell me about using a memory because you think I should do the same?” It made sense why Dr. Chandler couldn’t get me to succumb to her hypnosis now, especially if Ingrid had cracked the code. All I’d been doing in recent months was recounting memories in my sessions with her.

So there might’ve been something to it. But relying on a gamble this big seemed too risky. I needed a surefire solution, even if it meant risking my life.

“I told you because I once stood where you are.” Ingrid bristled, then pressed the tips of her fingers together in a steeple. “I wish I could help you, Brinya. The lab houses many secrets, maybe some answers, too. But I’m just a toxicologist who has settled into keeping my head down when in public. The Genotech blueprints you need to begin are probably in genetics or maybe somewhere in tech manufacturing.”

“You have access to both areas.”

Her lips squeezed as her gaze narrowed on me.

“Why did you help me today?” My thoughts raced, searching for a reason why she’d risk it. “You put your neck on the line for me. You lied to Controller Reed for me.”

“Maybe I felt sorry for you.” Ingrid shrugged as she set her malleable eye covers down on the bathroom counter beside her Iriscard. “Or maybe I wished somebody would’ve put more effort into helping me out when I was your age.”

“I’ve never had anyone do something like that for me before. Thank you. You don’t know what it means to me. Given your history, you must understand why I have to do this.”

“To give up all these traits you see as faults which make you truly unique—” Ingrid’s face paled with something that looked a lot like empathy. “Is it truly what you want, Brinya?”

It wasn’t necessarily ideal to go through life never having another dream, pretending to be happy with a life someone else had planned out for me, but life in Hegiralon City didn’t go any other way.

Passing myself off as flawless and gaining accreditation was my only hope for maintaining my current lifestyle until I got to the ground.

I mustered a nod. “It’s all I want.”

Ingrid gave a faint smile, then pushed the eye covers toward my hand. “Perhaps I’m a silly woman who secretly hopes somebody a lot braver than me can dig up some secrets of this city and do some good with them.”

I stood there for a minute, speechless.

“Ethically, you understand why I can’t help, right?”

I nodded, trying to school my features to hide my disappointment.

“Do you have plans for the weekend?” Her casual tone caught me off guard.

“No,” I answered.

“Me neither. These days off—when no one is in the lab—are the days I live for.”

Aware of her intentions when she scooted her pass card closer to the eye covers, I grinned. “Are you giving me a free pass?”

“Nothing is free, Brinya. And if you get caught, you stole these. Understand?”

“Understood.”

“Promise me something.” Her elbow bumped against the corner cabinets as she slid by me on her way to the door.

“What’s that?”

“Always hold on to the fight in you.” The familiar serious expression swept back into Ingrid's face. “And if you can’t find a definite way to gain accreditation, you have my memory technique to fall back on. Their tests can infiltrate any dream, but as far as I know, they have yet to penetrate a memory.”

“I don’t intend to risk it,” I replied.

“Whatever you discover on this journey, I hope you get what you want.”

Before she disappeared around the corner, I gave her a soft smile, and then I grabbed her Iriscard and eye covers off the counter and let myself out.

Chapter Ten

On Saturday morning, I woke hours before the first glimmers of lightbreak dusted the city with glistening hues of pink and orange.

With my parents attending a mandatory conference for scientists, engineers, and a few other middle-class Grays at the capitol, I’d have the entire day to explore the lab without being missed.

Instead of taking my usual route from the shuttle stop in the research borough to the laboratory, I took the path less traveled.

It wasn’t as well lit, so hopefully no one would spot me.

Once I reached the outer gate that surrounded Central Labs, I tossed a glance over my shoulder to make sure there wasn’t anyone around.

The coast was clear.

Excitement jolted through me when the gate slid open with a rumble after the biometric scanner scanned Ingrid’s eye inserts, which I’d inserted over my eyes like those contacts Ingrid had told me about.

Once I’d worked up the courage to put my fingers near my eyes, the process of inserting them wasn’t as bad as I’d imagined.

I sprinted up the sidewalk to the front door. As the security scan at the front door started, the sound of footsteps lifted goose bumps on my arms, making me squint into the vague early morning.

“Hello?” My voice cracked as I dug my fingernails into my palms. “Who’s there?”

No movement.

“Is someone there?” A couple of chills rippled down my back.

My heart lurched into my throat when two dark figures emerged from the obscurity of the building’s towering pillars.

As soon as the thick glass door verified Ingrid’s identity and glided open, I burst through the entrance, darting down the hallway beyond the lobby, my sneakers skidding. The trot of tailing footsteps made my heart race. Too afraid to turn around, I pushed myself harder.

“Brinya!”

The familiar voice made me slide to a sudden stop, my shoes coasting out from under me, almost putting me on my butt on the white linoleum.

“Slow down.”

Catching my balance, I whirled around to find Caleb and Addie running in my direction from the still-open glass door.

“Why are you two following me?” Heated irritation boiled up from inside of me. “You shouldn’t be here!”

Caleb came to a stop in front of me, trying to catch his breath, beads of sweat holding pieces of his golden hair to his forehead. “You didn’t think we’d let you come alone?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Friends don’t let friends do dangerous stuff alone,” said Caleb.

“What I’m doing is too dangerous.”

“Stupid,” Addie corrected. “Searching the labs to figure out what Genotech apps you need to manipulate to fix yourself on a genetic level is stupid.”

“So you followed me to make sure I was doing something stupid?” I asked incredulously.

Caleb shrugged.

Addie looked on, neither confirming nor denying my claim, but it was pretty obvious they’d followed me.

“You came because you’re curious,” I said. “If I get my hands on a copy of the Doctrine, you’ll both jump at the chance to read it. Don’t even deny it. We all want to know what the directives in those final chapters say.”

Caleb and Addie glanced at one another, the same admission in their eyes.

I heaved a sigh. “Stay by my side, and don’t get in my way.”

They fell into step beside me, and we proceeded down the long corridor. The walk reminded me of our daily walk out of the academy, even more so once Caleb cackled.

“I thought you were going to crap your pants back there. The look on your face: priceless.”

“I’m glad you found it so amusing.” My voice was flat, unimpressed.

“Why did you run? If we were Blue Garbs or Droid Detainers, we would have tackled you before you broke in.”

My scowl made the grin disappear from Caleb’s face.

“I didn’t break in.” I flashed the Iriscard, then tucked it away.

“Ah, nice one.” Caleb beamed. “Do I even want to know how you pulled this off?”

A trace of guilt swathed over me. Hopefully, my parents would never discover I entered the building without approval. It would shatter their trust in me.

“No. And if anyone ever asks, you never saw the card.”

Caleb pulled back when our eyes met. “Should we not ask about the eerie eyes, either?”

“Nope.”

He screwed up his face. “If you say so.”

“Don’t pretend like you’re not keeping a few secrets of your own,” I said.

He frowned and let it go.

“Wrong-colored eyes or not, let’s find whatever it is we’re looking for and get out of here.” Addie cracked her knuckles. “This place gives me the creeps.”

I nodded. “Let’s search genetics first.”

The minute we entered the genetics wing, I scanned the room for Droids making their rounds, my attention flicking between the ground floor and the open tiers of the levels rising into the atrium overhead. With no one in sight, we rushed to the door on the east wall of the room.

Biometrics scanned the Iriscard, and the door to the restricted zone I’d been dying to get into opened. Addie and Caleb followed me inside, and the door shut behind us with a purr.

Addie’s eyes widened as she glanced around the room in amazement.

It took a minute for me to comprehend that I shared her shock.

This lab sat beneath an illuminated blue-crystal cupola with an elaborate lattice design etched into the glass.

A flight of steps connected the foyer we’d walked in on to a sunken chamber, a whimsical laboratory where computer monitors hung in the air over the tables as if supported by nothing.

My focus went to the glass pods suspended from thick cables behind a wall of reinforced glass. Hundreds of them.

“That’s so messed up,” Caleb whispered.

We descended the stairs to the ground floor, my gaze unable to stray from the suspended pods. Floating in the middle of each pod, in bright-blue liquid, was a baby, each in different stages of development. Below each pod was a monitor displaying their vital statistics.

My stomach cartwheeled, almost making me retch. Knowing how we were all developed had not prepared me to see this.

Addie swallowed hard. “You’ve been working here?”

“Not in this zone,” I said.

My father had disappeared into this zone the day Ingrid became my mentor. Ingrid referred to it as CRISPZA, where the risky work happened. Now it made sense why she didn’t clarify.

“I’m only allowed to handle the unfertilized tubes, the ones with basic cells and tissues. Serums, occasionally. I don’t know what they do in here.”

“I don’t want to know.” Addie shuddered.

“Guess I’m not sure what I expected, given the stories of Genoborg origin.” Caleb shrugged, then looked at me.

“Assisting my father’s business associates with their investments will be better than this.” Addie appreciated her placement in finance consulting more than ever, though I always thought she’d make an amazing dressmaker since she loved designing fashions.

The salary for that mid-level Azure trade could never satisfy her father, though.

Addie rushed to catch up as Caleb and I parted ways halfway across the room.

“This is a mistake,” said Addie. “We’re all Genoborgs, but seeing this is creepy.”

“We’re already here, Addie. I have to know if there’s anything that can help me. I’ve worked too hard to get here to turn back now. I might not get back into this zone.”

She nodded with a nervous gulp.

My head pounded as I rummaged through stacks of supplies, Story Scrollers, and tools on the tables.

“Anything?” I hoped Caleb or Addie were having better luck.

“Nothing,” Caleb answered.

“No.” Addie’s high-pitched voice resonated off all the glass.

I bent to open the last drawer of the table with a grumble and flipped through the numerically ordered folders until something caught my eye. Not believing the print on the front page of that folder, I read it over again: 30-36, immortal sheath subjects.

Before processing what it might mean, a loud bang drew my attention to Caleb, who stood at the glass between the developmental pods and us.

“Crap!” he hissed.

I grabbed the folder and darted to his side. “What are you doing?”

His bright eyes never veered from the pods. “A baby moved; I swear it. It kicked the side of its pod.”

Behind us, Addie chuckled. “That’s ridiculous. Your nerves are playing mind games with you. Careful, they say Climoporia begins that way.”

When she gave him a playful wink, Caleb grumbled.

“We’re all nervous, thinking that the police might show up,” I told him. “We haven’t set off any alarms. The Technocracy’s legionnaires patrol all of Climoflyer-1 and the other craftworlds, so I’m sure they’re busy elsewhere. We’d see a Droid before a Blue Garb.”

“Not comforting,” said Caleb.

With her jaw locked, Addie tapped on a metallic turntable at the center of the room that ran floor to ceiling. It housed an immeasurable number of safety deposit style lockboxes, each labeled with the name of its contents and hooked up to a temperature thermostat that appeared to be governable from a control panel on the adjacent wall.

“What is it, Addie?” Caleb lowered his voice.

“I can’t pronounce half the names on these labels.” She gazed up at the perpetual device. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say this is a storehouse for some pretty volatile stuff.”

“If by volatile, you mean the microbes and pathogens nobody wants to hear the names of, let alone learn how to say, this is where those might be,” I informed her.

Caleb’s mouth drooped open. “You’re shitting me.”

“They’re in alphabetical order.” Addie’s eyes lit up. “Oh, great, I can pronounce a couple here. Typhus. Lassa. Coronavirus. Zaire Ebola. V-COR2059. What the heck are these?”

Caleb’s eyes bulged. “Don’t touch, Addie!”

Addie jerked away from the tower, her glare shooting lightning bolts at Caleb.

When Caleb tramped to Addie’s side, I followed, but not before inspecting the pod closest to me. A label at the top read: Number 2: Mission CURE compatible. The tag attached to the baby’s leg read #00005-02-GB10.

I glanced back at the file in my hand, pondering.

“What is it?” Caleb asked.

“These files are paper. Have you seen paper files in Climoflyer-1 anywhere outside of this lab?”

“No.”

“I found similar folders in chemistry. It’s like they’re trying to limit the accessibility of lab information, making sure it isn’t accessible by anyone who could hack the colony servers.”

“By going back to ancient times?” asked Addie.

“Paper means secrets, in my experience—and forbidden.” Caleb cleared his throat. “Like all those books beneath the library.”

“Like the Reacclimation Directives, apparently.”

“You obviously think they’re altering the course of our future by swapping the Doctrine for a forgery before revealing those directives, but why would they do that? It’s kind of like keeping this elusive modification procedure top secret.”

Caleb scratched his chin. As if hit with an epiphany, he slapped his legs. “Maybe they want to keep those who are glitching from panicking into a state of Climoporia. Nobody wants designs with Climoporia diving from buildings because they learn they might go under the knife.”

All the feeling drained from my face, and Addie’s expression blanked on me.

“Don’t say that,” I whispered.

Caleb stepped closer, dropping his voice to a whisper. “All I’m saying is I’m not some fool looking to get a treason charge because you can’t control your emotions.”

My heart twisted. “I’m not worried about the risks right now.”

“Given your stellar decision-making skills, I’m not surprised.”

An eye roll was the only reaction Caleb would get from me. It’s not like I begged him to be here and help—they both knew exactly why I was here.

“Getting to the ground is all you care about.”

“You’re right. It is.” I shoved the folders into my backpack and headed for the door, leaving him standing behind me, shaking his head.

By the time we reached the unadorned, abandoned-looking building Ingrid called the supply warehouse, traces of pink dawn had emerged overhead.

In the soft light, we drew toward the narrow bridge that provided the only means for crossing the moat that encircled the island, keeping this building isolated. A twelve-foot-tall gate and a fence topped with barbed wire stood between us and the front door on the other side of the bridge.

“There’s something off here,” Caleb whispered. “A gated-off building that sits on an island separated from the rest of the lab’s facilities. Why so isolated?”

“It’s the supply warehouse.”

“This is a lot of security for masks and lab kits.” Addie bit down on her lip.

“There’s no swipe machine for the Iriscard either,” I said, noticing even Ingrid didn’t have access to this place the minute I went to swipe her card. “I assumed the scientists had access to every building.”

“Guess you assumed wrong.” Addie scratched her head as she examined the security features. “Looks like they want to keep people out of this place.”

“Or keep them in,” Caleb mumbled.

A chill trickled down my spine. “There might be answers here.”

“There’s one problem.” Caleb’s voice flattened. “How are we going to get in?”

“Maybe kick in the gate,” said Addie, fiddling with the rings on her fingers.

Caleb scoffed. “Doubtful.”

I decided I’d lose nothing by trying. After three failed attempts to kick the gate in or pry the bars enough to squeeze through, I gave up.

“You were right, Caleb.” My defeated words tasted vile on my tongue.

“If one of us could get over the gate…” Addie crossed her arms.

Caleb nodded, his gaze moving from me to the top of the gate. “I have a plan.”

Turning his back, he knelt and then pointed to his shoulders for me to climb on. I did, jerky at first while we both found our balance. When my feet hit the ground on the other side of the gate, the first move I made was to wipe my clammy palms on my pants.

“I can’t believe it worked.” I breathed a sigh of relief and gathered my senses.

A few scratches and snags in my pants from the barbed wire were the only damage, and the adrenaline pumping through my veins left my hands shaky. Breaking into the lab using Ingrid’s way in didn’t feel as bad as hopping over the fence. If captured now, I’d never get to the ground.

“Unlock the gate for us since we lifted your butt up.” Caleb rubbed his shoulders. “You’re heavier than you look.”

“Wimp.” Addie chuckled at her own humor, and I threw Caleb a grateful smile while pressing the open button on the keypad.

The heavy gate slid open, then Caleb and Addie slipped inside. We were three steps away when the gate slammed shut behind us, making us jump.

“Must be on a timer,” said Addie, staring back at the gate with wide eyes.

Once inside, splitting up seemed logical. Since the building had several floors, we decided we’d meet on the top floor when we finished scouring our section of the facility.

My shoes squeaked a little on the linoleum as I explored the ground floor, glancing into each room I found.

Instead of labs and files, every room here reminded me of the academy, various classrooms complete with tables, chairs, and educational material.

If I hadn’t known my entire life that Hegiralon Academy was the only place in the city for designs to get an education, I might’ve considered someone secretly being schooled here.

A door slammed shut at the end of the hallway, making me flinch.

“Caleb? Addie?”

No answer.

Trying not to freak out, I edged my way down the passage. After another twenty yards, it turned right and ended at a solid steel door. It was the first door on the ground floor without a window. I had to shove to get it to open a few inches, then squeezed through.

On the other side of the door was a landing at the top of a narrow set of stairs, and I carefully made my way down them into a basement that looked more like a sterilized hospital than a grungy crypt.

A long passage separated two large labs, each divided by solid glass. Both rooms looked unnervingly like the genetics lab in the primary research facility, only equipped with more medical equipment, the kind used in complex surgeries.

White floors spanned as far as I could see, and the same creepy white mats that hung in Doctor Chandler’s office lined the rear walls.

Most shocking of all were the blue fluid-filled pods, each suspended on cables from a gyrating turn wheel linked to the ceiling rafters.

I made my way to the sliding glass doors on the right of the passage and rested my forehead against its cool, hard surface as I gazed inside, speechless.

Inside each pod floated a person, but not babies like before. These were full-grown adults, and they mimicked the sleeping babies, pulled into the fetal position, almost frozen in time.

Chills tickled my spine the longer I stared at them. Without taking my eyes off the pods, I pressed my thumb into the orange glass ball centered in the silver ring on my index finger.

“Who would you like to dial, Brinya Renata?” the device questioned.

“Dial Adelaide Parker.”

“Yes, Brinya?”

My shoulders relaxed when Addie answered after two rings. “You guys need to come to the basement.”

“Basement?” She paused. “There's a basement?”

“There is. Get Caleb. You won’t believe what I found.” I released the button when footsteps skittered behind me.

“And I can't believe what we found,” a male voice announced.

I flinched to find three unfamiliar, angry faces staring at me. Two boys and one girl stood shoulder to shoulder, blocking the hallway.

They wore full black attire and had bizarre symbols inked on their arms, but I didn’t have time to study them. I took a cautious step back, my pulse humming between my ears.

“You hold it right there.” The fair-haired girl in the middle lunged at me.

“Be nice, Talon,” dictated the tall, muscular guy on the left.

Her second step implied she didn’t hear him, and I didn’t wait to see if she stopped.

Fear raced through my veins like a potent venom. With my fight-or-flight reflexes in overdrive, I bolted. A surge of energy pumped through me, carrying me as fast as my thrashing heart would allow without exploding.

The girl's fingers brushed my arm as she tried to grab me. Like an answered prayer, the glass door I’d been gazing into slid open.

A sign to run.

“Don’t let her go that way.”

It wasn’t clear who snarled the order, but it didn’t matter.

Dodging tables filled with lab equipment, stools, even a stack of boxes, I blazed across the room. When my hip bounced off the corner of one of the steel tables, I held back a yelp but kept running with my teeth gritted.

Around a large testing console, I skidded to a stop. There was nothing there except a locked door and another set of pleated metal stairs. This stairway led to a footbridge that ran like a catwalk above the room.

With no idea where it led but out of options, I charged up the steps, missing a few of the slick metal rungs along the way, until reaching the landing.

The muscles in my legs burned before it hit me that this catwalk connected the rooms on either side of the downstairs passage where my three pursuers had first cornered me.

A panel in front of me controlled the cables in the room next door that moved the glass pods wherever they needed to go, and directly below me was a pool filled with the same bright-blue fluid those pods contained.

Thundering boots and shouts closed in on me as the catwalk shook.

In a panic, I faced my pursuers, my knees trembling. They were halfway across the catwalk, having slowed to a walk since they had me cornered. All three looked angrier now than before.

I swallowed hard, trapped prey waiting for the vicious predator to attack. They advanced in a marching cadence, and the closer they got, the more the metal grating beneath my feet vibrated.

The sound of buckling metal caused a strange shift beneath me, knocking me against the railing. The brass plate under me dropped away with the snap of a couple of bolts.

I tried hard to hold on, my fingers curling around the rail. But I couldn’t. My hand slipped, the weight of my body taking me down.

The world around me plunged into a spiral. A brash splash resonated inside my head with violent intensity, muting a commotion of distorted shouts. A flash of bright blue and the outline of something reminiscent of fuzzy bubbles came first—then my body sagged.

Despite my best efforts, stars floated into my eyes, and a haze formed above me before my body sank into a dark abyss. An isolated wasteland of cold transformed my world into nothingness.

Chapter Eleven

With a fog clouding my periphery, I focused on what lay straight ahead. Flowers. An open meadow of tall grass seeded with wildflowers, their yellow blooms budding to life, dancing in accord with nature’s song as they swayed in a warm breeze.

The winds hadn’t yet purged the scent of morning dew on the fresh grass, but the sunrise sharpened every blade, every flower, as if it were a natural magnifying glass.

Each blossom popped vibrantly against the vivid avocado backdrop: a forest of pines, meeting an impeccably crisp blue sky on the distant horizon. Mountains rose out of the ground to the west.

The precious ground. I drank in the sight, soaking up the magic of it.

My heart pounded in my chest, and the sensation like something—or someone—dangerous might be after me settled on me as locks of my dark hair whipped against my face. Anything behind me wasn’t as significant as what lay ahead, though.

Voles and mice scuttled from bush to bush. Bees buzzed from flower to flower. Gazing at each almost made me trip on the rocky soil beneath my feet, but it wasn’t until I spotted sheep grazing on the mountainside that it sank in that this wasn’t the inside of a Climoflyer.

The vast skies were miles above me—and not artificial.

This was a dream.

The meadow faded around me, the pine trees transforming into dark iron skyscrapers. The sky and grass became a steely gray before converting to Astroturf and scenery on a pixilated canvas.

An ethereal shadow formed behind me. My heart ripped a little, everything inside me wanting to cling to the grass and the trees and the flowers.

Flowers, I thought as I continued to run. I’m only safe where the flowers are.

“Brinya!”

Despite the ringing in my ears, Caleb’s panicked voice grew more distinguishable by the second. He sounded close, but I couldn’t see him. I couldn’t see anyone. Everything was black.

I tried to reach for the flowers, even as they turned to ash beneath my touch.

Caleb screamed for me again.

Then came the embrace of powerful arms, but I couldn’t move, unable to respond to any sound or touch. Not even an embrace this strong, this warm. The shouting grew louder.

“Take her.” The masculine voice behind the order wasn’t familiar.

“I’ll get towels,” a girl shouted.

The grip around my waist tightened before a strange weightlessness consumed my body. My eyes felt like someone had sewn them shut, and I imagined tearing the skin of my eyelids as I peeled them open and blinked.

Strands of my dark, wet hair clung to my face, and a blue glare made me squint. The sting of something dripping into my eyes made me snap them shut.

A sharp pain on my right side caused me to cringe and then grab the tender spot. The pain brought me out of the here-one-minute-gone-the-next daze.

My eyes shot open again, and I writhed, desperate to be free of the stranger's hold. My body sagged with relief when I realized Caleb and Addie were waiting to take me from him, and I gasped as they grabbed my arms and pulled me out of the water. I fell onto the floor, weak beside them.

“Thank goodness you’re okay.” Addie brushed the hair from my face in a panic.

“We saw you fall. It took us forever to get to you. Talk about terrified. I didn’t think there was anyone to help you,” Caleb rambled, sounding agitated. “And then he jumped in after you.”

Caleb pointed to the dark-haired boy lifting himself out of the pool of slushy blue water with the most well-defined arms I’d ever laid eyes on.

Head down, muscled arms flexed, the vision of the guy dressed entirely in black startled me at first. Strange tattoos peeked out from the sleeves of his black T-shirt, but I couldn’t make them out in my daze.

But he had an undeniable allure impossible to ignore. Once out of the pool, he brushed streams of the blue fluid away from his eyes, and then he lifted his head and looked straight at me. His blue eyes were piercing on a level that took my breath away—the same color of blue as the liquid in the pool.

I’d been running from him and two others.

Spitting out a mouthful of the viscous, foul-tasting blue liquid, I tried to stand up. A stab of pain drew my attention to my ripped shirt through which a small scrape seeped blood.

With my teeth gritted, I eased back down. If the wound was serious, my advanced tech would heal it, although it wouldn’t happen as fast as I would’ve liked.

“Easy now.” Addie tried to steady me. “You must’ve hit the railing when you fell.”

I spit again, trying to erase the taste.

“What is that stuff?” I glared into the pool; the metallic taste was impossible to ignore. “It tastes awful.”

“That’s Zafema-967,” the fair-haired girl who’d first chased me said.

Her skin was ashy—the kind of pale that made me wonder if she’d ever had to worry about radiant UVs a day in her life—and a fair number of light freckles covered the bridge of her nose.

She handed me a towel, staring down at me with curious eyes of gunmetal blue. “It’s a super preserving agent used to preserve the life forms.”

She pointed to the pods filled with adults.

Again, my stomach churned at the sight of them.

“Maybe you’ll last longer than your encoded expiration date now.” The blonde chuckled with a hint of derision.

While a part of my attention picked up on what she’d said, the other part perused the sleeve of her inked-up arms with interest.

I’d heard of tattoos, but no Genoborg had them. None I’d ever met, anyway. They were popular with Originals, but not here. Like many other common human peculiarities, they were banned, like hardback books and dreams.

“That’s enough, Talon,” my rescuer said.

She smirked but stayed silent.

I turned to find him scowling down at me.

He ran his fingers through his tousled hair to remove more of the blue goo. He then removed what remained in the scruff of his well-sculpted jawline. “We’re not in the business of saying anything to those who break into our building.”

“Your building?” Caleb jumped up, defensive.

His nose wrinkled, like it did when he was mad and ready for a fight. He had to realize that testing the lean arms of his petite self against someone with an overabundance of muscle on a frame at least a half-foot taller would not only be pointless, but foolish.

“Yes.” The guy in charge crossed his arms over his broad chest, defined perfectly beneath the clinging wet T-shirt. “Unless you are members of the weirdo testing squad—or the crazed Technocracy—this is our building.” Again, he examined us. “Something tells me you three are neither.”

“You should’ve let her drown in there, Kade.”

The third of my pursuers sat perched on a stool at a table behind us. He slumped forward, hands folded on his lap, where the spiderweb tattoos on the backs of his hands were fully visible.

As he stared at us, his deep-golden eyes narrowed. He tilted his head, his mass of spiky black hair pointing up like a dagger. “They’re of the unflawed nature, I believe.”

“Around our age.” Talon sized us up with long sweeps of her gaze. “Crimsons.”

“The fact that they’re trainees doesn’t make them any less of a threat,” the boy bit back. “They have family with rank somewhere on the scale. You can damn sure bet it’s above us.”

Caleb and Addie’s eyes met mine. Maybe we were thinking the same thing, wondering if we should mention that one of us was, in fact, flawed. We remained silent, unsure if we could trust any of them.

The two boys exchanged a glance.

“Jaron would be on my side,” the spiky-haired boy continued, “ready to put an end to all outsiders.”

Who was this Jaron? Was he here too?

“We don’t let people who don’t mean us any harm die, Dag.” The obvious leader here, Kade, rubbed the stubble on his chin as he scowled at each of us.

When his gaze fell on me, though, something in his glare changed, and I wondered if he suspected my secret.

“They know about us now,” said Dag, as if voicing a reminder. “That makes them a threat. For all we know, every one of those accredited bastards wants us tortured and dead.”

Us? My interest amplified.

“They don’t seem like a threat to me.” Kade looked Caleb up and down with disregard.

Caleb stiffened, and I had to stop this conversation from escalating.

“Would somebody please…” I stood tersely but had to stop mid-sentence thanks to a dizzy spell.

Addie kept her hold on me tight as I pressed against my wound, which had healed enough to only have a trickle of blood around it.

“Yes?” Kade's brows rose.

“Please explain to me what’s going on here.” My gaze held his as my head cleared.

Kade said nothing, his lips pressing together as his gaze narrowed on me again.

“You live here or something?” I glanced around the room, trying to imagine anyone living in this place.

“Maybe you should tell us how you got in here.” The blond girl, Talon, stepped closer, maintaining eye contact. “How did you know this place existed?”

I wasn’t sure how to answer. “We didn't.”

Caleb lifted his hand as if to stop me, his face tinting with a temper that demonstrated his highly reactive tendencies. “No. Why should we trust you or tell you anything when you suggested he let her drown? You tell us who you are first.”

Dag leaped off his stool, advancing toward Caleb with revealed teeth. “No.”

“Dag, stop antagonizing.” Throwing his symbol-inked arm between the combatants, Kade guided Dag backward with ease, and his chiseled chin lifted. “Go with Talon. Tell the others everything is fine.”

Dag scowled, dragging his feet as he took two steps back.

“Let me handle this.”

“But they might be unfriendlies,” said Dag.

“You might be an unfriendly.” Caleb pointed at me, saying, “You almost killed my friend.”

Dag grunted, then followed Talon, who’d already approached the door. Their conversation, while heated, became indiscernible once the door shut behind them.

I waited until their leader’s eyes returned to me.

“Are all of you flawed designs?” I rolled my lips together, meaning no offense, uncertain of any other way to ask that question.

He scoffed, then pushed out his chest, his upper lip creeping up. “That’s not usually the first question people ask. Before today, we thought those who work here, the government, and those of us confined in here were the only ones who could get inside this place.”

Caleb snickered, his eyes on Kade. “Surprise. You don’t know everything.”

The two exchanged sullen scowls, and I rolled my eyes.

“Stop it, Caleb.”

A flash of astonishment stunned his face. I didn’t mean to sound stern, but the bickering annoyed me. Clearly, these people didn’t like the flawless and had notably more dislike for Grays, especially those with ties to the elite Grays. Caleb didn’t need to provoke their animosity.

“Fine.” His bottom lip jutted out in wounded defeat. “Addie and I will go back to what we were doing before you called for us. If he tries to get you killed again, don’t call us.” As he and Addie walked away, Caleb offered Kade one last acrimonious glare. “Do anything to her, you sorry brute, you’ll answer to me.”

Kade nodded, not intimidated by Caleb's threat.

I sighed as I watched my friends leave. “Sorry about him.”

“I don’t care about him,” Kade said, irrefutably blunt. “Tell me how you got into this place.”

I couldn’t let it slip that we’d broken in.

“Call it an accident. And if you must know, everyone on the outside thinks this place is an old annex, nothing more than a supply warehouse for Central Labs. We’ve always been told flawed designs no longer exist, that there’s no one who doesn’t have accreditation.”

He gazed at me for a short time. “Brinya, is it?”

“Brinya Renata.” I extended my hand to him, and he shook it with some hesitancy.

“We don’t get many unflawed designs here.”

“Are all of you defective?” I blurted.

“That’s what most of the unflawed label us. I suppose we’re your classic undesirables. We don’t call ourselves that. We call ourselves the Defiants. Welcome to our humble abode.” He chuckled, gesturing broadly and looking around.

For years, I’d spent every waking moment of my life thinking I was alone, the only design to deal with the isolation of displaying humanlike imperfections among a glut of flawless Genoborgs in nine generations. I believed myself to be a ninth-generation flop.

Finding out that wasn’t true made it hard to breathe for a minute. First Ingrid and now this. A whole secret group of flawed designs hidden away from the rest of society. The shock numbed every part of me, making my vision go blurry.

“No one knows about you besides the few who tend to you here?”

“We’re doomed, forever forsaken.”

“What about the police? Surely they would help you if they knew.”

When he frowned, the pit of my stomach fell.

“We get our kicks out of proving to those who keep us detained here how rebellious we can be. Questioning authority is defect indicator number one in the eyes of the Technocracy. A flawless is easy to manipulate. We’re not. They hate us for it.

“Our imperfections are a testament to the deficiencies in their creations. They don’t want people knowing they screw up from time to time. Having a bunch of certifiable defectives running around would be bad PR for Genotech, you know? It would indeed stain Biofuse Genetics’ untarnished reputation.” He lifted his hands in the air. “So, they keep us locked away, like the dirty little faulty secrets that we are.”

“Who exactly are ‘they’?” My eyes narrowed on his face. “Researchers?”

“Grays,” he replied. “Power-hungry elites are too tight with the current administration for anybody to give a damn. Everyone in that color caste is chasing clout and affluence. They don’t care about the everyday person—or if we die now or tomorrow.”

All my limbs tingled with this bit of news. “You believe the Technocracy is involved?”

“I guarantee you they’re involved.” His half-hearted grin turned to an immediate frown. “I can’t say I’ve ever met an actual member of the Technocracy. Although,”—he paused—“I wouldn’t know it if I had. They keep their identity classified, and they wouldn’t waste their time revealing themselves to someone like me. No, they give the orders to those who work here. They ensure we remain a secret. As defectives, we’ll never leave this place.”

I drew my hand to my mouth. I wondered if my parents knew anything about this surreptitious society struggling to survive in abandonment in the Central Labs warehouse. Surely not. My parents could never be a part of this dreadfulness, could they?

“What is it?” he questioned.

“Nothing,” I replied. “It’s a lot to take in.”

Something about the way he looked at me said he didn’t buy my deflection. “Keeping us here is the only way they can ensure people believe their bullshit slogan and philosophies.”

“Those of us inside the Climoflyers must obey the creed and ensure the genetically perfected future of Earth.” I about chuckled at my imitation of the computer voice that uttered the mantra recurrently in almost every public location in the craftworld.

“Ah, I see you’ve heard it yourself.”

“Who hasn’t?” A timorous smile tilted my lips.

He groaned, lowering his head. “It sickens me to think about how many naïve, brainwashed people are out there. All detached and narrow-minded, like they’ve been modified and conditioned to be. Who in their right mind could believe such perfection in society is feasible? I don’t care how much gene app technology you invent. It’s the fantasy of a tyrannical government who wants to control everyone.”

“Our leaders are Genoborgs like everyone, operating with their own embedded Genotech. All meant to allow for survival on the ground. Besides, the built-in behavior inhibitors wouldn’t allow them to do anything with malicious intent.”

“Malicious intent is irrelevant to those who feel nothing and must fake every emotion. Don’t you think?” Kade’s eyes bored into me. “And any implanted tech has to be shut down when you become a technocrat. I guarantee it. Nothing else explains how someone converts into such a shitty person on a whim.”

My eyes rolled as if I had no control.

“Those who fall for the bull are blind to the lies they tell in the name of their quest for control. It’s never been about ensuring anyone survives on the ground. But it’s easy to fool sheep into believing everything is perfect when you imprison everyone who’d resist and blow the lie sky high.”

So, not everyone believed in perfection.

He and I were proof there were flaws in Genotech. He knew it, too. So did Ingrid. My eyes glazed over with the thought of my parents being two of those people who believed in the infallibility of Biofuse Genetics’ technology. They knew about modification, though, so they had to realize what it meant. The secrets hidden here had to be about modification.

“Most everyone in the craftworlds is a fool,” Kade repeated. “I’m sure even your parents—everyone you care about—believe the lie.”

Before I shattered their belief, I thought forlornly with a glance at my shoes.

“Wow.” Kade’s awestricken voice jolted me.

“What?” I looked back up at him.

“Your eyes.” His voice softened as he leaned forward. “When you looked down, the light caught the violet hue. Your eyes are incredible, like nothing I’ve ever seen.”

His compliment lifted heat into my cheeks. Despite how we hadn’t gotten along in recent years, I had my mom to thank for them.

She had selected the color of my eyes because she loved the color purple. Violet eyes were my signature mark. A few of my friends had unusual eye colors, colors their parents had selected when creating their “designer babies,” but no one else had purple to my knowledge.

“I’ve seen my fair share of vivid colors.”

“Never another purple, I bet.”

“No,” I admitted.

Panic swelled my throat when it hit me—Ingrid’s eye covers were gone.

“What is it?”

“If you can see the color of my real eyes, then I have a big problem.” My mind reeled as I searched the floor. “I lost something when I fell into that tank of preservatives.”

“I’ll have Dag find it. What is it?”

“They’re a little hard to explain.” I twisted the ring on my finger. “I may have had another set of eyes with me.”

Kade lifted an eyebrow, but he didn’t question me. “Let's go upstairs. I'll send Dag back down to retrieve them for you. He’ll find them in no time at all, even if they’re at the bottom of the pool.”

He turned for the door, and I fell into step beside him.

Struggling to think of what to say next, I blurted out the first thing that popped into my head. “No offense, but how hard could it be to escape this place? Getting in wasn’t too difficult.”

“Shouldn’t we all be so lucky?” Kade scowled, then stopped, lifting his foot high enough to reveal a thin black band with a blinking green light locked around his ankle beneath his black jeans before resuming his march to the door.

Shocked at the sight of the device, I stopped and then had to jog to catch back up with him. “What is that contraption?”

“They tell us it’s a detainment device created for our safety.” He reached the door, triggering its automatic sensor.

I pulled the damp towel tighter to my body as a cool breeze gave me goose bumps when we walked into the hallway. The air in the hall felt much cooler than that in the lab.

“I happen to know,” Kade continued, “it’s a high-tech modification to a device they used on prisoners back in the Desolate Age. They called them ankle bracelets back then. But it does its job. And that’s why we’re all desolate. Left to rot in this vile place.”

I followed Kade back up the staircase to the first floor, where we made our way back down the hallway lined with classrooms. The number of windows that lined the inside wall of this hallway struck me as strange, especially when the building’s exterior had no windows at all.

“Do you guys study here?”

“Not exactly.” He pushed open a door at the center of the hallway with his foot. “They limit our education.”

I peered through the doorway and gasped.

The classrooms weren’t real, but murals so lifelike that I never would’ve guessed they weren’t real.

They masked one massive room on the other side of the wall. An open railing attached to a short set of stairs offered a clear view into the room, a vast space that looked less like an architect had planned anything and more like someone had created it by throwing leftovers from various cabins in the levels together.

Except for the fresh coat of paint, it didn’t look like they’d updated anything here since Inception. Maybe not since as far back as when the first Climoflyers left Earth to journey to the Mars hub, but this place couldn’t have seen any updates since the era of GEN1s or GEN2s. It reminded me of the library undercroft, though not as dusty.

They made the walls of stone, and nine wooden arches supported the ceiling, each one engraved with an intricate crisscross design.

Several rows of cots lined the dingy hardwood floors. A wooden trunk sat at the foot of each bed, and the space between each allowed enough room for a large wooden armoire, most of which hung open with clothes hanging out.

“This place looks like some ancient orphanage or something.”

“That’s not far off,” Kade said with an irritating note of superiority in his voice as he stepped onto the landing and gazed out over the railing. “Welcome to the Defiants Compound.”

“They’ve gone to great lengths to make sure this place goes unnoticed.”

“Like I said, we’re a bunch of dirty little secrets.” He took off down the stairs.

I hurried to keep up, careful of my footing as we descended the steps into the living quarters. I’d never been a clumsy person, but if I were ever going to have that kind of luck, it would be here. In front of him.

“How many of you are captives here?”

“Twenty to thirty isn’t unusual.”

A sudden coldness hit me at the core, freezing me mid-step. That many?

A couple of small creases formed on his forehead when he looked at me over his shoulder, and his eyes narrowed. “This might be a shock for you, but this is our life.” He navigated between the rows of beds, stepping over items on the floor without ever glancing down. “I’ve seen two hundred people here at once. Some don’t stay long.”

The thought of what happened to them after made me shudder. “Where do they go?”

Home, I hoped.

“Wherever they want to send them, I suppose.” He shrugged, evidently not knowing for sure. He stared at me a moment longer than expected. “Given your surprise, they probably don’t get to enjoy life in the craft’s core after being released into the city.”

I tried my best to swallow the lump in my throat when we turned from one hallway to another, and he stopped outside of a door.

“This is the shower room. You should wash off while I go find Talon. I’ll have her fetch you some dry clothes.”

“Thank you,” I said, but I wasn’t sure he could hear me since he was already striding away.

Chapter Twelve

“Squeeze it in a bit more.”

Talon grabbed my waist and tried her best to get the button of my pants to fasten. Around us, blocks of tan checkered the walls.

They reminded me of images of the milk parlors in the croplands I’d seen on television broadcasts. Wooden planks, mahogany in color, covered the floor. The floor froze my toes, meaning they didn’t heat it like the floor in my bathroom at home.

