Glitch

like sinking to the ground. We
    might make it out of the city, but the Chancellor would
    have Regulators right on our heels. We wouldn’t be able to
    get to my brother.
    I shook my head at Max. He’d ruined all our plans. With-
    out him my brother could have been safe. “I might be able
    to forgive you,” I said, my voice still trembling with anger,
    “maybe even someday trust you again, but you’ll never get
    what you want. I will never love you, Maximin.”
    Max opened his mouth, taking a step backward as if I’d
    hit him. All his masks were gone and I could see the real
    Max, the hurt and shock and confusion on his face— like a
    little boy learning what pain felt like for the fi rst time.
    I instantly felt sorry, but before I could say anything, I
    heard rapid steps on the stairs behind us. I turned to see
    Adrien, biomask in hand, and my body melted in relief and
    tiredness. It was almost over. Max and I could work out all
    this later when things had calmed down and we’d both had
    some rest.
    354

    G L I TC H
    “Come on,” Adrien yelled. “Let’s get out of here. You
    and you.” He pointed at two Regulators. “Carry her up.”
    A burly brown- haired Regulator swept me up into his
    arms. His blue jumpsuit was in tatters, so my face was pressed
    up against the hard alloy of his metal- reinforced chest. He
    nodded to another one of the Regulators, who came up be-
    side him.
    “Come on, Max,” I said. I was so exhausted I could barely
    keep my eyes open any longer, but I managed to wave weakly
    at him to follow.
    His jaw tensed and I saw him swallow hard. His fi sts were
    clenched at his sides. “No, actually, I think I’ll stay,” he said
    calmly.
    “Max,” I said impatiently, looking awkwardly over the
    shoulder of the man carry ing me. “Don’t be a fool. She’ll
    deactivate you.”
    He stood up and backed away from the Regulators, a bit-
    ter smile on his face. “No, I don’t think she will,” he said.
    “Wait!” I said, suddenly realizing Max was being serious. I
    was angry with him, sure, but I couldn’t bear the thought of
    losing my best friend. I was already forced to leave Markan
    behind, I couldn’t leave Max too. “No, you have to come!
    Max!”
    Max gave a slight, hard smile. “And do what? Join your
    little band of Re sis tance fi ghters? Spend every day watching
    someone else live the life I always wanted with you? Don’t
    think so.” He half- turned, then paused.
    “But, watch out for yourself, okay?” His voice had soft-
    ened ever so slightly. “You have no idea what you’re getting
    355

    Heather Anastasiu
    yourself into. The Chancellor’s going to crush the Uppers,
    and then the Re sis tance. They’re nothing compared to the
    power she’s gathering.”
    He stared at me a moment longer, all the pain and anger
    and betrayal refl ected in the pool of water fl oating in his
    eyes.
    It felt like I was losing a part of myself. Max.
    “Come on,” Adrien yelled down to the Regulator hold-
    ing me. “We have to go now or we’ll never get out.”
    The man nodded once and then we were moving, my
    body jarring with every step, before I realized what had just
    happened.
    “Wait, I—” I yelled, struggling to be let down. But the
    Regulator holding me just kept going.
    “Max!” I screamed again, straining in the Regulator’s
    arms, my heart sinking with every step he took away from
    me. “Max!”
    Adrien secured the mask over my face as we went up the
    stairs, cutting off the sound of my voice. I tried to look
    back, reaching out in the direction of Max’s retreating back,
    but soon all I could see was the solid darkness in the stair-
    well. The sound of heavy feet on the stairs surrounded me,
    and then, before I would have thought possible, the door at
    the top was opened and the cool night breeze swept over
    my skin and the water streaming down my cheeks.
    356

Chapter 24
    the bump of the rough road jolted me against the
    door. Adrien reached over to steady me. I stayed by the win-
    dow, staring numbly out at the slowly lightening earth. It
    was almost morning. The group had split up at a hastily ar-
    ranged transfer spot, and Adrien, his mom, several of the
    ex- Regulators, and I were all in the back of a supply van
    heading south.
    We were safe for now, but in the quiet van, everything
    that had happened that night kept whirling around and
    around in my mind like a fan blade: After all my promises to
    myself, there’d been no way to escape with