Glitch

I yelled, grabbing him by the shirt and
    pulling him out of the room before he could ask any ques-
    tions. “Keep up.”
    I ran back to Molla while Adrien grabbed Max around
    the chest to haul him back up again. Juan came up behind
    us and we made our way to the end of the hallway.
    “Help with Max,” I commanded him, pointing. Juan
    hurried to shoulder Max’s sagging body and Adrien ran to
    the access panel in front of the door blocking our path. I
    heard him say the manual- override commands and tapped
    my foot impatiently.
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    G L I TC H
    “They aren’t working!” Frustration rang out clear in his
    voice
    His face suddenly paled. “I must have told the Chancellor
    about the manual- override codes I’d learned to access. Oh
    God, Zoe, what else did I tell her?” The horror widened on
    his face as he realized all the possible ramifi cations.
    I took his face in my hands. “Hey, look at me,” I said
    gently. “We can’t think about that right now. We have to
    focus on getting out. Okay?”
    He closed his eyes for a short moment, then opened them
    and nodded a quick sharp nod.
    “Good.” I stepped up beside him. “Now, move out of the
    way.”
    “Wait, Zoe,” he said, grabbing my arm, “this gate is a
    quarter ton of steel, there’s no way—”
    I thrust my power outward again in a way that was be-
    coming comfortably familiar. It was fl owing all through me,
    sizzling with electricity on my scalp and in my fi ngertips.
    Adrien didn’t understand, but I didn’t have time to try to
    put it into words for him. It wasn’t about how big or heavy
    something was. It was about shifting objects to occupy a dif-
    ferent space. I thrust both doors backward into their tracks.
    The screeching sound was deafening.
    I smiled at Adrien. “You were saying?”
    He shook his head, staring wide- eyed at the opened doors.
    He looked at me and grinned. “I am way crackin’ out of my
    league being with you!”
    I laughed, feeling half- delirious with adrenaline, and raced
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    Heather Anastasiu
    through the door. “Where to now?” I asked Adrien. “How
    do we get out of here? Tell me you memorized the blueprints
    of the holding cells.”
    “Of course. Follow me,” he said. He took Max’s other
    arm to help Juan carry him.
    “Why are we dragging him with us again?” Adrian aksed.
    “He was just like me, Adrien,” I said, looking at him over
    Molla’s head. She was following mutely, eyes only on Max.
    “We were both scared and alone,” I said. “The Chancel-
    lor made him promises of things he thought he wanted. I’m
    sure she told him everything he ever wanted to hear. He
    couldn’t have known it was all a lie.”
    “But he fi gured it out eventually,” Adrien said, all the
    lightheartedness gone from his voice. “And he put all of us
    in danger. He put you in danger.”
    “So did I. With Daavd,” I said as we came to the end of
    the hallway.
    “But you didn’t know what you were doing!”
    Molla stiff ened beside me. “Regulators,” she whis-
    pered, terror making her body start shaking again. She
    grabbed Max’s arm, I wasn’t sure if it was to steady herself
    or shield him.
    “Where?” Adrien said, looking around in confusion.
    “Twelve of them on the other side of the door up there,”
    she said. “They’re waiting for us.”
    “ Cracking hell ,” Adrien and I said at the same time.
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Chapter 23
    adrie n shot me a grave look.
    “Are their guns laser or bullet rounds?” I asked Molla.
    “I don’t know.” Molla’s voice was shaking. “How do you
    tell?”
    “Can you see through the guns with your vision?” Max
    asked Molla, his voice still horse, but he was standing more
    on his own now. “To see if there are clips fi lled with bullets?”
    Molla leaned in closer to the wall, squinting. “Yes, bul-
    lets. I see them.”
    I nodded. Adrien glared at Max, then looked back at me.
    “Zoe, what are you thinking?”
    “Is there another way out?” I asked Adrien.
    “No,” he whispered.
    Max managed to whisper, “I’m too weak to shift and
    become the Chancellor. Besides, she’d have warned them
    about me.”
    “That decides it, then,” I said. I called up my power and
    it responded, crackling and eager. It sang to me, the im-
    mense sense of energy pulsing throughout my body. “We’ll
    have to go through.” I focused all my power on the door.
    “Stay back, all of you.”
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    Heather Anastasiu
    “Wait, Zoe,” Adrien said, “you can’t!”
    I let