“Again.”

Sucking in as much as possible, Talon tried once more to fasten the pants.

“Maybe I should find a place to lie down?” I suggested.

“No. We can get them buttoned, darn it.” Talon’s voice was dry as she watched me try to squeeze myself into the pair of black pants she’d brought.

With a hoot, she slapped her thigh.

“I’m glad you find this funny.” Finally, the button slid into place.

“There.” She bounced on her toes. “I didn’t think you looked much bigger than me.”

“Maybe a little.” More sarcasm escaped my lips than intended as I wheezed.

Talon had a petite build—slender hips that gave way to thin, short legs. It amazed me I’d squeezed my more athletic figure, along with undoubtedly three or four more inches of leg, into such a small girl’s britches.

I turned to the full-length mirror on the stone wall of the dressing room, tilting my head with uncertainty. Talon’s body-hugging clothes looked absurd on me.

As a Crimson, I wore the burgundy uniforms, marking me as an unaccredited still in professional school. Black was a color hard to find in the city unless ordered on request.

I grimaced. Black wasn’t my color.

“Do you all like this shade or what?”

Talon chuckled before her eyes softened. “It’s the only one we’re allowed to wear. It makes us stand out from the unflawed. Well, the clothes and all these darn tattoos they mark us with, that is.”

She held out her inked arms. The detail in the design on her left arm was like nothing I’d ever seen before. Beginning at her wrist, a design of dark thin tree branches snaked up her arm to the middle of her bicep, where slender roots split in every direction.

“Each sprawling branch signifies an experiment I’ve failed.”

Bile lifted into my throat. “So they force you to get tattoos for the sake of being discernible as a flawed design? And experiment on you because your Genotech is glitching?”

She nodded, then pointed to the symbols lining her right arm. Painted on her skin was a swirling mass of stars positioned around the sun.

Several smaller stars trickled down her arm, blending with clouds and raindrops. The colors were vibrant; the artwork was stunning. So beautiful, in fact, it made me want a tattoo.

“This was my first. It’s also my favorite, symbolic of my ability to decipher and predict weather patterns.”

“The weather? You mean outside the Climoflyer, on the ground?”

That would be handy after reacclimation.

She shrugged, grinning faintly.

“It’s a cool talent to predict the weather, I suppose. But I’d give it up to do what I love. My passion is building things with my hands. Adding weather-reading elements to some of my engineering projects isn’t all bad, though. I once built a barometer—before my mom destroyed it.” Her eyes softened, becoming almost teary. “It’s sad knowing you’ll never get to experience it for yourself. Not the rain. Not the sun. Not even a real, gentle breeze.”

Biting back the sorrow threatening to close my throat so tightly that it became impossible to breathe, I studied the symbols randomly thrown in the fusion of ink. “And the others?”

“Each of these means something. A test I’ve passed. One I’ve failed. A unique reaction I had to an experiment. I honestly can’t remember what they all mean now.” A trace of sadness overpowered her voice as she flicked a golden lock of hair back over her shoulder and let her gaze fall while she grabbed a glass of water from the bench beside us. She grinned, seeming to shrug off her moment of gloom as she did. “I brought this for you, too. I thought you might be thirsty.”

I took the cup and drained it in large gulps.

Smiling, Talon tossed my small rucksack at my feet. “Your friends peeled this off you when they pulled you out of the water.”

“Thank you.” Having the stolen folder inside back in my possession relaxed my shoulders. It was even more of a relief to have confirmation that the waterproof backpack worked and I hadn’t destroyed lab property. “Why did you chase me downstairs?”

“You’ll have to forgive me.” Talon crossed her arms, pulling them tightly against her chest. “We aren’t used to anyone being here on the weekends. They keep us confined in the dorm during the week unless we're being tested on. So when we roam on the weekends and find a stranger in the lab area, you must understand how we saw you as another mad scientist weirdo prepping to run more tests.” She broke eye contact, her feminine features softening. “We can’t stand scientists around here—they’re bad news.”

Biting my lip, I nodded.

“These experiments they run… Are they attempting to modify you?”

“I’ve never heard them call it that.”

My heart sank, disappointment sagging through me over the fact that my first chance to gain info about modification might be a bust. “How long have you all been here?”

The tremors in her chin were impossible to ignore. “I’ve been here for five years. Since I was twelve. That’s when I got my first tattoo.”

“And Kade?”

Talon fidgeted as she tossed the wet towels into the laundry hamper, staying quiet for several moments. “He’s been here longer than many of us.” Reluctant to say more, she clasped her hands before reaching back to grab one of mine. “Come on. I’m sure the others are waiting to see you since you’ve cleaned up. They’ve never seen a spectacle like you.”

A spectacle? I threw my head back in amusement as she led me away.

Addie’s laughter hit me when the hallway turned back into the primitive living quarters. She and Caleb were standing among several others about our age.

Dag sat on a wooden trunk at the foot of one bed, and I didn’t recognize anyone else close to him. His eyes lit up against his spiked black hair at the sight of me.

“Wow.” Dag grinned, holding out an open palm. “I had my doubts you could rock all black, but look at you.”

I offered him a grateful smile and took Ingrid’s eye inserts from his hand, unsure if his sudden kindness should flatter or insult me.

“Thank you,” I said.

“And Sakadian returns.” Dag tossed his arms up, and everyone turned when Kade strutted through a door on the right side of the room. He had changed into a clean black T-shirt and another pair of jeans, and the tips of his tapered fade were still damp, making his hair even darker than before. “Nice to see you also took the time to rid yourself of your own preservative stench.”

Kade’s expression remained impassive, his response curt. “Lose the phony nice-guy act before I take you downstairs and toss you in that tank, Dag.”

Snickers brimmed from the group.

“Don’t hate on me because I leaked your name to the newbies,” Dag said, clearly loving the attention. “You were the one who said they were no harm.”

Caleb chuckled. “Sakadian, huh?”

Kade shot him a death glare. “It’s Kade, especially for an outsider like you.”

Caleb stopped grinning and became silent. Even Dag's cocky smile faltered.

“Nobody should let Dag poke fun at their name.” Talon grinned and poked a finger into his chest. “After all, Dagibar James is as laughable as any name.”

With ostentatious intensity, Dag scowled at her.

Addie interlocked her fingers and smiled, blind to the tension. “Well, isn’t it nice we all got to meet?”

No one responded, and she also fell mute.

I wanted to say something, but Kade's entrance had undone the relaxed atmosphere.

He glanced at the boy with skin similar in tawny tone to mine and dark hair with red tips. “Where do things stand, Jaron?”

Jaron glared at me as if he regarded me as a bug in need of a quick stomp. I got the feeling that this boy disliked outsiders even more than Dag, which said a lot.

Caleb lifted his chin to look more confident.

“Are they flawless? Grays?” Jaron took a step back at the word Grays, and his mocking smirk twisted like he’d tasted something unpleasant.

“We’re Crimsons, from Azure families.” My eyes narrowed on Caleb and Addie, begging them to help me keep the peace after the lie spewed out. Jaron would obviously not be thrilled if he knew that some of us really were from Gray families. “All of us.”

“Labor class or not, we can’t trust any faultless.” Jaron glowered at me, and his Adam’s apple bobbed a time or two. “They live in perfect, sickening harmony with the Grays. And lower-class Grays are as guilty as the highest-ranking elites when it comes to those privileged bastards. If only for being enablers to our misery.”

“Judgy defectives,” Caleb hissed. “Our social rank is none of your business.”

I shushed him.

“We’re all born from pods, Jaron.” Talon lowered her chin to stare him down with hooded eyes.

Jaron shoved his hands into his pockets, sulking.

Kade’s shoulders relaxed. “Pick up where you left off. Donnika. Vedrick. Help him.”

At their names, a girl and a boy stepped forward from the crowd. The girl was as tall as the boy and pretty.

Her black hair fell like a curtain of impeccably curled silk ringlets to the top of her waist. Her dark eyes were her most captivating feature, reflecting a look of wisdom far beyond her age that drew attention to her like a magnet. The boy’s russet skin matched his hair and eyes.

“My brother and I would be happy to help,” said the girl.

Brother? I wanted to question it, not knowing of any partnered couple lucky enough to be lottery winners twice, but I kept quiet. Perhaps they were stepsiblings. I had heard of second unions being allowed if a partner died young enough for the administration to approve another match.

“Thanks, Donnika. The rest of you make your way out behind them,” said Kade.

Jaron headed for the door, as most of the others fell in behind him.

“We'll catch you later.” As Dag stepped closer to her, Talon grinned at me, and they turned to follow the others out.

They hadn’t gone far when Kade stopped them.

“You two stay. You can take Addie and nasty numbnuts here for a walk.”

“Hey!” Caleb’s shoulders bristled.

I held my hand up to quiet him. “Remember to be civil, please.”

He glared at Kade, crossing his arms as the anger-provoked flush slowly faded from his cheeks. “Okay, but only because you requested so nicely. But watch yourself; I don’t trust any of these defectives.”

I offered Caleb a grateful smile, then watched as he trailed the others down the aisle between beds before turning back to Kade. Kade’s penetrating eyes were on me.

“More proactive than reactive,” he whispered.

“Excuse me?” Confusion must’ve suffused my features because his expression softened.

“There’s something I want to show you. Then I expect answers. Follow me.” He went for the door without looking back, like he was used to people following his orders.

With a thudding heart, I followed.

Chapter Thirteen

Kade led me through a galvanized door into a netted aviary-like breezeway. He let the steel door behind us close before he pushed open the screened interior door, revealing a rooftop haven on the other side. He never prepared me for what I’d see—and smell.

Delightful scents bombarded my nose: the sharp warmth of living, flourishing vegetation, almost unknown in the Climoflyer, and the aroma of dirt and the roots of life. Mingled in, like a medley, was the sweet scent of flowers and the warmth of leaves.

My jaw dropped at the sight.

This roof was a flat terrace covered with glass with walls to match, a greenhouse in every aspect of the word. A panorama of beauty, filled with non-synthetic flora and colors that illuminated in the way nothing in Hegiralon City did.

Marigolds, pansies, and irises rose in peaks and valleys, forming chevrons along the east wall. Decorated with flourishing vines of ivy were several lattices propped against the windows.

“This is unbelievable.” Mesmerized, my attention veered from the condensation beads twinkling in the simlight on the sleek walls to the support beams at this weed-plucked oasis center.

Each one displayed what looked to be hand-painted artwork: beautiful renditions of animals, flowers, and symbols that would’ve taken a lot of talent and time to draw.

With one hand on the nearest porous pillar, I traced each with amazement.

“Since you’re only safe where the flowers are.” Kade’s voice resonated behind me, deep and low.

His statement caught me off guard, and my shoulders stiffened.

“I said something while unconscious in the pool?”

He nodded.

My hand slipped from the cool support beam, though my eyes remained on the magnificence in front of me. “Did you draw these?”

“Many of them,” he replied.

Knowing he was an artist eased the overbearing first impression I’d gotten from him somehow. I tiptoed across the grass covering the ground of the glasshouse, alive beneath my shoes.

A tear all but formed in the corner of my eye when I stooped, running my fingers across the soft blades, breathing in every sweet scent surrounding me as I relished in the delicate texture beneath my fingertips, my breaths shallow thanks to how happy it made me to take it all in.

“You love plants, huh?”

“Yeah.” My mouth tugged into a smile, then I stood, tucking my hair behind my ear. “Something about them has always made me feel at peace, hopeful.”

“That’s how I feel when I’m up here.”

When he returned my smile with a half-cocked grin that emphasized how handsome he was, I cleared my throat and looked away, glancing around the rooftop before he noticed me staring.

The roof of my penthouse was bare, harsh, and mechanical. This gable was anything but, with intertwined creepers running along the metal framework.

Wide green leaves attached to those vines pressed against the transparent panels. Built similar in style to Hegiralon Arboretum, this place offered tremendous views of the city’s skyline and the nearest residential layers.

Being at the outer edge of the core had its perks, with views unblocked by high-rises. One of them was the view of the openings on the levels that led to the outer segments of the craftworld.

But there was as much to admire inside this greenhouse as on the outside, like the trees sprinkled all around, each with thick-leaved limbs that put off a cool, woodsy scent. Bushes sagged with lustrous berries, still on their vines.

Strolling across a path created on the sod with stepping stones, I made my way to a shrub with small pink flowers. Without thinking, I reached out to touch the petals. They were silky beneath my fingers, a far different type of smooth than touching microscope dials and pipettes.

In my excitement, I grabbed a vine, not noticing the thorns on the stems. When one pricked me, I jerked back with a soft curse.

“They sure are real.” Choking back the urge to gag, I sucked the blood from my thumb.

Another fleeting grin swept Kade’s face. “They only give us something so pretty to make us forget where we are.”

“The colors are like nothing I’ve ever seen outside of my…” I faltered, realizing I’d almost revealed my deepest secret to someone practically a stranger. “Never mind.”

Kade smirked, like he knew what I might say. “It’s peaceful up here.”

He stepped forward, and I followed. There was no pattern to how they’d laid out this rooftop conservatory. Larger trees lined the outer edges, but they’d placed the short trees, shrubs, vines, and flowers randomly from floor to rooftop, each capable of mesmerizing with their limitless beauty in raised boxes or while snaking up trellises.

Everywhere I looked there was an insurgence of color: green shrubs studded with jewel-toned red buds, purple and white blossoms spilling down the sides of vivid green hedges, trailing vines of ivy draped between trees, roses, tulips, and lilies in full bloom and in an assortment of lively tints.

“Is this here year-round?”

Kade nodded. “Completely temperature controlled.”

“Like the arboretum.” A smile quirked my lips.

Dad took me to the arboretum for my birthday every year when I was younger, but I wouldn’t tell Kade.

Only someone with the salary of a Gray could afford to visit the arboretum. It was so expensive that many people living in a Climoflyer would never see a real plant in their lifetime unless they made it to the ground.

We strolled through the loveliness until we reached a decorative wooden bridge over a stream where fish swam, and I let out a faint gasp.

These were real, live fish. With bloated bellies from regular feedings and their translucent fins fluttering in the water. It thrilled me to see them outside of the animal preserve.

In a clearing beside a gnome, a wooden bench rested against the trunk of a graceful tree, its open crown of drooping branches sweeping the ground with leaves of light green.

“Let’s sit.” Kade gestured to the bench.

He pushed aside the hanging fronds and ducked under the cover of sagging branches.

I followed, hypnotized by the tree and stalling long enough to take a couple of its elongated leaves between my fingers to relish in the vitality of them.

“I love weeping willows.” I ducked into the leafy tent.

Kade took a seat. I joined him, sitting to his left. His muscled arms flexed as he settled himself on the bench, and I stared. The sleeve of tattooed branches snaking up his arm and breaking off erratically into roots was even more impressive than Talon’s.

“What?” His eyes caught mine.

“Talon told me about the branches you all have winding up your arms.”

He groaned. “What else did Talon tell you?”

“She mentioned your first tattoos being symbolic of special abilities you possess.”

Kade’s jaw tightened. “She told you about our abilities?”

“Not in any detail.”

I hoped he’d say more, but silence fell between us.

Maybe he wanted me to go first.

“I have a unique ability. That’s what led me here, to this place.” I kept my voice low, eyes on the fountain, ignoring Caleb’s warning not to trust anyone here.

Kade’s brow creased as his eyes narrowed on my face. It took a minute, but he relaxed. “I picked up on something about you.”

“I dream.” My wall crashed down. Having gone this far, the whole truth couldn’t hurt, though I’d never been so open with a total stranger before. “Or, perhaps, I ‘have dreams’ would be the proper way of stating it.”

“You dream?” He smiled perfunctorily. “What do you see in these dreams? Flowers, I assume?”

“Yes, flowers, but beautiful places I’ve never seen before in real life. Open countryside. Mountains. Oceans. Real grass. Places where being confined to a Climoflyer doesn’t exist. The kinds of places told about in stories passed down from Originals, depicted in old photos.”

“You stumbled onto us, hoping to rid yourself of the dreams? Hoping to change yourself into what those in power want you to be?”

My heart stammered as I swallowed hard. “No hiding tech glitches from you, huh?”

“As the saying goes, ‘it takes one to know one.’”

I accepted his answer, nodding. “I came here hoping to find a scientific way to stop my dreams, yes. After seeing something awful, having it confirmed for me that modification exists, I had no choice. I never expected this.” I gestured widely, trying to encompass the entire building and the last couple of hours of my life all at once.

He lifted his chin, his eyes narrowed. “You’re expecting to fool the accreditation board?”

I bounced my foot on the ground.

“No flawed design has ever done that.”

Ingrid was the only one I knew of myself, but I wouldn’t reveal her secret, not to Kade or anyone else.

“Do you know of any who have tried?”

“No,” he replied. “We were all brought here long before the age of testing.”

“Has anyone tried to escape this place?”

Kade chewed at the inside of his cheek, picked an oriental lily from the flower bed beside the bench, and plucked the petals. “No.”

Anger boiled inside me, erupting like a volcano. How could anyone stay locked up for years without attempting to run away?

I couldn’t imagine being so submissive to someone's authority, even the Technocracy. The app designed to eliminate rebellious tendencies in Genoborgs had obviously malfunctioned in me, too.

Being here made me wonder if any of my apps—advanced or standard—were functioning.

“How can you let them keep you here? There are windows. Why don’t you escape?”

“You came here hoping to mold yourself into the puppet they say you should be.” Kade grimaced. “You’re hardly one to talk.”

“You don’t know what my intentions are.” I glared down at the ankle device on the leg he had crossed over the other. “What does that gadget do anyhow? Sound an alarm? You could disappear into the residential fringes before anyone caught you.”

My sudden burst of bravery made him chuckle. “You’re angry with us, not our captors?”

“No. Yes. Sure, I’m mad at them,” I stammered. “But why haven’t you escaped?”

“First, we’re four stories high. Do you expect us to scale the building? We have mad skills, but none that good. Second, you don’t want to get over twenty feet from the gated perimeter while wearing one of these pieces of jewelry. Don’t think a few brave souls haven’t tried. They failed when they met with the whopping ten amps of electricity this thing sends through your body if you cross into the escape zone.”

“They killed them?” My anger dispelled beneath a blanket of horror.

“That’s what happens when that much electricity jolts through a person’s body, yes.” He dropped the remains of the lily and brushed the dirt off his hands.

“I can’t believe anyone allows the lab personnel to treat you all like this.”

“Allow?” Kade asked in disbelief. “The Technocracy controls all of this. They’re crazed monsters. I believe nothing happens in any craftworld they don’t control.”

The immensity of the passion flaring in his eyes was magnetic, but I wasn't about to back down.

“Why do you hate them so much? Look at the good they’ve done.”

“Good?” His nose crinkled. “Only fools would believe turning every person into some app-governed model of perfection is good.”

“They've done some good.” I couldn’t ignore the urge to defend the Grays, those like my parents, to defend those in my area of study. “Many Grays work to protect people, for the sake of providing the best to the next generation. Some hope to use what we’ve accomplished to make the ground better than ever before.”

That last part was about me specifically.

A twitch below his eye as he scowled caught my attention.

“What about the diseases eradicated?” I asked. “Disabilities practically erased. The way they’ve eliminated crime and poverty because everyone knows their place and accepts it?”

“Someone else got to choose their place,” he bit back. “You can’t believe that’s right.”

“It’s not about right or wrong. It’s about everyone having a decent life.”

“I bet you honestly believed everyone had a decent life before today, too.”

The defensive energy pumping through me a minute earlier evaporated.

“Yes, true, coming here has flipped all my beliefs on their head, but even you have to admit they’ve done some good.”

Kade shook his head. “Those things don’t prove something is good. Consider the cost. And that kind of control costs us everything. If you take a person and make them ‘perfect,’ you’ve taken away the one thing that makes them unique—imperfections.”

“Without Genotech, none of us would be here.”

He crossed his arms over his chest, obstinate.

“Why do you hate Grays?”

He scratched his chin. “The Technocracy got word I was different. They came to my house, took me, and that was it. Story over.”

“There’s more to it,” I insisted, even though what he’d just said twisted my heart.

He groaned. “They came to my house when I was ten. My parents had expressed their concern about my difference. Apparently, somebody told the right people, so they sent the lab quacks for me. They told my parents they were taking me in for study, for help. That was nine years ago.”

I forced a breath, trying to imagine what that must’ve been like. “Can your families visit you here?”

He glared at me, then stood up, pushing the branches of the weeping willow aside.

“Running won’t change things,” I told him. “If you want to change things, you must act.”

His face went red, a vein protruding in his neck when he turned back to me. “Says the girl who ran here, breaking into the worst kind of hell, in hopes of altering herself to their ideal of perfection.”

I stopped short, swallowing hard over how sour this subject made him.

“What do you hope to find here?” His shoulders tensed. “A way to secure your perfect little existence?”

With my chin held high, I shook my head. “The key to wiping the dream-triggering glitches from my genes, recoding my apps, if needed.”

“You’d alter yourself to be one of them?” His nose scrunched in disgust. “We’d all rather be prisoners for who we are than a free fool for what we’re not.”

Every muscle in my stomach tightened as he frowned at me with pity-filled eyes.

“At least we stay true to who and what we are,” he said.

“I didn’t expect to come here and find others like me. I’ve searched for any sign I wasn’t alone for years.”

“Cheers, you found us. Prepare to be alone for the rest of your life.” He scuttled away.

“It doesn’t have to be that way, you know,” I called after him.

He swung around, shaking his head.

“There has to be a way.” I lifted my chin defiantly. “I mean, I’m here because I want a future on the ground.”

He stalked toward me. “They’ll never let anyone leave the Climoflyers.”

I looked into his eyes, unintimidated as he towered over me. “The founders made preparations. They left specific orders. We will reacclimate. That’s what I believe; whether or not I’m a fool is undecided.”

“You are.” He snickered. “I’ve decided.”

My blood boiled, flushing heat into my cheeks.

“The way you’re feeling, it’s called conviction. Probably haven’t heard of that, though.”

“What does it even mean?”

“A powerful idea. Belief. Hope. All words removed from our language. The Originals’ believed human greed, the way humans wanted excessive rights, more rights than Earth, led to the Ecosystems Crisis.” Kade’s self-assurance fortified. “Earth got the last say, though.”

“They blamed their own kind for everything?”

“Our founders ended up blaming fervid emotion,” he replied. “That’s why emotions were subdued more with each generation in Genoborgs. Emotions like anger, fear, love, and contempt led to things like lust, pride, and greed. But being lax with their rights meant all the evils those emotions triggered flourished, which, in return, made them take Earth and all the life on it for granted. Only Originals could’ve sat by passively while beings in every bionetwork around them went extinct right under their noses.”

“Yeah,” I said, my voice hoarse.

“Genotech makes us better than they could ever be. And everybody believes it’s for the greater good, too.”

“Maybe it is,” I whispered.

“If you believe that, we’ll never get along.” His jaw twitched as he studied me for a reaction. “You can’t accomplish genuine change through manipulation.”

“You know an awful lot about the Ecosystems Crisis and Originals.”

“Boredom leaves me a lot of time to read.”

My shoulders stiffened with curiosity. “You read Desolate Age books here?”

“They keep a nice stash.”

“Desolate Age dictionaries?” I asked.

“I’ve seen a few around. I think they use it to brand us with human-defined defects.”

“They wouldn’t keep a copy of the Founders’ Doctrine around, would they?”

He stared at me longer than expected.

“Where would I find it, if so?”

With a lopsided grin on his face, Kade turned his back on me again and marched away, leaving my question hanging in the silence between us.

“You don’t understand,” I continued, following after him. “Getting my hands on a copy of the Doctrine could change everything. Being here, being treated like this, you must want change.”

“I’m too realistic to believe I can change anything.”

“If you ever got the chance, would you try to get back in touch with your parents?”

He scoffed over his shoulder. “Nope.”

“You could try to help yourself out a little, rather than feeling sorry for yourself.”

“You need to go home.” He fired off a curse or two from an aisle of beautifully groomed lilies and snapdragons.

I exhaled, thinking of what I could say to regain his interest as I hurried to catch up. It might be easier to start over again.

“Kade, I want to help myself. That’s true. But maybe I can help you too. I have good reason to believe the Doctrine contains answers. Maybe we can help each other.”

He stopped with his back still to me. “Astral projection.”

“What?”

“Astral projection. It’s what you experience. Talon experiences the same from time to time. Seeing and knowing things she couldn’t possibly know herself, like it’s coming from outside of her own body and mind. And seeing past weather patterns and disasters helps her predict future ones or some such.”

An icy chill ran down my arms.

He turned around, seeming to gauge my reaction.

“I’m not the only one?” I stepped closer, mouth open in shock. “Tell me what other abilities all of you here possess. I need to know.”

“Knowing spells danger for you.”

“Don’t do me any favors. I’ve wanted to know what’s wrong with me for years. Tell me,” I demanded.

He sighed, his shoulders slumping forward. “Talon has had the dreams for as long as she’s been here. Like you, she sees things she hasn’t seen before in her life. It’s like sometimes she’s transported to alternate places. Most of what she sees relates to weather disasters.”

“Of the past?”

“We believe so.”

“So, before the sea levels rose?”

He looked ahead for a second, then nodded. “It’s more like her visions are memories, only they’re memories that couldn’t possibly be hers. She sees the world before the Ecosystems Crisis.”

“Well, maybe her dreams aren’t so crazy. The rains are clear again. We saw that when they opened the hatches.”

His eyes clouded over for a moment, as though he hated that he couldn’t experience it. “Talon also sees people living out of the craftworlds in her visions.”

The hairs on my arms lifted. “Us? Our people, outside the Climoflyer?”

“Nah, not us. Others. It’s like she’s experiencing someone else’s memories, people who once were on the ground.”

“Oh.” I chortled louder than intended.

“Talon doesn't believe me, either. And yeah, it sounds nuts, impossible even, but it’s the only explanation I’ve ever been able to consider with any real gravity.”

“So, you think my dreams could also be visions, a glimpse of someone else’s memories?” I got the question out before another snicker escaped.

“Or perhaps visions of a different time and place.”

“I’m sorry. It seems so unlikely.”

“A thousand years ago, the evolution of Genoborg was impossible.”

“True.” I licked my dry lips while we weaved between a row of hedges, some with tiny red berries, others with purple flowers.

He stopped at a window and gazed down on the fenced-in lawn below. When a gust of wind blew through the window screen, he inhaled, breathing in the scents of the city so long ago taken from him.

“It must be hard being stuck in here for so many years.”

He lowered his gaze to me. “You might find out how hard it is if the government learns about you or if they catch you here.”

A lump formed in the back of my throat.

“They won’t. That’s why I have to find what I came for.”

Kade tilted his head, glaring at me.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be locked up in this place to be experimented on.”

He nodded. “Don’t blame you there.”

“I’ve told you my ability, trusting you won’t let that information fall into the wrong hands. Now tell me, what do these mean?” I traced my index finger over the dark lines and swirls, the array of old-world symbols inked on his arm, though I didn't expect him to jerk away from my touch.

“Don’t do that.”

Amused, I laughed. “Don’t tell me you’re ticklish.”

He shook his head, fighting back a smile. “I have a form of hyper-endurance. All that means is I’m stronger than most designs. The perk of Vigortech.”

Backing up far enough to give him a once-over, I said, “Obviously.”

He blinked, seeming to recover his train of thought. “That’s what that symbol represents. But it’s the clairsentience that interests the lab quacks the most.”

Clairsentience? I’d never heard the word.

“I understand things,” he said. “I sense things the unflawed don’t. While I can read the auras around people, more often than anything, I sense danger.”

“So, you’re like one of those old-world psychics?”

“Psychic?” He grinned. “I’m surprised you know what that is.”

I scowled.

“I don’t consider myself psychic. I can hold an object or touch someone and sense the energy surrounding that object or that person.” He pulled the neck of his black T-shirt down far enough to show me a thickly lined cross inked over his heart. “That’s what this tattoo means.” He released his grip on the fabric. “It was my first. They make the first branding something that reflects what percentile on the glitch-ranking chart we fall into.”

“And where do you rank?” I could tell by the way he pulled back that I’d pried too deep.

“High,” he mumbled. “Trust me, I never have to worry about accreditation.”

“You knew I wasn't flawless, didn’t you?” The kindness he’d shown to me—even with the opposition of his friends—suddenly made sense. “How long have you had your ability?”

He smoothed his shirt as he glanced out the window. “Since about nine. I always told my dad if there’d be trouble in his workday before he left in the morning. Freaked my mom out.”

I gnawed at the inside of my cheek, figuring my parents shared the concern of his.

“From the stuff Talon has heard, the founders felt the capability to dream left humans desiring too much. Longing for things they didn’t need or failing to put society’s needs and the good of Earth ahead of their own ambitions.” Kade’s eyes narrowed on me. “If any elite learns about you, they’ll toss you in here for sure. You’re lucky you’ve gotten by this long.”

“Perhaps it’s less about me being lucky, and more about my parents helping to keep my gift concealed. Aside from them, only Caleb, Addie, and my hypnotherapist know.”

“Hypnotherapist?” He bristled. “You’ve been talking to a shrink? The shrinks report everything to the administration.”

A chill snaked down my back. This possibility had never occurred to me before.

“She’s kept quiet. Like you said, they’d have locked me up already if they knew.”

He groaned, seeming unconvinced. “What have you told this therapist? Did you reveal your plan to come here?”

“No, I didn’t tell anyone about coming here. Heck, Addie and Caleb are only here because they followed me. I didn’t want to get anyone involved.”

“Well, now you’ve gotten us all involved.” He huffed and strode away.

I scrambled to catch up.

“I don’t know why you’re so paranoid.”

“I don’t know why you are so naïve. You cannot trust any accredited, none of them. Trusting them is as foolish as thinking the elites will ever let anyone launch to the ground.”

“Caleb says we can’t trust any of you. That doesn’t make it true.”

He sighed.

“Help me and I’ll help you.”

“Absolutely not,” Kade replied.

“Do you honestly trust nobody? It’s okay to open up to others occasionally and show that you, in fact, have a heart beneath all that ink and stubbornness, you know.”

“Two reasons.” His blue eyes narrowed on my face. “First, if people believe you don’t give a damn, they don’t tell you their problems.”

“And the second?” My prodding seemed to get under his skin, making me need to do it even more.

“If you live as if you have no heart, then one can never get close enough to disappoint you like people always do.”

“That’s no way to live.”

He threw his hands up in the air. “The imp who snuck in here hoping to find information that’ll help her alter herself to get accreditation says relying on yourself is no way to live. That’s ironic.”

My grimace met his frown.

“Here’s a news flash for you, sweetheart. There’s not one darn person in this place who gives a crap. In this place, all I have to depend on is me. The world out there is no different.”

“Fine. I’ll make you a deal.” I flung my arms carelessly as I stormed past him for the exit. “You help me find the information I came here for, and I’ll get out of your hair as fast as possible. Right now, all I care about is figuring out how to stop my dreams.”

Behind me, Kade sighed loudly.

“I’ll find what I need on the genetics and tech if you’ll get me a copy of the Doctrine. It’ll be less painful for both of us if we do this quickly. I want to make sure I don’t wind up miserable and jaded like you, stuck in this forsaken place.”

I didn’t wait for his response before I escaped out the door of the rooftop garden.

Chapter Fourteen

With frustration twisting knots in my stomach, I made my way back downstairs, my knees knocking from the tsunami of emotions Kade sent barreling through my veins.

As I sulked back into the timeworn living quarters, my pulse thumped against the side of my neck. Some details of the room were clearer now that my head wasn’t in a fog of shock.

Designed in a circular shape, the room sat below a ceiling tapered to a high point in the middle, as if it were a tower in some ancient castle on the ground, tucked away in a far-off and forgotten part of the Desolate Lands.

Addie and Caleb stood by one cot near the center of the room, chatting with Talon. They greeted my arrival by ending their conversation.

“Is everything okay, Brinya?” Addie had a way of reading me instantly.

“I’m fine.” I forced a smile, and Talon chuckled.

“Yeah, don’t worry. We’ve all been there. Kade has this uncanny ability to piss people off, mostly because he has a trust phobia. Not to mention he’s a little hardheaded.”

“That’s an understatement,” I said, my teeth clenched.

“Enduring what he’s gone through has turned him to stone. He’s a good guy.” Talon’s lips twisted into a grin. “And it’s one of the qualities that makes him alluring.”

A warmth filled my cheeks before Caleb jumped up.

“Alluring? Defectives talking about those kinds of attractions weirds me out.”

Talon scrunched her nose with a laugh. “Not like that.”

With an eye roll, I sided with Talon. There was something about Kade I couldn’t put my finger on, a magnetic draw that left me wanting to know more about him, like getting to know him better might help me learn more about myself. It wasn’t a sexual attraction, rather more of an intellectual connection. An emotional one, even.

And I needed a connection like that. It felt weird to admit that, even to myself. So I’d keep my mouth shut around the others.

“People value different qualities, I guess.” Caleb shrugged.

Addie playfully nudged Caleb’s elbow. “Figured you’d kind of be into it.”

A sudden burst of awareness surfaced fresh in Caleb’s voice. “Forget I mentioned it.” His eyes locked on me as he avoided Addie. “Just know I don’t see it.”

Addie grinned like she knew something I didn’t.

“All I care about is this mission not getting us in trouble.” Caleb bowed his head, then pushed Addie away when she hugged him. “In and out—that’s how today needs to go.”

I turned back to Talon, trying to regain control of myself and the conversation. “How’d you know Kade did something? Can you read minds on top of the dream thing?”

Her mouth dropped open. “Kade told you about my dreams?”

“Wait.” Caleb took a troubled step back. “You dream, too?”

“Too?” Talon’s eyes widened when it hit her why Kade had told me her secret. Her shoulders rolled back, and she shook her head. “No way,” she whispered, staring at me.

“You better believe it, Talon.” Kade strode toward us.

I never heard him come in, and a part of me wondered how much he’d overheard.

When he reached us, he looked down at me. “Leaving your tour guide is rude.”

I shrugged, my mouth twitching. “Rude tour guides get left behind.”

Caleb snickered.

“Excuse me.” Talon pointed to herself. “Can we get back to me here? You mean to tell me you have dreams like me?”

I nodded.

“Did you know this?” She sucker punched Kade’s shoulder.

“Yeah, I’ve known for about five minutes.” His scornful brashness never eased.

“You sensed it from the time she arrived, huh?” She frowned at him, then grabbed my arm, elation causing her cheeks to blush. “Come, let’s take a walk. Tell me all about your dreams.”

I glanced at Kade as she pulled me away, and he gave a subtle nod.

“When you return, we’ll discuss the deal you want to make.”

“Deal?” Caleb perked up. “What deal?”

Kade left without saying another word, disappearing through the shower room door.

“You two can tag along if you’d like.” Talon offered Addie and Caleb a soft smile before dragging me to the stairs.

Talon guided us to what she called her favorite place in the compound. The one place the Defiants had for entertainment.

Something in the scientists’ studies proved that the flawed performed better during testing if they had productive things to do with their spare time, or so Talon explained.

I tried my best to listen to her prattle on, but as we walked, my mind drifted to our dreams of unfamiliar places. It was strange we both shared the same curse. Kade’s crazy theory popped into my head again. Annoyed, I shoved his foolish notions aside and tried to focus.

“I have to show you this place,” Talon continued. “You’ll love it like I do.”

When she opened the massive doors, Caleb gasped with amazement.

She guided us into a room with bloodred walls and sable marble floors with shimmering streaks of silver swirled into the glossy finish.

In one corner, two bookcases reached from the floor to the ceiling on either side of a massive stone fireplace. The books extended so high that tall ladders set on casters were in place to reach them.

Padded floor mats covered a wide section of the room to the right of the sitting area in front of the hearth. Similar mats lined the walls, and a high-tech projection screen hung above the fireplace mantel.

Along the mats were stationary bikes, weight benches, and various workout equipment that looked worn, well used, and loved.

“That’s the fitness area, one of my favorites. You can do everything along with the cybernetic instructor. Weightlifting, cardio, whatever. If aerobics or yoga is not your forte, you can flip a switch and try cyber golf.”

“Nice.” Addie smiled.

“The personal library is impressive, of course, but look at this side of the room.” Caleb practically drooled as he spoke, turning to the left as the double doors banged shut behind us.

To the left was a basketball court; a tennis area sat beside it, and on the far side of the room—enclosed entirely within a separate glass chamber—was a lap pool. Game tables spanned the center of the room, including a pool table, air hockey, and countless board games.

I grinned as Caleb inspected each area, his mouth wide open and his eyes bugging out.

Talon waved a hand around the room. “Welcome to our rec room.”

“It’s amazing.” Caleb ran his fingers over the wooden side rails of the pool table. “I’m so jealous; I’d never leave this room.”

“If you think this is insane, step back.” Talon seemed to relish in Caleb's reaction.

He followed Talon’s command as she walked to the fireplace and grabbed a small controller from the thick timber mantel. We watched her in anticipation from beside the row of game tables as she hit a button on the controller with a smile on her face.

A square of flooring beneath each table rose upward. The tables remained fixed to the floor pedestals as they turned over in midair then lowered, table-side down, into the open pits in the floor.

The tables disappeared as each square closed, blending seamlessly into the remaining floor. Where once there’d been a row of game tables, it was now transformed to nothing but wide-open space, as if nothing had even been there.

“Pretty wild, huh?” Talon grinned. “This gives us space for gymnastics or dancing.”

Addie’s eyes lit up. “I’ve always wanted to learn to dance.”

Talon handed Caleb the controller. “I’ll let you kids play while Brinya and I talk.”

I trailed Talon as she headed for the black couch in front of the fireplace. She stepped to the mantel and flipped a switch on the wall that lit up the flameless logs like an actual fire.

My attention went to the bookcase, my fingertips trailing the spines of each as I pulled a half dozen out, inhaling the scent of history with each flake of dust that wafted off the pages.

“Looking for something?” Talon asked.

“No,” I fibbed. “Just amazed they let you have paper books here.”

“It’s more like they hide them here, like they hide us.”

“Have you ever seen a copy of the Doctrine floating around here?”

Talon bristled in her seat. “They’d keep anything that valuable away from us.”

I gave her a heartfelt smile.

“I love how warm it gets in here. I often fall asleep listening to the crackle.” She flashed a weak smile. “On the weekends, of course, when we’re allowed out of the dorm at night. On weekdays, we’re confined after curfew, which is seven sharp.”

“The charges don’t care if you roam the complex during the weekend?”

“They’d care if they knew how much we roam. Technically, the basement is the only place that’s off-limits to us.” She winked at me, grinning. “And believe it or not, we do a pretty good job of adhering to the rules. Unless we see a stranger roaming the halls.”

I smirked coyly. “Sorry to have forced you to break the rules.”

“Kade is the die-hard rule follower. He’s way too serious for his own good. He’s all about us doing whatever’s necessary to stay on the lab quacks’ good side. People get hurt when we don’t obey him.” Her eyes glinted with pain, and she shrugged. “Having Kade in charge has kept us safe here for so long.”

“Right.” At my sarcastic comment, Talon nudged me.

“He keeps us in line, keeps us sane. In the time I’ve been here, I have witnessed no one try to escape. I’ve heard stories of the horrible things that happened to those who tried to escape or got caught breaking any of the rules before I arrived.” She gritted her teeth, maybe holding something back. “Let's say Kade has good reasons for being so strict. We look up to him for it.” She pointed at me. “You better never tell him I told you that!”

I grinned, letting myself relax enough to slouch down into the cushion beside her.

“I’ve had many dreams here,” she admitted, eyes closed in the fire’s warm glow.

“What do you see in yours?”

Her mysterious gray-blue eyes snapped open. “I’m in a city most of the time, a strange city I don’t distinguish. The buildings are tall, but not like inside a Climoflyer. And the environment is more organic. The city is surrounded by water, a lot of it. There are these big things with lots of windows floating on top of the water, like floating buildings almost. And colorful boxes move down wide sidewalks with lines.”

Caleb laughed and leaned between us over the back of the sofa. “Those floating buildings were ships, before ocean acidification and the red tides. And they called those colorful boxes automobiles that they could drive on roads.”

