Glitch

My head fi lled again with a
    growing hum, and I tried to latch on to it, to use what ever
    ability I might have to reach out behind Adrien and close
    that door. But I was too shaken.
    I looked up I saw him studying my face. Then something
    he’d said earlier struck me.
    “Who is we ?”
    53

    Heather Anastasiu
    He smiled. “You’re not the only one with gifts, Zoe.
    There are others.”
    I started. Others. Others like me. That meant . . . I wasn’t
    alone?
    Adrien sighed, raising his hands in surrender.
    “Please. I’d like to take you to meet them, but I can’t drag
    you kicking and screaming. Number one, we’d get caught,
    and number two, I’d never do that to you. You’re away from
    the control of the Link now. You have your own mind, and
    you can make your own decisions. I’m giving you what the
    Community never will—
    a choice.” And with that, he
    stepped back.
    I immediately fl ed down a few more stairs to get away
    from the open door, but then, in spite of my terror, the war-
    ring thoughts in my head made me pause after a few steps. I
    stopped looked back up at Adrien, trying to work through
    the jumble of chaotic new ideas.
    Others like me. It sounded too good to be true. My
    thoughts raced too quickly to fi nish one before another swal-
    lowed it up. Could I trust him?
    He took a deep breath.
    “Come with me. There are other Gifted people here, liv-
    ing on the Surface, free and real and alive. I’m one of them.
    That’s how I know about the pictures you draw. You draw
    the world as you wish it was. I know about the one you drew
    yesterday, a boy’s face— it was your brother, right?”
    “How did you know—?”
    His words poured out in a rush. “I know that you drew
    him in the picture like you wish you could see him in real
    54

    G L I TC H
    life. The way he looked at you from the picture, it was love,
    wasn’t it? That’s what you drew in his face?”
    I felt my mouth drop open. “How could you know that?”
    “It’s my Gift. I can see glimpses of the future.”
    I blinked rapidly, letting the ramifi cations of that statement
    sink in. Everything he was saying was impossible. Everything
    that had happened today was impossible. This person stand-
    ing before me, anomalous just like me? The Surface, safe?
    And a boy who could see the future? It was crazy. But then
    again, I could move objects with my mind— that was just as
    impossible. And he was right about the picture I’d drawn.
    How could he have known so much about my deepest secrets
    if he wasn’t telling the truth?
    “If you can see the future, then what will happen if I
    don’t go with you?” My voice trembled, and I held onto the
    concrete wall behind me to steady myself.
    “I don’t cracking know.” He breathed out and rubbed his
    eyes, looking unsure for the fi rst time. “I’m still learning the
    limits of my Gift. I haven’t seen what happens next but I
    hope you’ll choose to come with me anyway. The Re sis-
    tance will keep you safe.”
    I looked up at his face, the thick brown hair that was
    cropped regulation length but still stuck up anyway, unruly
    and rebellious. I looked back and forth between the intensity
    of his green eyes and the open door. Everything I’d ever
    learned told me that the Surface was dangerous and that the
    things he said were impossible. But I could feel he was right
    about one thing— the Community was lying to us about the
    Link and V-chip.
    55

    Heather Anastasiu
    What other lies did they tell us? And what would they do
    if they found out I knew?
    “Zoe, you know what they’ll do if you go back,” he said
    quietly, as if he’d read my mind. “They’ll run the diagnostic
    on you and fi nd out you’ve been glitching. They’ll fi nd out
    about your telekinesis. I’ve seen a few people after they get
    done experimenting on them. It’s shuntin’ horrid.”
    His voice cracked; then he shook his head and looked at
    his arm readout.
    “ Shunt , we’re running out of time.” His face turned plead-
    ing again. A faint rumble sounded in the distance, some-
    where on the Surface.
    “Please, Zoe, let’s get out of here. Come with me.”
    He stood back and held a hand out to me, for the second
    time that day. An invitation. One I could refuse if I wanted.
    I stared at it, the hand of this broken boy who said crazy
    things. I was trapped. I knew what awaited me if I went
    back. A diagnostic, my secrets all laid bare, deactivation, or
    worse, repairs.
    I thought again