Everything hurt. I accidentally
caught a shaft of sunlight straight in the eyes and my head felt
like it was going to explode. My tongue was wrong. Clog-
ging my throat.
“Zo, I can see the house!” Adrien’s voice sounded far
away and hollow, as if we were back in the tunnel.
I looked at him through swollen eyes. The light glowed
around him and he looked like he was fl oating. He was a
glowing creature from another world, opening his gossamer
wings and beckoning me. I wanted to tumble into his em-
brace. We’d be able to fl y and I wouldn’t mind the sunshine
or the sky if he could just hold me forever.
But when he looked at me, his face changed from hope to
terror. I tried to open my mouth, but my throat was closed up
tight and I couldn’t choke out a single sound. I reached for the
sunlight wings on his back that would fl y us far away from
here to a place where we could breathe the sweetest air.
But instead, I was fl ying without him and it was all wrong,
because I was dropping down, down, down. I was only faintly
aware of the crash of my body hitting the ground as every-
thing went dark.
91
Chapter 8
my finge rnai ls were claws at my throat. I was sliding in
and out of a dream, images fl ashing before my eyes. Adrien
screaming. The boy from my nightmares running, being
chased down. Green everywhere. So much green.
Shh, Zoe. Don’t make a sound.
The boy’s body crashed into the dirt, leaves in his hair— he
turned to look back at the Regulators who’d tackled him.
He looked just like my brother Markan. He was screaming
my name as the men in blue— artifi cial musculature coiled
with savage strength beneath their reinforced suits— slammed
his head into the ground, over and over. Blood poured down
his face. The boy with my brother’s face looked at me one
more time, an indecipherable expression on his face, before
his jaw went slack and his eyes rolled into the back of his
head.
Markan! I didn’t mean to! Run, Markan! Run!
Another face. A woman. Liquid gray spots bubbled around
the edges of my vision, then went black. Muffl
ed, urgent
conversations. I was fl oating through the air one moment,
then surrounded by warmth the next. A searing bite on my
92
G L I TC H
leg. Rats, I was covered with rats, biting me, eating me alive!
I tried to open my mouth and scream but I couldn’t. Why
weren’t the voices helping me, the rats were eating me alive!
Blood rushed in my ears with a screaming buzz.
Shh, Zoe. Don’t make a sound.
The world went black again.
My eyelids felt like they weighed a thousand pounds. My
throat burned, but I realized with a rush of relief that I was
breathing without any problem. I started to take a long,
deep breath, but then I winced. My whole body was so sore.
With every breath in, I could feel the contours of both ach-
ing lungs and the tenderness between my ribs. It hurt to
breathe, but at least I was able to.
Noises fi ltered in. Voices. I hadn’t noticed them at fi rst but
they were getting very loud.
“I can’t believe you brought her here after everything we
talked about. Are you trying to get us all killed? What did I
tell you over and over? No unnecessary risks!”
“Mom!” I recognized Adrien’s voice. “You didn’t see what
I saw. I had to save her. What was I supposed to do? What
use is having visions if I can’t do anything about them?”
“You need to stay focused on the big picture here, Adrien,”
the other voice said. It must be his mother. “There are too
many lives at risk to act so impulsively. If you compromise
your mission, it puts all of us in danger. We can’t aff ord it.
There’s too much at stake, and you know it.”
“How can you say that?” Adrien slammed something
93
Heather Anastasiu
loudly, maybe the wall or a counter. “What the crackin’ hell
have we been fi ghting for all these years? To stop this kind
of thing from ever being able to happen again! To stop
caught a shaft of sunlight straight in the eyes and my head felt
like it was going to explode. My tongue was wrong. Clog-
ging my throat.
“Zo, I can see the house!” Adrien’s voice sounded far
away and hollow, as if we were back in the tunnel.
I looked at him through swollen eyes. The light glowed
around him and he looked like he was fl oating. He was a
glowing creature from another world, opening his gossamer
wings and beckoning me. I wanted to tumble into his em-
brace. We’d be able to fl y and I wouldn’t mind the sunshine
or the sky if he could just hold me forever.
But when he looked at me, his face changed from hope to
terror. I tried to open my mouth, but my throat was closed up
tight and I couldn’t choke out a single sound. I reached for the
sunlight wings on his back that would fl y us far away from
here to a place where we could breathe the sweetest air.
But instead, I was fl ying without him and it was all wrong,
because I was dropping down, down, down. I was only faintly
aware of the crash of my body hitting the ground as every-
thing went dark.
91
Chapter 8
my finge rnai ls were claws at my throat. I was sliding in
and out of a dream, images fl ashing before my eyes. Adrien
screaming. The boy from my nightmares running, being
chased down. Green everywhere. So much green.
Shh, Zoe. Don’t make a sound.
The boy’s body crashed into the dirt, leaves in his hair— he
turned to look back at the Regulators who’d tackled him.
He looked just like my brother Markan. He was screaming
my name as the men in blue— artifi cial musculature coiled
with savage strength beneath their reinforced suits— slammed
his head into the ground, over and over. Blood poured down
his face. The boy with my brother’s face looked at me one
more time, an indecipherable expression on his face, before
his jaw went slack and his eyes rolled into the back of his
head.
Markan! I didn’t mean to! Run, Markan! Run!
Another face. A woman. Liquid gray spots bubbled around
the edges of my vision, then went black. Muffl
ed, urgent
conversations. I was fl oating through the air one moment,
then surrounded by warmth the next. A searing bite on my
92
G L I TC H
leg. Rats, I was covered with rats, biting me, eating me alive!
I tried to open my mouth and scream but I couldn’t. Why
weren’t the voices helping me, the rats were eating me alive!
Blood rushed in my ears with a screaming buzz.
Shh, Zoe. Don’t make a sound.
The world went black again.
My eyelids felt like they weighed a thousand pounds. My
throat burned, but I realized with a rush of relief that I was
breathing without any problem. I started to take a long,
deep breath, but then I winced. My whole body was so sore.
With every breath in, I could feel the contours of both ach-
ing lungs and the tenderness between my ribs. It hurt to
breathe, but at least I was able to.
Noises fi ltered in. Voices. I hadn’t noticed them at fi rst but
they were getting very loud.
“I can’t believe you brought her here after everything we
talked about. Are you trying to get us all killed? What did I
tell you over and over? No unnecessary risks!”
“Mom!” I recognized Adrien’s voice. “You didn’t see what
I saw. I had to save her. What was I supposed to do? What
use is having visions if I can’t do anything about them?”
“You need to stay focused on the big picture here, Adrien,”
the other voice said. It must be his mother. “There are too
many lives at risk to act so impulsively. If you compromise
your mission, it puts all of us in danger. We can’t aff ord it.
There’s too much at stake, and you know it.”
“How can you say that?” Adrien slammed something
93
Heather Anastasiu
loudly, maybe the wall or a counter. “What the crackin’ hell
have we been fi ghting for all these years? To stop this kind
of thing from ever being able to happen again! To stop
Similar Books