Talon stared at me as he spoke, eyebrows knitted in confusion.

“He’s slated to be a research librarian.”

“Oh.” Understanding spread across her face.

“Yeah, I’m a walking InfoBot,” Caleb boasted. “I’m pretty handy to have around when a computer or one of those bad boys isn’t available.”

“Yes, thank you, Caleb. You’re a regular fount of knowledge.” After rolling my eyes at him, I glanced back at Talon.

“Maybe Kade isn’t as crazy as I've always thought,” mumbled Talon, shrugging.

“That the dreams are visions, someone else’s memories?”

She groaned. “I see he shared some of his craziness with you.”

“I don’t understand how we could see memories from anyone who lived in another time. All those people are dead; they have been for centuries. And they wouldn’t have left their genes behind for use in the DNA sequencing part of Genotech. After all the years of cleansing and splicing, nothing from them would still exist anyway. Gene snipping is a failsafe these days—and if not, the process of cleansing is. Besides, a person’s consciousness has no connection to their cells.”

Talon stared at me, her eyes wide.

“Oh, sorry.”

“Are you—”

“A science junkie?” I bit my lip, hoping to save myself. “Yeah, I read—”

“I was going to say scientist,” said Talon.

With a sigh, I nodded. “One in the making.”

Talon rubbed her palms together, her lips pursing. “Kade will love that.”

“He doesn’t need to know. Not with the short time I’ll be here.”

She gnawed at the inside of her cheek. “Your secret’s safe with me.”

“It’s weird,” I continued. “There wouldn’t have been any reason to implant ancient genes back into anyone after nine generations and the perfection of Genotech, even if they held on to some for research.”

Talon’s lips parted slightly. “We’re glitched, so anything is possible, I guess.”

“Maybe mutations left in older genetic material, if used in our design, cracked through any implanted Genotech.” My shoulders became heavy. “I’m working on a theory that any mess-up like that is fixable. Or can at least be patched temporarily. Something has to be negatively interfering with the way our tech is responding to the signals sent from our panels.”

“I’m sure Genotech is complex.” Talon bit her lip. “This is all a theory, though. A grasping at straws. Unless your brain works like Kade’s, and then you would’ve already developed a twisted conclusion about how our abilities came to be with us.”

Kade didn’t mention anything about a specific source.

“You mean he suspects who these visions came from?”

Talon nodded. “He got this crazy notion a few years ago that there’s a reason we’re kept with the people in the pods downstairs. He thinks the abilities we possess have something to do with them. But he can’t figure out the connection. And, of course, he can’t prove it.”

“They might hold the secrets,” I whispered.

My years of genetic training crashed over me like a wave. As crazy as it sounded, it made sense. And if Kade’s theory wasn’t completely nuts, then mine wasn’t too much of a stretch, either.

My hope of the fissures being patched—or even recoded—was possible. I needed to get my hands on the Genotech blueprints. Knowing the specifics would help me develop a working solution.

“Listen, Talon. I haven’t had the chance to meet all of you here. What special abilities do the others possess? Do any of the others have dreams like us?”

Talon shook her head. “Before you arrived, I thought no one else dreamed. The others think the same. As far as they know, they’re unique in their skills. Dag has the awesome skill of telekinesis.”

“The ability to move objects with his mind?” That explained why Kade sent Dag to collect Ingrid's eye covers and how he’d salvaged them so fast and without getting wet.

“The siblings, Don and Ved, have amazing vision,” she continued. “And Jaron does this weird body contortion thing. It’s disturbing to watch.”

My gaze became unfocused. “I didn’t know those were actual abilities.”

“Like I said, our skills are all over the place. Complete freaks, all of us.” She laughed.

Their capabilities didn’t stem from the breakdown in any Genotech firewall. These abilities were too unique. They had to be added during design with some bizarre lab trials, the likes of those happening in this building. Someone wanted them to have these abilities.

“In a way,” Talon began, “it’s good the lab workers measure our faultiness by using the glitch ranking chart. Otherwise, there’d be no way to know how messed up we are. Everyone here is dealing with glitches. But nobody's the same. Most are minor, and we do our best to live with it. Maybe you’ll see…”

“No offense, but I don’t plan on sticking around long.”

She dipped her chin.

“Sorry, I don’t want to end up trapped here.”

She smiled faintly. “I understand. I would’ve said the same thing if I’d had a choice. But now, this is where I belong. We take care of each other here. It's weird, but it’s home. The Defiants are my family. Most of us wouldn’t know what to do on the outside. And it might sound weird to you hearing me say that the interior of the Climoflyer is too big. But anyway, do you think you’ll accomplish your mission here?”

“Hopefully.” I didn’t want to burden Talon with the details of my idea. “If Kade truly believes in his theories, he should want to explore the lab downstairs, not forbid everyone from going down there like he does.”

She shrugged, her eyes briefly clouding with indecision. Finally, she spoke. “Right before I got here, one boy ventured into the lab. Kade was with him. He got caught, and they took him away. Kade overheard them call him compatible with sheath protocol.”

“So, they removed him from the complex? Or from the Climoflyer?”

“Hard to say,” said Talon. “To this day, Kade doesn’t know what they meant by any of it. But he’s forbidden exploration of the basement ever since. He says nothing good can happen to those who snoop around down there. It’s one reason we panicked when we spotted you down there earlier. We knew if you weren’t one of them, then you were a target for them.”

I still didn’t understand why someone like Kade would give up on finding answers. I’d never give up. “Does anyone know who the people in the pods are?”

“No,” she answered. “They’ve been here as long as any of us remember. They’re labeled by numbers, not names. And like I said, Kade makes us stay away. He doesn't trust anyone.”

“He doesn't have anyone?”

Talon’s shoulders drooped. “Kade had a best friend once. Toby. The boy who got captured. They were like brothers. Kade wasn’t the same after they took him. He waited months before accepting Toby wasn’t returning. He watches out for us, but he doesn’t open up about anything that happened. He says the past doesn’t matter; we have to do what we must to ensure our future survival.”

“Not much of a future. No offense.” Some of Kade’s cynical remarks made sense now.

“None taken.”

Behind me, the balls on the pool table clashed together, followed by the sound of Caleb celebrating and Addie grumbling. I let myself get so lost in the conversation with Talon that I had all but forgotten that my friends were occupying their time with less serious activities.

Talon pulled her legs up onto the couch, propping herself up on her knees so she could peer over the back of the sofa. “Should we let them have all the fun here?” She winked.

“Not a chance.” I forced a smile, not really in the mood for games.

“Let me show you two what a real game looks like.” Talon pushed herself off the couch and grabbed a cue stick as Caleb racked the balls.

“You playing, Brinya?” Addie turned to me as Talon lined up a shot.

“I'll watch this one.” I leaned against the back of the couch, pretending to pay attention.

My palms were sweating, but I’d made my decision about what to do next.

Chapter Fifteen

On my way out, I stopped to look at some books someone had left out on a table, flipped through a couple of programs in the fitness area, and then even half-heartedly bounced a tennis ball with a racket hanging on the wall.

The sounds of the game faded, and with no one paying attention, I moved to the exit. With one last glance over my shoulder, I slipped into the hallway.

Taking a breath to steady myself, I made my way down the staircase leading to the basement. It would infuriate Kade to learn of my blatant refusal to obey him, but I wasn't one of his tattooed posse, captive and complacent, doing whatever he demanded.

Once in the passage between the laboratories, I peered through the windows. The white mats, the pods, the pool of blue fluid.

Everything was silent, as if waiting in stasis for some unknown trigger to bring them all to life.

I wasn’t sure if it was the thought of their revival or the thought of Kade being right about those in the pods holding all the secrets that creeped me out the most.

As the door swished open, I tried to steady my shaking hands. This time I wasn’t running from anyone, so I inspected everything, searching for anything that might reveal answers.

Looking over the desks, I browsed the room, fingering the vials and pieces of equipment. Nothing here differed much from the labs I worked in with Ingrid.

As I thought of her, I felt for the glass eye covers and silently thanked Dag for finding them. With my hand still in my pocket, I turned a slow circle in the center of the lab. Nothing seemed out of place. But despite its visual normalcy, something still didn't feel right.

My palms became clammy as I ventured toward the pods. Whatever happened in this place, its secrecy and importance had to be related to the people here.

They were significant, somehow.

I made my way around each one, looking for any sign of who they were. Tags attached to their wrists marked with a long number and an odd phrase left me curious.

I got as close as possible to the man on the far right, making sure I’d read the tag right.

His tag read #00000-30-OH, and that meant nothing to me. The term stamped beneath the number perplexed me, too. Even though, to my surprise, I knew it.

“Contagion: NED,” I read aloud to myself.

Thanks to my time in genetics, I knew NED was an acronym for “no evidence of disease.” But there weren’t any contagions inside of the craftworlds. None to cause alarm anyway. We’d eradicated most diseases over six centuries earlier thanks to Genotech.

“No evidence of a contagion?” My brow furrowed.

Could these people be GEN1s—or even GEN2 or GEN3s—all generations once susceptible to the kinds of contagions that plagued the people of Earth? Kept for future research? Surely not. This would take some investigation and, unfortunately, more time.

With disappointment sagging my shoulders, I continued around the room, eventually coming to the gene sequencer in the corner of a cordoned-off area. The machine wasn’t as large as it was wide and awkward.

My legs felt lighter at the familiarity of so many tools, and my heart hammered as I rushed to the apparatus labeled Genetex-I. It looked identical to the one in the main lab, but it had no access card reader attached to the outside to keep it inaccessible.

My fingers prickled as I tapped buttons on the touch screen. When the screen came to life, everything on it beamed into the space in front of me as a hologram. After a few minutes of scrolling, the icons I’d been searching for, the ones with the double-helix logo of Biofuse Genetics, popped up.

My lungs became fire at the sight of the charts geneticists in Central Labs used in their daily doings, and I hit tabs with no reservation.

Genotech blueprints slid left across the holograph display in bouncing animation. Each one listed available tech, all the standard and advanced apps, and highlighted the genes each governed.

With my Comsband, I snapped photos of the codes and all the data attached to each chromosome sequence on the list. Each was a blur to me as I scrolled.

I’d have to decipher everything later, with Ingrid’s help. The second I hit save on my camera roll, my chest swelled with excitement for this one small triumph.

“Find what you were looking for?”

I spun toward the doorway, my pulse lugging into my neck.

The sight of Caleb sent a rush of relief through me. “Caleb, what are you doing here? You almost gave me a heart attack.”

“I followed you, obviously.” Caleb made his way to me. “Why are you down here? Talon says no one should be down here. One of Major Muscle's rules.”

“His name is Kade, and I don't care about his rules. I can care for myself.” I pointed to the machine. “Look at this. I might actually pull off this whole ‘fixing my tech’ scheme, but maybe I can also help all these people.”

Caleb scowled.

“There might also be a copy of the Founders’ Doctrine down here somewhere.”

“I told you to forget about seeing Governor Parker at the library.”

“Do I ever listen?” My gaze floated around the room. “Help me find it.”

“In this lab?” Caleb’s eyes widened. “Why would anyone keep a copy here, in the open?”

“You can’t get any more secure than this place. Besides, I wouldn’t call this ‘out in the open.’ They hide everything here, including people. They’re prisoners in this place, facing death if they try to leave.”

“You’ve learned a lot about them in a short time.” Caleb scratched his head. “You got your gene blueprints figured out? Can we get out of here?”

My chest tightened. I had what I wanted when I’d left home this morning, but it hit me with a conflicting intensity that I couldn’t call it quits and leave.

Not yet. These people faced the experiments that the boy who plunged himself spoke about. Maybe he’d been here. Maybe there were answers here, and I’d never get another chance to unearth them if I walked away now.

“Caleb, have you ever wondered why our founders would’ve chosen to remove words used by the Originals from our language? Why they’ve censored all their books and what we learn about the past? Why the stories of them have faded over the years?”

He shrugged. “I don’t see the significance of it.”

“What do you think the founders put in the final chapters that this administration wants so desperately to keep concealed? Whatever they’re hiding, it must be big. The founders left specific instructions: reveal the Reacclimation Directives two years before the first scheduled launch to the surface. To stray from that jeopardizes the meaning of our existence.”

I tapped my fingernails against the nearest tabletop.

Kade could be right. Maybe certain people were trying to keep reacclimation from ever happening.

“Some of the technocrats could want to manipulate what everyone believes the founders intended for our future, for their advantage.”

Caleb’s eyes remained wide, something softer than I expected behind their yellow hue. “That’s a lot of presuming. For all we know, it’s for our benefit.”

“I know,” I whispered. “That’s why I have to find the book.”

He stood silent, not meeting my gaze.

“Say something, Caleb.”

“Not sure I can without doing more harm than good.”

“Honestly, say anything.”

“I don’t see the point in caring, Brin.” His lips tightened. “Once you’ve figured out which mutations are glitching your tech, then you can fix it, right?”

“That’s my hope,” I replied.

“Great, then we can go. Hate to admit it, but I agree with Kade.” Caleb spat the last word as he grabbed my arm. “This is not a good place for anyone to be.”

A sudden loud humming drowned out any attempt to disagree. In the far corner of the room, partially hidden behind the pods, a strange elevator-like machine I hadn't noticed before captured my attention. A panel near the door glowed, and a whirling light came on in the tube above the door.

As I watched in increasing alarm, the light grew in intensity, pulsing white, blue, and green, and the droning grew louder. It was some sort of transportation device, one far more advanced than the elevators in Hegiralon Towers.

Someone was coming.

I glanced at Caleb, whose eyes were wide, fixed on the metallic tube.

“We have to hide.”

We searched for a workable spot in a frenzy, but there was nothing. The floor was a wide-open space, and the glass-topped desks offered nothing to hide behind. We had no place to go. Grabbing my hand, Caleb darted toward some long tables.

“Here, get under here.”

“Caleb, those are glass. They'll see us.”

“It's better than standing in the middle of the room. They'll see us for sure there.”

I ducked under the table, Caleb close behind.

“This is what I worried might happen.” His voice splintered.

From our pitiful hiding place, we had an unobstructed view of the lab. The elevator-like machine now hummed louder, its light nearly too bright to look at. The blue pods hung between them and us, but we’d be hard to miss once our visitors cleared the blockade of the pods.

When the droning stopped, the elevator door opened. Three voices chatted quietly, two men and a woman. They moved into the lab, suspecting nothing.

“I'm going to slip over to those desks,” Caleb whispered. “Maybe I can distract them so you can get out of the basement.”

“No way,” I mouthed back.

He sat on his haunches, judging his chance to run.

I grabbed his arm, shaking my head. He ignored me.

When Caleb tensed to move, a hand seized me from behind, covering my mouth. As I fought, a tattooed arm snatched Caleb, too, keeping him from moving. I choked back a moan and, turning slightly, found myself looking into Kade's livid blue eyes.

He tilted his head in silent question, and I nodded. After he released us, we slid out from under the table and followed him.

Kade opened a door ten steps behind us that blended perfectly into the white wall panels and pushed us inside. He pulled the door shut as the visitors slid into view.

Squeezed between Caleb and Kade, I couldn't move at all. In the tight closet, we held our breaths as the footsteps drew nearer.

Had they seen us? Had they heard us?

Kade had his arm planted firmly against my chest, his breathing intensifying against my pounding heart. By the time footsteps passed in front of the closed door, my veins had turned into ice.

Without giving it a thought, I clutched his arm, hoping to fend off the sudden sense of impending doom as beads of sweat formed on the back of my neck.

“Who are they?” I whispered.

“Soldiers. With a member of the Technocracy,” Kade hissed.

“Thought you'd never seen a technocrat?”

“I haven't.” He bit off the words. “And I won't let you change that. So, hush it.”

Biting my lower lip to keep it from quivering, I stayed silent.

“They do a security sweep every few hours on the weekends,” Kade whispered.

The door to the hall swished shut. The heat from our bodies filled the tightly cramped quarters, and I wished for a breath of fresh air. But still, Kade didn’t open the door.

Finally, after a five-minute eternity, he turned the handle and cracked it open. Nothing happened.

“I think we're safe,” he said, swinging the door open and stepping into the lab.

Caleb and I exploded from the constrained space, Caleb's momentum pushing me toward Kade again. He caught me against his side, and for half a heartbeat, he held me there. But then he let me go and straightened.

“I told you to never come down here.” His face reddened, eyes filled with anger. His entire body clenched tight, as if trying to find some reason not to pummel us both.

The argument I wanted to start died in my throat as I ran my fingers through my hair and stepped back.

“Yes, you did.” I chose my words wisely to avoid further clashing. “And I'm sorry I ignored you.”

By their reactions, this wasn’t what Kade or Caleb expected to come from my mouth. Caleb swung to face me, his mouth falling open. Kade's eyes narrowed, pinning me in place, and I wondered if he was trying to peg my seriousness.

“I'm serious,” I continued. “You told me not to come down here, and you could have let us get caught, but you didn't. You risked yourself for us, and I appreciate it. So, I'm sorry.”

Kade's face went blank for a moment more, then he nodded and sighed. I got the feeling our tendency to butt heads had worn him down as much as it had me.

“Apology accepted. And you're welcome.”

I grinned up at him, then glanced toward Caleb, who shrugged.

“What’s this machine?” I asked, making my way toward the elevator-style device.

“It's a Quantum Transporter,” Kade said, staying near the door. “The Technocracy and their minions use them to travel between craftworlds.”

“Between all Climoflyers of the colony?” I’d never given much thought to how the Technocracy moved between craftworlds while docked at the Mars hub, though clearly it was necessary for them to still be able to do since our detachment.

As someone who rarely left Hegiralon City, the heart of Climoflyer-1, the only thought I’d ever given to the other five crafts, rightfully deemed Otherworlds, was whether I might catch a glimpse of one from the observation center.

Being too worried about them seemed pointless considering rule #5: Never venture out of your designated Climoflyer.

“Have you ever been in one?” Caleb eyed the control panel.

“No,” said Kade.

“Best not to try now.” Caleb swallowed hard.

It stumped me to hear Caleb agree with Kade.

“They monitor the use of the Transporters. Unlike some people I've met today, I try to avoid situations that could get me killed. One day I’ll expire, but I don’t need to do anything to provoke it. I’d like to live whatever lifespan they programmed me with in peace.”

“Agreed,” I said. “No need to test the limits of the timers in our panels.”

“Come on. We need to get out of here.” Kade turned to head back upstairs.

“Let’s listen to him.” Caleb moved to follow.

Mesmerized, I continued toward the machine.

“Let's go.” The tone of Caleb's voice created an annoyance-induced stiffness in my neck.

“I'll be right there. I want to see what this looks like up close.”

The Transporter was a large tube made of transparent material, like the pods hanging nearby. It filled the space from floor to ceiling, a much more sophisticated version of our high-speed shuttles.

The door was silver and notably smooth, and the body resembled an oddly shaped closet. The device captivated me.

“Brinya, we need to go.” A sharp edge of impatience had formed in Kade's voice.

He might’ve been trying his best not to order me around, but he wasn’t succeeding.

“Almost.” I inched toward the back of the tube.

“No, now.” He covered the space between us in two steps and took my arm. “Let's go.”

“Don’t you dare touch her.” Caleb puffed out his chest, but Kade pushed him away with embarrassing ease using one arm.

A hint of humiliation crossed Caleb's face as his shoulders slumped forward, and a mask of resentment took its place. Another argument threatened to detonate from Caleb’s lips, but I’d had enough.

I didn’t need either of these guys to order me around. After reacclimation, I’d only have myself to rely on, so I could handle this solo.

“Kade, I don't answer to you.” I tried to pull away from his viselike grip but got nowhere.

He stood his ground, anger boiling in his eyes.

“Down here, you do answer to me. This is not the normal little world you’re used to out there. This isn’t some fantasy of what you think the ground will be like. This is my world, and these are my rules. And when I say it's time to go, it's time.”

“That's enough, Kade,” Caleb spat, trying to be my defender once more. “You can't talk to her like that, and you'd better let her go.”

“I'll let her go when we're all upstairs and out of harm’s way.”

Fuming, Caleb stepped aside, waiting for me to obey.

“This field trip of yours is over. It's time for you three to get back to where you came from. You’ve put everyone here at risk. We don’t want you here.” Kade’s eyes fixed on me, almost softening as he spoke through clenched teeth. “I don’t want you here.”

“Kade, let go. You're hurting me.” My voice cracked.

Caleb reached between us, trying to push us apart, but even with his assistance, I couldn't get the leverage to break Kade's robust grip.

“I'm hurting you? Do you have any idea what kind of trouble you could get me into? What harm you could cause for yourself? I know what happens to people who get caught down here. I've seen it. And I will not let your curiosity and inability to follow rules be the reason that every member of the Defiants gets hurt or even killed. Just like…”

Kade's face was barely inches from mine, and I stared into his pain-filled eyes.

“I'm sorry about Toby. Honest, I am. But I am not leaving here because you say so. Now, please, let go.”

A flash of hurt swelled in his eyes at the mention of Toby’s name. Using his brief distraction to my advantage, I heaved myself backward as hard as possible, pulling against his grip where his fingers and thumb touched.

The force of my movement, along with Caleb's continual efforts to come between us, snapped Kade's grip, and I tumbled away from him.

I landed against the side of the silver door, my elbow banging against the control panel. Without warning, the door slid open, and I fell into the tube.

Kade's momentum brought him down on top of me while Caleb fell on the floor outside the Transporter. After a heartbeat of awkwardness, Kade and I scrambled to stand.

Before we were on our feet, the door shut. Kade pushed himself away from me and jumped to the control panel, desperately seeking the button to open the door. Caleb did the same outside, spitting a curse with each incorrect selection.

The humming started again. Like before, it started low and grew until the tube vibrated with the sound. Caleb jumped away from the door, his terrified face visible through the glass.

The Transporter lurched, jolting to life like a supersonic elevator traveling at lightning speed as we plunged through the floor. My stomach twisted during the departure, sending an uncomfortable prickle down my limbs. Another sound soon obscured the hum of the capsule.

“What's beeping?”

Kade's face went white, his voice barely a whisper. “It's my detainment device.”

“Oh no!” I dropped to the floor beside Kade, seeking an off switch or some way to release the device.

He frantically pushed buttons on the panel. Neither of us got anywhere. The Transporter picked up speed, and the device remained attached.

He stayed motionless, his breathing shallow. I waited as the beeping got louder and faster, like a homing device speeding toward its target. A handful of outcomes flashed through my mind as a blur of black passed outside.

None of them were good. I growled out my frustration, then leaned into the wall on my knees, closing my eyes and taking a couple of deep breaths to keep the building panic at bay.

“It's okay.” Kade looked down at me, his face suddenly calm.

“No, it's not. We have to get this thing off of you, before…” Letting my sentence hang, my hands went back to the device, still fumbling to get it off.

Guilt consumed me like wildfire for getting him into this situation, tears pooling in my eyes. This was all my fault for selfishly putting my need to find answers to my own problems ahead of everyone else.

My hands shook, but I frantically tried to remove the device, fighting my shortness of breath.

Kade slid down the wall into a seated position and grabbed my shaking hand, clasping it in his large palm. I stilled and looked at his stoic face, knowing all we could do was wait.

We were sitting ducks in a metal pipe, a jolt of electricity about to zap us dead.

Chapter Sixteen

As the beeping intensified, we tensed, waiting for the jolt of death.

It never came.

The beeping stopped, the only sound the hum of the Transporter and Kade's shallow breathing through the noise. Rubbing the tension from my neck, I opened my eyes.

“What happened?” I whispered.

Kade shook his head and glanced at his device. It was idle, its lights no longer flashing. The Transporter slowed, allowing my stomach to recoup from the sudden takeoff. I exhaled and sagged back against the wall, thankful Kade had survived. Thankful we both had.

We scrambled to our feet, simultaneously aware we were still holding hands. I let his fingers slide from mine with mild embarrassment, but the warmth of his large hand lingered on my sweaty palm. Sensing a sudden change in the air between us, trying to avoid looking at him, I made my way to the control panel.

It lit up as the Transporter glided to a stop, and the hum faded before the doors swished open. We peered cautiously through the opening.

The room on the other side resembled the lab we had left behind, minus the pods of full-grown people and some of the more sophisticated gadgets.

Kade motioned for me to stay behind him and slipped from the Transporter into the room. I followed without a word.

With each step, my curiosity gradually overcame my fear. This place wasn’t like the basement we had left behind.

They didn’t have it isolated on an island at the edge of the city, but smack-dab in the middle of it, no fences in sight. Windows lit the room, offering an unrestricted view of the city outside. A city that wasn’t Hegiralon City.

Soon, I had drifted away from Kade to explore a nearby table. Realizing how quiet it was, I glanced over my shoulder to find him standing near the tables on the opposite side of the room. He eyed me, one brow raised, while rubbing his hands together.

“Don’t wander off,” he ordered.

“Afraid I’ll get you into another predicament?” I grinned, but because of how guilty I felt, it quickly faded.

“One bigger than the one we’re in?” he asked, his expression impassive. “Don’t leave my sight.”

“I won’t.” My sticky palms reminded me of how we’d clung to one another minutes ago as I rubbed them against my pants. “I’m sorry for getting us into this mess.”

He sighed, examining me from behind an identical table twenty feet across the room. “Trust me, I get it.”

I returned a scrutinizing gaze. “The clairsentience?”

He nodded.

“What does my aura say about me right now?” I wished I hadn’t asked as soon as I did, given he took no time at all to read me.

“You're afraid. Not of being here, but of your life. The one chosen for you.”

My throat tightened a little.

“You cover it up with a mix of stubbornness and a lot of pretending. But it's all a mask you’re afraid to live without. You’ve worn your mask for too long, pretending to be someone—and something—you’re not. You’ve even convinced yourself your ambition to get away from the Climoflyers is all about you having a hand in helping the Earth, but I don’t buy it. You want to reacclimate because no one can tell you how to live your life on the ground.”

My temple throbbed.

“Today you came looking for a way to guarantee your way out. Too bad you haven’t realized that what you think is the way out will keep you wearing the mask forever.”

“It will not.”

“It will,” he replied. “When they refuse to approve reacclimation, you and everyone else with accreditation will resort to living the lives created for you, forever.”

Everything inside me wanted to scream at him, but there were no words.

“Deep down, you're scared. Because along the way, you’ve lost sight of what you want, and with it, you’ve lost a piece of yourself. A piece that you long to get back. In any way possible. Yet you don’t know who you are, let alone what kind of future will make you happy.”

His words hung in the air between us, each one stinging my heart.

Twisting the ring on my finger, I cleared my throat. “You don’t know a thing about me.”

“Don’t I?”

“Either way, you can apologize right now,” I said, hoping to get his eyes off me.

It didn't work. He rubbed a thumb across his lower lip as he studied me, then he shrugged.

“You shouldn’t have asked if you didn’t want me to answer. I don’t tell people what they want to hear, Brinya. I tell the truth, even if it hurts. And I never apologize. Not for anything, ever.” He looked down at the table in front of him and rummaged through the supplies.

I stared at the top of his dark head with my lips pursed, his blatant retort hitting me hard. I hated his honesty. His words rang so true I couldn’t look at him. All I could do was rub my left eye, trying to rid myself of the sudden twitch.

It was refreshing to talk with someone so real. I wanted to be real, to not have to pretend all the time. To be accepted in the Climoflyer for my imperfections would be wonderful. And for a moment, after Kade spoke, I almost believed it could be possible.

The reality of my life crept back in, though. However nice it sounded, I didn’t have that sort of liberty. I never would. Not in any craftworld. Kade could be so straightforward because he had nothing to lose by being himself. He was already a prisoner with no hope of a life on the ground, a reality I had no intention of joining.

My future depended on my ability to gain accreditation and move seamlessly into my career until reacclimation offered me the chance to go to the surface. And the government wouldn’t stop me.

I would find a way to the ground, even if pulling it off meant continuing with the facade of perfection for a couple of years. Anyone could do anything for a short time if it got them to where they wanted to be.

Or at least that’s what I told myself.

Kade was mute in my moments of silence.

I didn’t know if he’d sensed my feelings or not, but I didn’t look up from my table to figure it out. Instead, I rooted through a few drawers before moving on to the next counter.

Kade did the same. His tennis shoes squeaked as he covered the room’s perimeter much faster than me. Even if he sensed my unease, it didn't matter. Nothing he did or thought mattered.

It annoyed me I’d allowed myself to be distracted by his candor and his confidence, a part of me wishing to one day possess a percentage of his qualities. Had we met under different circumstances, we might’ve become good friends. But given our differences and our current positions, that wasn’t likely.

I moved to another table and touched the screen of a snoozing computer. Its processor screen flashed to life.

I gasped, forgetting my irritation. “Kade.”

He appeared by my side in an instant. “Find something?”

“Yeah, where we are. We’re in Climoflyer-4.”

“Climoflyer-4. Are you sure?” Kade pressed against me as he looked over my shoulder at the words on the screen.

“Yes, I'm sure. I can read, you know.”

He grinned, peeking at the screen. “It’s hard to believe we traveled to another craft.”

“The Transporter must’ve teleported us somehow,” I whispered.

The craftworld name scrolled across a banner at the top of the flat screen in bold letters. Kade browsed through the pages, and I moved to a new workspace, partly to search for more information and partly to put some distance between us.

Being close to him made it impossible to breathe. I wasn't sure if I was still mad at him or caught up in some near-death emotions.

“How far do you think we are from our Climoflyer?” Kade asked.

“Hard to tell.” I wandered to a wall of television screens much like those in the observation center.

Each offered a different view of the crafts from the ground, with one or two screens showing ground footage from Earth. Each exposed a closer—some might say gloomier—look at the Desolate Lands.

Once vibrant cities were simply a spectral canvas of their former eras of glory, each littered with debris and remnants of billions of lives left unfinished. But there were also signs of hope for anyone who dared to look close enough.

Someone like me.

In areas where rising tides consumed coastlines and fires decimated forests, minute signs of returning life abounded. Tiny leaves germinated from small weeds.

Though still more dull than opulent, the shades of pale green were an improvement over the darker browns I recalled from childhood.

Even on mountains corroded by the Scorch Rains, low-flying drones detected tiny blades of grass on the rock faces. This made my lip tug upward.

“What. The. Actual. Shit.” Kade’s voice caused me to flinch. He stepped closer to a screen displaying a Climoflyer, tentacles retracted from the base of the ship, dangling into the ocean, and rested his hand on the monitor, a look of complete confusion on his face. He turned to me, eyes narrowed, one hand still flat on the display. “We left the Mars hub?”

“Yeah, six Climoflyers made the trip,” I said. Until now, it hadn’t hit me how much he’d missed out on while in confinement. “We detached from the base about a year ago.”

“One year?” He lifted an eyebrow. “And we haven’t gone back? We’ve stayed floating in Earth’s atmosphere since we got here?”

“Well, the journey itself took about seven months, and we have plenty of resources to stay. And staying makes sense given we’re so close to reacclimation.”

“We really are the lost defiants, lost somewhere between shadowing the stars and skimming the seas, as fragile as fireflies in a storm.”

I blinked up at him, my chest aching. “That’s one of the saddest yet most beautiful ways of looking at it I’ve ever heard.”

His head tilted as he stared at the screen. “How many stayed back on Mars?”

I shrugged, uncertain. “I do know two Climoflyers went to the moon hub. People who didn’t want to join the crafts coming all the way in could join them there until we give them word that Earth is habitable again.”

“I think it’s safe to say Climoflyer-4 returned with us, since there’s no way the Transporter returned us to Mars or sent us to the moon.” Kade scratched his chin, his vivid eyes flaunting a fervent curiosity.

“We linked once we descended into the atmosphere because being clustered gives us the opportunity to share resources, and Earth’s water supply allows us to use our hydrogen power.”

“It’s strange we left the safety of the colony with so much time to kill before going to the ground is safe.”

“They wanted to allow for time to test the safety.” I followed as he made his way to the windows along the wall.

This city held little resemblance in design or characteristic to what I was used to. The honeycomb structures exhibited painted arrays of blues, pinks, yellows, and greens, each wall bright with symbols and graffiti.

They encumbered the streets with color, making this metropolis burst like the brightest lollipop display in the market.

With its black high-rises of stacked monochromatic glass, Hegiralon City was a technological maze of darkness compared to this place. And since graffiti was illegal in Climoflyer-1, you wouldn’t find random artwork anywhere.

For a minute, I stood awestruck. Still, the lack of a moat or fencing cutting this lab off from the rest of the city bothered me too much for the creation to hold my attention.

Kade turned and leaned against the window. He crossed his arms, rippling the tattoos on his biceps as his eyes narrowed on the Transporter.

“I can't believe this,” he groused. “As far as I know, no one but the Technocracy and their minions are allowed to transport between craftworlds.”

“I'm not sure we were technically 'allowed' to do it this time,” I pointed out.

Kade chuckled for the first time since we'd arrived, but then he turned toward me, serious again. “You know it’s illegal for us to be here, right?”

I nodded.

“And if this place is anything like the place we left, we’re going to be in trouble if we get caught. Serious trouble.”

The magnitude of our predicament hit me then. We were who knows how far from home, having broken some major laws to get here. We were flawed designs, and Kade wore the detainment device to prove it.

Talon's story about the Technocracy taking Toby for breaking the rules caused fear to swell into my throat. They’d plunge us for our crimes, making my dread of someday wanting to plunge myself if I never got out of the Climoflyer seem null.

“What are we going to do?” My voice shook, a part of me wanting to kick myself for getting myself into a situation I couldn’t control.

Kade took a hard look around the room. “We can’t panic. I may not know this exact place, but I've lived in one like it for a long time. I can keep us safe, but you're going to have to trust me. And you're going to have to do what I say. Exactly as I say.”

“Right.” This talk of trust was incongruous, given his personal inability to trust anyone.

“None of the tough-girl act, got it?” His chin tilted, face etched with doubt.

“I can do that,” I agreed, swallowing hard.

It burned to say. Before now, I’d never felt like I could completely trust anyone. My glitches meant being on my own, always afraid to let others in, even my best friends, and always afraid that displaying weakness would expose my secret.

Caleb liked to think he could protect me, but he didn’t stand a chance. Not even in normal scenarios. He knew it, too. Addie would bow to her father at the first sign of trouble. Though she’d never betray me, she’d keep her distance from me if commanded.

With Kade, though, something felt different. Something told me he’d do anything to not let me down.

“Are you ready to be my partner?”

“Yes.”

Again, he looked at me judgmentally. I took a deep breath and threw him a smile that I hoped made him believe I was up for anything.

“Do you think the people here are as curious about why they can’t go to Climoflyer-1 as I’ve always been about the Otherworlds?”

“Doubtful,” Kade said. “They’re probably grateful not to live in the craftworld that is the capital of the colony.”

With a sigh, I imagined Caleb freaking out back in Climoflyer-1. My stomach fluttered that it had been Kade who fell into the Transporter with me.

Had it been Caleb, the Blue Garb would apprehend us for sure. He’d spaz and do something to get us caught. Kade’s calm demeanor reassured me, giving me hope that we’d get back.

“Do you think we should get back into the Transporter? Maybe we can sneak back. It's possible we wouldn’t cross paths with soldiers or the Blue Garb on the way, right?”

A voice resonated from behind us, lifting the faint hairs on my arms.

“I wouldn’t try it if I were you.”

Chapter Seventeen

The dread that the unknown voice stirred to life deep inside of me made me freeze in place. Kade’s fists balled, his jaw twitching. Our gaze held each other’s for a heartbeat, then we slowly turned toward the voice, only to find an empty doorway.

“I mean, you can try it,” the voice continued. “But there's already been broadcasts about the unauthorized use of the Transporter. Which means they’re probably on their way here now, looking for you. If I were you, which I'm glad I'm not, I'd let Max show you a good place to hide until things calm down a bit and it’s safe to sneak you back.”

“And who, exactly, is Max?” Kade asked, his voice steely calm.

“That would be me.”

A young man slid into view. He was much smaller than Kade. Smaller, even, than Caleb. His light-brown hair flopped over his forehead, and gigantic glasses magnified his green eyes. Slender and short, he didn’t seem to be afraid of us. He came closer, pushing his specs back onto the bridge of his nose.

Though Kade’s stance became rigid at the sight of the long white lab coat over the young man’s shoulders, the dark jeans he had, paired with a bright-orange shirt, made me wonder if he might be as harmless as the Defiants.

The colors certainly weren’t standard for any career on the social suitability scale in Hegiralon City, or anywhere in the fringes of Climoflyer-1. But maybe here, in this Otherworld, the requirements weren’t as strict.

Given his glasses, I guessed Max didn’t have advanced Oputech. Maybe he didn’t have any advanced tech, only the standard apps given to all Genoborgs. Whatever was given to him during the design process must’ve glitched out.

“I meant it, you know. The warning is out, and everyone is going to be looking for you two in a matter of minutes. Hegiralon City sent out an alert about illegal Transporter use. They have deployed the retrievers from Climoflyer-1. So if you'd like to escape a treason charge, I suggest you come with me.”

Kade and I shared a weighted look.

“Why would we trust you?” Kade's muscled back became tight, his jaw clenched, waiting to pounce at the slightest sign of danger.

“Because you have no one else to trust. It's the Technocracy’s forces or me. And if you're a defective design, as I can clearly see that you are, I expect you'll take pretty much any option that's not them. No Glitcher would be stupid enough to choose them.”

“How do you know about flawed designs?” I blurted.

“Because, sweetie, I am one.” He pointed toward his leg device, a twin of Kade's.

“You… But you work here?” My throat swelled.

“I do,” Max replied.

A defective not imprisoned but employed? The notion sent a ripple of shock through my body, heightening all my senses.

The room and everything in it became more distinctive: the faint hum of the curved computer monitors on each table, the click of the clock on the wall inching closer to ten, the rise and fall of my chest—and Kade’s.

“Now, would you two like to keep questioning me, or would you like me to hide you away for a bit?”

Kade and I shared another glance, and he answered for us both.

“Lead the way.”

Max spun on his heel and headed back through the door, the corners of his lab coat flapping. Kade fell into step, one pace behind me.

We followed Max through two or three hallways and up a flight of steps, introducing ourselves to him along the way. We saw no one, heard no one. At a heavy steel door, we stepped into another quiet hallway. Windows on one side overlooked another lab, not as state-of-the-art as those in Hegiralon City.

“Genetics for this compound.” It came out sounding like a statement, not a question.

Max turned back to me, skipping a step before coming to a halt.

“How do you know that?”

Kade’s eyes narrowed on me like Max’s.

“I recognize a lot of what’s in there.” Now was my time to come clean. Kade might not like knowing about me, about knowing what I was, but if he didn’t like it, then he’d never like the real me anyhow.

I had nothing to lose.

“I work in the labs back in our craftworld.” A thickness settled in my throat. “My parents are prominent scientists in Hegiralon City.”

“Grays?” Max’s lower lip quivered slightly at the word, but he played it cool.

Kade’s jaw locked, and he looked away.

“I’m an apprentice,” I said. “And although their careers classify them as Grays, my parents are not elites. They have no ties to politics—or the Technocracy—whatsoever.”

“Still, you belong to a family of Grays.” Max’s eyes lit up. “Fascinating. A real, live Crimson training to transition to Gray, a scientist like her parents, right here in Climoflyer-4. I can’t believe my luck.”

Kade grumbled in the light of Max’s excitement.

“I don’t belong to anyone. And it’s not as glamorous as you might imagine, I assure you.” My gaze glided to Kade, my stomach twisting with the thought of how upset this news had to make him.

He stared straight ahead, unable to look at me, and not in the least as interested as Max.

“Most Grays aren’t any different from any Azure,” I said. “They’re still a vital part of the working class. It’s not their fault their career paths place them higher on the government’s silly scale.”

“Bet you’re a real genetics genius.” Max clasped his hands.

“No, I’m not.”

“Tell me,” Max said, “with your parents being who they are, what do you know about us? Why are we all so messed up?”

I almost snorted. If I could explain defects, I wouldn’t even be here.

“If you know genetics, you can do it.” Max pulled me closer to him, then grabbed my hand up in a kiss.

