Glitch

“We’d never be free with you. We’d just
    be trading one form of mind control for another.”
    336

    G L I TC H
    The Chancellor smiled, only thinly veiling her anger.
    “The ends always justify my means.”
    She sighed. “It is clear to me that you have made your
    choice. But unfortunately, you have made the wrong one.
    Now I will be forced to take other mea sures. Would you like
    me to demonstrate my Gift?”
    She looked at the others. “Hurt yourselves.”
    Max began beating his head savagely with a fi st. Adrien
    had dropped the knife from Molla’s neck and stabbed him-
    self hard in the leg while Molla threw herself into the wall,
    headfi rst.
    “Stop it!” I screamed, running over to stop Molla from
    hurling herself at the wall again.
    “Cease,” the Chancellor said calmly. They all froze where
    they stood. Blood seeped through the leg of Adrien’s pants.
    A thin line of blood dripped from Molla’s forehead.
    “You’re a monster!” I screamed at the Chancellor, going to
    Molla and tearing some cloth from her shirt to wipe her head.
    “Am I?” the Chancellor said calmly. “I can make them
    do much worse. Molla,” she said, tossing a small device at
    her. Molla caught it and stared at it in confusion.
    “Deactivate yourself with this weapon if Zoe attempts to
    harm me.” The Chancellor turned back to me. “I can order
    them to kill themselves and they’d do it.”
    My eyes widened in horror.
    “Don’t worry. I won’t, at least not Adrien. He’s much too
    valuable. Molla on the other hand,” she said, waving a hand
    as if swatting a fl y. “She’s entirely expendable. Seeing through
    walls is useful enough, but we have cameras for that.”
    337

    Heather Anastasiu
    A cruel expression settled on the Chancellor’s face. “Zoe,
    there really are no other options for you. I compelled Adrien
    to inject you with a whole host of new Surface allergens.
    The outside world is completely deadly to you, even if you
    think you could somehow escape me. No amount of im-
    munotherapy can change that now.”
    She frowned, appearing sad but not quite apologetic. “I
    know I must seem harsh, but I’m unused to having to fi nd
    ways to persuade people to do as I ask. I haven’t had to do so
    in so long, I’ve almost forgotten how.”
    She put her hand on my shoulder. “You will stay here
    with me. There’s nowhere else to go.”
    She held out her hand to me, waiting. I stared at it. If I
    didn’t go along with her, everyone in this room would be
    lost. She’d kill Molla and enslave Max and Adrien. And what
    about my brother?
    I glared at the Chancellor. Every option in front of me
    was horrible in its own way. She was the one putting me in
    this corner with her cloying mixture of threats and prom-
    ises. I could join her and protect all the people I loved, but
    everyone else was still doomed to live and die without ever
    knowing what it ever truly felt to feel alive.
    All the moments since I’d begun glitching began parad-
    ing in my mind— that fi rst glimpse of color, the fear of my
    nightmares, the wild joy of drawing and capturing beauty
    on paper, the exquisite taste of strawberries, the unimagi-
    nable blue- green of Adrien’s eyes, the horrible depression
    I’d felt after I found out about Daavd. All the things I could
    do and feel by choice.
    338

    G L I TC H
    If we didn’t fi ght, if we just stayed here and built on what
    the Community had created, the drones might have a peace-
    ful life, but it wouldn’t be a life they’d chosen for themselves.
    How could I not fi ght with every last fi ber of my being, even
    if I knew it was hopeless, for the chance at something better?
    Suddenly I knew I had my answer. Really I’d known all
    along.
    Anger bubbled up inside me, itching in my balled fi sts.
    My eyes fl ashed between the Chancellor and the hair- trigger
    weapon Molla was holding to her own temple. On the peri-
    phery, I could see Adrien, still bleeding, with the knife
    poised to slash his skin. My anger burned into a searing rage.
    The high- pitched hum raised to a scream in my ears. It
    fl ooded through me like a burst dam. The entire room
    sharpened in detail— the overwhelming rush of rage at the
    Chancellor and love for Adrien brought a focus I’d never had
    before. It was without eff ort. It was instinct. I had been try-
    ing so hard to control my power, to rein it in and hide it in-
    side of me, but I’d fi nally learned to let myself go completely.
    The power was