It took all I had not to laugh.

“Please, tell me what I’ve been dying to know. As a Hegiralon City reject, all I’ll ever be to any real scientist is outward support.”

My mind reeled, unsure how he could consider himself a Hegiralon City reject when he was here in a lab in Climoflyer-4, a defective with a job rather than one who’d spent their life imprisoned like those with defects where we were from.

When Kade rolled his eyes, the first sign he wasn’t fuming mad, I pulled my hand away from Max’s lips.

“Max, I’m an apprentice. I don’t know all the answers.” My heart thudded as I glanced back into the lab. “I’m learning new things every day.”

Kade frowned at me.

“Today more than others.”

The corner of Max’s mouth inched up, but he didn’t say another word. He didn’t head for the door of the lab, either.

Instead, he turned left, leading us into another bright hallway. The light was so fluorescent against the walls of pure white that I had to squint to keep from being blinded. Kade shielded his eyes with his hand, keeping them on Max the best he could.

Max stopped halfway down the passage without warning and in the most unusual spot, since there was no door in sight. Looking both ways, he stooped and slid his hand along the bottom edge of a piece of floor trim.

A slight motion of his finger, and a panel opened silently on the opposite wall, revealing a secret room.

Kade and I beheld him with wide eyes. Max grinned and gestured for us to follow. Without looking back, he slipped through the opening.

I tailed Kade through the hidden doorway, and it closed behind us without a sound. The secret room wasn’t large, not even as big as my bathroom back home, but a vast bank of computers lined one wall. Max perched himself in the chair in front of the monitors.

“Grab any seat you’d like.” He waved to some chairs set along the wall.

“What is this place?” Kade stared at the screens.

The console had multiple stations, with Max in the control seat. I slid into one of the other stations and looked up at the displays.

I’d never seen such an array, and as genetics was my pre-programmed specialty, computers were not something I fully understood. I could use them for research or school, but a console like this one would overwhelm me.

“Welcome to Max's Madhouse.” Max spread out his hands, his eyes gleaming when they landed on me. “Your forte might be science, but mine is computers and programming. We learned long ago that spying on those who torment us is the best way to gain the upper hand. I’m working on a huge project that’ll come in handy here soon if we play our cards right.”

“We?” I questioned, only to have Max ignore me.

“What is all this stuff?” Kade moved closer to Max's chair, dwarfing him.

“This is my command center, my attack module, and my communications niche, all in one. I've spent a lot of time sneaking each piece into place, causing small stresses to various lab employees who can never explain why components go missing. And this”—he gestured again—“is the glorious result.”

A smile swept over my face, and a part of me wondered if Max would kiss the machine next.

“I even have spy gear tucked away in a few places on the outside. In places fit for snooping on the technocrats when they grace us with a visit. Don’t ask how.” Max smirked. “We’ve known for a while that the smaller Climoflyers are full of defectives, but until today, we weren’t sure about Climoflyer-1. We thought everyone there might be flawless, like they say.”

The blood in my veins thickened at the mention of Climoflyers filled with defectives.

Max’s gaze landed on Kade. “How do they keep you from mingling with the flawless too much when you all are living inside the same craft?”

“Mingling?” A muscle in Kade’s jaw twitched. “We’re prisoners, never allowed out of the compound the researchers keep us locked up in.”

“Are you telling us everyone living in this craftworld is defective?” I asked disbelievingly.

Max nodded. “We’re exiled from Climoflyer-1. All of us.”

My breaths shallowed as I realized where everyone who’d left the Defiants compound had gone. “There is no accredited outside of Climoflyer-1?”

“Don’t tell me they don’t tell you all about us in Hegiralon City—or about the wicked, experimental games they play.” Max chuckled.

Something about the way not a single laugh line emerged on his face told me he didn’t find it humorous.

“Don’t worry, we’ve lived all these years wondering if there were any like us in Climoflyer-1.” His eyes narrowed on Kade. “Guess you’re our proof there are freaks like us in the ‘hub of perfection.’”

Kade brought over a chair, turning it so he could rest his forearms on the back as he straddled it. “Guess I am.”

“We’ve spent our lives divided by knowledge and skill here, exploited for the abilities we have, kind of the same way your suitability system negates your life. Only far worse. We rent our lives by working two to three jobs in return for what little clothing and food they’ll give us.” Max shook his head, cracking his knuckles at the same time.

“Keeping us all in the rut of reliance keeps us controlled by the system. So long as there’s flawless living the high life in Hegiralon City, completely oblivious to the fact we exist, and if those of us in the Otherworlds remain too poor and isolated to do anything, nothing will change.” Tears filled Max’s eyes, and he looked down at the floor. “Don’t get me wrong. For far too many, the safety net and the shoddy stability they offer us is enough. Or it’s at least safer than jeopardizing it all for a shot at something better. But some of us want to thrive, not merely survive.”

There were no words, even after clearing my throat to say something. He’d rendered me speechless and numb.

Max tapped screens in front of him, and his shoulders stiffened at the sight of a flashing red button in the upper corner of one monitor.

“What’s that signal mean?” Kade asked.

Max didn’t answer as he typed. Another monitor near me came to life.

“You're lucky I got you when I did. Here are your would-be finders now.”

On the screen, a surveillance camera showed the Transporter doors opening. Three police officers dressed in their navy-blue uniforms stepped out, guns at the ready.

One man stayed two steps in front of the others, waving a sleek chrome device I’d never seen before around the room. They took stock of the area, sweeping it in seconds.

My heart skittered as I watched, relieved Max had saved us. The fact that they’d deployed the Blue Garb to retrieve us meant they were serious about punishing us, since they were worse than any Droid Detainer. Only if they’d sent soldiers would our situation be worse.

“You two need to stay here.” Max tugged at his collar, stood up, and stepped toward the door. “My plan was to let you hide out in here until they passed through this lab and moved their search outside before sneaking you back to where you came from. That might not happen now.”

“What?” My throat swelled, almost closing up on me.

“Stay here.” Max waved a reassuring hand at me before reaching for the lever and opening the secret door. “I’ll run some damage control.”

The pit of my stomach churned when he disappeared through the door. Even when I turned back to Kade, who graciously shoved a chair in my direction, the tension didn’t let go of its viselike clutch. As I took a seat, I chewed on a nail.

“I’m not sure if we can trust him, but he has nothing to gain by handing us over.”

“He seems sincere.” I glanced at Kade.

His eyes flicked to the screen, and he shrugged. “He sure got you talking about your upbringing.”

I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear before my gaze fixated on Kade’s resilient face. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the full story about me. I expected to be in and out with the information I needed before it ever mattered.”

“You found what you were after before we fell into the Transporter, if I’m not mistaken.” He adjusted his position on the chair, the tattoo on his forearm tightening as he flexed. “Genotech blueprints?”

“You saw that part?”

“I told you nothing happens under my watch that I don’t know about.”

With a sigh, I nodded.

“As soon as we get back, you and your friends need to go home.”

Max burst through the door then, his eyes partially covered by a curtain of hair. But I didn’t need to see all of him to notice his worry. His voice told me by the way it fractured when he spoke.

“Okay. Change of plans.” Max shuffled around the room, grabbing a few objects from the shelves on the east wall and shoving them into a bag he grabbed from a table before handing it to Kade.

When Kade stood to toss the rucksack over his shoulder, I stood up, too, my muscles tensed.

“They’re searching this lab more thoroughly than I expected. They brought a body heat analyzer with them. Even in this room, they’ll find you. Those things light you up through walls like nothing I’ve ever seen, and I can’t take the chance they’ll find this room.”

“Shit,” Kade grumbled.

“What do we do?” I asked. “Make a run back to the Transporter and hope for the best?”

“No,” Max replied. “They’ll capture you for sure.”

Kade’s lips pressed together in a slight grimace.

“You’re not going to like it, but I can get you out of this building.” Max’s shoulders slumped forward as he continued. “You just have to let them see you make a run for it.”

Panic fused my lungs together. We’d have to let them see us?

“If they know you’ve made your way into town, then they will go out looking for you. They’ll deploy Droids and start sweeping everything. That’s good news for us.” Max’s eyes fluctuated right, then left as he devised an idea. “You can hide out for a few hours, then come back here later so I can get you back home once their focus is off this place.”

“Where do we go?” The pitch of my voice swelled with each word.

“A place they won’t venture to,” said Max with a wave of his hand. “Follow me.”

With dread heating my face like a blowtorch, I stayed by Kade’s side as Max led us out of his secret room.

We navigated a couple of long hallways before ending in a dim corridor, one that appeared incomplete given the runner of plastic on the floor.

Strips of drywall hung from studs, and cobwebs drooped from the ceiling in a few places. This looked like a construction project long forgotten.

As we walked deeper into the passage, the cobwebs blended with the darkness. Max hushed us, warning us to step lightly on the noisy plastic until, finally, there was light.

When Max stopped, I took a few steps more, realizing there was a set of curved metal stairs descending to a lower level from the hole in the floor, allowing the light in.

“Below us is a hallway where you’ll find doors that’ll take you outside to Rugged Road.” Max placed his hand on Kade’s shoulder. “Rugged Road divides our city in half. You want to take Rugged Road as far south as you can. It’ll lead you out of our core and almost to our fringe wall. When you can’t go farther, you’ll be at Black Shadow Bridge. That’s where you stop.”

“Why Black Shadow Bridge?” The name alone sounded ominous.

“You’ll be safe once you get there.” Max shoved his bangs aside. “Give it two or three hours before you come back here to the same side doors. You got it?”

“We got it.” Kade nodded.

“Sam will be glad to see the two of you.”

“Who’s Sam?” My shoulders stiffened. “How do we know we have the right bridge?”

“You’ll know.” Max peered down at the spiral stairs, then back at us. “Last I checked, there are two cops at the door. You’re going to have to get around them to escape, but once you do, you’ve become your own diversion. Getting back in later and going home will be a cinch with the cops out in the city searching for you.”

“A cinch?” With a low chuckle, I tried to ignore the bile in my throat.

“Best of luck to you.” Max waved a hand at us, then disappeared back into the dark hallway.

I descended the rickety staircase behind Kade without letting myself think about what we would soon face. His boots hit the floor with a thud, providing minimal comfort.

A flood of indistinct shouts soon overwhelmed the hollow silence I dropped into.

When my feet landed on the floor, Kade was in the middle of a heated brawl with a well-armed officer. My pulse leaped to my throat when another’s eyes locked on me.

“Stop!” The second officer waved the gun in his hand. “Get down with your hands over your head!”

No. If I did, it would all be over.

When I didn’t listen, he fired.

Kade struck his adversary, knocking him into me. I hit the floor on my knees as an acid slug sailed over my head. It struck the wall behind me, spattering neon green from its casing.

As I climbed back to my feet, Kade attacked, completely unrestrained.

With every grunt and groan, with every crack of bone against linoleum, my stomach churned, turning my blood to pure adrenaline.

My hands shook, almost uncontrollably, as Kade punched the man in the nose and flipped him over to get his arms around his neck.

When the man bucked, Kade kneed him in the side, knocking his weapon from his belt. As the man gurgled beneath Kade’s iron grip, his weapon skidded down the hallway toward his colleague.

“Get up!” the second officer yelled.

My cheeks turned to fire when I dove for the gun on the floor. Another acid slug blast went off over my head, echoing through the hallway. The explosion instantly caused my ears to ring, heightening all my senses.

For a moment, even the dust particles floating in the air between us in the light’s radiance coming through the doors were easy to see.

Rust flakes from the stair handrail fell off my palms as my finger settled on the trigger.

“I don’t want to hurt you.” Part of me hoped he’d step aside.

“It’ll burn like hell when I hit you with one of these, girl.” The man’s lips curled into a smirk as he loaded another marble-looking acid slug into the chamber of his gun. “I’d hate to have one of these detonate on that pretty face of yours.”

Kade grumbled a curse behind me, and the first officer’s body hit the floor at my feet. Before my hands stopped trembling, he seized the gun from me.

“Down!” He bumped me out of the way of the incoming bullet and returned fire.

The officer smacked against the glass of one door, a smear of green spreading across his chest as he slid to the ground. He jerked and squealed in pain before going limp.

When Kade hurried to the man’s side to relieve him of his weapon, I gritted my teeth together to keep the bile splashing over my tongue contained.

“You okay?” Kade tossed a quick glance over his shoulder at me.

“Yeah,” I said, trying to ignore the queasiness.

“Don’t lie.” Kade stooped to grab the gun and turned back to me, tucking it into his belt.

“I’m scared shitless. Better?” My voice, my everything, shook violently.

A grin crept onto Kade’s face. “Better. You still think the police would help the likes of us?”

Instead of answering, I clenched my stomach and pivoted to something more important. “We need to get out of here before they wake up.”

Kade jumped into action. He rattled the door handle and busted the inner lock without a second thought. He waved me through.

As I stepped over the comatose officer’s legs, I drew my hand to my mouth.

Though neither of them was dead, I’d never been good at seeing people hurt. I chalked that up to another glitch in my tech.

Both men would have terrible patches of burned hide from the acid slugs when they woke, and they’d be out for at least ten minutes thanks to the neurotransmitters ejected from each. Otherwise, they’d be fine.

Relief exploded from my chest when I stepped out of the building. The purr of the synthetic air pumps propelling the perfect amount of oxygen throughout the Climoflyer created a calming buzz outside.

In Hegiralon City, the noises of the city kept me from hearing the hums. Here, the stillness made hearing them possible, and although they filtered the air here as they did in Climoflyer-1, here, it felt flat—heavy. One strong inhale caused me to cough and glance back at Kade, who hadn’t exited the building.

“What is it?” I returned to Kade’s side.

His eyes sank to the band around his ankle as he stood in the doorway, and his voice cracked when he spoke. “I haven’t been out of a building in over nine years.”

A surge of determination flashed through my veins, clearing the fog around my head. I took his hand and pulled him out of the doorway, into the pothole-polluted boulevard. The building across the road had dark stains tarnishing its walls.

“I don’t think your device will go off here. Not if everyone here has one.” My voice sounded steadier than it’d been all day. “And like Max said, we’ll be safer once we get to the bridge.”

“Seems I underestimated you.” Kade’s shoulders relaxed once we took a couple of steps and his anklet hadn’t made a peep. “Maybe you have a little Defiants courage in you, after all.”

I huffed a laugh.

“A little being key.” Kade’s smile was like a thousand suns, but even it wasn’t enough to sustain the moment.

“Hush it,” I bit back, trying to sound stern but failing.

A storm rippled through my veins when his hand tightened on mine before he let go.

We hurried away from the lab, passing several litter-filled side streets along the way. Thanks to the garbage, fetid scents filled the air: a mixture of rotting eggs and decaying waste left to ferment in the open.

A couple minutes into our walk, I wondered, for the first time, despite the smell, despite everything, whether being one of the Defiants would be so bad after all.

Chapter Eighteen

Trying not to draw too much attention to the sting shooting up my calf from the blisters growing on my heel, I adjusted my foot inside my shoe with a restrained whimper. It didn’t work.

Although Kade trotted over the rubble in the road several feet ahead of me, he peeked at me over his shoulder when my sneaker caught in the gravel and shook his head.

“What?” I buried my hands deeper in the pockets of the jacket Talon had given me to wear.

This craft was cooler than the one we had left behind, making me thankful for having it on.

Avenues stretched across the flat as far as my eyes could see, laden with small, dilapidated chalets, which were obviously dwellings, something you’d never see in the city back home.

“I hope I don’t have to throw you over my shoulder and carry you.” Kade’s stride didn’t change much. If anything, it became a little more self-assured.

“Don’t be ridiculous. These aren’t the first blisters I’ve had. Believe it or not, I walk most days. I don’t rely on the public transport to get everywhere.”

“Figured you being from a Gray family and all, you’d be used to those flying taxis.”

Scowling, I rolled my eyes. “Point I was trying to make is: I’ll live.”

His lips skewed upward slightly. “Let me guess: no wound bothers you much. With your parents being prominent scientists, they built you with the best of the best.”

As he adjusted the strap of the bag Max had given him, his arms flexed, revealing the veins running from his hands up to his biceps. “You have Restoratech.”

Of all apps available for install—or at least for those who could afford it—Restoratech was the most sought after Genotech.

A restoring application, this tech controlled not only rapid healing of internal trauma like bone fractures and vital organ dysfunctions, but all the time-released vaccines, vitamins, and programmed medications a person would ever need.

I’d even heard stories of people killing others for it, trying to cut out the panels we all had implanted at the base of our neck.

Of course, any attempt to swap panels and integrate the tech would fail. The inventors intended Genotech to link to the panel installed during design before a baby went into incubation.

An adult trying to exchange their panel caused an immediate system meltdown, resulting in instant death.

“I don’t think I even need to answer that,” I said. “Restoratech does nothing for surface-level stuff like blisters.”

His gaze darted away, almost as if he couldn’t stand the sight of me. For some inexplicable reason, the icy expression on his face cut me deep. I wanted him to like me. Though, I didn’t know why. I’d never been one to care if people liked me—not in the least.

“How long would it take your wound to heal if you got stabbed or something?” he finally asked.

With a lick of my lips, I shrugged. “A few minutes if a vital organ was hit.”

“That’s handy.”

I turned my attention back to our surroundings. Buildings that had seen better days lined the road we were on.

Apartment buildings, maybe, given their resemblance to those where the lower-ranked Azures lived in Hegiralon City. Holes and crusty, peeling paint rattled their fronts.

It looked like they’d withstood war, rapid gunfire, and bomb blasts. Someone must’ve wanted to create a city with an impact when they laser printed the interior of this place.

The deeper we went into the ramshackle town, the slower we walked, taking extra care not to step on the broken pieces of glass or shards of plaster and concrete flooding the alleys.

We passed several people along the way, many huddled together, wearing oatmeal-colored rags with a black X on their chests. Others hurried around in uniforms of light blue or brown.

When we passed a man in brown with a spattering of blood down the front of him, my stomach coiled. We hadn’t taken ten more steps when another man in light blue threw punches at another man in brown.

When his adversary hit the ground, the man in blue grabbed the loaf of bread from his hands and bolted.

Something made this place way different from Climoflyer-1. Something big. The sour faces of each person we walked by revealed an unhappiness agitating like magma deep inside them, ready to erupt at any moment.

That’s when it hit me.

Unlike in Climoflyer-1, the people here didn’t willingly accept their designated place in society. It now made sense why Max called my birthplace “the hub of perfection.”

I’d grown up hearing about the other craftworlds, while not knowing much about them or those who lived there. I carried on with my day-to-day, naïvely believing the people there lived the same as me.

But here, they had no guarantee of the things I grew up believing to be basic rights—food, clean clothing, a comfortable home. The here people had to fight for them. Here, they had to fight for everything.

And realizing this made me choke up, drawing Kade’s eyes of steel back to me.

“You sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah.” I cleared my throat and pulled the jacket tighter around my neck. “What place do you think they modeled the inside of this Climoflyer after?”

“Some place I never want to go to,” said Kade.

I sighed, nodding.

“One completely broken by humans—or Mother Nature once she got sick of them.”

“Originals never gave nature enough credit, maybe.”

“They gave themselves too much.” Kade’s gaze sank to his shoes as he kicked up some loose gravel. “Mother Nature never cared about the petty shit: wealth, rank, politics. She was always willing to collapse without regard, turning anything in her path into rubble.”

“What kind of life do you think they have here?”

“The same as those of us who are prisoners in Hegiralon City, I imagine.”

As a tingle crept down my legs, my insides crumbled. Kade was onto something. Those who’d left the Defiants complex came here, each branded a defective and exiled.

“Working their life away for every breadcrumb they get, too little implanted tech for them to be of any importance with the Technocracy. You know, no advanced Vigortech like I have. No Restoratech like you have. Just standard, broken tech.” Kade flashed me a haughty scowl. “Don’t suppose you’d know anything about that, though. Standard tech, that is. Your tech is pretty advanced. Disregarding the minor glitch here and there.”

“Minor? Even the smallest of glitches can prevent accreditation.” My stomach churned again at just the thought. “Genoborgs shouldn’t dream, Kade. Nine generations, over nine hundred years, have proven so. GEN9 Neurotech blocked the function. Or at least it should have. There’s a serious glitch in my programming. To gain accreditation, I must rework the code, using the blueprints I found, or find some way to block the signals any glitch gives off that the tests will detect.”

Kade shook his head, his hands diving into the pockets of his jeans. “What’s the worst that’ll happen if you fail to gain accreditation, Gray? You wind up demoted from your career assignment? Or maybe you’re forced into prison like most of us. At least you’ll be alive.”

“Alive as some experiment, unable to go to the ground,” I insisted.

A flicker of something—pain, maybe—dimmed the spark in his eyes.

“I’m sorry.” I swallowed hard. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Not in your plans to be the experiment rather than the alchemist, Gray?”

“Are you going to keep calling me Gray?” I snapped.

“Probably so.” He held his head high.

The slow breath I hissed out did nothing to ease my irritation. Many muscles in my body quivered, and I had to fight back the urge to let him have it.

He must’ve noticed because he grinned. It was short-lived though. Within two seconds, he rubbed his eyes and squinted.

“You might be a spoiled brat, but you aren’t responsible for this, Gray.” He cracked a couple of his knuckles. “You become responsible when the truth reveals itself right in front of your eyes and you do nothing about it.”

“A week ago, I couldn’t have imagined any of this.” Fingers against my palm, I tapped out each point. “Go to school. Go to work. Gain accreditation. Excel in my career. Get accepted for reacclimation. Go to the ground. That’s how my life should go.”

“Gray, you’re naïve.” A muscle in his jaw twitched. “Life almost never goes as planned, and that’s before it starts to kick your ass.”

As hard as I tried to frown, a faint chuckle slipped out.

“And what you’re saying is between all the mandated responsibilities required for renting your life, for fitting the mold, you’ve let them distract you from the truth?” Kade nudged me in the shoulder harder than he seemed to realize.

Instead of being angry about that, I chalked it up to him not knowing the exact strength of his Vigortech.

His eyes narrowed. I couldn’t help but notice how he blinked and looked away.

“Can’t imagine that’d be part of their plan or anything,” he said.

Biting down on the corner of my lip, my gaze didn’t swerve far from his virile face, not even when we progressed from the edge of town into an open clearing.

Rugged Road transformed from a dilapidated jumble of concrete chunks and rebar to a path of gravel before my eyes. The brightness of the overhead lights dimmed, as if we’d walked beneath a canopy of shade trees. Nothing within sight could’ve caused the swift overcast.

Upon entering the shade, my UV lenses retracted automatically, my vision returning to normal and the golden dots no longer dancing on my shoes. Kade ran the side of his hand across his face, wiping away tears like he was in pain.

“Nice knowing you won’t go blind, huh?” he asked.

The apprehension in his voice made little sense. Oputech was a standard application, an app even Kade should have implanted. He was still squinting when I glanced at him.

“You have Oputech, the same as me.”

“They disabled my Oputech a couple years ago, during experimentation.”

The constant squinting now made sense.

“Kade, you need to shield your eyes.”

His hand landed on mine when I reached for my bag. It was warm yet firm as steel. “It’s shady now. I’ll be okay.”

Refusing to let him play the fearless leader he was used to being—one who wouldn’t heed advice from anyone else—I shoved his hand aside and reached into my bag to retrieve the sunglasses in the inside pocket. He grunted when I handed them to him.

“I keep them in case my Oputech glitches out or something. Take them.”

“I don’t need them.”

“Stop being so stubborn.” Planting one foot between his legs, I stepped closer, determined to put the glasses on him myself if needed.

With a frown, he blocked my arm.

“Okay. Knock it off, Gray.” He took the shades from my hand and took a step back to put them on. “You happy now?”

“Yes,” I answered.

His stiff shoulders relaxed more when I took another step back. Even in the dimmed simlight, the gold frames glistened a little. But the tinted lenses made it impossible to see whether he’d rolled his eyes, like I imagined him doing.

I took a few steps to get ahead of him before shouting over my shoulder, “And it’s Brinya, not Gray, dammit!”

I didn’t turn to see what kind of reaction standing my ground got out of him, but he didn’t make a sound. He kept his distance, staying a few feet behind me as we moved farther from the city.

Silence remained in the unnerving air between us for the next mile.

Until we made it to the downhill side of a knoll.

An arched bridge materialized out of barren land in the distance, its large sandstone pillars as dark as tar thanks to the overcast from the nearby hull of the craft. From Kade’s slight intake of air, the sight shocked him, too.

The bridge Max had informed would take us to our temporary sanctuary was nothing more than a heap of rubble, collapsed into the river below.

What might’ve once been a beautifully illuminated 4D rendering of a forest masking the busted steel hull of the craft, pieces scattered across the ground, making the fact that we were inside of a Climoflyer irrefutable.

It suddenly made sense why they dimmed the lights in this area.

A chill made me consider turning back, but Kade advanced with no fear.

The murky river glowed turquoise along its edges, the unusual neon bloom taking my breath away for a couple of seconds.

Three stone arches that once would’ve supported the bridge deck jutted high above the riverbank in a random, serrated fashion. Each reminded me of giant inverted icicles—black ones.

They were nothing like the icicles I dreamed of seeing in real life someday. On the opposite side of the ruins, a wasteland of seared turf expanded to the wall of patchy, exposed metal.

“Black Shadow Bridge,” I whispered.

“Not much left of it.” Kade’s broad shoulders rolled back boldly.

“The water worries me.”

“Let’s check it out.”

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I trailed Kade, who insisted on getting closer. When he stopped at the water’s edge, I stayed back, my gaze on the unlit area across the river.

“Why is everything over there so dark? It’s because they’ve cut the lights, right?”

There was a long pause before Kade answered. “I don’t think so.”

By the time I dragged my attention away from the inhospitable lands to focus on him, Kade had dunked his foot in the river to test the water. He shook water off the tip of his boot, then mumbled a curse, the tone of which lifted tiny hairs on my arms.

“What is it?” My eyes widened as he turned back to me.

“A bad feeling.”

He pushed the sunglasses back on his head, his expression somber when our eyes met. Something unexpected flashed across his face before he pulled me to him.

I slammed hard against his chest, harder than either of us seemed to expect. The sensation of Kade’s fist curling against the small of my back sparked an intense surge of heat that rushed from my toes to my head, making me half dizzy.

“Water you don’t want to swim across,” said a voice behind me.

My head still in a fog, I turned against Kade’s embrace to find the barrel of a long gun aimed at us—and six guys lined up behind it. Sleek, black, and stocked with ample ammo to end us both. The weapon made my knees go weak.

“Who do you work for?” The triggerman’s face was as stern as his voice, but his unfriendly expression wasn’t his most prominent feature.

Terrible scars, ridges, and pits that probably would never lose their redness peppered his hands and face. He sat in a wheelchair with a board bolted to the back with a makeshift engine attached. A gearshift secured to the handlebar on the side allowed him to drive.

Five sets of eyes stared at us from behind him, examining us with unadulterated mistrust.

“Solid black attire,” someone else hissed. “Think they’re UCs?”

I dropped my gaze to the ridiculous outfit Talon had dressed me in. Black jeans, black tee, and a matching cargo jacket to pull the look together.

Kade looked equally menacing. He even wore black military-style combat boots to give off the full lab-built soldier vibe.

“We’re not undercover for anyone,” I replied.

A nudge against my back told me Kade wanted me to remain silent.

The five young boys lined up behind the man in the wheelchair surely weren’t much older than twelve or thirteen. About the age of the young boy who plunged from Observation.

Each wore track-style suits of neon orange or yellow, colors that were not standard issue for any socioeconomic class ranking in Climoflyer-1.

Though they all had the same scowl imprinted on their faces, they clearly took orders from the guy in the wheelchair.

One of the standing boys stepped forward, his holstered gun rubbing against his neon-yellow pants. His long black hair fell forward, creating a curtain of waves over his boyish face.

“We could make them swim like we did those last labbies, Eli,” he said.

“No, we’re—”

“We’re escaped prisoners from Hegiralon City.” Kade cut me off, his worried eyes meeting mine. “Both of us.”

Eli’s brows knitted, his dark eyes boring into me. “She doesn’t give me the fugitive vibe.”

Every muscle in my body tensed when Eli rolled his chair closer, bringing his weapon to my face with the hand covered in patches of blackened skin.

With him this close, I couldn’t help but focus on his large scar running from the corner of his right eye downward across his chin, stopping at the dragonfly tattoo on his neck. It looked like someone had taken a razor blade to his face, peeling away the top several layers in a steady strip.

“You a labbie?” The way Eli’s lip curled up made the curt question even more intimidating.

If he learned of my identity, he’d slay me on the spot.

“No—”

A rumble of thunder made me wince, though my eyes never veered from our challengers. Still, it was impossible not to notice how the sound wasn’t emitting from the weather simulation speakers.

It was too loud. Real. No, this thunder somehow penetrated the soundproof craft hull, making it unquestionably real.

“They could be Glitchers, same as us.” A freckled-faced boy with red hair stepped forward.

“She has the scent of a labbie all over her,” said Eli. “I’d know the stench a mile away.”

My throat swelled, almost closing. The universe slowed when the familiar sound of rain resonated from across the river. A placid showering of rust-tinted fluid on the seared turf turned the distance between us and the wall into a haze.

“Shit. Rain. Eli, we have to go,” another boy in the mix yelled.

With his attention on the other side of the river, Eli lowered his gun slightly. I didn’t make a move, my body frozen by some strange amalgamation of shock and interest.

There were no hatches opened here.

Kade moved me when he stepped between me and the gun, shielding me behind his muscled form. “If you’re going to threaten someone, it’s going to be me.”

“So, you want to be the first to take a swim in the river of acid?” Eli’s lips formed a smirk. “We can arrange it.”

A simple wave of his hand prompted the boys to step forward and come for Kade while pulling handcuffs and rope from the large pockets in their pants.

“Stop!” I dipped from behind Kade.

The gun clicked, ready to fire. My first reaction was to throw my hands up in surrender.

“It looks like you have a compromised craft,” I reasoned, my voice trembling. “What’s leaking, exactly?”

Nothing could penetrate the thick shell of a craftworld, so it had to be something internal, giving the illusion of a liquid seeping in from the outside.

“Whatever it is,” I continued, “it has taken a toll on everything close to the wall. Maybe we can help you.”

“Unless you have a direct line for turning off the Scorch Rains, you can’t help.”

Scorch Rains?

My shoulders became leaden. These couldn’t be Scorch Rains, the acid rains responsible for wreaking havoc on Earth centuries ago.

It couldn’t be real rain at all. Hatches in this Climoflyer weren’t open, so they’d never experienced the purity of the outside rains that had touched my face in Climoflyer-1.

“We shootin’ them or makin’ them swim, Eli?” a young boy asked.

“We’re not here on orders from anybody,” I said. “We don’t want any trouble.”

The corner of Eli’s eye twitched. “Neither do we.”

“You said you’re Glitchers?” I swallowed hard. “That’s what we are, too. We’re Glitchers.”

Eli tilted his head to the side, his chin lifting with curiosity.

“Max sent us,” said Kade.

At the mention of Max’s name, Eli’s assistants halted, eyes on their boss.

“Wait.” One boy’s face paled as his eyes widened, almost as though a lightbulb had gone off. “Did you say you’re from Hegiralon City?”

“Doesn’t matter.” Eli’s raspy voice deepened as his grip on his weapon tightened and he pressed it into Kade’s chest. “We’re going to find out if that river makes you scream or not.”

“No.” Panic coursed through my veins, causing my hands to shake. “Max said Sam would want to talk to us. We’re looking for Sam.”

“Sam?” Eli’s eyes softened.

“Can you take us to him or not?” Kade’s defensive tone hadn’t changed one bit.

Eli’s shoulders relaxed, and he sat back in his chair before lowering the weapon. After a quick glance at me and Kade, he shoved his gun into a special rack on the wheelchair. My whole body became lighter.

“Now, can you take us to Sam?” I asked.

“Yeah, I can take you to Sam.”

My hands had almost lost their clamminess until I caught Eli staring at them.

“James, cuff them.”

Chapter Nineteen

Eli and his band of young cohorts ushered Kade and me upriver to the ruins of the bridge. Wanting to beat the shower, saturating the ground on the other side of the river, Eli scolded us when he didn’t think we were walking fast enough.

The sudden moisture brought with it a rapidly developing fog that draped the canopy overhead like a veil, yet I couldn’t help but notice the way the rust-colored liquid eased its way to the water through many small ruts in the ground.

We stopped at a grassy area beneath what remained of the bridge floor, and Kade braced me when my feet slipped on the pebbly slope of the river’s edge until I regained my balance.

“Don’t fall in.” The boy Eli called Colin winked at me.

The air here was stale, stinking of decaying timber. The water smelled polluted, dangerous almost. It glistened, its ripples darkening beneath the simlight beaming down from the gables of the craftworld, as dim as ever, turning from gray to a glossy black in the few areas where no bright turquoise floated on the surface.

It still shocked me they believed this to be rain from the outside.

I narrowed my eyes on the rebar sticking out of the concrete shards overhead. Someone had ripped up the floor planks, and charred areas in the remaining material made it look as if someone had set fire to the bridge.

The burble of the water as it flapped against the rocks made me notice the way the submerged stones steamed each time the water receded from them.

James, the one who had cuffed us, stooped beside the grassy patch and pulled back a large tarp-like mass of turf to reveal a door hidden in the ground.

The reinforced hatch, complete with blast-proof corrugated metal, required three people to open it. Eli waved Kade and me forward once it was open.

Though I went at his signal, Kade held back.

“Where are you taking us?” Kade questioned, his voice flat.

“You’ll find out,” Eli replied.

“You handcuff us and expect us to go with you into some hole?”

“Get down that hatch,” Eli snarled, the scars on his face not changing anything about the way his brown eyes were permanently conical. “If you want to meet Sam, that is.”

“Or you can stay out here.” James tilted his head toward the craft wall. “Hoping today isn’t the day the Scorch Rains make it to this side of the bridge. Think I’d take my chances with a secret crash shelter, though.”

Kade’s lips pursed, our eyes meeting briefly, as I prepped to take a leap of faith.

The young red-haired boy from the group dropped into the hole. A few seconds later, he popped back up to extend a hand to me. “Let me help you.”

“Careful, Pete.” James kept a tight grip on the door. “Don’t let her lose her footing.”

With a nod, I took Pete’s hand.

He helped me down a ladder into a place designed in the image of an old Earth mineshaft, a dugout of dim vertical channels and thick wooden beams supporting the sides and girding the roof. A dank odor accompanied scents of timeworn wood.

Boots scuffing against metal brought another boy down behind me. Kade wasn’t far behind him, dropping to the ground beside Pete with a sprinkling of loose pebbles.

Before I knew it, the boys remaining aboveground had teamed up to lower Eli, wheelchair and all, down to join us via some makeshift pulley contraption. They’d obviously been doing this for a while.

With my back pressed against the cool wall, I studied Eli as he got himself settled. With a grunt that contorted his face, he adjusted in his seat.

He then took a couple of deep breaths before he nodded to Colin, who stayed at his side. A weight settled in my stomach at the thought of what might’ve happened to him.

Once everyone was in the shaft, two of the guys closed the door overhead. It slammed shut with the finality of a coffin lid closing.

The boys grabbed lanterns which hung on hooks attached to a reinforced beam beside me. When they struck their matches, the scent of sulfur caused me to wince, a reminder of the river outside.

The river.

“Are we beneath the river?” I pushed myself off the wall, something scraping the sides of my hands worse than the cuffs.

“We will be,” Eli said, his voice curt.

Eli followed when four of the boys proceeded into the narrow tunnel ahead, their lanterns providing a small amount of light.

“Stay behind me and give me a nudge if my chair gets hung up in the passage,” Eli instructed us.

“That’d be easier if you freed our hands,” Kade muttered.

Eli grunted and ignored him.

The hum of the engine on Eli’s wheelchair grew louder halfway through the tunnel, becoming more of an echoing pulsation.

It drowned out most of the conversation ahead of us. Kade stayed by my side as we made our way from one end of the constricted tunnel to the other, leaning closer once Eli and James had gotten far enough ahead.

“This clan might hate the privileged even more than the Defiants do,” he whispered in my ear. “Do not to tell them you’re a tyro geneticist working your way up to grayhood.”

I peered up at him and shrugged. “Wasn’t planning to expose myself.”

“Good.”

“Since you were asking,” Eli hollered over his shoulder ten seconds later. “We’re on the other side of the river now.”

His voice was calmer, less resonant when we stepped out of the shaft into a large room. It looked like the main entry of a coal mine. Or a fallout shelter built in the image of a mine, rather.

“The tunnel is the only safe way to cross unless you want to risk crawling over the bridge debris,” he continued. “Haven’t seen anyone do that without falling in, though.”

“Is that what happened to you?” The words spewed out before I could take them back.

Eli’s young comrades stopped in their tracks, and the corner of his mouth twitched when he turned his head.

“I mean… I didn’t mean it to sound like it did.”

The whir of the boxed fan blowing the stench of mildew and sweat into the humid air of the chamber wasn’t loud enough to mask the sudden silence.

I cleared my throat to apologize for coming off nosy, but Eli turned and rolled closer, tossing his hand up before my lips parted.

“No, that’s not what happened to me.”

“I didn’t mean any disrespect.” I pinched my lips, my gaze deviating to each person at his side, when Eli’s stare dropped away from my face.

The disfigurations made Eli’s age hard to accurately guess, but he was older than the others, probably by four or five years. Their clothing riveted me, almost as much as the black attire of the Defiants.

“Will you at least tell me why you wear those bright colors?”

Eli’s marred jaw went slack before he pointed at me and Kade. “Neither of you wanted to discuss attire when I asked you about the black.”

“It’s the only color the people who keep us prisoner in Hegiralon City let us wear.” Kade fumbled with the handcuffs behind his back.

“Here, they order Glitchers to wear whatever dull color represents their job. If they’re lucky enough to be assigned one.” Eli’s mouth quirked. “That all depends on what kind of Glitcher they deem you to be. Or whether you’d work well as a pawn in their games.”

“Those who can’t work must wear oatmeal-colored shirts with a big black X painted on the front. The X lets everyone know you are a leper, deemed useless by the Technocracy.” James shook his head before he continued. “Wearing the X makes you a target for every soldier and every Blue Garb who passes through this Climoflyer. Not to mention, it makes you a target of the working Glitcher tribes.”

“I saw those shirts out in the city,” I whispered.

James pointed to my outfit. “At least you guys get black, no X.”

At the thought, I almost choked.

“Wearing neon started as a movement. One Sam’s dad started as a resistance to the Technocracy’s treatment of us.” The boy who’d helped me down the ladder, Pete, pushed through the others and crossed his arms over his scrawny torso. He tried to push his chest out as he stood in front of Kade. “Sam decided we’d keep the trend when we came here, to stand out from those who lie down and wear the X without a fight. It’s a way to accept being a Glitcher while defying those who expect us to accept it when they throw us into their Earth games with no warning.”

A muscle in my neck tightened. “Earth games?”

“Hey!” The gruffness returned in Eli’s voice.

“Pete, stop flirting with the girl.” Colin grabbed Pete’s arm and lugged him the other direction, away from the rest of the group.

They disappeared around the cusp of the jagged opening ahead.

A whimper slipped through my lips when Eli whirled his wheelchair around, James and the others eager to follow him. It was louder than I expected, ringing off the walls.

To my surprise, Kade’s eyes held something indistinguishable. Concern, maybe.

James turned around to face me before Eli bumped the joystick of his chair.

“What’s wrong?” James asked.

“These cuffs are cutting into my wrists.” I turned, so he’d have a view of the indentations in my skin. “We’re not a threat to you. We’re not even armed. Can you remove them, please?”

James paused, shooting Eli a questioning glance.

Eli jutted out his chin, then nodded.

Pulling the key from his pocket, James removed Kade’s cuffs first, then mine. I was still rubbing my wrists when Eli put his wheelchair in drive and bounced over the grungy, grit-covered floor after the other boys who’d vanished seconds earlier.

With darkness closing in, we steered a couple more claustrophobic and foul-aired tunnels, making it harder for me to breathe.

Tight spots triggered my anxiety. And this place wasn’t helping, especially when we walked by a small alcove of latrines where the stench of urine filled the air.

With a tightness in my chest, I glanced at Kade. Knowing he was beside me made breathing a little easier.

A dirt path led us into a vast opening where people moved in and out of murky holes scattered about the chamber. The flicker of lanterns filled the void, lighting the hollow of grit-packed walls reinforced with steel as well as any Hegiralon City twilight.

The steady drip of water from the jagged ridge caught my attention. A great weight lifted from my shoulders to see the mammoth cavern wasn’t totally isolated. This hollow acted as the spider’s body, the center of several smaller caverns branching off in all directions like legs.

“What is this place?” Kade stopped.

“They say each craftworld has one,” James answered. “It’s a bunker. In case we ever crash. Not sure anyone would live, though. I think it’s more of an ‘appease the public’ sort of feature they had to include during Inception. And apparently Originals thought making it resemble a mine would be appropriate.”

I chuckled.

Arranged like some arena, a lofty beam rose out of a recessed pit at the center of the cavern. Dirty, curved wooden benches surrounded the cavity.

Children who clutched filthy blankets occupied most of them, their mothers keeping their arms around them. A few inquisitive women stood behind a cluster of men at the front, peering into the pit. Some of the men chanted words of violent encouragement.

A couple of young girls rushed past, laughing and carrying on as they waved straw dolls in the air. A boy chasing them bumped into me, knocking me into Kade.

He caught me against his side and held me there long enough for us to capture the attention of a tall woman in the back corner of the room.

She wore a concrete frown, which didn’t quite match her violet hair. Her dark eyes narrowed on us as she looked us up and down, inspecting our clothing as closely as I examined her uniform of neon pink.

The sound of a whip cracking against flesh upset the air, severing what little wholeness remained inside me after all I’d learned during the past few hours.

The lavender-haired woman’s attention snapped to the sound. Fear clawed through me, my eyes stinging as they muted tears.

Another snap of the lash made my entire body tense. My fingers dug into Kade’s shirt, his whole body hard as stone beneath my touch.

“Tell me they’re not doing what I think.”

Kade’s mouth twitched. “I can’t.”

My chest tightened from the inside out, causing me to gasp. I stepped back and reached for the pill bottle in my jacket pocket. My hands shook as I tried to open the lid, but with Kade looking at me, I took a couple of deep breaths with my eyes closed and put the bottle away.

“I only have three left for three weeks, so I’m trying not to take those.” I exhaled slowly. “But this anxiety—”

“Come here.” Kade grabbed my hand while Eli and James made their way into the crowd.

Neither paid any attention to us, thankfully.

Kade surveyed the room in one sweep to make sure nobody was looking before he dipped into one cavity, leading me along.

The dim glow of lamps lit the small cavern filled with cots and tatty blankets. The unpleasant smell of old sweat suggested the bedding was filthy.

When Kade began digging through the tote of supplies in the corner, a rat scurried from a hole in the wall and darted between my legs.

Biting back a scream, I watched for more rodents. My eyes were still on the ground when he turned back to me, a roll of black tape in his hand.

He unwound a piece about a foot long, then folded it in half, so the sticky sides stuck together.

“What are you doing?”

“If we both escaped a lab prison, then we both better have the same bracelet.” He ripped the tape with his teeth and stooped to wrap it around my ankle, adjusting it to make it look as real as possible. “This is the best I’ve got.”

As he stood back up, I dipped my head toward the people outside, twirling a strand of hair around my index finger. “I don’t get you. You hate Grays the same as these people. You even know where my parents rank on the social scale. Why help me? It’d make more sense to me if you threw me to the wolves. Let them do to me whatever they’re doing to somebody else out there in that pit.”

“I’m a mystery, I know.” He tossed the roll of electrical tape back into the tote, a muscle in his jaw twitching. “No, really, I’m an allcist. I dislike all people equally.”

A faint snort slipped out with my laugh. “You make that up yourself?”

“Yep,” said Kade.

“Not all Grays are what you believe them to be. I’m not. Though I’m not opposed to rising to the occasion.”

Kade shook his head, noticeably fighting back a grin. “Gray or not, I don’t want to see anyone get their head ripped off. It’s exhausting to see that kind of death. Hopefully, you’ll never have to know. So, trust me when I say this is about protecting myself. Not you.”

A dim flicker in his eyes conflicted with his words, causing my lips to compress.

He tipped his head toward the Comsband on my finger. “Lose the ring.”

Stupefied at the thought, I folded my hands together to protect it.

“No one here can afford jewelry, least of all one capable of monitoring all the advanced gene apps they don’t have.”

He was right. The ring needed to go.

“You’re probably going to see some of the worst things you’ve ever seen in your life out there,” he said. “Betting on torture being something you’re not used to.”

“Torture, no. But I’ve seen death.” My gaze fell for a second or two. “I was there when a young boy dove from the observation deck of Climoflyer-1.”

His posture stiffened.

“It’s stuck with me ever since. Doubt I’ll ever forget his words or the look he had on his face before he plunged himself. He was so scared… It’s impossible for me not to think about what must’ve happened to him to make him think he had no way out.”

Kade’s bright eyes softened. “Seeing him sent you on this quest, didn’t it?”

“Guess you can say that.”

“Being haunted is never fun.” His eyes dipped from mine, and he watched me remove my ring and put it in my pocket. “Don’t go defending Grays or the Technocracy either. You’re one of us here. If you act like it and don’t go having a panic attack, you’ll be fine.”

A heaviness throughout my body left me standing still, conflicted, and a part of me wanted to tell him the secret Addie and I had vowed to keep between us. “Why do I feel none of what you said is true?”

“That your ring could get you killed?”

“No,” I replied. “That you don’t care about anything except protecting yourself.”

His eyes softened again, holding my gaze.

“What made you think distancing yourself from others is how to survive?”

Kade stood at the center of the room, the fight draining out of his broad back. He didn't look at me as he spoke. “I always sensed danger and was stronger than anyone else, even adults, when I was a kid. Most people didn't know what to do with me, including my parents who are working-class Azures. Then someone showed up at our door one evening. Uniform of the elite. Priority papers. They sat my parents down and explained they wanted to take me in to be fixed. I begged them not to let me go, but they signed the papers without question and handed me over. Just like that.”

My heart sank for him.

“From that day forward, I decided never to trust anyone ever again. I mean, if you can’t trust your own parents, everyone else is a lost cause, right? For people with any type of rank, it’s all about keeping the rank, not about the people they sacrifice for it.”

“I don’t buy it,” I replied too sharply. “You think not getting close to anyone ensures you won’t get hurt ever again? It’s not true.”

“It lessens the blow.” Still avoiding my gaze, he walked back to the doorway.

My knees trembled when a shrill scream filled the caverns.

“Better get back out there before Eli sends a search party after us.”

Back in the main grotto, dreadful sounds resonated from the center of the arena. I followed as Kade stepped between the crowd of people. The observers had moved to make a path for Eli, so getting to the front of the swarm to join him wasn’t as difficult as I would’ve liked.

At the center of the room, a set of rocky steps led to the pit dug out in the ground.

Dark spatters of blood sprinkled the dirt floor. In the pit, two broad-shouldered men dressed in neon orange bounced the blunt end of batons off their palms. They circled a pretty girl with skin of porcelain who held a whip in her hand and another girl chained to the post in the center.

The girl in shackles was down on her knees, a curtain of black hair over her face. Her dingy light-blue uniform looked grungy, and a dark fluid seeped from lacerations up and down her arms and legs, each one visible through rips in the fabric.

Blood? Something about it didn’t look right.

“Answer my questions!”

My entire body lurched when the girl with the whip raised her hand and struck the detainee, extracting a shrill scream and sending more of the dark fluid spurting off her backswing. When Kade glanced my way, I realized he’d noticed my slight reverse.

“What is this?” I whispered.

“Interrogation tactics,” he whispered back.

Cruelty was more like it.

“Technocracy-style interrogation tactics.” Kade’s lips tightened, his eyes on the show.

In a pantsuit of black and bright purple, her platinum hair pulled back into a side ponytail of braids and ringlet curls, the girl with the whip in hand stooped beside the captive.

She grabbed her hair forcefully, pushing the girl’s head back against the post, holding her to make the girl look at her. The muscled men at her side stood with their weapons ready.

“You will answer me whether it’s today, tomorrow, or a week from now.” The golden bangles decorating the interrogator’s arm jangled as she pushed the chained girl’s hair out of her face.

She was pretty, in a rugged kind of way. Her skin was darker than the girl doing the questioning, more of a bronzed olive, like mine. It wasn’t until she looked up that I noticed the scarring down her neck to her left arm. Scars matching Eli’s burns.

“How many Nightbringers are there? What’s their purpose? Who’s in charge of this sheath program, Nyla?”

Nyla.

The prisoner had a name, and by the way something glinted in her interrogator’s dark eyes when she said it, the interrogator wasn’t looking forward to whatever she had to do next.

She released her grip and stood up, waving one man on her flank to hand over his acid slug gun as soon as she threw down her baton.

Without question, the man handed it over.

“I didn’t want it to come to this.” Her grip on the gun tightened, her shoulders slumping forward when she braced to take aim.

Eli inched his chair closer to the pit’s verge. “Hey, maybe that’s enough for today.”

Silence inundated the chamber when the platinum-haired girl glared at him.

“We’ve got guests.”

The way Eli’s gruff voice carried made the spectators clear the chamber. Many more made their escape when James whistled and gave them the signal to get out.

In my amazement over them leaving the arena so quickly, I missed the girl in chains climbing to her feet, steadying herself against the post. Her gaze fluctuated to Kade and me as the three torturers exited the pit.

Once the last woman carrying a child exited the cavern, my attention returned to Eli, only to find someone else between me and him staring at me.

With eyes of stone, the girl from the torture show now tapped the baton against her palm, scowling at me with her mouth in a frown. Her men were beside her, arms crossed over their bulky chests, eyes watching our every move.

“Guests, huh?” The corners of her mouth pursed harder the longer she inspected us.

She extended her baton to toss aside the open flaps of my jacket to make sure I wasn’t concealing anything. Next, she patted me down, pausing at my makeshift ankle bracelet briefly.

A lump formed in my throat, but I refused to show any signs of fear.

After she finished with me, she did the same to Kade. Once satisfied, she stepped aside, turning back to Eli.

“What gutter did you find them in? They don’t look useful to me.” With her dark eyes narrowed, she glanced down at the black bands around our ankles again. “Fugitives, Eli?”

“Max sent us to the bridge. Said we’d be safe if we found Sam.” Kade kept his head high, and she eyed him again, this time a little harder.

“We need to see Sam, please.” I pressed my fingernails into my clammy palms.

“Congratulations,” she said briskly, semi-sarcastic. “You found her.”

My eyes widened. “You’re Sam?”

“Samsara Calvert,” she replied. “My friends call me Sam.”

Eli rolled his chair a few inches closer to her. “They’re from Hegiralon City.”

“Climoflyer-1?” Her irritated attitude toward us did a complete one-eighty, her expression quickly becoming one of curiosity.

“Prize from our colony’s shining star.” James grinned.

Musing, she ran a hand over the smooth edge of her club before placing it in the holster on her side. “You might be useful yet.” Sam wiped the dark fluid on her hands onto her pants before she wafted past, her bodyguards trailing. “I need to clean up. Eli, bring them to me in ten.”

Chapter Twenty

The dissident lair Eli called Sam’s sanctuary was nothing more than a well-stocked artillery chamber. Kade’s jaw locked open when Eli led us to the middle of the cavern.

Mine did, too.

Though Sam and her bodyguards were only ten feet away, I couldn’t bring myself to look at them. My focus was on the stockade of arms. A weapon occupied every wall.

Guns. Knives. Blunt objects I didn’t have a name for.

If it could kill—or torture—they kept it on hand.

An assortment of cots filled the area, the paths between the beds narrow to make room for small black boxes stacked two or three high. Triangular red labels marked Munitions on the side of each box suggested they had ammo for each gun.

My stomach tightened when I glanced down at a large tote nearby. Its sideways lid allowed a selection of shimmering handles to peek out. An array of swords, all different sizes. All looking quite capable of taking someone’s head off.

They must’ve spent years stealing supplies to fill this place. This group was well armed and well motivated. This wasn’t just a faction of scared outcasts. These were people with a specific goal, prepared for one hell of a fight.

“What’s wrong, girl?” Sam’s eyes narrowed. “Never see a sword before?”

We had blades in Hegiralon City. They stored them in some large warehouse near the prison, on what locals called the brim layer, as south as you could go inside of our Climoflyer before reaching the drop bay where the shuttles for launching back to the ground were. I’d never laid my eyes on one, much less my hands.

The weapons I had the most experience with were syringes, microscopes, and app recalibration machines. Sam could never know this, though.

“Never this many. And never ones so large.” I hoped she believed the lie.

With a snicker, Sam pulled a long-sleeved jacket on over her clothing. She had changed from her black and purple jumpsuit into one that was bright blue.

She’d also washed the dark sprays from her hands and face well enough for me to see that she had four tiny stars tattooed around the lower corner of both her eyes.

A scar sliced through the middle of her right eyebrow, accentuated by the faint flicker of the lanterns hanging from hooks in the ceiling.

“I’d say you’re prepared.” Kade clasped his hands in front of himself while perusing the collection. “For what, I’m not sure.”

Like Kade, I still hadn’t figured out why they were hiding. Their dislike for the solid social structure of Hegiralon, and those governing that structure, didn’t seem like a good enough reason to submit to a life of deplorable conditions in some covert bunker.

“What we’re preparing for is war. None of my people will ever go back to the ground.”

I bristled at the mention of the ground.

Sam glanced down at Eli. “What’d you say their names are?”

“Kade and Brinya,” Kade answered.

Sam scowled at me, her eyes narrowing on my face with utter mistrust. Thankfully, her gaze didn’t linger once Kade became the object of her attention.

She placed a hand on Kade’s shoulder, pulling him into her while guiding him toward one of the gun shelves.

With Eli and her bodyguards eyeing me, I stayed put with my throat going dry.

Ten minutes ago, this girl was beating the hell out of another girl. Now she wanted something from Kade. A stiffness in my bones told me it wasn’t something harmless.

“Nice, isn’t it?” Sam’s gaze swerved from the weapons to Kade.

He didn’t seem to notice her eyeing him, since his attention was still on the weapons.

“How long have you all been down here?” he asked.

“Fifteen months. My dad started stocking this place soon after we discovered it five years ago.” She sized Kade up, examining every part of him, as if undressing him with her eyes.

It took all I had to bite back a chuckle. If I did, it would surely sound too bitter, just like this unexplainable acidic feeling swimming through my veins.

“This entire time”—she poked a finger against his chest—“I’ve been waiting for you to show up.”

After a momentary pause, Kade cleared his throat.

“We’ve all been waiting for you,” Sam clarified, jutting her lower lip out before she bit it. “You’ll understand soon enough.”

Kade tugged at his T-shirt as soon as she gave him some space. “You’ve definitely put in some effort.”

“We have to be ready for what’s ahead.” Sam’s stance widened, and she rubbed Kade’s shoulder. “Now that you’ve arrived, I think we can proceed.”

The conversation between them became a muted whisper as she led him across the room, getting him as far away from me as possible. I caught myself rubbing the nape of my neck, my urge to question her motives only restrained by clenching my teeth.

Kade folded his arms across his chest, tossing a glance over his shoulder at me. Sam noted the short-lived glimpse. She linked her arm with his and pulled him to the farthest part of the chamber, where the lantern light didn’t reach into the dimness.

Clearing my throat, ignoring the burn inching into my veins, I spun back to Eli with my hands clasped. The depth of a couple of Eli’s facial scars was even more prominent in the glow of the incandescent light. A deep mark stretched along the top of his forearm, visible now that he’d removed his jacket.

When a deep sigh escaped from his blemished lips, I realized he’d caught me staring.

“My scars interest you,” he said, his face stone.

“It looks like it hurt, that’s all.”

“The pain gets more bearable every day.”

“I’m so sorry for whatever happened to you.”

My gaze constricted on the scar on his arm. It was long, smooth—too smooth compared to the others. The kind created by being cut by a sharp blade, not from chemical burns.

“Got that one after the rest.” Eli’s shoulders stiffened, his head tilted as he regarded me warily. “It hurt the least. Sam went easy on me.”

Sam? My entire body tensed.

“She did this to you?”

He pointed to the smooth scar. “This one, yes.”

Sam wasn’t what I had expected. After witnessing the torture of the girl in the pit, my trust wasn’t forthcoming. But for her to do this to one of her people… It took all I had not to run to Kade and drag him out of this place.

“Not that she wanted to. She had to.” Eli rubbed his thumb along the mutilation. “When I returned from my encounter on the ground, my failing condition didn’t exactly make it easy to check the color of my veins any other way. Sam had to cut me, to see if I’d bleed the darkness.”

“Bleed the darkness?” Goose bumps lifted on my arms. “Like the girl in the pit?”

“If you thought you were seeing things out there, you weren’t.”

A flare of adrenaline prompted an onslaught of negative thoughts to flood my head.

“I was so damaged when I returned to the Climoflyer after being on the ground, I should have died.” Eli paused, swallowing hard. “But Sam wouldn’t let me give up. She made me fight. Packed us all up and brought us here as soon as she could. Now she’s trying to make Nyla fight. But it’s too late for her. Sam still can’t accept that, though.”

“I don’t understand.” That severe understatement snaked a chill down my back.

As messed up as this bunch was, these people weren’t here to prove some point about the clothing someone forced them to wear. They weren’t simply boycotting jobs they didn’t like. They were here because something scared them into hiding—something awful—something they were preparing to go head-to-head with.

“You were on the ground?” I asked, backing up my crashing thoughts a bit.

“Yeah, I launched.”

Golden spots crept into my vision, a result of overwhelming shock and delight. “And the girl out in the pit. She’s one of you?”

“She ain’t one of us anymore,” Eli replied through tight lips. “And I was on the ground for several days, one of many drafted for a joint ecological research mission with soldiers from Climoflyer-1. That was almost five months ago now.”

Bitterness filled my mouth, then I whispered, “Soon after we entered the atmosphere, they sent you down.”

“It was a mission Biofuse Genetics funded.” Eli closed his eyes, shaking his head like the memories were painful. “They sent us down in search of some old research center. Supposedly, it was a facility erected leading up to Inception, where they worked with all these other world government agencies to get the Climoflyers into space. It wasn’t until they started filming our suffering down there that everything got crazy. While most of the forces made it back alive, most of my friends died on the ground. We Glitchers rationed air packs. The accredited took what they needed, even if someone else had to die.”

In Climoflyer-1, we were told not to think about leaving any craftworld for two more years. The year 3060 would, hopefully, guarantee our Genotech would keep us thriving on the ground. And only those cleared for reacclimation would launch; it was the only way to ensure survivability.

This was wrong. Unbelievable, almost.

“A mission to test the living conditions down there?”

“That’s what we thought at first.” Eli pressed a button on the control plate of his chair. When his seat reclined, he grunted, adjusting his position. A flash of ambiguity etched a line between his brows, dimming his eyes. A muscle in his jaw contracted. If he was in pain, he wouldn’t admit it. “It’s what I thought, at least. We were wrong. No one could’ve prepared us for what we endured down there.”

My stomach twisted. “Did you make it to the research facility?”

He nodded hesitantly.

“What happened to you there?”

“Let’s just say the mission wasn’t about seeing if Earth is habitable. It was about testing how much of the ground conditions we could stand. Studying our misery was the mission.”

“It makes no sense…” If the conditions outside were still so toxic, any hope of migration would not happen, certainly not within the next twenty-four months.

My heart raced inside my chest. Reacclimation had to happen. I belonged on the ground. Even my dreams told me so.

And Scorch Rains? Days ago, the rain had touched my face; I had tasted it.

It wasn’t dangerous. This all had to be a huge mistake, some wild misunderstanding. Still, the unknowns made every muscle in my body tense.

“They could test ground survivability with lab probes, robots even,” I reasoned. “They wouldn’t need some huge joint mission to the ground.”

“That was my argument.”

The sour taste was still in my mouth when I whirled around to find Kade and Sam less than five feet away.

Sam stood tall, her shoulders rolled back in a manner to intimidate me. She tilted her head, eyes snaring mine. She still had Kade’s arm locked in hers, a satisfied smile on her face.

Before giving me a once-over, she rubbed her hand up the side of Kade’s arm.

“Pretty witty about the labbies’ options for a captive chick,” she said.

Kade’s mouth tightened.

“Captive in a lab,” I said for the save. “You pick up on a lot, surprisingly.”

“Right.” Sam’s eyes narrowed on me with resolve. She rubbed Kade’s arm again before resting her hand on his shoulder. “Our time together has been most productive. I hope Eli’s company wasn’t too disappointing.”

Eli’s eyes narrowed.

“Not at all,” I said, pushing out as much enthusiasm as possible. Her tenacity would be no match for mine, regardless of what she had planned, starting now. “I’m fascinated you’ve survived here for so many months.”

“Eli told you why we went underground?” She flinched, releasing her grip on Kade’s arm.

Maybe a sign of surprise, or outrage.

“He told me about Nyla,” I replied without blinking.

Her dark eyes became globes of frosted glass, then she stepped aside to give me room to breathe. Glancing warily between me and Kade, she frowned. “You said they’ve imprisoned the two of you in a lab for… What’d you say, nine years?”

She wanted to test us, test our story, when actually it was Kade’s, not mine.

I wondered what made her so guarded with me. She’d taken to Kade. I could tell by the way she looked at him, batting her lashes and smiling. But her interest in him wasn’t sincere or without being beneficial to her.

A girl like Samsara, a warrior who’d spent her whole life being tough in order to protect those around her, someone who tortured people to extract information from them to keep her goals within sight, whatever they were, did nothing without it aligning with her mission.

“Yep, nine years,” I replied. “Nine years of surviving and withstanding countless experiments, facing scientists daily. That’s how infallible the Defiants family is.”

A grin tugged at Kade’s lips, his shoulders relaxing a little.

Sam crossed her arms, her head tilting slightly.

“You’ve hidden for a few years, and you believe you’re ready to go to war?” I asked.

She didn’t say a word for a heartbeat or two. She gritted her teeth, then sighed. “I suppose, if I’m going to forge an alliance with the Defiants, you have to be a part of it…” Her words faded off at the end, masked by a low growl.

“An alliance?” My attention darted from her to Kade.

Pulling on the collar of his jacket, he cleared his throat. Something about his expression said he wanted to be the one to tell me about whatever they had talked about. His eyes held mine for a second or two, and he looked away.

Sam made a hand signal to Eli, which he and the bodyguards seemed to understand. The three of them headed for the door, Eli waiting for the guards to exit first before he wheeled himself out behind them.

Once they were out of view, Sam turned to smirk at me. “It’s time you learn what we’re up against. It’s time you meet a Nightbringer.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Nightbringer.

The term replayed in my head as Sam guided us through the web of dark, narrow passages back to the main chamber of this underground labyrinth.

Somehow, the title explained the dark blood scattered all over the pit. When the light of the arena came into view, she glanced back at me and Kade, the lantern in her hand illuminating the whites of her eyes.

“Strange things started happening here in Climoflyer-4 about two years ago. Stranger than those happening before. The first bit of information you must know is that here, there are no social ranks. People are only ranked in Climoflyer-1 where their lives matter. We don’t like the ranked, especially those with the highest rank. If you ask me, all Grays need to be plunged.”

Heart in my throat, all I could do was listen.

“For years we survived by scraping by. We worked when we could. Stole food to feed each other when things got bad. Most down here wound up with me because they were orphans, squatting in the same abandoned building. My dad took them under his wing.”

She sniffled loudly.

“The youngsters became my responsibility when he died. And two years ago, soldiers started coming more often. Blue Garb and military. Leaders from Climoflyer-1 followed not long after. One day, they rounded up everybody in our city and started grouping us. Next thing we know, one of those groups is told they’re going to the ground.”

When we emerged from the passage behind Sam, we were back in the main cavern where dark grit ceilings rose into a high arch overhead, nothing interrupting the vast space except the large pit and the column rising out of the middle of it.

Eli navigated his wheelchair around the benches ahead of us, each wheel bouncing over loose pebbles on the ground, causing him to adjust in his seat.

Sam whirled around to face us, walking backward as she talked. “‘We’re going to play a little game, Glitchers.’ I remember one of those soldiers saying that before they hauled them off for the mission.”

“They took Eli—”

“Eli. Gus. Nyla. About twenty-five others,” Sam said, cutting me off.

“Eli told me most didn’t make it back.”

“Only Eli, Gus, and Nyla returned out of the group.” Something in Sam’s voice changed, sounding almost strangled.

“We’ve seen Eli and Nyla—”

“Gus came back, but a couple of soldiers came for him three days later. Next time we saw him, he wasn’t the same. He had to be shut down.”

Bile burned my throat. “Shut down?”

“Were you not in the group forced to launch?” Kade asked Sam.

Something flashed in Sam’s eyes, and for the briefest of seconds, it looked like she might cry.

Instead, her jaw tightened, a spasm in her cheek fighting off any development of tears. Her stony expression reappeared, and she spun back around on the heel of her boot. With her back to us, she continued to lead us without answering Kade.

She didn’t need to answer, though. Her reaction said plenty.

Soon, we were at the edge of the pit, Sam taking a stand next to Eli. Her bodyguards took their stance by the steps.

Sam pointed at her captive, eyes narrowed. “Kade. Brinya. Meet Nyla.”

She glanced down at the girl and hunched, briefly running her fingers through the rocky soil which made up the floors of this place.

Without saying a word, she scooped up a handful of pebbly soil, her hands darkening beneath it. When she stood, debris clenched in her fist, her eyes deviated to the girl in chains.

“Nyla?” Sam said.

Nyla sat with her back against the column, a chain around her waist, while her shackled hands lay upturned in her lap.

A few pieces of her dark hair clung to the sides of her face, but something about her wasn’t the same as when we’d left her. Her eyes were closed, like she was asleep and peaceful. Odd, given her situation.

Sam kept her fist balled as she descended the treads between her bodyguards.

Both men stayed where they were, the arms they had folded over their broad chests dipping to put their hands closer to the pistols on their sides. Eli pressed the gearstick on his wheelchair, rolling himself aside.

He nodded at us to follow Sam.

When Kade sidestepped me to trail her, bitterness lifted into my throat. Despite my hesitation, I followed. It wasn’t until my feet landed in the powdery sand inside of the pit that it hit me why the girl seemed different.

A small gasp escaped my lips before I covered my mouth. Kade stopped to let me catch up to him.

“You okay?” An eyebrow arched before he smirked. “Step in blood?”

Biting the inside of my lip, I shook my head. “Got a fresh look at Nyla.”

As he examined the girl, the grin slowly faded from his face.

Blood stains from her wounds still freckled the dingy fabric of her clothing, but there wasn’t a mark on her. Lacerations had covered her almost from head to toe not an hour earlier.

“Impossible,” Kade whispered.

“Yeah, I don’t believe it.” The tiny hairs on my arms lifted when I stopped beside him, a foot or two away from Sam.

The wounds from earlier had completely healed. Not washed or bandaged, but gone. There wasn’t even so much as a scar decorating her flesh. This was something more advanced than even the best Genotech on the market.

Kade’s incredulous expression must have surely matched mine.

“W-we watched you beat her,” I stammered. “Now she’s healed and ready for more?”

“Physical torture doesn’t faze them.” Sam drew back her arm and chucked the dirt in her hand at Nyla.

The muck hit Nyla in the face, and her eyes shot open.

“Damn it, Sam!” Nyla lunged at her with a roar, rattling the chains around her wrists.

“No sleeping. It’s time to talk.”

“Piss off,” Nyla shouted.

“Not a chance.” Sam snatched the girl by her shirt with a grunt, heaving her to her feet.

She held her against the post, then pulled a small blade from the back pocket of her pants. With the flick of her thumb, she extended the blade.

I threw out my hand. “No, don’t.”

“You have to see this.” Sam didn’t bother to listen to me.

She pressed the knife to Nyla’s arm, pausing for half a second before easing the tip of the blade into the vein running down the middle of the girl’s wrist.

The chained girl winced, but she didn’t scream as expected. When the tip of the blade pierced her flesh, black fluid oozed from around the silver edges of the blade. Sam pushed until the tip of the knife hit against something hard, metallic.

The corner of Kade’s mouth skewed. “What is that?”

“This is a Nightbringer,” said Sam.

“I still have a name.” Nyla growled as Sam pulled her knife away and tilted her arm for us to have a better view.

Something beneath the slit in the girl’s arm shimmered in the lantern’s glimmer, making my insides twist with a mixture of revulsion and disbelief. Kade moved closer, his eyes narrowed.

In his shock, he took the girl’s arm. When she spit in his face, he released his grip and wiped the saliva from his chin. Nyla jerked back, glaring at Kade, then at me.

“You’ll die the same as all of them if you join their cause,” she hissed.

My flesh prickled.

Kade folded his arms over his chest as he studied Nyla. “It’s some sort of body armor.”

“An advanced shell one would assume is skin,” said Sam. “But it isn’t. Far from it. Placed over the body so nobody can tell the difference by looking at a person, but black seeps from it any time something pierces it.” Sam’s eyes went vacant as she clutched her knife. “It’s a fluid, but I don’t think it’s blood. Once they’re like this, they’ll never bleed like us. The shell is a defense mechanism of sorts, impossible to penetrate. I couldn’t get to her vein to make her bleed for real if I wanted to.”

“No way,” I whispered.

“It’s my best explanation for it, anyhow. See for yourself.” Sam closed her blade and handed it to me.

I took it, clenching the handle tightly in my hand.

“You could stab her in the neck, and she’ll laugh at you. Unless there’s an audience. Nyla loves an audience. Nightbringers are the predators of the sky if you ask me. They darken everything they touch, sucking the life out of anything good. They destroy without regard, trying to ruin anyone unlike them.”

The girl tugged at the chains, her teeth pressing into her lip as she glared.

“Their only weak spot is at the base of their neck.”

“Where every Genoborg has a panel,” I whispered.

“As awful as the accredited are, even they have more humanity in them.” Sam folded her hands, picking at the cuticles on a couple of her fingers. “Nightbringers have zilch. I’m not even sure if they’re Genoborgs anymore. More like crazed cyborg hybrids with a goal of domination. Whatever scientists are to blame for this, they’re the worst of the worst. Humanity is dead; Earth is doomed. The scientists in Hegiralon City are proof of it.”

Unable to speak, I stood there, expecting Kade to agree. He didn’t. With my hand shaking, I slid the knife in my hand into the pocket of my jacket. When Sam pulled Kade aside again, all I could do was listen to the whispers of a pact.

“She screamed when you were interrogating her,” I said after my anxiety weakened.

“A show.” Sam’s attention veered from Kade to me. “There were people watching. She wanted them to believe I was hurting her.”

Nyla’s glare could’ve shot lightning bolts, her lips bent into a satisfied smirk.

“The armor isn’t the worst of it. When they come back, they’re not the same.” Sam’s eyes dimmed briefly. “Everything about their personality has been changed somehow. Destroying their panel is the only way to shut them down.”

“Someone recoded their tech,” I whispered through tight lips.

When Nyla let out a disdainful laugh, Kade’s shoulders stiffened.

“Over the past few months, they’ve gotten stronger. More resilient, less feeling.” Sam’s voice lost some power. “And some are just plain cruel. This isn’t the Nyla I knew.”

Even from the edge of the pit, Eli was part of the conversation, a sickened expression rooted on his face. “Consider yourself privileged. You’re seeing the latest in Genotech, right here in Climoflyer-4. The labbies started doing this to people the same month we returned from the ground. Gus was first. Followed by a few more. Now Nyla.”

My skin crawled at the thought of this being the plan for GEN10s. “Why show us this?”

“Thought maybe showing you what you’re in for in Hegiralon City would sway his decision for an alliance.” Sam tipped her head at Kade.

My nostrils flared when Kade nodded.

“Now that they’ve done this to Nyla, it’s personal for me. It’s a matter of time before it becomes personal for you, too. Just wait until your friends aren’t your friends anymore.”

I swallowed, and it felt like choking down nails.

“We’re going to put an end to this Nightbringer program.”

Nyla grinned while lifting her bound hands close enough to her face to brush aside her hair, and Sam’s attention dropped to her.

“She disappeared a little over a month ago,” Sam continued. “The scouts found her last week, over in the scorched zone.”

“They’ve had me chained up ever since.” Nyla’s dark eyes contracted, her lips curling into a daring grin. “The only way this ends, Sam, is I either kill you—or you kill me.”

Every muscle in Sam’s face tightened.

“If she wasn’t her girlfriend, Sam would’ve smashed her panel into pieces already.” Eli’s wheelchair purred as he throttled away from the pit.

“Ex-girlfriend!” Sam yelled to Eli.

Eli didn’t listen. His chair trolled over the uneven ground as he made his way through the labyrinth of benches in the arena, wheels kicking up dust.

At last, something made sense. Eli was angry with Sam for keeping Nyla chained rather than ending her life. Sam was probably only keeping her alive because of their history, and the fact she couldn’t bring herself to do it made me see her in a new light. She wasn’t the heartless warrior of my first impressions.

“Eli, come back here. We’re not finished.” When he didn’t listen, Sam grumbled. She handed Kade the baton from her side and a rope. He took both with minimal hesitation. “If she gives you any problem, gag her and beat her.”

Kade pursed his lips and nodded.

Sam stormed out of the pit in pursuit of Eli.

“Seems their relationship ended badly,” I said.

“When your girlfriend is some fourth millennia Frankenstein, there’s bound to be complications.”

When Nyla hissed at us, I grabbed Kade’s arm and dragged him away, getting us far enough from her she wouldn’t be able to hear our conversation. Given the argument between them happening in the arena, Sam and Eli wouldn’t hear either.

“Now Sam is eyeing her next partner,” I told him. “Namely you.”

The smile playing on Kade’s lips vanished. “Sam’s interest is in what I can do for her.”

“And what is that?” It was suddenly a struggle to keep my voice down. “What pact does she keep talking about? What the heck have we stumbled into?”

“Still trying to figure it out.” He broke eye contact. “A Nightbringer killed Sam’s dad. She says he spent his life trying to create a resistance. For years, he told Sam the only way to stop the Technocracy was from the hub of everything they control. From the largest Climoflyer, specifically from Hegiralon City.”

My temples throbbed with unease.

“The man must’ve had a Defiants ability because he made predictions about the future. He foretold of someone from Hegiralon City uniting all defectives.” Rubbing a finger over his lower lip, Kade paused, like he wasn’t sure if he should say more. “Because of this, Sam, Max, and basically everyone else in this place believe I’m the one who’s going to unite the Glitchers of the Otherworlds and take the resistance into Climoflyer-1, to the doorsteps of the technocrats. Sam believes we can overthrow the government and put a stop to all the experiments if unified.”

“Overthrow?” With this one word, my head felt like it might explode. “You can’t be serious? Ally to a plot like this?”

Kade shrugged. “I never said I believe anything about predictions.”

“Forget the predictions,” I snapped. “Would you do it? Would you help them do something like this?”

A muscle spasm in his jaw confirmed the worst amid his silence.

Shaking my head, I bit down on my lip. “I can’t believe this, not any of it.”

“It doesn’t mesh with your plan of rewiring yourself to perfection, huh?”

“You’re talking about starting a war, Kade.”

“In case you missed something along the way in your quest to alter yourself into what everyone else wants you to be, a war started a long time ago.” Kade pointed to Nyla before he looked back at me angrily. “War started with scientists doing this to someone. With the imprisonment of everybody I know. With the government launching Glitchers, people like you and me, to a ground that isn’t yet survivable so they could film their misery.”

My body locked with shock, my hands trembling.

“Why film it anyway?” he hissed. “So sick, twisted Grays could watch from the comforts of their labs and claim it’s in the name of science, that’s why.”

The sockets of my eyes tingled as tears pooled in the corners. “No. No, that’s not…”

“What?” Kade’s shoulders rolled back. “Not true? Maybe you should ask Eli or Nyla here how true it is.”

A wave of nausea hit me, causing me to clutch my stomach.

“It’s not about whether I want to fight anyone. It’s about doing what’s right.” Kade folded his arms over his chest. “Maybe, when it comes down to it, you can’t choose to join a fight that’s already picked you. Defiants. Glitchers. It doesn’t matter what we call ourselves. We’re all defective Genoborgs, and our government mistreats us for it. Somebody needs to take a stand. I became a part of this the day retrievers hauled me out of my home. As far as I can tell, everything has gone to shit since we left Mars. We need to go back and forget about this damned planet we can’t inhabit.”

Through gritted teeth, I said, “Kade, do not do this.”

“I already have no future, no freedom. I have nothing to lose by joining this uprising.”

“You have your life to lose,” I said, and it sounded as though I was begging.

His chin dipped to his chest, then he shrugged, so casually that it scraped along my nerves. “You’ll be living the high life as an accredited by then, Gray. You won’t care about any of us—or even remember me—once you remedy your glitches.”

I stumbled back from him like he’d struck me. His words still rang in my ears when a shout and a scream destroyed the marginal calm.

Something Sam shouted stirred the arena to life.

Another shriek thrust everything around me into a dense, dark fog—a fog devastated half a heartbeat later by gunfire.

Chapter Twenty-Two

The world around me screamed.

Something Sam shouted about militias echoed throughout the cavern as a flood of people in navy uniforms invaded the chamber with their weapons drawn, showing no mercy as they fired rounds which boomed like cannon blasts off the walls of the hollow.

By the deafening sound, most of these soldiers weren’t shooting acid slugs. These were real bullets. The quieter pop of acid slug guns filled the silence between the louder bangs.

Out of the connector shafts, Glitchers appeared from all directions, all armed and ready for a fight.

“Don’t let them get past us!” Sam screamed to her people.

Sam’s bodyguards stayed in front of her, each moving with stealth and speed, disarming inbound opponents and striking them at the base of the neck to smash their panel with either baton or blade.

Many of those in neon swarmed in around Sam, intent on protecting her with their lives.

Some got hit with acid slugs before they made it far, screaming in agony as they took blows to the chest and legs.

Still, they kept going—until the neurotransmitters weaseling their way into their systems through their pores—took them to the ground, their bodies going limp. Others got hit with bullets.

Those getting hit by the real bullets dropped fast, never having a chance.

A group of young men hovered around Eli by the time he pulled his rifle from the side of his wheelchair and fired his first shot. It hit a man coming through the doorway but drowned in the commotion’s ricochet.

The world shifted into slow motion around me, bodies hitting the ground faster than smoke, and the scent of gunpowder filled the air.

“Down!”

The air propelling from my lungs burned when I hit the floor of the pit, pinned beneath the weight of Kade’s mass. His arm was under my back, arching me into him, as we landed.

When he pressed his lips to mine, the world went black from the power behind his kiss.

Lips locked on mine, he squeezed me and rolled us into the pole, keeping me protected from airborne slugs with his large form. Kade’s lips were soft despite the tense moment, his kiss delicate.

I didn’t have to worry about my trembling body anymore. If it still trembled at all, I couldn’t tell. At the sensation of him gripping my hands, a potent effervescence seared through my veins.

The smell of him, like driftwood at the arboretum but richer and muskier, and the tickle of the stubble on his upper lip caused the tiny hairs on my arms to stand straight up.

The battle in the arena became a hushed distortion.

A shiver traveled down my spine to my legs before Kade pulled away from our lip-lock, forcing my eyes to flutter open. A slight tug pulled at my wrists at about the same time I realized we were beside Nyla.

Our proximity to her made me wince. Kade distanced himself before he wiped his mouth, erasing all traces of our kiss.

“Sorry.” He stooped beside me, his grasp tightening on the rod Sam had given him.

“For kissing me after we fight?” I snapped with the taste of the kiss still on my lips.

He shook his head. “For resorting to distraction to keep you safe.”

Reeling from the kiss and what he’d just said, I sat against the pole for a dazed minute.

The grit of the pit floor was rough against my back when my shirt had slipped up. My eyes widened when I went to stand, and I couldn’t.

It hit me like a slap that he didn’t have the rope anymore.

He had kissed me to trick me so that he could tie my hands to the chain binding Nyla to the pole at the midriff.

Beside me, Nyla snickered.

“You’ll have a chance if they think you’re one of them.” At the sound of the intensifying violence, Kade edged back.

“Kade, don’t! What are you doing?” I tugged at the rope, trying to get it to loosen, but Kade sprinted out of the pit without giving me a second glance.

The sounds of the clash happening in the arena, now out of sight for me, twisted my stomach into knots.

More shooting, the unmistakable sound of blade clashing with blade, of wood colliding with wood, all intermingled with the occasional crack of a breaking bone or the sizzle of a destroyed panel.

Whimpers and squeals followed each horrendous clamor.

The corners of my eyes burned and, again, I put all my strength into trying to break the rope.

Even if Kade wanted to protect me, I couldn’t let him fight without helping. Glitchers were dying. I needed to help them. I needed to help Kade. We’d gotten each other this far.

Nyla licked her lips deviously. “A pitiful little thing like you isn’t going anywhere.”

The way she spoke, the resolve in her voice, the way she held her head high… None of it matched the scared girl from earlier. She was emotionless now, static.

My lungs seized as a thought struck.

We’d escaped Blue Garb at the lab earlier, but maybe Kade and I had led them here.

“None of you are going anywhere,” Nyla continued. “These chains will soon be fragments, like most of you, given what the future holds.”

Fragments?

She had allowed Sam to torture her for a week, allowing—

My heart thumped against my chest, my cheeks becoming fire.

Had Nyla led them here somehow? Was this a coordinated effort to find this hideout and lay siege to it? If so, then when Sam’s search squad found Nyla and brought her here, they’d taken the bait.

When Nyla raised the chains binding her hands, her pupils dilated, and she ripped her chains apart like they were made of butter.

I could hardly believe what I was seeing. This couldn’t be real. This couldn’t be happening.

The chain hit the ground, puffing dust back at me.

With her arms free, Nyla effortlessly escaped the chain binding her ankles.

Once it dropped to the ground with a clunk, she slinked down, her thin body sliding right out of the restraint around her abdomen.

She shoved to her feet with a grin on her face, crossed to the edge of the pit, and then climbed out.

I blinked in shock after her. With her body no longer causing tension on the chain Kade had secured my hands to, it hung loose.

Loose enough for me to reach for the knife in my jacket.

While Nyla brushed the grit from her legs, I stretched and hoped she wouldn’t catch on. When my fingers touched the curved handle in my pocket, I silently thanked Sam for giving it to me.

Nyla whirled back to me from the edge of the pit. “Don’t even think about it.”

No time for being discreet.

I yanked the knife from my pocket and cut at the rope around my hands as Nyla leaped back into the pit. She reached out to grab me by the throat when the last thread separated. I ducked to avoid her clutch, rolling into the dirt.

“Not too smart,” she hissed.

Every muscle in my jaw locked as I climbed to my feet, blade in hand.

She tsked. “I might’ve let you live, too.”

The impact of her armored foot colliding with my legs knocked me back to the ground with a pained groan. I landed on my back, the burning vapor in my lungs kindling a cough.

With the force of the hit, the knife sailed out of my hand, doing a somersault in the air, before landing with the handle sticking straight up out of the soil several feet away.

With an angry scowl, Nyla kicked me again. This one created an echoing crack, followed by a piercing pain that ripped through my abdomen, like a dozen knives gouging into my flesh.

I curled into a ball and let out a loud cry. My body juddered as I moved my hand to my ribs to numb the pain with some pressure. I’d have to suffer through it until my Restoratech did its job.

The smirk on Nyla’s face disappeared when a roar echoed from the combat zone. Eli’s wheelchair tumbled over the edge of the arena, engine at full blast, wheels of the chair flinging black gore into the air.

Eli hit the ground on his side with a loud grunt. The chair’s wheels tossed up dirt, parts flying as it crash-landed a couple of feet from him.

Our eyes met, and mine filled with tears that he’d done such a thing for me—a stranger.

Nyla’s eyes narrowed before she went for the knife with Eli in her sights.

My grip on my side tensed, and I slowly staggered to my feet. “Stay away from him. I’m a bigger threat to you.”

There wasn’t a shred of emotion on her face. Her dark eyes were blank orbs, her pace never faltering as she snatched the knife.

Eli dragged himself across the ground, pulling the weight of his body, one arm in front of the other, toward his chair as she advanced.

“Nyla!” With no other weapon or distraction nearby, I yanked at one of my shoes and chucked it at her head.

She dodged my throw and flung the blade at me.

The blade soared over my head, and I dove to the ground before it entrenched itself in the cavern’s support post.

When Nyla’s face reddened, my body trembled. She growled, then charged, hurtling herself on top of me, forcing me to kick her to keep her from crushing my neck with her hands.

Eli shouted a few choice words to regain her attention.

She faced him when a round entered the chamber of his rifle, clacking as his finger surged to the trigger.

“You’re underestimating how much of a threat the pissed-off disabled guy is!”

Nyla’s face remained blank, but she flinched before I thrust her off me. Her body flailed backward in time to take the bullet from Eli’s gun.

Black blood spewed across my shirt, and the soil around my feet darkened as Nyla collapsed to the ground. She landed with a thump and a groan masked slightly by the ringing in my ears.

“Take that!” Eli clapped his hands before he primed his gun again.

Nyla stirred sluggishly, glaring at Eli as she shook off the blow. With a low growl, she glanced down at the hole in her torso.

She gritted her teeth and removed the round, flicking it to the ground as easily as if she’d picked it from a bulletproof mannequin. The dark vein in her neck bulged with anger as she rose to her feet.

“Shit,” Eli whispered.

“These are your friends!” I shouted.

Her dark eyes never left Eli.

“There’s no room for friends, only survivors.”

A malicious glower directed at Eli emerged on her face, and she snatched the knife from the pole.

Focused on the mechanics of my breathing, I imagined air filling every crevice of my lungs. Nightbringers couldn’t ruin everything for us.

“No!” I threw myself in front of Eli when Nyla pounced, landing on my knees in front of him with tears stinging my eyes.

I didn’t have a scientific explanation for her, but Eli had it right. Nyla had vanished.

Whatever shaded the fluid in the armor of Nightbringers, it didn’t contain a trace of humanity. They were some experimentations gone wrong, a program that needed to be shut down.

She wouldn’t win here; they wouldn’t win here.

A surge of anger coursed through me, making all the pain in my body disappear. I leaped to my feet, and pure adrenaline let me block Nyla’s charge.

Our bodies collided with violent intensity. My mouth went dry before she punched me in the jaw. Pain exploded across my whole face.

I snatched her hair, an attempt to distract her long enough to knock the blade from her hand. She jerked back, then reared forward, head-butting me so hard that my teeth cracked the skin on the inside of my lip, producing the taste of blood.

“You’ll both die,” Nyla spat.

“Screw you.” I struck her face, blood warming my chin, my knuckles screaming in pain.

Eli shouted something in the subdued upheaval around me.

Nyla’s arms locked around me like bars of steel. She whirled me around, putting my back against her chest. She clasped tighter, constricting the rib or two she’d likely already broken.

Pain shot down my side, almost intolerable as it numbed my legs, drawing out a ragged scream. I gouged chunks from her arm with my fingernails and kicked and flailed to make her release me. All it got me was a trickle of black blood.

Her boa-constrictor-like grip on me strengthened.

A muffled voice shouted, sounding like a scream occurring somewhere under water.

Kade called my name, but he wasn’t in sight.

I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t fight. Reality swarmed in front of me through a darkening haze.

Before my eyelids became too heavy to keep open, a few more voices echoed.

“Get her out of the way!” Sam shouted somewhere in the distance.

A snapping sound boomed before a torrent of pain impaled my leg.

My eyes shot open with a scream, my body dropping into Kade’s waiting arms as I gasped for air. He caught me and pulled me to his side on the ground.

Eli crawled to me, pulling himself across the ground. Kade ripped off his jacket and used it to staunch a wound in my leg.

Pete appeared out of the fog before the surrounding haze cleared some. He poured a small pot of a hot liquid over the pea-sized hole where Kade flicked tiny specks of green off me.

When my senses caught up, I let out another cry.

“It’s okay.” Kade’s comforting embrace strengthened when I tried to sit up.

“We got all those pesky neuro parasites off of you before they could burrow.” Pete kneeled at my side, not quite blocking Sam’s fray with Nyla that was happening behind him.

“You shot me?” Again, I tried to sit up with a groan.

“No, Sam did.” Kade tipped his head in her direction.

“Told you she’d do that.” Eli said, too much relief in his voice. “She saved your life.”

My voice cracked. “She shot me!”

Kade shook his head, pointing to the small hole in his shoulder. “You’re not alone. She did the same to me to keep me from getting my panel smashed in by one of the Nightbringers.”

His eyes clouded, narrowing on a fair-haired man who was retreating with a few others in government-soldier blue. His entire body tensed like he wanted to pounce.

“You need to go after him?” My words sounded slurred.

Kade answered with eyes on me. “No. Sam’s winning here. They’re retreating.”

“Soldiers?” The rib pain vanished, my whole body going numb as I remembered. “The Technocracy has Nightbringers in the forces.”

“Yeah.” Kade’s brow rutted.

“We got those bastards.” Pete grinned. “Withdrew back the way they came. We’ll set traps before they return with their sheath-y shields.”

Sheaths.

Referring to people as sheaths sounded awful, making my stomach turn. Given Nyla’s emotionless, robotic demeanor, though, there was nothing else to call them. They weren’t Genoborgs anymore, but some mutant version of what they used to be.

“Won’t be able to hold them off forever, though.”

“Nyla,” I whispered, clawing at Kade’s shirt to pull myself upright.

He and Pete helped me stand, Kade keeping me against his side, supporting me in the fold of his arm.

People were all around us, each one breathless and blood-covered from battling for their lives. Sam and Nyla, in the middle of a heated brawl, were on the far side of the pit.

Sam broke from Nyla’s grasp with a snarl. She threw herself backward over the girl’s back while she had her down on all fours. She then pulled the knife from the holster on her hip as soon as she regained her footing.

Nyla snapped back, likely thinking she would knock Sam backward, but Sam thrust her whole body forward. She plunged her blade into the back of Nyla’s neck with a low whimper.

There were a few gasps, and then the chamber went silent.

I brought my arms in against my breastbone to comfort myself at about the same time Kade shuddered, watching as Sam buried her face in the sleeve of her jacket. The sound of Sam’s stifled cry filled the air. Then she pulled the body close against her.

Nyla’s panel crackled before popping, the song of her demise.

In the silence, the hands of almost every onlooker had gone to their mouths with shock. After a few minutes, Sam lowered Nyla’s limp body to the ground and stepped aside.

It wasn’t until then that I glanced around the arena. A wellspring of dark blood sluiced the ground, fitting considering what a gloomy day this had turned into. My stomach coiled, the back of my throat clogging with bile and sorrow. I had to swallow to keep from gagging on the scent of death.

Dark blood dripped from Sam’s platinum-blond hair. She wiped a couple of specks from her brow and hunched beside Nyla’s body, her hands shaking. Her dark eyes swung to me and Kade, the light dimming in them.

“Get them back to Max so they can go home.”

James nodded.

“W-we didn’t lead them here,” I stuttered.

Sam winced. “I know. You still need to go.”

Kade bristled, and her gaze went to him.

“We must protect our alliance for what’s coming. This is only the beginning.” Sam crossed her arms, eyes glistening in the light when she looked at Kade. “Do I have your allegiance?”

Without as much as a second’s thought, Kade nodded.

And as much as I’d been against it earlier, I couldn’t bring myself to object now.

“What just happened?” I asked Kade while James and Pete led us through the maze of bodies littering the floor, my body in motion but numb.

Kade heaved a shaky breath. “Numbers for the Defiants just grew.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

When the doors of the Transporter glided open, Caleb was alone near the foot of the catwalk ladder, rubbing his hands together and turning in circles. He registered our arrival with a low moan, one filled with relief, before he darted to me.

It hit me the moment he threw his arms around me that I didn’t know how long we’d been gone. It felt like forever. So much had happened in Climoflyer-4 that time became irrelevant.

Kade and I didn’t talk about any of it on our way back. The ordeal left us both exhausted and in shock. Part of me couldn’t believe Caleb had waited for me for so long.

“Brinya, I’ve been so worried!”

“I’m fine,” I reassured Caleb, tearing myself from his embrace.

“I’ve been pacing the floor here between dodging Blue Garb. I hid in the closet when they sounded the alarm. Everyone here is in a panic over this. Where have you been?” Caleb turned to Kade, eyes on his shoulder. “Did you get shot?”

Kade ignored him and moved toward the doors, calling over his shoulder as they opened. “We need to be somewhere else when those coming after us arrive.”

He led the way up the stairs out of the basement, and I followed with Caleb on my heels.

“You’ll never believe what happened, Caleb. We went to Climoflyer-4.”

“Are you serious? You went to another Climoflyer?”

“Yes, it was crazy.”

“Crazy illegal,” Caleb replied.

“We ended up in a compound like this one. Then the police came after us.” My heart lurched into my throat. I couldn’t tell him the rest. I couldn’t talk about it, let alone expect Caleb to process it. Besides, knowing would put him in danger. “We barely got away in time. It was unbelievable.”

“And dangerous.” Caleb's lips became a tight line, a wave of realized horrors dumping down on him. “You could have gotten arrested, or worse, killed.”

For the first time, it sank in how close to death we had come.

“But I wasn't. We made it back. And Kade was the one in real danger, not me. As we left in the Transporter, his detainment device nearly went off.”

Caleb grabbed my arm and dropped his voice as we navigated from the first-floor hallway and made our way into the residence hall. “I'm not concerned about his safety. It's you I'm worried about. This whole excursion has been a mistake.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I'm talking about today. Everything happening since we got here.”

He’d never know how much had happened today. Everything Kade and I had endured in Climoflyer-4 changed me. I’d never be the same.

“Ever since we met that Neanderthal, we've been in nothing but trouble. I'm telling you, he's not safe. It’s not safe to be around any of these defectives.”

“Then it’s not safe for you to be around me,” I told him, my voice lifeless and tired.

His eyes narrowed. “He's going to get you killed. Maybe get all of us killed. And I won't stand by and let that happen.”

“Listen up, you little twit.” Kade appeared at my side, his face red with anger. “I am not the one who nearly got Brinya killed. I got her back.”

“Caleb didn't mean it like that, Kade.”

“Yes, I did.” Caleb drew himself up to his full height and threw out his chest, turning his back on me. “You have no right to order us around because we're here. You're dangerous, and I will protect my friends.”

“You can't protect your friends. You live out in your safe little world, and you have no idea who the real enemy is.” Kade gestured toward the front of the building, derision written on his chiseled features. “You’re blind to every truth we uncovered today.”

“I know you and it’s unwise to trust your kind.” Caleb moved closer to him, his fists clenched.

With my teeth gritted, a jolt of anger lit my veins on fire. Caleb was out of line, making me question his place in my life. How could he not see that he was talking about my kind, too?

“You know nothing.” Kade spat the words into Caleb's face.

I threw myself between them to keep them from hurling punches. “Stop it, both of you.”

“Stop what, Brinya? Stop trying to protect you from yourself? Stop trying to get us out of here?” Caleb grabbed my arm, but I broke free. “You’re the one who failed decision-making, remember?”

My mouth dropped open, my last nerve about to turn to ashes. “Yes, Caleb,” I hissed. “I do remember.”

“You got your Genotech blueprints, so it’s time to go.” Caleb shoved me out of the way, refusing to break eye contact with Kade. “He isn't the savior you think he is. Your choices today are going to lead you down a road you don’t want to go down. Not going to happen.”

Kade's temper exploded. “Listen, you little—”

Caleb's fist, landing a solid blow to Kade's midsection, interrupted any insult. Kade reacted on instinct, grabbing Caleb by the shoulders, and lobbing him to the ground. Caleb rolled away. Kade stayed on him, each throwing punches.

“The government has good reason to keep you defectives locked up. You’re a threat to everyone!”

“We’re not a threat to anything but their system of lies,” said Kade.

I stayed put. What could I do to stop them, and did I want to anyway? Caleb obviously needed some sense knocked into him, though that hurt to admit since I still considered him my friend.

Bodies rushed in to separate the two. Dag and Vedrick pinned Kade to the ground as Jaron worked with Donnika to disentangle Caleb.

Talon and Addie skidded to a stop beside me, horror on their faces. Addie froze, mouth open, but Talon trudged between the still-writhing boys.

“What’s going on here?” Talon's voice echoed in the chamber.

Caleb and Kade stopped fighting the others and looked at her. Kade shook himself free and Caleb jerked from Jaron's hold.

“Nothing,” Kade growled.

Talon swung to face Caleb. “Kade could kill you with his bare hands if he wanted to.”

“That's not true.” Caleb's bloody nose and fast-forming bruises told a different story, but he maintained his hostile stance. “He won’t boss me around. And you won't, either.”

Everyone stood silent, both sides facing off, unsure of who should make the next move. Talon smirked at Caleb but remained silent.

At last, Addie spoke. “Where have you guys been?”

Feeling a sudden trace of guilt about ditching her in the rec room, I faced her.

“I went to the basement. Caleb followed me and we almost got caught. Kade hid us. Then Kade and I, uh, somehow, accidentally, teleported to Climoflyer-4. We got back a few minutes ago. Right before all of this.” I gestured between Kade and Caleb.

Another moment of silence ensued before everyone started talking at once. The Defiants crowded around Kade, pelting him with questions as more emerged to join the swelling crowd.

“Teleported?”

“You went where?”

“How did you get out?”

“What was it like?”

“Why didn't you take me with you?”

“You could bring every cop here doing stupid shit like that!” Jaron yelled.

The interrogations came so fast that Kade couldn't keep up. He held up his hands, trying to deflect the outbursts from his gang.

As they all continued to talk, Addie's hand landed on my shoulder, and her other went to Caleb’s elbow.

“Hey,” she whispered, “why don't you two go to the bathrooms and clean up? We'll meet in the rec room. I don't think anyone will miss us for a few minutes.”

She glanced over her shoulder at the knot of black-clothed designs.

Caleb looked as if he wanted to object, but when another trickle of blood started from his nose, he nodded and slinked toward the showers. Addie took my arm and led me away.

We found the rec room quiet. And empty. I breathed a sigh of relief and sagged onto the sofa.

Part of me wanted to cry, another part wanted to scream, as I checked to make sure my Restoratech had healed the tiny holes left in my skin from where Sam had shot me with an acid slug.

Beneath the bloodstained fabric of my frayed jeans, there were a few small scars, but they didn’t hurt, which let the tight muscles in my back relax.

Addie dropped quietly beside me, observing my actions but not asking questions. “I've been patient with this whole adventure. But Caleb’s right: we don’t belong here.”

I pursed my lips, my mind reeling in a fury of emotions and uncertainties.

“I can’t believe you, Brinya. You left this craft. Do you know what they’ll do to you if they find out?”

“Wasn't planning on mentioning it to anyone, but thanks for the warning.”

“I hope none of the forces will recognize you or your family.”

I had given little thought to what might happen to my parents if I got discovered.

With my head clearer, I realized that a camera somewhere in Climoflyer-4 probably captured my face on video. I’d have to hope nobody important saw any such footage if it existed.

In the last week, I’d broken some of the most enforced laws, but I couldn’t say I regretted it. It had opened my eyes for the first time.

“My father has been clear about several things in our household, and not jumping from Climoflyer to Climoflyer is a pretty big one.”

“You know about Quantum Transporters?” A sudden coldness hit at my core.

“I know of them, yes. I don’t know any specifics, but my father has mentioned them. For the record, he forbids all use of them.”

“I didn't mean to be on one myself. Believe me, I'm not trying to get in trouble here.”

Her eyebrows rose. “Really? Because it's looking that way. I even think maybe you like it.”

My frustration had me blinking back tears. “I came for something to help me fix my glitches, Addie. I won’t end up exiled to one of the other Climoflyers, unable to go to the ground.”

If launching to the ground was even a viable hope anymore, given all I’d learned. A lump formed in my throat, and I rubbed my palms up and down my pant legs.

“There are awful things happening in the Otherworlds. Those poor people have never done anything wrong.”

“There must be a good reason for keeping them separated from the rest of us,” said Addie.

Flames of anger shot through me. “There’s no good reason for segregating people like animals in cages.”

Addie’s jaw tightened. “What are you saying?”

Deep down, I didn’t know. Yesterday, I believed myself to be the only design with glitches. Now there were hundreds, thousands maybe.

For years, I obsessed over reacclimation. Now I couldn’t be sure it would ever happen. And even if it did, it suddenly didn’t feel as important as helping all the people I’d met.

“Brinya, answer me. What are you saying?”

“Nothing is as it seems.”

Addie stared at the bookcase, away from me. “Is this about Kade?”

“What?” Heat rose to my cheeks as the memory of our kiss resurfaced.

“I've never seen you look at anyone before the way you look at him. I mean, you do realize there is no possible way he’ll get assigned as your partner, right?”

That was the final straw. First Caleb's accusations and now Addie's. It was too much to take.

“Instead of blaming Kade, maybe you should consider all the things we’ve learned today. You don't even know yet what happened in Climoflyer-4, and you're going to pin everything on Kade? We have a real problem, Addie. These people are real. If my plan to patch my glitches fails, this is going to be me. I’ll be a prisoner.”

Addie’s shoulders rolled back, and finally, she looked at me.

“I know your Sentitech governs your emotions, but you have to remember my tech is glitching,” I continued. “For me, all of this, understanding this and finding these people, relates to who I am. Their fate could be mine.”

Addie sighed. “You're my friend, and I want to support you. But you need to make sure you don't get involved more than you already have. That's all. I can’t condone any more of this. I’m worried you came here with a goal, and you’re going to let all this hinder it.”

“You think I’d change my mind about correcting the mutations affecting my tech?”

“You haven’t said what happened in Climoflyer-4. Why?” Addie’s eyes bored into me, and I wasn’t sure how to reply. But then all interest drained from her face faster than it had appeared. “We need to go home. Now.”

“I can’t leave yet. Something is going on. If there’s a copy of the Founders’ Doctrine floating around here, I need to find it before we go. It might hold answers to what’s happening out there, and in here.”

“If anyone finds out we met these people, we’ll be in so much trouble. Helping them? I can’t even imagine.”

“What are you saying?” I asked.

She looked at me for a moment, seeming to choose her words carefully. “You need to make a choice. You think something bigger is going on here? Caleb and I say leave it alone. Stick to your plan. Let anything else happening be their problem.”

My mouth slackened, not believing her suggestion. The realization that I might’ve agreed with her a few days ago made my flesh crawl.

I’d been so blinded by my own fears and selfish needs that it never once dawned on me that there were others who needed help more than me.

I’d been so excited about the opening of the hatches, experiencing rain, I’d never once considered the possibility of it being one giant lie, executed to keep those of us in Hegiralon City duped.

Or perhaps to keep us safe.

Even after everything, I wasn’t ready to assume the worst of our leaders. They must’ve had their reasons.

“There’s plenty of them. Let them fight their own battles.”

I scowled at Addie.

“You need to learn to pick battles big enough to matter but small enough to win. This isn’t one of them, Brin. You’ll lose if you go down the path of trying to help these people.”

I didn't say anything. Clearly, I should want things to go back to normal, too. After all, that was why I’d come here.

Maybe Addie knew me better than I knew myself. Having the mystery of the conditions outside, on the ground, come to light—knowing what happened to those in the Otherworlds and to the Defiants here—it was too much. A part of me doubted if “normal” was what I wanted after all.

But could I renounce the life I’d be leaving behind to live as an exile, facing tests, tattoos, and Nightbringers? I doubted that, too.

Addie and I returned to the residence hall to find Caleb on a bed, no one else anywhere in sight.

“Where is everyone?” I asked.

“They left,” he said, his voice tight.

“Caleb?” I waited until he made eye contact. “What did you do?”

“Me? I didn't do anything. It was that brute again. I came back from the bathroom, and they were all surrounding him like a pack of mangy puppies, and it wasn’t good. Most of this vile gang want our heads on a platter, or at least out of this hole. We’ve overstayed our welcome. Your little adventure this afternoon didn’t help. It’s funny really; they think you’re the troublemaker, but I know it’s the barbarian who’s bad news.”

“Stop the name-calling. What did they say?” I demanded.

“None of them think you’re for them—only out to help yourself.”

A sour taste formed in my mouth.

“Aside from that, he was going on about all your adventures and how he saved you, and it was all a bunch of crap, Brinya.”

“What did you do?” I asked again, crossing my arms.

“I told you, nothing. I called him out. And then he started yelling about how I don't get what’s going on and how those like me are to blame for everything, and then he exploded out of here.” He nodded over his shoulder.

“I told you to find us when you finished in the bathroom,” Addie grumbled. “Why didn't you leave him alone? Are you trying to get beat up again?”

The stunned look on Caleb's face almost amused me. Addie rarely got irritated, and I had witnessed it multiple times today. Our day of adventure had pushed her limits.

“You two have the same lack of trust for them as they have for you,” I said. “But I know the truth.” There was a moment of hushed anticipation before I continued. “I’m the danger; I’m a hazard to everyone I’m around.”

The silence made the air feel heavier.

Addie spoke first. “Listen, I'm going to find out if someone around here knows how to get us home. I’m not inclined to climb the inner fence again, but we need to get out. Surely there’s a shortcut and someone here knows where it is. It's getting late, and I don't want to tell my father where we've been all day.”

She spun on her heel and headed for the door Caleb had identified. Caleb shifted nervously on the bed, bruises still visible on his face when he looked at me.

“Brinya?”

“What?”

“Before we go home, I need to tell you something. It's important.”

“Okay.”

Caleb stood up, wiping his palms on his pant legs. He cleared his throat, a vein popping on the side of his forehead.

“Coming here today may not have been the best idea for any of us. I mean, I'm glad Addie and I came, and I'm sure glad you didn't come here by yourself. But you know, the stuff that's gone on today… Well, it's been pretty rough on all of us.”

Unsure of his point, I narrowed my eyes on him.

“Some good may come from all this. I mean, I’m glad you found the gene information you were after, but I think, maybe, I found some answers too. For myself, at least.” He cleared his throat again.

“What answers were you looking for?”

“A solution to allow us to both be who we are without either of us having to pretend. I mean, admit it. You need a way to keep your life tolerable, even after accreditation. There will be at least a couple years before any approved launch, and if it doesn’t happen… you don’t want to slip into a state of Climoporia.”

I wrinkled my brow. “Excuse me?”

“When you guys disappeared in that Transporter, and I couldn't find you and couldn't call you back, I panicked. I freaked. I didn't know if someone would come and find me or if we'd ever get out of here. I stood down there and waited for you, and—”

“And what, Caleb?” Getting him to spit it out was like pulling teeth.

“And well, I realized I wanted to see you again.”

“Great. Here I am. Your friend, in the flesh.”

“Well, that's it, Brinya. I mean, I was afraid I'd never get to share anything with you again. And there’s stuff I haven’t been able to tell you. Besides Addie, you’re the only one who’s never judged me or expected anything from me I couldn’t give.”

My jaw locked as I realized I’d missed something major. “What are you saying?”

“Being here, I’ve realized there are so many ways a person can be defective, depending on how bad their tech glitches are and how many they have.” Caleb paused, licking his lips. “For your sake, I hope you’re able to correct your glitches, Brin. But if you can’t, we both know you’ll be miserable living in Hegiralon City as an accredited. I’ve come up with a solution, for you and me.”

I shrugged, waiting.

“Please don't laugh, but it’d be in both our best interests to be open to being more than friends.”

I let out a low gasp, somewhat comprehending his suggestion. “Caleb, are you saying you want to be with me, like with me with me because of some sort of attraction or deeper feelings?”

Caleb rocked in place for a minute. “I wouldn’t say feelings, but I see how you and me being partnered could be beneficial for both of us.”

Had he lost his mind? Perhaps the punch from Kade had done it. Perhaps I should have stepped in to stop it.

“That's nuts. Caleb, you’re not experiencing glitches. Being with someone like me would be a hazard to you, especially if I’m unable to mend my glitches. You don’t want that.”

“I didn’t say it’s what I want. I said it would be beneficial for both of us. A means of bearing two unfortunate situations.”

“Us being partnered is not what you want.”

“Whatever I want, however you would define it, you’re right about one thing: I want to make choices that benefit you and me.”

I tilted my head at him, unsure of what he was plotting or for what reason.

“I want to protect you from yourself and keep you from making bad choices with that glitching tech of yours.”

“Screw you, Caleb. I don’t need anyone to help me make my choices,” I told him and gritted my teeth together.

“Your glitches are going to get you locked away. Or worse, drive you to Climoporia. And although you might not agree or like it, my motives and structured reasoning are what can put you on the path you need to be on to remain a part of our world. It might even get you to the ground one day. I won’t let you wind up here. I can’t. Deep down, you don’t want that, either.”

My shoulders stiffened, my mind reeling with uncertainty. I didn’t want to be here, a prisoner, but I couldn't agree with him. He’d think I’d agreed to accept him. Which I’d never do.

Finally, I shook my head. “Caleb, we can’t be together in—”

A loud bang startled us both.

We turned to see Kade at the top of the stairs, standing near the door. I hadn't heard him come in, and I guessed by the look on Caleb's face that he hadn't, either.

Leaning hard on the railing, his stance rigid, Kade glanced between us before peering into me, his steel-blue gaze stony. I tried to say something to stop him, but he jerked the door open and shot me one more pointed glance before he walked out. The door slammed behind him.

My heart sank, and I looked at Caleb, whose face had gone ashen. He stared at the dormitory door, and I stared at him, along with a stream of images in my mind.

Caleb's anger and irritation over Kade. His dismissive attitude. The sneers. The way Caleb had tried to act in control down here. Demanding. Demeaning. Like he was better than the Defiants. Better than all Glitchers. Those like me.

Anger surged through me, stronger than I’d ever felt. “Caleb Kent! You listen to me, and you listen close.”

Caleb faced me with his eyes wide.

“Whatever nutty ideas you’ve gotten in your head, forget them. I’ll deal with whatever comes down the line for me myself. You don’t need to be making plans to be my protector.”

“Maybe not. But I promise you, Brinya, I won’t stand by and let either of us get trapped in miserable situations. I’ll do my part to protect the Technocracy and our way of life regardless of what measures I must take. And I’ll do my part to protect you and me, even if it's from our own dark secrets. You know why? Because I want you to be a part of that world. I don’t want you to end up here, bitter and trapped like the rest of these freaks.”

My jaw clenched tight at the word freaks.

I bit my tongue, and then I spoke, firm and cold. “We are friends, Caleb, although after today, just barely. We’re nothing more. You aren't responsible for me. You have bigger worries. Your tests, and the reality that, in a few weeks, you’ll find out who your partner is.”

His eyes widened fearfully.

“I’ve noticed how all that talk bothers you. So worry about yourself, not me. When you get your partner, then you can do whatever you want to do to protect them. You let me take care of myself. And believe me, I can handle my own freak problems.”

I stalked toward the door Addie had used, leaving Caleb shaking his head and throwing up his arms in exasperation behind me.

Chapter Twenty-Four

When I opened the double doors of the rec room, Addie and many of the Defiants turned toward me. Some rolled their eyes, then looked away, Jaron being one of them.

Addie rushed to me, her eyes wide, fearful. Caleb came in behind me, but I ignored him.

“Four officers are in the lab. Dag spotted them. We have to get out of here.”

Kade stood by Talon and Dag near the exercise area, his back to me. I wondered if I should talk to him, but as I took a step, he glanced at me and shook his head.

The rest of the compound residents whispered together in twos and threes around the room. I only recognized a few of them. They eyed the three of us with disdain and suspicion. Several pierced me with stares of anger and animosity.

Addie and Caleb returned the favor of those glaring.

They blamed us for bringing the Blue Garb into their compound, the only home most had known in years, and they were right. It was my fault.

“Okay, listen up,” Kade shouted.

A cluster of boys faced him, at the ready. His people were ready for battle.

I couldn't help the small smile that played on my lips watching him lead them. Caleb and Addie shifted uncomfortably.

“There are two major issues we have to face today. First, we have police on their way upstairs. I don’t think I have to tell anyone how dangerous they are. Second, we have three outsiders who need to get by them. We’ll sneak them out using the drainage system.”

Some of the Defiants flicked their gazes at us, but most kept their eyes glued on Kade.

“Our goal is to get our three friends out without them getting caught.” At the word friends, Kade glanced at me, and I breathed a small sigh of relief.

“I'm as much to blame as they are for what we face today. We’ll undoubtedly suffer, and I'm sorry. But if they’re caught, they’ll suffer far worse. We need to get them out.”

Addie let her head fall back with a relieved exhale.

“To make this happen, I’ll lead them to the basement. Talon will lead the rest of you in a small mutiny that’ll make it possible for me to get them out. This isn’t how we like to interact with the Technocracy’s forces, but today it’s necessary. If you don’t wish to take part, you’re free to return to the dormitory.”

He paused slightly before finishing. “Anyone helping, please follow Talon to the tennis court. Jaron, you and Dag come with me.”

Two or three of the youngest girls, maybe eleven or twelve, and one boy made their way out the door. The rest of the group pounded after Talon. Dag and Jaron fell into step behind Kade, who stopped in front of me. I looked up at his towering frame and waited.

“You three have to do what I say.” He eyed each of us. “Exactly what I say. Do you understand? You cannot turn yourselves over to these guys. They’ll do much worse than arrest you, believe me. And since the crime they're investigating is the use of a Transporter, it won't matter to them if you're glitching or not. Got it?”

Kade looked at Addie and Caleb, and they both nodded. I waited for him to look at me, but he didn’t. He turned instead to Dag and Jaron.

“Find out how far away they are. We know four got off the Transporter, but there’s only one door to the basement. It's your job to be our eyes on each of them. Lead them away from the door. If your only choice is to distract them, do it.”

The two boys took off through the door, silent in their movements.

“You three, let's go.”

Still, Kade wouldn’t look me in the eye, and I wanted to stop him long enough to make him understand what he had overheard in the dorm. But we had bigger problems to deal with.

We followed Kade to the end of the hall, and I glanced back to see several small groups of the Defiants exit the rec room, breaking in different directions as they went. The siblings each led a group in the other direction. Talon led one toward us. She smiled at me as they slid by.

“Let's go.” Kade stepped out, waving for us to follow him.

We hurried down various corridors, then snuck down a set of stairs, but Kade pulled to a stop at the bottom.

“Wait here,” he whispered before he turned the corner.

Without his large presence, the stairwell seemed cold and empty.

“Do you think we're safe here?” Addie whispered to me.

I took her hand and squeezed it.

“No, we're not safe,” Caleb hissed. “Let's hope he's leading us out of here.”

“Hush, both of you.” For the third time today, Kade held my fate in his hands. Twice, he’d come through for me. He wouldn’t fail us. “He’ll get us out.”

We waited in silence for a long five minutes before Kade reappeared with Jaron. He gestured for us to follow, and the two of them led us away. We wove through the passages until I didn’t know where we were.

After what felt like forever, we turned into a hall I recognized. We were about there.

“Glad you’re helping me do this, Jaron,” Kade muttered over his shoulder.

“If it gets them out of here, of course I’m in.”

One more turn, and we were at the basement door. Kade, still in the lead, peeked around the corner. Jaron, bringing up the rear, kept a lookout.

“It's empty.” Kade's husky voice rumbled in his chest.

I flinched when a loud bang behind us echoed off the walls. Voices erupted in a cacophony, and more bangs filled the air.

“They're on their way downstairs!” a man shouted.

“Time to move,” said Jaron.

More booms erupted as the sound of a clash chased us. Before we were through the door, a crowd of people crashed into the passage. I glanced over my shoulder to see a group of the Defiants spill into the opening from another chamber.

Talon leaped over a few falling bodies, yelling over the chaos, “Kade, go. It's Dr. Kenzon.”

“Jaron, help them,” Kade ordered. “Buy us all the time you can.”

Jaron nodded and took off down the hallway. Kade grabbed my hand and pulled me through the doorway, Caleb and Addie on our heels.

Through the closing door, Jaron halted as a large man turned into view. He lifted a weapon and fired at Jaron. A loud bang echoed, sending panic through my veins. Jaron fell as the door slid closed.

I gasped in horror.

“Brinya, let's go. Now.” Kade sprinted once we reached the bottom of the steps.

I had to concentrate to keep up.

We hurried to the lab and beyond the Transporter, turning behind some equipment on the west wall. Kade slipped behind a large device where a small grate lay hidden in the floor. He pulled it loose and let it swing down to the level below.

“You first, Caleb. Then Addie, then Brinya. Once you get down, start walking. I'll catch up.”

“No way,” I said. “We aren't leaving you.”

“Yes, you are.” For the first time since the dorms, Kade looked me straight in the eye. “Go now, before he gets here. I won’t let this guy catch you.”

My lips parted to reply, but the sound of the lab's door hushed us all. Footsteps echoed off the equipment as someone moved into the room. From the crack between two large pieces of equipment, we spotted two of the guards. We all held our breaths.

“I know you're in here.” The voice was harsh and cold, making me shiver.

“Go,” Kade whispered. His gaze darted to a cabinet across the room, then back to me. “I’m right behind you. Just have to grab something.”

“Give yourselves up, and I'm sure we can reach an acceptable end.”

With a finger on his lips, Kade grabbed Caleb by the arm and pulled him toward the opening. For once, Caleb didn't argue. He dived into the grate, landing with a muted curse.

“Come out and I won’t punish everyone in this building.” Kenzon's voice reverberated from the center of the room while Kade lowered Addie through into Caleb's arms.

He reached for me next, and I took his hand, squeezing his fingers until he looked at me.

With his expression solemn, he pulled me closer, holding me for a heartbeat. His powerful arms embraced me, pinning me to his chest and coursing warm tingles over every inch of my skin.

I briefly inhaled his rich, musky scent before he lowered me to the others.

Caleb caught me by the legs once I was in the chute, holding me until my feet hit the ground in the large drainage pipe, and I found my balance enough to push away from him.

Long and dry, the shaft still smelled dank. A faint light shone not far ahead. Without making a sound, we started toward it.

So far, there was no hint that Kade had dropped in behind us. But for once, I followed his orders. Hopefully, he would catch up.

We reached the end of the tunnel, and it emptied into a shaft knee-deep with water. A trellis big enough to squeeze through peeked out of the liquid where the chute came to a dead end, wafting scents of the city in through its slats.

“That's your way out.” When Kade suddenly came up behind us on quiet feet, an unexpected release of tension relaxed every muscle in my back.

“You made it.”

He and Caleb both seemed to note the relief in my voice.

It was short-lived, though, replaced by annoyance. “What was so important for you to get before fleeing from that guy?”

With a small grin on his face, Kade pulled something from behind him. I gasped when he handed me a book. A thick and very real book with paper pages bound in a soft leather. “You’ve been hoping to get your hands on a copy of the Doctrine, right? Well, now you have one.”

My jaw dropped as I pulled the book to my chest, holding it there for a bit.

Caleb scrubbed a hand over his face, exhaling frustration.

When Kade took the book away from me and put it in the waterproof compartment of my backpack, the blood in my veins hummed with eager anticipation over what might be inside.

“I hope you figure out whatever it is you’re hoping to learn from it, Brinya.” He paused. “Don’t read it until you’re one hundred percent sure you can handle knowing what they’re hiding. After what went down in Climoflyer-4, it can’t be anything good.”

“Thank you,” I managed to say.

Kade looked past me and pointed to the trellis. “You'd better get going in case Dr. Kenzon figures out where we went. Right now, they have no actual proof anyone from the city got in here. They think Glitchers jumped crafts.”

“We’re keeping it that way, too,” said Caleb.

“I slid the grate over the shaft back into place, so even if he finds it, he'll ignore it.”

“What is this place?” Addie glanced at the metal lattice over the opening to the outside, her eyes lighting with enthusiasm. “Can we get out through there?”

“It's an old part of the drainage system, and yes, once through that grate, you swim until you’re in the moat. It’ll pop you up on the other side of the gate and put you back in your normal life.”

“Perfect.” Throwing a quick smile of thanks to Kade, Addie stepped into the stream and headed for the screen. I turned back to Kade when she slid it aside far enough to fit through. “How will you get back?”

“This tunnel has multiple access points. I’ll get back before he knows where I've been. There will be interrogations, but they have no proof of anything. We'll be okay.”

Caleb grabbed me. “We have to go.”

“What if they figure out it was you who jumped Climoflyers?”

“You won't have to worry about seeing me again.” Kade took my elbow and nuzzled me against Caleb. “Watch out for her,” he said to Caleb, keeping his gaze from mine.

“I don't need your advice to manage that.” Caleb bit back at Kade.

He pulled my arm until I had no choice but to follow.

We waded to the opening where Addie waited for us. She dove once we were by her side.

I glanced back to see Kade still watching us, and I waved. He simply turned and sauntered deeper into the tunnel, toward the sound of boots stampeding after us.

Their approach thundered off the concrete.

Beside me, Caleb disappeared into the watery abyss. I sucked in a breath, then followed him, diving into the crushingly cold water.

Once I cleared the grate opening, I swam for shore as fast as possible, intently aware that normal would never feel the same again.

Chapter Twenty-Five

As suspected, nothing felt the same once we returned home.

The days passed in a dreadful whirl of restlessness, accomplished with a well-practiced facade. Hegiralon City wasn’t the place it once was. It would never be the same.

My parents asked about my hours at the lab and school, and vague answers were enough to satisfy their curiosities.

They’d returned home so late on the day I jumped craftworlds that they suspected nothing. My academy work slipped some, but nothing out of the ordinary for the days leading up to one’s accreditation.

So thankfully, no one questioned it.

The faces of those I’d met that day inundated my thoughts, once consumed by fears of glitches and my dreams of going to the ground.

Life, for me, had become about forcing myself through it one day at a time, which proved harder as I weaned myself off my anxiety herbs.

When the sliding glass doors to the toxicology lab glided open with a swish, I walked inside with the buttons of my lab coat fastened to my neck like I belonged.

At the table closest to the entrance, a girl in a lab-issued jumpsuit replaced the white table cover before organizing tissue trays in neat rows.

She didn’t look up at me when I slid by her. Thankfully, none of the techs or scientists with their eyes fixated on either computer screens or analyzer machines paid any attention to me entering the room without my new mentor.

I navigated the counters teeming with curved monitors and laboratory supplies with my head held high. Windows lined the outer walls of this room, letting simlight, which warmed my face, in on three sides.

The heat in my cheeks faded when Ingrid came into view behind a table, her eyes pressed to the eyepiece of a microscope. The glow from the optics’ platform cast a shadow on her face, making her look older than a woman in her late thirties.

“Hey,” I said, stopping at her side.

When Ingrid backed away from her sampling, her eyes had an imprint left from the examination lenses around them. “Did you ditch Dr. Lannon?”

In the week since my transition into the next training zone, Dr. Theo Lannon, a renowned geneticist, had taken over as my new mentor. Despite his genius influence, I missed Ingrid.

“Convinced him I needed something I left with you when you were my mentor.”

She fought back a smile. “You need to be more careful.”

“I’ll be quick.” I drifted my gaze to the ring on my right index finger. “Did you get the blueprints I sent you?”

Ingrid nodded. “I did. Thanks for encrypting them as I asked. I’m working on an inhibitor that’ll mesh with your specific tech and your blood type and vitals. I’ll be in touch.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Keep your distance from me from here on out.”

“I will.”

Ingrid skimmed the room, and her gaze stalled on a man in a lab coat a few rows over. He stood behind an assortment of Florence flasks. She opened her mouth to say something but didn’t when he waved a couple of fingers at her.

She gave him a nod, then looked down at the table, snatching one of the petri dishes beside her vial holder before handing it to me. “Take this to him, please. He’s waiting for it.”

I did as she asked and returned to her side.

The man’s attention loitered on us for a few seconds, but then, as intently as he’d been watching us, he turned his attention to the incubators and centrifuges surrounding him.

“You should go,” said Ingrid. “It’ll take me a couple more days.”

“Okay.” Impatience swelled in my gut.

“What are you going to do in the meantime, Brinya?”

“Work on fooling my shrink.”

The corner of Ingrid’s mouth quirked. “‘I won’t do anything to draw attention to myself’ is the answer I was looking for.”

“I’ll try my best,” I said, winking.

“Where are you now, Brinya?” Dr. Chandler’s saccharin voice had an edge to it today.

I forced it out of my head, wanting to stay in the meadow of flowers. They were beautiful, peaceful.

“Brinya? You need to answer me, please. What do you see?”

“Nothing.” I fought against the hypnosis by dredging up the memory of how everything had turned to ash around me the last time I had a dream, and it worked like always.

This was my last session before accreditation, and if Ingrid and I couldn’t pull off our master plan, I’d have absolutely zero hope of gaining it.

Unless, maybe, honing the ability I had here could help me.

Recalling a past dream prevented Dr. Chandler’s hypnosis from inducing a true hypnotic state.

I sat with her, remembering dreams from weeks earlier, reciting the details, and that somehow prevented the reduced awareness and enhanced capacity to respond to her suggestions like she wanted.

If I could do the same during testing, perhaps I wouldn’t even have to eliminate this unique part of myself.

An enormous lump formed in my throat.

I’d never considered a route other than fixing my tech—until the Defiants and learning about Glitchers upended my life out of nowhere.

“You don’t see anything? No flowers? What about people, perhaps?”

The last question irked me. Kade’s warning about trusting others came to mind. Dr. Chandler wanted something specific. I refused to take the bait.

“No, no people. It's still the same field. The meadow has always been so green, but it’s growing darker. There are no flowers. Everything is fuzzy. Nothing is as vivid as before. I’m losing it all as it fades.”

“I'm going to count back from three now, and you'll wake up. Three. Two. One.”

The brown chair and the white room were all the same when I opened my eyes, and I heaved a sigh. Dr. Chandler peered up from her tablet; her tight bun and crisp white coat felt vaguely threatening today, perhaps because of my internal edginess.

“You’ll turn eighteen in a few days. Do you think you'll continue to see me?” She leaned back in the chair, a concentrated curiosity playing on her heart-shaped face.

“If my parents wish it, maybe.” I had no intention of coming back. Ever.

If I gained accreditation, there’d be no reason to visit Dr. Chandler. If I didn't, well, then it wasn't likely I'd be able to come back. I’d get exiled to an Otherworld, living somewhere with Nightbringers.

Coaching myself to keep a blank face, I made her see what she wanted to see.

With only days left before my testing, I had to use every conversation and interaction to practice my mental gymnastics. If Dr. Chandler was a monitor on the payroll of the Technocracy, I couldn’t give her anything to note.

“I’d love to continue our talks. With your parents' permission, of course.” Her smile gave nothing away, but my trust in her shrank with each passing moment.

Her eyes narrowed, examining my expressions for the reason she hadn’t been able to get more out of me.

“I’ll see what they think.” I reached for my bag, then stood, brushing my hair back.

Dr. Chandler gave me an artful smile. “Good luck with the board.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

For three days, I tried to catch a break from classes and the hectic internship hours Dr. Lannon had me putting in to get another private moment with Ingrid.

It wouldn’t happen at the lab, and any attempt to get with her in public during the day was too risky.

On Wednesday, Ingrid finally gave the signal I’d been anxiously waiting for.

After she left work with a few of the other scientists, I trailed her once it was safe; the plan was to go to her apartment and catch up with her when she got inside.

But a block from her building, she halted and turned onto a small side street. Near the alley's entrance, I hesitated before cautiously following.

The dark alleyway was empty and quiet. Only the distinct, sweet aroma of the nearby street market hung in the night air. Visibility here wasn’t more than a few feet once the last hours of twilight vanished, but Ingrid couldn't be too far ahead.

The squeak of my shoes resounded off the walls of steel and glass around me, raising the tiny hairs on my arms. Maybe Ingrid didn't want to see me.

Maybe I’d mistaken the thumbs-up signal she gave me on the escalator after lunch.

The sound of footsteps that weren’t mine sent a shiver down my spine, speeding up my pace. My pursuer wasn’t visible, which frightened me more, so I glanced over my shoulder and squinted, trying to focus on anyone who might’ve been around.

With the footsteps behind me gaining ground, I broke into a jog, then an all-out run when light came into view up ahead. Halfway down the lane, my foot caught on an old pipe and I tumbled forward.

I landed on my back with the wind knocked out of me, looking up in time to find Ingrid at my side.

“It’s you.”

“I could say the same. Are you okay?”

“More thankful than anything.”

Ingrid frowned.

“Didn’t you give me the signal?”

“Yes, but hold your relief.” She glanced around. “You aren't the first person to tail me home since your escapades in the lab a few weeks ago.”

“Really?” I shot to my feet, looking around with her.

After that weekend when I borrowed her eye inserts, I never disclosed to Ingrid what had happened. And she never asked or mentioned if she’d watched what the inserts recorded.

I returned them the next day, thanking her for letting me “borrow” them. I filled her in on what little she needed to know to help me gauge a solution for my Genotech issues and nothing more.

The less she knew, the better.

“I've lost most of them in this alley, but I'm pretty sure the Technocracy has monitors keeping a close eye on me.”

If somebody recognized me from that day, why hadn’t they come to question me? And how would they link Ingrid to me? We’d been so careful.

“We mustn’t let our guard down, especially not when we’re so close.”

“Close?” I had to swallow hard to speak. “Were you able to come up with something?”

“It took me longer than I expected, but I got you what you need.”

Lightness in my limbs pulled my lips skyward.

“We should go somewhere we can talk. Follow me.” Ingrid kept her tone light like we did this regularly.

She led me through a few alleys to a small park near her apartment. It wasn’t large, one of the main arboretum annexes, but it had a pond and a few benches.

An elevated walking trail weaved high above the Astroturf lawn in a mazelike fashion, slicing between glass cylinders exhibiting coral reefs and beautiful varieties of sea life.

“Would you rather walk the web or sit?” Ingrid asked.

The stress-filled days leading to this meeting had left me too exhausted to navigate the sky trail.

“Sit,” I replied.

Ingrid walked to a bench near the pond and sat down. I imitated her, wishing I had something to feed the ducks puttering around on top of the water.

“It’s nice here.” I wanted more than anything to tell her about Kade’s garden, the blooms with so much real and gorgeous life, but I couldn’t.

“I come here sometimes after work. Don’t have to travel clear to the arboretum. It's a good place to think. And to talk.” She paused as we beheld the otherwise empty park, then she pulled a small vial of purple from her bag and handed it to me.

A fluttery, empty feeling in my stomach left me speechless. “You did it?”

“Once I interpreted that the twenty-fourth and fifty-second chromosomes were the storehouses for your primary Neurotech and Sentitech, pinpointing the culprit dream-triggering mutations that were sending poor signals to your panel wasn’t too difficult.”

“Just like that, huh?” I inspected the vial before wrapping my fingers around it.

“Well, don’t think for a minute it was easy. I’ve been working on this for almost a month.” Ingrid pulled in a deep breath. “Our bodies and our research and abilities are beyond anything the Originals did centuries ago. Believe it or not, they identified genes on their own chromosomes that caused nightmares. And they knew how to turn them off. At least well enough to create a drug to prevent nightmares in 2030. So, I figured even if a mutation got around our tech, if humans could block triggers, then I could come up with something to work, too.”

“Of course you could,” I said. “You’re brilliant.”

Ingrid cracked a smile. “I don’t know about all that, but that’s the solution you’ve been after.”

“Do I drink it?” My stomach unexpectedly churned at the thought of doing so.

“Yes.” Ingrid set her bag down on the bench, then placed her hands over mine. “This serum will act as an inhibitor, basically blanketing the mutations. It’ll prevent your dreams and prevent the probes they’ll use on you during accreditation from finding any abnormalities. You’ll pass for completely normal, fit, and ready to launch to the ground.” Ingrid gave me another subtle smile. “Like you’ve always wanted.”

I returned her smile, but the surge of joy I expected to feel at the news wasn’t there. Instead, my body felt heavy, my limbs numb while the world slowed around me. “So, once I drink this, my dreams are subdued?”

“It’ll be like there was never anything wrong.”

My chest tightened more when she pulled her hands away from mine. “And it’ll be forever? I’ll never dream again?”

“According to my research, dreaming should no longer be a problem.”

With a stifled sigh, I nodded.

“Are you having second thoughts?” Ingrid pulled back, her shoulders stiff, when I stood up and carefully placed the vial in the side pocket of my backpack beside a small box.

It surprised me for a second that I’d forgotten to remove the pH kit I used at the lab earlier in the day from my pack. It had been my intention to drop it off in chemistry.

Without answering right away, I heaved my pack over my shoulders with my gaze drifting to the ducks on the pond.

“I thought you wanted this?”

“No. Yeah. Of course I do.” The sudden doubt twisted the undercurrent of my voice. “I’m afraid any patching will cause more issues, that’s all.”

“There shouldn’t be side effects.”

My smile must not have been convincing, not with how Ingrid’s head tilted.

“Are you sure that’s your only worry?”

It felt like my profound uncertainties might cave in, trapping me like one of Central Labs’ experimentation rats. My attention returned to Ingrid.

“This is what I want.” The confidence in my voice contradicted the knot in my gut. “I counted on being branded a defective on accreditation day. Now, all I have to do is drink a serum, and all worry about that vanishes.”

“You’re feeling overwhelmed. It’s natural at the end of such a worrisome journey.” Ingrid shrugged. “You’re on the verge of getting everything you’ve ever wanted, everything you thought you’d never have at one point. Now that you’ve accomplished your goals, feeling a certain sense of loss is normal.”

“Right.” That wasn’t the case at all, but her positivity helped soothe my qualms.

“With accreditation, you can test for reacclimation.” Ingrid’s encouraging tone never faltered. “You can go to the ground and use your knowledge to regrow the planet like you’ve always wanted.”

This time, a genuine smile played on my lips. It didn’t stay there long.

A crack of thunder almost brought me off my seat.

“You never gave details about how you gained your accreditation, Ingrid. You used a memory?”

“Our circumstances were entirely different, but yes. I may have blocked the probe’s ability to read me correctly by using a memory.”

“How did something so simple work?”

“When I took my tests, I picked an emotionally powerful memory. The idea is to have a strong emotional connection to that memory you can cling to, even in the deep sleep they create with the slumber serum. Hypnagogia is what you want to achieve. This will keep you in that state of threshold consciousness the probes can’t penetrate. The stronger the emotion, the more intense the memory, the easier it’ll be for you to remain in hypnagogia. Does that make sense?”

I nodded. “If it's not too personal, what memory did you pick?”

“Maybe someday I'll tell you, but not now. What worked for me isn’t important. You have the serum, so it’s not like you have to gamble with the unproven memory option I used.”

“I’ll never be able to repay you for all you’ve done for me, Ingrid,” I told her sincerely.

Ingrid kept her voice low, her eyes straight ahead. “Helping you isn’t about expecting something in return.”

Again, my lips crept skyward. A part of me believed she wanted to guarantee I’d someday get to the ground. Like it would help her fulfill a goal of her own somehow.

We sat in silence for a few minutes while a high-hanging silver moon glinted slivers of light down upon us through the dense cloud cover of the sky simulators.

“Brinya, once you drink my concoction, everything will change for you.”

“I know.” The hardest part was not knowing if I’d be guaranteeing myself the life I wanted.

With questions whirling around in my mind about the rains and the conditions on the ground, I couldn’t be sure anymore.

If I gained accreditation and reacclimation didn’t happen, my life would require always living for someone else—and, possibly, struggling to keep my anxiety in check while Climoporia set in.

“Are you happy, Ingrid?”

She bristled at my question.

“I mean, truly happy?”

Her pensive expression deteriorated when her gaze landed on me. “That’s a tough question. But yes. I’m happy. I’m here, helping you. How could I be anything but?”

“Good point.” My attempt to ease the sudden tension with a joke made Ingrid chuckle.

It did little to convince me though.

“Embrace what you’ll gain by ensuring your accreditation rather than mourning what you have to give up.”

Nodding, I stood up, and the clouds let loose. Rain drenched us, daubing my hair to the side of my face. Ingrid drew her jacket over her head before too many of her red curls frizzed.

While sinking in suffocating indecision, I smiled. “Time for me to go home; I have a serum to drink.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The lights glistening through the windows of Hegiralon Towers created a shadow matrix on the lane leading up to the front doors of my building.

When a couple came into view inside of the connective skywalk running between the two towers, I paused to watch them.

They weren’t doing anything special—out for their evening walk, probably—but they gravitated to the section windows to watch the rain.

Though several weeks had passed, the rains were still a remarkable spectacle for many.

With my shoulders wilting, I blinked back droplets as they rolled down to my chin.

It hadn’t rained here in the city since my jump to Climoflyer-4, and the Glitchers I had met there were still in my thoughts. Something awful had undeniably happened to Eli and his friends on the ground.

Kade believed they were part of a massive experiment the Technocracy filmed for their research pleasure. I wasn’t ready to believe it.

But something wasn’t right.

Eli’s burns were consistent with an encounter with the infamous Scorch Rains that fell during the Desolate Age, yet the scientists overseeing our environmental checks deemed the conditions on the outside safe enough for the hatches over Hegiralon City to open on a whim.

The administration’s move of ratifying that reacclimation would begin in 3060 during last week’s reading of the altered Doctrine confused me further.

Earth must’ve been safe enough for us to launch. It made no sense why they switched the book in the first place.

Me standing here in the rain proved it wasn’t something to fear.

It also put a wrench in Kade’s theory that the government wanted to keep us confined to the Climoflyers.

None of it made any sense.

When the pair inside the skywalk moved, I hastened to my building, placing a hand on the door handle before an idea blindsided me, causing me to take a step back into the rainy night.

I edged the backpack off my shoulder with a jolt of unease surging through me. Heat crept into my cheeks, and I grabbed the pH kit from the side pocket of the bag.

I scanned my surroundings. Certain the street was empty, I took an empty vial and held it out, allowing rainwater to fill it to the rim before securing the lid.

This sample would offer some answers.

I paced the floor of my steamy bathroom in nothing but a towel after my shower, staring down at the vial of purple fluid.

Every time a bubble formed along the edge of the small container as I rolled it between my clammy fingertips, my stomach muscles tightened. I set the serum to the side with a sigh, then turned my attention to the pH kit.

Even natural rains would test slightly on the acidic side, but Scorch Rains would be off the chart.

Unable to find something to write with, I grabbed the eyeliner from my makeup caddy and marked the vial of rain I’d collected outside with a big R.

Next, I filled an empty vial with water from the tap and marked it with a T before placing them side by side on the countertop. With anxious knots in my gut, I added three drops of the analyzer fluid to each and then gave them a gentle shake.

I zeroed in on the pH scale card affixed to the lid of the kit as the liquid in both vials transformed to the green of a neutral right before my eyes.

“Neutral,” I whispered with a whirlwind of disbelief muddling my brain.

This rain was—purified.

I stumbled back, feeling like my bones might crumble.

It was all an illusion, a massive lie.

The promise of a stable, non-toxic planet wasn’t real.

Maybe Earth would never again be habitable.

My dream of getting the chance at life on the ground crashed down around me, sending me into a flighty panic.

I bolted out of my bathroom, lungs almost exploding from my chest as I threw myself on my bed to get to the nightstand on the other side. I’d stashed the Doctrine Kade gave me in the drawer, wanting to save it for a time when I could bring myself to read it.

Kade’s words about only reading it if I could handle the truth of its contents replayed in my mind each time temptation got the better of me.

After seeing proof of all the lies, I had to know what secrets this book held.

Sitting cross-legged on my bed, I situated myself and closed my eyes. My throat swelled as my unsteady fingers slid between the cover and the pages, ready to flip open the volume.

As I opened it, uncertainty washed over me again, causing me to slam the book shut.

My whole body trembled now, not only my hands. With my tests a couple of days away, I couldn’t do this.

I couldn’t risk discovering something that’d interfere with my chances of becoming an accredited Genoborg. I

’d fought too hard to get this far, even struggling for over a week with no anxiety medication, to ensure my head would be clear and my body free of any traceable substances on accreditation day.

There were two days left. I’d worry about unraveling Climoflyer mysteries after those two days.

When the quivering subsided, I opened my eyes and returned the book to the stand. The bulge in my throat dissolved as I shut the drawer.

The mission at hand needed my focus.

Back in the bathroom, I steadied myself against the vanity and stared into the mirror, unsure if I’d like who would soon stare back at me if I went through with this.

Kade’s words about me being no better than the Technocracy, a fool buying into their promise of perfection, echoed in my mind as I unscrewed the purple vial’s cap.

You’re planning to change everything about yourself, everything that makes you… well, you.

The words brought tears to my eyes, lifting bile from my gut that burned my throat. Maybe this move would only guarantee me one future: a future as a Gray, okay with putting scientific advancement before all else, even people’s lives.

I couldn’t be someone who cared so little about others, about myself.

As I brought the vial to my quaking lips, preparing myself to swallow and say goodbye to my dreams forever, the bitter scent of the serum twisted my stomach.

I crashed into the vanity with a stifled grunt, trying to breathe as the weight of the universe threatened to crush me.

One drop splashed out and landed in the sink, snaking a string of purple to the drain.

A tear rolled down my cheek, and I wiped it away on my shoulder. I clasped tighter to the vial.

One vial: the only thing standing between me and the certainty of accreditation, the only proof I still had the power to choose my path.

My course would be entirely different after Friday, regardless of my choice.

If you can’t find what you need to pass the tests, do what I did. Pretend you’re somewhere else. Their tests can infiltrate any dream, but they have yet to penetrate a memory.

If Ingrid could use a memory to block the probes from discerning her as a defective, perhaps I could do the same. At the very least, I could try it and not resort to sacrificing the parts of myself that made me me.

My throat tightened as I extended my hand over the sink, preparing to dump the contents.

Like a montage of my life, impactful memories flashed in my mind as if beckoning me to choose. All hesitation inside me vanished when I released the vial.

And my heart skittered to a halt as the purple serum slopped down the drain.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Restless legs and a nervous mind woke me before my alarm on the Friday of my eighteenth birthday. My tests would begin promptly at nine, over three hours away, but it felt like waking to the exact moment of my certain doom.

My choice from the night before had the power to make or break me, and knowing so was a hard pill to swallow.

This day would change my life forever.

My head still in a fog, I waited at the door to my closet for the revolving hangers to spin to the rack with my weekday clothes. Since I’d be going to the accreditation facility, I grabbed one of my standard Crimson uniforms.

I got dressed and went to the kitchen.

My mother pulled a pan of my favorite blueberry muffins from the oven, gasping when she saw me. “Oh, you surprised me. I wanted these done before you got up.”

“You made these for me?”

“It is your birthday.” Mother tried to smile, but the warmth didn't reach her eyes.

“They look yummy.” I took a muffin and tried to swallow a bite around the thickness in my throat.

“I wanted to recognize your special day.” She turned to put dishes in the dishwasher.

I stared at her back as she worked but didn’t say a word. Usually, my birthday included classes at the academy. Maybe dinner with my family and some friends.

I’d read once that birthday parties used to have games and decorations and cake, but they didn’t create Genoborgs to desire or need elaborate celebrations.

The most common festivities allowed were the Nuptial Celebrations.

Second in importance to the annual Hegira Festival, celebrating the anniversary of the exodus, the Nuptial Celebrations took place in the weeks leading up to the union of assigned partners and culminated in a ball.

For most people, birthday gatherings were informal.

I glanced up from my half-eaten muffin when my father entered the room.

“Those smell delicious.” Dad grabbed a muffin as Mom poured his morning coffee-puree.

Like in the Desolate Age, most people had an addiction, but the flavor was as artificial as the genetically altered crop that kept supply plentiful.

I cringed at the thought of having to drink it, wishing that, especially today, everything about my “normal” parents didn't highlight my shortcomings.

“Happy birthday, sweetheart.” He kissed the top of my head as he sat in his chair.

“Thanks, Dad.”

“Are you nervous?”

“Yeah, a little.” The outright lie turned my knees to mush, my stomach doing a somersault as I thought about dumping the serum down the drain.

I’d chosen to give gaining accreditation without changing myself a try, but I wasn’t stupid enough to expect to pull it off.

I only wanted to give myself a chance without sacrificing the dreams I now appreciated more than feared, especially with my hope for a future on the ground sparking into oblivion like Skyfire.

“Everyone's nervous on the morning of their examinations. You'll be fine.”

“Thanks. I hope you're right.”

“I know you won’t disappoint us.” No doubt Mother had spent the whole night thinking of the repercussions on their careers and their standing in the Technocracy’s good graces if my Genotech wasn’t up to par.

The awareness that this was her primary concern and not the health risks to me if faced with the modification she believed in clouded my mind.

Even if she didn’t know about the happenings in the Otherworlds, about the awful experiments, surely the thought of what might happen to me bothered her more than our family’s social appearance.

Silence fell between us, a blanket of dread threatening to choke me by the time my father leaned over to give me a quick kiss on the forehead. His way of saying much without saying a word in front of Mom, who kept her head down.

“I’ll be in my room.” I stood up. “I need to go over some things again.”

Mother gave me a faint smile. “Don't forget, we need to leave by eight thirty.”

I escaped to my room, leaning with my back against the door the second it closed. My breath caught in my chest, my lungs refusing to function as panic lifted into my throat.

There was no hope. I’d end up wearing a detainment device, secreted away from my family forever. No career. No family. No partner. No going to the ground.

The anxiety was suffocating, enticing me to reach for the herb reels I couldn’t take for at least another six hours. Hoping some cool air would calm me, I rushed to the window and stared out at the bustling city.

Shuttles and people scattered in every direction, going about their flawless daily lives. Normal Genoborgs doing normal things.

“Normal,” I whispered to myself. “This is normal.”

But it wasn’t. Not anymore.

The emotions that made me dump the serum down the drain were normal. My hope for a future of being accepted for me was normal.

I shook my head, forcing myself to pull it together while practicing my breathing techniques. If I panicked now, I’d have zero hope of gaining accreditation without the glitch inhibitor.

Gradually, my muscles relaxed, and as they did, an image popped into my head. The image was clear and solid, like an anchor keeping me tottering but afloat, and it hit me which memory I should use to get Ingrid’s resolution to work for me.

It still might not be enough, but it was my best chance.

And I was as ready as ever.

We arrived at the testing location before nine a.m., my parents insisting on walking with me from the shuttle station to the facility.

The capitol building was a couple hundred yards away, situated diagonally across the widest boulevard in the city, elevated higher than the surrounding buildings.

A series of shimmering platforms, suspended as if they floated on air, shaped the path to the front doors. The massive domed atrium at the center distinguished it from any other building around, its shaded glass foreboding.

I turned away quickly, but the structure ahead of me wasn’t much better.

The accreditation facility was dark and nondescript, reminding me of the building at the lab that imprisoned the Defiants. An image of Kade's face came to my mind, making me smile. It felt strange to have a sudden burst of confidence.

“We have to leave you here.”

“I know, Dad. I'll see you at dinner tonight.” My voice held so much assurance it surprised even me.

“Of course.” He kissed me on the top of my head and sighed as he leaned back.

“Brinya?” The skin around Mother’s eyes wrinkled with worry. “If ever I said anything to upset you—”

“I know, Mom.”

“Do your best.” She leaned in to give me a warm hug, whispering into my ear, “We'll be here for you, no matter what.”

I pulled back, and our eyes locked before she tore them from me and worried at her purse.

With clammy palms, I turned on my heel and headed for the front door. Staggered to see Professor Lawson coming out as I went in, I attempted a smile.

He waved, and I returned the gesture but didn’t stop to chat, accreditation being my focus, not the reason for him being here.

The vast entrance caught me off guard, and I paused to inspect the place. A couch, a few chairs lining the walls around a sprawling crystal fireplace, a single desk blocking access to the door, and an elevator opposite the entrance filled the lobby. The elevator probably led to the testing rooms.

The man behind the desk requested I scan my Comsband so he could confirm my identification credentials, glancing up at me only to verify the accuracy of the photo ID associated with my panel before he nodded and pointed to a row of chairs.

“Have a seat. Someone will be with you shortly.”

A young blond woman called my name a few minutes later. She led me into a wide hallway lined with doors, instructing me to change into a testing uniform and bring her all my clothes and belongings for safekeeping once we reached an open door.

In the changing room, I opened a locker to find a green uniform hanging inside. Green pants paired with a green T-shirt.

Except for the color, the top looked identical in design to the ones worn by the Glitchers in the compound. The only difference was instead of their plain black shirts, this shirt bore the symbol of Hegiralon woven on the left side above the heart.

Four curved lines created the letter H inside of a circle. The H, for Hegiralon, had four more tiny symbols surrounding it.

They represented the four elements believed to be most vital to the survival of our society, to the regeneration of Earth: Genotech, Innovation, Technocracy, and Prosperity.

Sitting atop the H on the left was a rendition of a Climoflyer, and on the right was Earth, blue and green and beautiful in her most admired form.

I'd seen this symbol a thousand times, but never like this. In the mecca of my stress, it reminded me of how the time for people to have free will had expired with the destruction of their ability to live on Earth.

The irony being that human free will had contributed to Earth’s ecosystem becoming unlivable.

Today, this symbol represented what we’d lived so long without within the confines of our craftworld: wide-open spaces and a bountiful supply of trees, lush grass, clean oceans, and pure rains.

It exemplified, to me, being forever forced to breathe synthetic air while trapped in a Climoflyer or being forced to return to the Mars hub.

“Miss?”

A knock on the door shook me out of my reverie, and I grabbed the uniform. Without missing a beat, I slipped it on, shoving all my belongings into the bag the aide had handed me.

Back in the hallway, I handed her both the bag and my backpack.

“This way,” she directed.

We were only a few steps down the hall when another door opened, and Caleb stepped into the hallway, taking me by complete surprise.

His face broke into a deep grin. “Boy, am I glad to see you this morning.”

“You're here, too?”

Caleb's birthday had passed, though I didn’t get an invite this year.

“Yes. A mix-up in the scheduling. My testing got pushed back. I told Addie the other day after school and figured she’d tell you.”

“Right. If she did, I must have missed it.” I glanced away after spotting my aide waiting at the end of the hall. “Good luck, Caleb.”

“Thanks. You too.”

Our eyes met, a hint of concern clouding his. Concern for me, maybe. Or perhaps for himself.

Standing there, I regretted how harsh I'd been to him over the last few weeks. He’d always been a good friend, one who'd kept my secret for a long time.

I smiled at him, my first genuine smile in weeks, and headed down the hall, but he grabbed my hand.

“Brinya?” He lowered his voice. “Do you think maybe if I was, you know, like you, you’d feel differently about my suggestion?”

I truly didn't want to hurt Caleb. But I had to be honest, too.

“Not likely.” I smiled, hoping to soften the blow.

“Because of them? Him?” His lips cut a hard line on his face.

I didn't answer. I simply squeezed his hand and turned toward the aide, who still waited at the end of the hallway.

Oddly, Caleb's question didn't antagonize me. It calmed me.

As the aide gestured for me to precede her, I smiled. I hadn’t made my decision for anyone else; I made it for myself. Whatever happened, I’d be okay.

And I’d use whatever my circumstances became after today to help Glitchers.

The aide guided me into a small room where she sat me at a desk with a tablet to complete the initial phase of testing. I had one hour to complete the written and multiple-choice portions. She started the timer on the desk, then exited.

For most of the allotted hour, I worked through the problems. Nothing on the test itself was terribly challenging, and the muscles in my neck and shoulders relaxed since most of these questions were on the mock exam.

I scrolled the screens, finishing the last problem with minutes to spare. I laid my pen down to declare that I’d finished, and within seconds, the aide returned to take my tablet.

“Okay. I need you to move to the chair now, please.”

When a hidden doorway in the wall of windows slid open to reveal a secret chamber—one with a plush brown chair at the center—my heart palpitated.

It was now or never.

I made my way into the room and slid into the chair, trying to make myself comfortable.

My tense fingers burrowed into the plush arms with intense vigor, and while the aide bounced around the room, I wished to be anyone besides myself, be anywhere except in this place which was intent on destroying me.

My palms were sweaty against the suede fabric. Everything about this chair terrified me, making it harder to breathe. It engulfed me like some hideous monster, a beast trying to devour everything I’d spent my life becoming. And there was no escape.

Ingrid’s instructions replayed in my head until breathing became easier.

The aide returned with a set of vials and drew my blood. The sight of the blood made me queasy, so I glanced away.

“Stay here until they come in to administer the deep sleep and reaction reading portions of the examination. This part of the testing phase will examine your brain waves and app responses for normal patterns. You’ll undergo several virtual reality tests which will measure your reactions and decision-making abilities,” she revealed with rehearsed indifference as she gathered my samples and paperwork. “According to the records, you have twenty advanced apps plugged into your panel besides the standard tech. We’re here today to ensure all are working properly and to determine if you might be a viable contender for reacclimation.”

My tongue almost stuck to the top of my mouth. It had gone so dry. “Okay.”

She let herself out without another word. As soon as I was alone, the door opened, and a team of people entered. I glanced up, surprised to see Dr. Chandler.

“Good morning, Brinya.”

“Good morning.” My uncertainty fractured my voice.

“They asked me to come in today to supervise your testing. As a therapist, I’m often called in as an outside consultant.”

Consultant? It could’ve been code for something.

“Since we've been seeing each other, I have a long-term sense of your abilities which helps give perspective in these examinations.”

I nodded but didn't respond. If the Technocracy knew of our connection, what had she shared about me? I didn't like the possibilities. Her presence unnerved me more than ever.

Maybe it was stupid to think I could block them from my dreams with a memory. Maybe I should’ve drunk the serum, changing myself to be like everyone else in this room.

“This is Laboratory Controller Jaden Reed. She'll be supervising your examination today from the observation room.” She gestured behind her.

Reed’s platinum hair and unfriendly eyes were exactly as I remembered them, and I wondered why the head controller—and Secretary of State—wanted to be here with me. Behind Controller Reed stood two other women, but neither of them introduced themselves.

“We're ready to begin.” Dr. Chandler's syrupy voice called my attention back to her.

My throat tightened. “It appears so.”

Dr. Chandler gestured, and the other two women came forward and strapped me into the chair. “This is, of course, for your safety, Brinya. We wouldn't want you to fall. And, as with our sessions, I'll be talking you through the test.”

The women in white coats finished and exited behind the wall of windows.

“Are you ready?”

“Sure.” I tried to appear nonchalant but couldn’t tell if she bought it.

Dr. Chandler and Controller Reed departed, and I settled back into the chair which reclined automatically, leaving me facing the ceiling.

The steel beams and support struts created an intriguing weave, much like the pattern the shuttle tubes created as they carved their way through the core of the Climoflyer, diffusing out into the layers.

I focused on them to calm the nervous jitters in my stomach.

“Okay, Miss Renata.” One assistant reappeared at my side and prepared a syringe. “I’ll prep you before Dr. Chandler comes back in to administer the test. This drug will create a deep sleep, during which we can analyze your brain rhythms and ensure all Neurotech is functioning properly. Relax and let the serum take effect. You’re safe here.”

The syringe pinched my arm and orange fluid expelled from the needle, but her words struck me, and I almost snorted.

I closed my eyes as the serum took effect, coursing through my veins with the dizzying effect of potent alcohol. Dad had slipped me some wine during the Inception Jubilee last year, and the immediate buzz here today made me recall that night.

Only this was far more intense. My body grew warm and heavy within seconds. My feet tingled, and in no time, my mind couldn’t focus.

I’m only safe where the flowers are, I repeated over and over in my head.

“Now, Brinya, I want you to relax. Count back from ten.”

I drifted to a place with flowers and grass. A weeping willow tree manifested, followed by row after row of trees, accompanied by an earthy scent hanging in the air.

“You're doing fine.”

Blueberries. There were blueberries on vines, vivid colors, and flowers. I’d never once allowed myself to relive the rooftop garden, but now I relished every detail.

The tulips, the stream, the little gnome with the red hat. Those fish in the koi pond. The ground-sweeping branches and the wooden bench I had sat on with Kade.

His large presence soothed me even in memory. Everything in that compound felt less suffocating than this city—or the endless expanse of living levels inside this craftworld.

“We're starting the next round. I want you to relax.” Dr. Chandler's voice sounded distant and faint, its pull easy to ignore while breathing in the scent of flora-filled air and fresh dirt.

Kade's muscled arms, so mysteriously covered with tattoos, appeared in front of me again. Once more, we discussed flaws, astral projection before his hotheaded anger boiled over about the Technocracy, his parents. The kiss between us in Climoflyer-4 also came to life, as innocent and meaningless as it was.

I relived it all, picturing his face, finding myself captivated again by his eyes and the eloquent way he led the Defiants. The prediction about how he might be the one from Hegiralon City who could unite Glitchers made him as intriguing to me as he was to Sam and those in Climoflyer-4.

“Brinya, it's time to wake up.”

Floating in a groggy state, it took me a while to detect where the voice was coming from. My thoughts solidified as the serum's effects lessened. Kade's face faded.

I blinked, and the struts in the ceiling crept into focus. The stiffness of the chair under me became distinguishable. As I tried to shake the cobwebs from my brain, still wishing I could stay in the garden with Kade, Dr. Chandler's words closed in around me.

“Give yourself a few minutes to recover. We’ll return to go over your results.”

My thoughts raced as the assistants returned and undid my restraints. Whatever serums they’d given me, whatever simulations they put me in, I didn’t recall a thing.

Did that mean I’d blocked their success?

Or did they block mine?

“How long have I been under?”

“These tests take about an hour and a half,” an assistant answered. “The panel watched from the observation room. Dr. Chandler did a fine job administering each phase of the check.”

It felt as if I'd only been out for a couple minutes, and I had no idea whether my memories had been strong enough to frustrate the controller’s ability to read the tests properly.

Trying to stifle my breathing, I sat up, rubbing where the restraints had left marks on my arms.

I stared in silence as high-tech computers projected images and data onto the walls of glass, not knowing what most meant. Some images did feel strangely familiar though.

I didn’t think I’d recall anything from the tests.

Maybe the technique for keeping myself in a semiconscious state had worked.

Finally, the interior door opened, and Dr. Chandler came through, followed by Jaden Reed, who looked more callous than before.

“We’ve analyzed your results,” Reed began before Dr. Chandler could jump in. “Do you want to tell her?”

Her voice lacked all emotion, revealing nothing.

I glanced at Dr. Chandler and held my breath, my heart thrashing as if it might burst.

“Congratulations, Brinya.” Dr. Chandler’s voice stiffened. “You’ve earned full accreditation.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

I glanced between the two women for an uncomfortable moment, trying to determine what reaction to give.

Dr. Chandler smiled, though it seemed forced.

Controller Reed’s unyielding eyes gave away nothing, her mouth puckering as if she smelled something foul. She crossed her arms over her chest, her eyes never changing. “Your Genotech is in perfect working order.”

“You nailed all probes with flying colors.” Dr. Chandler chimed in. “Your tech function scores were quite high, to be honest. Never once did your brain waves suggest any abnormalities with your thought-processing functions.”

Never breaking eye contact, I fought to keep my mouth from falling open.

“You operate as any faultless Genoborg should. Your tech is in pristine condition.”

I tried to deflect Jaden Reed’s skeptical glare by fixing my gaze on Nora Chandler, who, at this moment, instilled more comfort.

Knowing the lab controller was also one of the highest-ranked Grays in Hegiralon City left a nasty taste in my mouth. As Secretary of State, she had to be aware of the horrors the Glitchers in the Otherworlds—and in the lab here—faced.

“I'm sure you will do well for yourself and the good of the Administration's future goals for Hegiralon with these results.”

“Why, um, yes? Thank you. I'm happy all went well.”

“Was there a reason to think it wouldn't go well?” Jaden Reed’s eyebrow rose as if to challenge me.

“No.” My jaw went slack. “Surely everyone has concerns about the outcome here. A great deal of a person’s future rides on accreditation, or am I wrong?”

“No, certainly not. Many of a design's future successes or failures hinge on the aptitudes displayed in the testing arena, including the determination of whether they could ever possibly transition from Skytreader to Groundwalker.” Jaden Reed recited the words as if reading them from a book. “However, most designs' responses are less emotional than the word concern might imply.”

“Please excuse my wording,” I replied with a shrug. “All I meant is everyone wants to do as well as possible so they can serve the Technocracy to the best of their abilities.”

“Where might you hope to support the Technocracy, Brinya?” Dr. Chandler asked, her therapist’s voice returning. “Aside from excelling in your designed career path, of course.”

“Wherever the Technocracy believes I’ll be most useful, though I'm sure my aptitudes indicate my pre-selected profession in genetics should be my top priority.” I knew the answer I should give, and after years of practice, I could look even Dr. Chandler in the eye as the lie slid off my tongue. “Then, of course, later I’ll devote myself to my allocated partner.”

Dr. Chandler’s eyes narrowed.

“Having a role in ensuring people are prepared for the upcoming reacclimation process is also important to me.”

Reed’s stiff expression softened. “You have ambitions to launch?”

“Since our founders were correct when they predicted my generation would be the first to reacclimate, I don’t see any reason not to embrace our return to the ground.”

Making her hands a steeple, Reed’s lips skewed skyward. “Believe it or not, I find you GEN9s more unique than any past generation. You’ll perhaps go farther than any of the GEN10s recently slated for incubation.”

Part of me wondered if any GEN10 was a Genoborg or if they were Nightbringers.

“When you come of age, if you’re not on the ground, will you enter the lottery to design a baby under generation ten specs?” the head controller asked, really getting personal now.

Uncertain of what reaction to give, I simply nodded, my expression blank.

“That's good to know. To be honest, I've rarely seen scores as extraordinary as yours. I'm certain the board will make it a priority to find the most suitable position for you in the lab. Perhaps bumping your starting fellowship assignment up to that of a higher-level geneticist. We’ll get you moving up the ranks once you transition from the practicum stage. You do have to complete this next year of your internship before any complex work can begin, of course.”

“Of course,” I replied.

“You’ll see your bright future kicking into gear at full force over the next year.”

The words hung in the air between us until I cleared my throat.

“Harmony will take you to the changing room,” said Dr. Chandler. “It’s a pleasure to see you, and I hope your parents permit us to continue our visits. Congratulations again.”

“Thank you.”

As if on cue, my original aide opened the outer door. I scooted off the cushioned chair and escaped into the hall, my heart almost exploding. Hopefully, they couldn’t see the way the uniform shirt clung to my perspiring back.

The two white-coated women remained stationary while I exited, but their conversation resumed as soon as the door closed. Their words were too indistinct to understand, but they seemed to argue. The sound faded fast as we moved down the hall.

Harmony chaperoned me to a different changing room where my clothes were already hanging. My other belongings were there as well, and I wondered whether anyone had looked through my bag or examined the contents of my computer.

It wouldn't surprise me if they had.

It bugged me how paranoid I’d become. A lot, in fact, like Kade. But my distrust of the Technocracy and those in their employ grew by the hour, especially after my pH test.

Jaden Reed spoke of launching to the ground as if she expected it to happen. The evidence I had uncovered made me skeptical, and it wasn’t because I didn’t want reacclimation to happen.

I still wanted to launch more than anything. But Kade’s concerns seemed much more valid after our Climoflyer-4 visit than they had when we first met.

I swapped clothes, dropping the green uniform into the wall chute, and found Harmony waiting for me outside. She led me along a different hall and down two flights of stairs to an exit on the east side of the building.

In the waiting room, which was identical to the one at the front door, Harmony handed my electronic identification documents to the clerk.

He scanned my information and entered my successful completion into the computer before he printed a small identification card.

He then stamped it with a large embossed ACCREDITED in black ink, then sent it through the laminator before tendering the card to me.

“We have your records in the system, which sync with your panel, and the board receives a notification, but you can submit this to the academy or keep for family records as needed. You’ll also now have access to all non-restricted areas or those classified as top-priority zones,” Harmony said, giving me a slight smile as she did so. “Congratulations, Miss Renata. Enjoy the rest of your day.”

I tucked the card and documents into my bag and headed out the door.

The farther I got from the accreditation facility, the more my anxiety subsided. Relief replaced all the worry of the last few months, and my legs transformed to jelly.

My place in this Climoflyer was more undefined than ever before. My hope of getting to the ground didn’t look promising.

I staggered to the nearest shuttle station and made my way onto the first idle shuttle, completely unconcerned about its destination.

It could’ve been heading to the residential boroughs where Caleb lived, north to the cropland levels, or the observation center, and I wouldn’t have cared.

Blowing out a tremendous sigh, I flopped into a seat, letting my head fall back as the shuttle propelled away from the loading dock.

Once we were in the flight tube, soaring through the core over the radiant city below, my attention drifted to the residential rings climbing the hull of the craft beyond the cityscape.

In the distance, somewhere around ring 200, maybe, another shuttle climbed over chalets and apartments, disappearing into a shaft through a barrier of dangling emerald flora, bound for the ring layers of the Climoflyer.

Like a slap to my face, it hit me what I had to do next.

I had secured my place in Hegiralon City, and it wasn’t an opportunity to waste. I could feel sorry for myself—letting my anxiety and the sense of no escape overwhelm me until Climoporia set in—or I could use my position to help the Glitchers.

The choice wasn’t difficult.

It was time to read the Doctrine.

Chapter Thirty

My parents were on the couch chatting with Governor Parker when I returned home. Caleb and his parents stood near the window. His shoulders straightened before he smiled at the sight of me.

Sitting in chairs by the other window were Dr. Chandler and Controller Reed. Another group had gathered around the kitchen island, near Addie.

Everyone stopped to glance at me, not saying anything as I stared back at them. I swallowed hard, hoping this might be some sort of random birthday celebration.

Father stood up.

“Brinya, sweetheart, we’ve been waiting.”

“Yes, well, I’m home.”

“Governor Parker has some important news,” Father said. “He wanted to wait until you arrived to share it.”

Father rubbed his palms together, outwardly as nervous as me.

Something wasn’t right, and I had to prepare myself for what sure felt like the next big test of the day.

Addie's father stood up as if on cue. A tall man with deep-green eyes and heavy salt-and-pepper hair, he carried the same air of charm and sophistication every time I saw him.

“Mr. and Mrs. Renata, thank you for your hospitality this afternoon. I'm sure you’re wondering why we would all descend on your home, imposing on your generosity, but you must also know this was a very important day for your daughter.” He gestured toward me, but never looked at me. “I’d like to begin by having Biofuse Genetics’ head controller give you an update on Brinya's accreditation.”

Mother stiffened as she faced Jaden Reed. The platinum-haired woman nodded to the governor and stood.

“It is my great pleasure to bring you this news,” she began, though neither her voice nor her face contained any pleasure or excitement. “Brinya displayed exceptional capabilities in all Genotech integrity checks. Her aptitude scores were high, the likes of which are rarely seen.”

A grin manifested on my mother’s face.

“You should be proud of her accomplishments,” Jaden finished.

When Controller Reed took her seat, all eyes returned to Governor Parker.

“I’d also like to add my congratulations. I’m so pleased to have a family friend poised to become such a shining star for the Technocracy, one who will protect and provide for your generation well.”

Everyone saluted, hand over heart, and I did the same. I hoped no one saw my hesitation, though Dr. Chandler's eyes never left my face.

“Michael and Victoria,” the governor continued, “I’m delighted to share in this momentous occasion with you.”

Mother squeezed my arm, and Father put his hand on my shoulder. “But I come with even more news for this exciting day.”

I shifted on my feet, and out of the corner of my eye, I observed Caleb step forward slightly.

My stomach turned to stone. The profound sensation ripping through my chest must’ve been my heart shattering into a million unbearable pieces.

“We’d like to announce Brinya's partner assignment to her dear friend Caleb Kent.”

Mrs. Kent clasped her hands, eyes wide with surprise. “Oh, wonderful.”

Mother gasped with delight, but Father scratched his head for a minute before making any move. Their reactions told me he wasn’t their original pick, if they’d had one, but they appeared satisfied.

Mother yanked me toward the Kents. Caleb joined me between our families, plastering himself to my shoulder. His smile couldn’t have been bigger, making my limbs numb. It took gnashed teeth to keep my face straight.

“This is magnificent news.” Mother couldn’t shake her smile, and a part of me felt guilty for being miserable when it’d been a long time since I’d seen her so happy.

Mrs. Kent still had a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide with wonder.

Caleb wrapped his arm around me. I subtly pulled away, moving closer to my father.

Father bounced on his toes. “It’s a rarity for one to know their partner before this announcement. The two of you being friends for years is remarkable.”

“Indeed, it’s peculiar,” Mother said.

Even if my parents submitted Caleb’s name to the board, the board should’ve denied the request given their knowledge of our friendship. Nobody ever got paired with someone they knew. Only Caleb could’ve gotten so lucky.

A proud, somewhat relieved grin emerged on his face. One expressing more pleasure now than ever before, causing me to shoot him a quick glower.

Something about the lackluster twinkle in his eyes when he looked at me, the way he carried himself pompously, so unlike him, bothered me.

His eyes had even changed. I couldn’t explain it. Nothing about the aura around him felt right, and I didn’t need Kade’s psychic vibes to know it.

“I'm sure the surprise of this, along with the stress of your accreditation, is overwhelming,”—the governor moved between us and put an arm over each of our shoulders—“but we couldn't wait to announce the union of these two stellar designs.”

The pounding in my ears sent my head into a whirlwind of bewilderment.

A standing ovation signaled the speech's conclusion, and everyone in the room shook hands, though I wasn't sure whether they were praising us or themselves.

Caleb took everyone's comments with elation, putting his arm around me and winking like he'd known all along this was how things would go.

“We won’t disappoint you, Governor.” Caleb seized my hand and squeezed forcefully, crippling my fingers as a blast of agony shot up my arm.

I sucked in a breath to hold back a whimper and hoped no reaction showed on my face.

“Will we, Brinya?”

“No, of course not.” I forced a smile through the pain while Caleb kept my arm hostage behind his back, inflicting enough pressure to make my fingers go numb.

Once the governor stepped away, Caleb released his commanding grip.

When the felicitations and talk of the future returned to pointless chatter, I jerked my hand away, rubbing my fingers and hoping no one noticed me trying to shake some life back into them before Caleb excused himself to mingle with Addie’s father and my parents.

With my hands trembling, my vision blurry, I slipped away to the far corner of the kitchen. I removed the prescription bottle from my bag, glancing over my shoulder before I popped one of my herbal reels into my mouth.

I chewed with my eyes closed, focusing on the mingling of bittersweet flavors exploding on my tongue before swallowing. After my breathing slowed, I placed the bottle in my bag and let it slide to the floor beside the table. Once my hands quit shaking, I returned to the crowd.

After what felt like forever, the governor took his leave. His two technocratic cronies soon followed suit. Addie lingered behind.

“This is terrible,” I whispered as I sidled up to her.

“But you’re accredited. So you must’ve figured something out with your glitches.”

“I did nothing.” She didn’t need to know about my gamble with using Ingrid’s memory theory.

Sudden nausea, almost too much to handle, cramped every muscle in my stomach. Maybe I’d made a mistake not drinking the serum. It would’ve concealed my flaws, making these emotions blasting through me now nonexistent. Eliminating this torture might’ve been worth changing myself for.

Addie’s eyes narrowed.

“The dreams stopped on their own,” I fibbed. “So I took a chance and tested without doing anything.”

Addie’s lips tightened, her head slightly tilting.

“What is it? Why are you so quiet tonight?” I asked. “This isn’t like you.”

“You’ll be angry.” She bit her lip. “I knew this was coming.”

I shook my head slightly, trying to process. “Are you talking about my results or this mandate?”

Addie avoided eye contact. “I overheard some of the conversation the night my father got the order from the president of Hegiralon to make Caleb your partner.”

In shock, I stood there, unable to move.

“Say something, Brin.”

A breath of disbelief funneled out of me. I couldn’t even trust my best friends.

“Please don’t be mad. My father is just the governor of Climoflyer-1. He must follow any order handed down to him from those over the crafts, especially from the president.”

I didn’t care about Governor Parker’s role in this. Addie had hurt me like no other, making the knife of betrayal in my back unbearable.

“You knew, and you didn’t warn me?” I whispered.

“It’s not how it sounds. It hasn’t been long.”

“How long?” I demanded.

“Two days,” she confessed with a shrug. “I kept quiet for you and Caleb. This is best for both of you. Trust me.”

“Trust you?” My nostrils flared. “When you kept this from me?”

“Why not?” Addie winced, then pulled my prescription bottle from the pocket in the front of her skirt. Her eyes bored into me before she skimmed the label. “After all, you’re so good at keeping secrets, it should feel normal for others to do the same.”

It took even me by surprise that I caught the bottle in midair when she tossed it to me.

“So much for the promise to take your meds, huh?” Addie wouldn’t look at me. “You should be careful where you drop your bag. If Dr. Chandler found those, she might prescribe you something you can’t swap for your homemade placebos.”

“They’re herbal, not placebos,” I said through gritted teeth.

She shook her head, her eyes finally lifting to me. “Caleb was right. You need protection from yourself.”

My cheeks warmed, my body reaching a boiling point. “Do you want me to let someone else control everything about my life? Forgive me for wanting to have a say in what works for me now and then.”

“You need to watch yourself,” Addie said through tight lips.

“And I choose to do that with natural ingredients instead of putting chemicals in my body.” When Addie folded her arms over her chest, I sighed. “Are you working against me now, taking Caleb’s side?”

“Me. That’s all you ever say.” She glanced around the room, ensuring everyone remained preoccupied. “You’ve only cared about yourself these past few months, Brin.”

Anger poisoned my veins. “And Caleb hasn’t been as guilty? First, he got this crazy notion in his head that our partnering would benefit us both somehow. Now, he got what he’s been wanting. Yeah, I’m sure he’s as frazzled as me.”

“Yeah,” she scoffed. “If you were a good friend, you’d have noticed some things about Caleb over the months. But no, all you care about is defectives, not us right here in front of you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your pairing gives him more relief than you’ll ever realize. A means for him to be himself without having to worry that you’ll expect too much from him. That’s all.”

What did that even mean?

“If you weren’t so dense, you’d connect the dots on your own.”

Wow. I couldn’t do this right now. Not tonight. “You should go, Addie.”

“We’ve both said things—”

“If you’re trying to do Caleb and me a favor, do me this one,” I fired back before plodding back to my father’s side.

My eyes met Addie’s one last time before she let herself out, and I didn’t see a trace of guilt in hers.

“Those like Brinya must have a push to engage themselves fully,” Dr. Chandler was saying to my parents. “If you and Michael would permit her to continue her visits with me, I'm sure I can encourage her to reach her full potential.”

“Thanks,” my mother said. “We’ll talk about it.”

With a last glance in my direction, Dr. Chandler excused herself.

I breathed a sigh of relief to be out from under her scrutiny. Caleb turned toward me at the sound.

“Are you okay? This has been hard for me too, but soon you’ll understand how this helps us both be who we are without having to deal with strangers.”

As angry as he made me, I looked down at his wrist, checking to see if his veins had gone dark. They hadn’t. But something wasn’t right.

My lack of knowledge about Nightbringers left me fearful. Maybe a person transitioned slowly? Altering a person’s entire state of being had to be a complex task, and figuring out just how complex would take time.

“A union with you gives me upward mobility in society. That’s the only perk.”

My mouth dropped open. Had he really just said that?

“If you’re my partner, I’ll have children with every elite attribute permitted to those of the higher-class Grays. I’ll never get whatever I’m given right out of the lottery pool, like every generation of Kents before me.”

A lump formed in my throat. This didn’t sound like my best friend. Not at all. Though his veins hadn’t gone black, they’d gotten their hooks into Caleb somehow.

“My parents have worked their predetermined jobs in fabricating all their lives. It’s about time somebody gives us a chance to strengthen our social regard. This union is vital to the future of my family and yours.”

My nostrils flared, my cool about to come unhinged.

“Trust me.”

He and Addie had both asked me to trust them tonight, but neither was trustworthy.

“This is a good partnership. Sorry if you can’t see the bigger picture yet.”

“Stop it.” It was hard to keep my voice steady while staring at the bruises forming on my wrist. “Nothing can make up for your actions here tonight.”

He stood silent, submissive like me minutes earlier.

“Did you know about this earlier? Did you even have your tests today?”

Caleb tugged at the collar of his shirt. “Of course.”

That was a lie.

He’d made some sort of deal with the Nightbringer makers.

“And no, I didn't know this morning. They told me after and insisted I keep quiet.”

“Who is ‘they’?” I snapped.

The eyes of everyone left in the room turned to us.

“Brinya, what has gotten into you?” Mother appeared at my side and gave me a nudge. “This is a marvelous day, and you're ruining it. You gained accreditation. The governor gave you a direct commendation, and your partner is a great friend.”

“I know.” I wilted beneath all the stares. “It's a lot to take in, you know. And I have a headache.”

“You needn't be rude to Caleb or his parents.”

Mr. and Mrs. Kent eyed me from across the room. Mrs. Kent gave me a weak smile, one revealing her sudden concern over my outburst.

“I apologize.” I nodded toward the Kents, who looked at me as if large horns had sprouted on my forehead. “Perhaps if I freshen up, I can be pleasant company.”

They all agreed, and I excused myself.

Trying to regain my composure, I splashed water on my face in my bathroom. One glance at the mirror into my violet eyes and the tears poured.

I buried my face in the towel so no one could hear and sobbed. Once the tears subsided, I washed my face and patted it dry.

I then bolted out of the bathroom with my veins pumping fire—a fire telling me it was time to know what the leaders wanted to hide. I stormed to my bedside and opened the nightstand to pull the Doctrine from the drawer.

The time for some answers had arrived.

Taking a seat at the edge of my bed, I flipped through the pages, scanning the contents for any information pertinent to the current happenings in the Climoflyers.

When I came to an entry at the end of the text, a section in the Reacclimation Directives, I froze.

On a page full of words, a number—or year rather—caught my attention: 3060.

After reading the first two paragraphs following the underlined year, marking one thousand years since the exodus, tears pooled in my eyes.

My whole body went numb, my vision blurring. With no control of my body, I slid off the bed, going to my knees on the floor. My room flipped end over end, whirling until the words sank in.

It was so much worse than anything I could have expected.

When a knock on my door disrupted the spin, I tried to pick myself up.

“Brinya, hurry up,” Mom said.

“Coming,” I croaked.

I wiped my cheeks dry and shoved the book under my pillow. My weak knees almost gave out on me twice, causing me to use the furniture around my room as a brace to get to the door before Mom pushed it open.

Hand over my stomach, holding back the urge to retch, I returned to the living room.

Caleb tailed me the rest of the night, occasionally trying to hold my hand or lean against my shoulder, all to put on a good show. I disentangled him every time, smiling and adding to the small talk when necessary.

My head stayed in a dense fog—a fog I might never walk out of.

The worst imaginable situation couldn’t compare to the truth. It couldn’t even compare to seeing a boy plunge himself or seeing Glitchers transformed into callous Nightbringers.

After an eternal evening no one except me seemed in a hurry to end, the Kents went home. Once they left, I excused myself, claiming to need some sleep after such an exciting day.

With tears streaming down my cheeks, I returned the Doctrine to the drawer and slid into bed.

Sprawled out, staring at the ceiling, I wondered what to do next. I couldn’t accept Caleb as my partner without putting up a fight.

I wouldn’t submit to a union with anyone, especially not a guy who had shown himself tonight to be so much less than the type of person I wanted to share my life with.

Not with time so precious.

It was time for the Defiants to learn why they were prisoners.

Glitchers needed to know why they were fighting Nightbringers.

Everyone needed to learn the truth.

As I made my second life-changing decision of the week, a weight lifted from me. I wasn’t afraid of the potential outcomes anymore.

Life was too short. It didn’t matter who had embedded gene apps or whose were the most advanced.

For the first time in my life, I understood what I wanted instead of reacting to other people's declarations about me.

Minutes after I dozed off came a dream of a field full of wildflowers, flowers that flanked the underside of a strange bridge.

Held up by massive props in suspension design, it rose high into an endlessly cerulean sky with vicious, liberating intensity.

Kade waited for me beneath the bridge, with hundreds of Glitchers by his side.

Chapter Thirty-One

My eager mind wouldn’t let me sleep until lightbreak.

Before I slipped out, I left a note for my parents explaining how spending extra time on my internship would impress the technocracy, making my transition into my fellowship with Dr. Lannon easier.

To ensure no one followed me to Central Labs, my commute to the eastern-most edge of the city involved three different shuttles I wouldn’t take on any normal day.

Another Saturday meant the security around the compound would be minimal, giving me time to get inside.

I inserted my card and let the machine scan my retinas at the outer gate, grateful I’d progressed to this level of autonomy once inside.

Tucked on the isolated island on the outskirts of the main lab, the dark structure rose out of the morning’s ersatz fog like a beacon guiding me to it. Getting through the gate keeping the Defiants compound secluded wouldn’t be as easy.

The water was tranquil, the dingy ripples between the muddy banks creating a calming slosh. Since my security clearance wouldn’t get me through the gate blocking access to the island, and I didn’t have anyone to help me hop the fence, I didn’t have a choice.

Taking a deep breath, I eyed the water, thinking about the swim. I could hold my breath for about five minutes, even with advanced Respotech aiding my lung capacity.

If the lattice grate we’d swum out through leaving the compound before had somehow gotten sealed, I wouldn’t have the time to swim back.

I had one shot at this.

Plunging in, I swam for the trellis that’d take me to the drainage system beneath the basement. Some yards in, it appeared.

With a little effort, I shoved it aside and paddled inside, then I surfaced with a gasp and shivered.

I’d made it.

When I strode into the residence hall, a few Glitchers, all girls, were lounging on their cots. Many were asleep. For a string of heartbeats, no one spoke or moved. Then a familiar voice came from the bathroom door.

“Brinya?”

“Talon!” My heart fluttered at the sight of her.

“What are you doing here?” The remnants of two scars that hadn't been there before were visible on her cheek once she got close enough.

“I need to talk to Kade.”

“No, you need to go home. I don’t know how you got in this time, but you and your friends need to leave us alone. You have no idea what you cost us by coming here the first time.”

“I’m sorry. Not knowing how everything went down has been killing me.”

A few wary onlookers gathered behind Talon, calling for her to eject me.

“After you left, they took us in, one by one, and interrogated us,” Talon continued. “The only thing that saved us from more pain was the fact that they were asking about the Transporter, and most of the group knew nothing about that little escapade. Many didn’t come back, Brinya. Everything’s been bad here. Even the tests have gotten worse since you guys left. A lot of the people here blame you.” Her gaze drifted from me to her friends, then back again. “So, you need to go home.”

Talon grabbed my elbow and pulled me back to the stairs. At the top, she led me into the hallway and shut the door behind us.

“Talon—”

“Hush.” She dropped her voice, checking over her shoulder. “I'm sorry for being harsh in there, but things have been rough. Many are not handling this new level of trouble very well. I had to make it sound like I wanted you gone. You understand, right?”

I nodded, still confused.

“You should talk to Kade. He hasn't been the same since everything went down. He went through the interrogations the longest, and the technicians have been particularly hard on him. They’ve been doing new tests, sometimes for hours. It's like they're trying to break him, like they suspect something and want to see if he's the key to helping them get it. I don’t know if it’s because he ranks higher on the defective scale than any of the rest of us or not, but I suspect so.”

“And you think I can help?”

“All I know is he needs someone to talk to. I think you’ll do.” She gave me a quick grin.

“I never meant for this to get so out of hand.”

Talon's face broke into a genuine smile. “You think I’d turn on you? I'm glad we met, Brinya Renata. And whatever you or Kade need, I'll do my best to make sure you get it.”

She held out her hand, and I reached to shake it. But instead of shaking mine, she grabbed my forearm.

I gripped hers in kind. “I'll do the same for you, Talon.”

“We’re sisters, you know.” Talon grinned. “Kindred spirits who dream.”

I smiled back, feeling a sudden warmth inside me for this amazing girl. We stepped apart.

“Kade's in the garden.” Talon nodded to the stairs as she turned the other way. “I'll cover for you as long as possible.”

Chapter Thirty-Two

Five minutes later, I reached the rooftop greenhouse. After heaving the heavy outer door open, I waited for it to close, then pushed through the swinging interior door, sucking in a deep breath on the other side.

The divine fragrance of roses, crisp and pungent vines, and the earthy scent of warm, irrigated soil bombarded my nose upon entry. With each fragrant lungful, all stress and frustration weighing on me from the previous days corroded.

As I strolled along the stepping-stone path, passing a stack of gardening tools in the corner and stepping over a pair of pruning snips someone hadn’t put away, a placid smile tugged at my lips.

There, among the abundance of life, I closed my eyes and twirled around as if lost in some harmonious dance. The kind of dance you could be perfectly in sync with, even without music.

My eyes were still closed when footsteps approached, then stalled. With a sharp breath, I opened my eyes to see Kade, shock written on his face as he stared at me like he’d seen a ghost.

“Hi, Sakadian.” My mouth curved into an antagonizing grin.

He covered the ground between us with two big steps, stopping an arm's reach away.

“Don't call me that.” He towered over me, his voice soft. He paused, then whispered even softer, “Am I going crazy, or is this another accident?”

Looking up into his chiseled face, I relished in his closeness. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again, either. Doesn’t feel right to leave you all abandoned here, though.”

His shoulders relaxed. Then, as if given a swift kick, he unsettled. The old Kade returned, a worried leader back in charge.

“Why are you here?” He moved toward the windows as if checking to see if I had an army waiting to be let in. “Do you have a death wish?”

“I returned through the tunnels we used to escape,” I called to his back.

He spun to face me. “Yes. You escaped. You shouldn’t have come back here, Gray.”

“I should’ve taken the serum Ingrid created for me, designed to inhibit the mutations glitching my tech, but I didn’t. I couldn’t.”

Kade’s lips tightened into a thin line.

“I chose not to let someone else dictate my life, Kade.”

His brow rutted. “What brought you back?”

“You.” My veins ran hot, bursting with millions of tiny bubbles. “All Glitchers, here and in the Otherworlds. All the lies. The Technocracy is keeping secrets you can’t even imagine.”

“We’ve seen how they’ve turned designs into armored sheaths,” he said. Not that I needed the reminder. “Nothing could surprise me.”

“I thought the same, then I read the Doctrine.” I swallowed the lump in my throat.

His eyebrows rose. “You thought you were ready, huh?”

“I came back hoping to be a part of your fight to change things.”

“You want to join my alliance with Sam?”

“N-no,” I stammered. “I want to lead a new alliance.”

His bright-blue eyes narrowed on me.

“We must unite everybody.”

Kade’s mouth pinched.

“This can’t be a fight between Glitchers and the accredited, but a fight to unite everyone. We’re going to need to be united for what’s ahead.”

Kade glanced away, almost as if my words had hurt somehow. “Glitchers and Grays will never be on the same side.”

“But we are on the same side.”

We shared a raw second or two of silence.

“I suppose you think you can change everything.”

“I don’t know if I can change anything,” I admitted. “All I know is I’m willing to try.”

Kade’s lips formed another hard line.

“I’ve realized we can’t waste a moment of the time we have. We must unite and rise, fight for unity. It’s the only way we’re going to stop the Nightbringers.”

He frowned.

“You’ve seen them the same as I have, whatever they are. GEN10 Genoborgs. Cyborgs. Monsters. It doesn’t matter. If they get to the ground, then everything our predecessors did has been for nothing. They’re cold, ruthless. They’ll kill anyone different from them, and they care for nothing except themselves. If they make it to Earth, the past one thousand years mean nothing. They’ll ruin the planet we’re meant to protect faster than any Original, and you know it.”

Kade rubbed a palm along his jaw. “Even if Glitchers agreed to unite with Grays, they’d never return the favor. Elite Grays are the ones creating Nightbringers. Unity is a pipe dream.”

“Mother Nature doesn’t care about the petty shit, right?”

His eyes lifted to mine, softening.

“United is the only way we all win.”

The passion behind my words must’ve stirred something in him. He turned down a nearby path, gesturing for me to follow. I caught up as he reached the willow tree.

He held back the branches, and we slipped inside. We sat down on the bench, like last time, but this time my shoulders relaxed because we were on the same team.

“After you left, it took a while for things to calm down.”

“Talon told me it got bad here.”

“You saw Talon?”

“She scolded me and pretended to throw me out.”

“Talon always knows what to do.” Eyes shining, Kade smirked. “After the interrogations, everything changed. There’ve been some undercurrents of discontent. People are afraid and on edge. I think they’ve promised some of the Defiants something. Or they threatened them. I'm not sure. The tests have been worse, the technicians pushing harder. They’re seeking something.”

“Talon said the same. What are they looking for?”

“I don't know yet. But I did my own snooping since you left.”

“You did?”

“Don't look so surprised. Many things have changed since you were here. I meant to tell you that day, but…” He faltered, his expression like the one before he slammed the dormitory door when he’d overheard mine and Caleb’s conversation.

“Listen, what you heard between me and Caleb… I didn't get to explain, but—”

Kade shook his head. “You're with Caleb. You don't have to explain.”

“I’m not with Caleb. Well, not exactly. It's complicated, especially now—”

“It doesn’t matter.” Kade stood up from the bench, making his fingers a steeple. “You need to hear this. You were right. Keeping my people from the lab was a mistake.”

My muscles tightened with anticipation.

“When we were in Climoflyer-4, I saw Toby.”

Everything from my fingers to my toes went numb. “Are you sure?”

“He’s a soldier,” Kade replied.

“The one you let go to stay with me?”

He let out a long sigh. “Minion of the enemy. When they took him, they must’ve made him one of those sheaths. A Nightbringer. Which means they’ve been creating sheathed designs for longer than even Sam and Eli know. It didn’t start with the mission to the ground.”

No, of course it hadn’t.

“When Sam first told me about this mess, I figured something happened down there to make the Technocracy alter people into Nightbringers.”

Ignoring the pain at the back of my throat, I shook my head.

“They’ve probably been creating Nightbringers for decades, infiltrating all levels of society and the technocracy with them. It’s hard to say who they’ve turned into one.” Kade gave an open-mouthed groan. “It now makes sense why some of our leaders are merciless.”

“Something prompted the Sheath Initiative and the ground visit, Kade.”

“You know what it is, don’t you? It’s what they wanted to keep hidden.” The vein in Kade’s forehead bulged. “What are they hiding in the book?”

“The rains in Hegiralon City are an illusion, a means to keep people believing in the founders’ projections for our future.”

He scratched his chin as my toes curled in my shoes.

“You were right.” My emotion-choked voice split. “We’ll never see the ground.”

A muscle in his jaw twitched when tears pooled in my eyes.

“The lie is to keep the peace. An attempt to avoid the panic—and mass Climoporia—the truth could create in the Climoflyers.” My heart thudded dully in my chest, causing me to crack my knuckles. “Earth isn’t habitable like the founders had projected. There hasn’t been enough time. Or maybe, even from Inception, it wouldn’t work. Even with advanced tech, we can’t survive on Earth’s surface.”

Kade’s expression hardened, and then he shrugged. “Then we stay inside the crafts, and nothing changes. Heck, maybe we can return to Mars. There’s no reason to turn people into Nightbringers.”

“We can’t.” My mouth went dry. “The Climoflyers are in no condition to return to Mars. It’s the reason we haven’t gone back. When the governments of the world teamed up with NASA, Biofuse Genetics, and only the stars know who else, to launch the Climoflyers, they… Umm, it would seem, they never prepared for their calculations about Earth’s environment being wrong. They designed the crafts to self-destruct after a certain time. One thousand years, to be exact.”

Every ounce of color drained from his face.

“The process has already started in Climoflyer-4. The craft walls were leaking when we were there,” I continued. “We’re essentially living inside a sinking ship.”

“Only Nightbringers will survive on the ground,” he whispered.

“And we must stop them from getting there. We need to warn everyone.”

“Let’s not get excited.” Kade’s features were soft, calm despite his pale face. “We don’t want to make things worse by causing mass hysteria. Let’s focus on freeing everyone here first.”

“What good is being free if Nightbringers launch to a ground that they’ll destroy and everyone else dies in two years?”

Kade cocked his head to the side, biting his lip before he spoke. “Because if the Defiants can’t get out of this place, then we have no hope of finding an alternative to the Technocracy’s strategy.”

“You think we can find an alternative?” My shoulders bristled.

“We have to try,” Kade replied, shrugging, then a hopeful grin broke through. “Besides, what’s the worst that could happen? One of us outcasts must learn how to fly this big bastard?”

I smiled unexpectedly. “I’ve always wanted to pilot a Climoflyer, although it’d likely be more of a crash-landing.”

“A controlled crash, hopefully.” Kade’s smile faded. “I’m not willing to accept that thousands of people are going to die, everyone in this building included. I certainly won’t give the Technocracy the deciding power. So, we unite, and we fight to survive.”

His words made my body prickle. “A part of me hoped you would say that.”

Kade’s eyes twinkled for a minute—with what, I wasn’t sure. Admiration for me, maybe.

“I mean it,” I continued. “If we can free everyone trapped here and unite the people, there’s no reason we can’t save everybody and stop the Nightbringers.” Excitement flourished to life inside me again. “Maybe our story and the tales of Originals can merge to be one someday, the stories of survival and hope from the people who saved Earth.”

The glimmer of esteem in Kade’s eyes soon transitioned to something resembling doubt.

“I've been doing some investigating, and I've found out some things. Big things. Scientists have gone too far. With something as big as the Climoflyers’ self-destruct looming, everything they’re doing right now, all the experimentations, they have to be connected somehow.” A small rut formed between his eyebrows. “Our rulers have something sinister planned for those of us here. Otherwise, we would’ve gotten arrested already and thrown into Climoflyer-4 with the other Glitchers. They must need us for some specific reason.”

“Do you think they’ve scheduled those of you here to become the next wave of Nightbringers? I mean, Toby was here before they made him one.”

“It’s not in my plans to be made into some armored cyborg soldier.” He rubbed his hands together. “But their operation involves those in the basement pods, and I can prove it. Look at these.”

Reaching behind the bench, he pulled out some folders.

The labels Project Hegira and Mission CURE were on the top.

I gasped as I flipped through them and then grabbed my backpack.

“I have this one.” I pulled the file marked 30-36, immortal sheath subjects I’d taken from the genetics lab weeks ago from the bag.

I hadn’t looked at it since, but for the first time, the term sheath subjects made sense. They were Nightbringers. I handed it to Kade, who riffled through its contents.

“A ground solution has to be the end goal,” I replied. “Something that’ll allow us all to survive on Earth. The Sheath Initiative is the fallback. A means for some people to survive—in a not-so-great form—if they fail at creating a full-fledged solution.”

Kade bit his lip and crossed his arms. “The majority to survive will be elite Grays with who’s in charge.”

“Having already decided who’s dispensable would explain why they want to keep the circle of people who know about this small.”

Kade's cheeks flushed as he let out a frustrated sigh.

“Unless… Do you think there’s something on the ground we don’t know about, something fueled by the conditions down there and as dangerous to Nightbringers as Scorch Rains was to humans?”

Kade stood rigid, the suggestion hanging in the air between us.

“It doesn’t matter. Like you said, we can’t let Nightbringers inherit the Earth.” A rush of blood pumped adrenaline through my veins, and I smiled when he stood.

“We have work to do. Whatever they're planning, they're going to use the Defiants to accomplish it. I won’t stand by while they take my friends and use them.”

“Kade, listen, I have accreditation. I’m in the perfect position to help you.”

He looked at me like he hadn’t heard anything else, piercing me with his eyes as if trying to sense my sincerity. “You’ve got glitches, yet you gained accreditation?”

“Even though I’ve guaranteed my life in the city, I can’t go on as if nothing is wrong.”

“The only condition I have is that I’ll be the one to tell my people about the fate of the Climoflyers.” He exhaled, crossed arms falling to his sides. “Once I can bring myself to do it.”

I nodded.

Kade's eyes glowed, and he laced his fingers through mine, shooting electric currents up my arm. He turned and led me through the garden, back to the door. We left the flowery refuge and made our way downstairs.

We entered the rec room together, still holding hands. A large group of the Defiants stood against the rear wall. More sprinkled the room, some on the sofa and others in the pool.

All conversation died in the air when the door slammed behind us, all eyes swinging to us.

“Talon, is this your doing?” Kade called to her, and she waved a tennis racket in response. He nodded. “Good.”

He let go of my hand, mounting a small table in front of the group. All eyes followed him, which helped me breathe easier.

“We are the Defiants,” Kade began, his voice soft. “We are the misfits, they say. The disobedient, the broken ones. Those deemed useless for everything except experimentation. But I say we are the real ones. We care about one another. Even if it is far from perfect, we care about our home. We won’t let anyone dictate our lives; we definitely won’t let them decide we’re expendable. Glitchers or not, we won’t back down or be anything except who we are. Defiants.”

A ripple of response arose from the audience, and a few indignant eyes flicked to me.

“None of us had a choice when we came to this place,” Kade continued. “But we have a choice now. We can sit down here, surrendering until the last of us is dead. Or we can rise and change things. They don’t have the right to define our existence—or choose how it ends.”

Shouts rippled through the crowd.

“We’ve never had the resources to discover the truths hidden in this place. We do now.” He looked at me, and every eye followed his every move as he offered his hand and pulled me up to join him.

Before the group, my throat became raw, my entire body thick with vibrating nerves.

“Many of you still don’t know me,” I began somewhat shakily, “and some of you don't trust me. I understand, but today, I’m here as one of you. I will support your alliance with those in the Otherworlds, while being your lifeline to Hegiralon City since I have accreditation.”

Heads around the room shook, eyes brimming with doubt.

Talon’s gaze narrowed on me.

In the back of the room, there were some guarded whispers about how, if I held accreditation, I was one of them—one of the flawless. Jaron took a large step away from Kade to take a stand with the skeptics, seeming intent on publicly displaying his dislike for me.

“There was a time when all I wanted was to fool the tests so I could be ‘normal,’” I continued. “But nothing about me is normal. I’m like you. I’m a glitching Genoborg, and I’m okay with it. I’m proud of who I am. And I’m grateful that being me lets me care about all of you and what happens to Earth.”

Kade stepped forward again, taking my hand in his as a way to rally the others.

“We have allies outside of this prison. We have resources in here.” He gestured toward the group. “And I believe now is the time. There will be a cost. This is certain to be a long, hard road. Our experience with Dr. Kenzon is only a hint of what might lie ahead. But I’m also convinced we can come out on top.”

Many of the Defiants listened and nodded, but not Jaron. He congregated with the cynics while voices of assent flooded the room.

Talon stepped forward, ponytail swaying saucily. “I'm in.”

“Me too.” Dag joined her from behind, catching a scowl from Jaron.

The siblings, Vedrick and Donnika, followed their lead. Others approved, and Kade raised his hand for quiet.

“Then it’s settled,” Kade said, his voice like steel. “We will use these new alliances we’ve formed to get out of here. Doing so may be our only chance to survive what’s coming.”

“And if we pull this off?” Jaron rubbed his chin.

“When we pull this off,” Kade corrected, “we help everyone. And we do what’s needed to carry through on our ancestor’s promise to protect the ground.”

“We unite everyone.” My interjection received a mix of reactions, but Kade nodded.

“First, we take our freedom.”

“We will be free!” The words echoed off the ceiling as the entire group shouted it.

A stirring deep in my chest made me tighten my grip on Kade's hand.

No one knew what the days ahead would hold, but we’d be ready.

We would face the uncertainties of the future united and hopeful.

And we just might survive.

The End

The Defiants will continue with Book 2, We Catch Those Fallen!