Glitch

enough away from
    the city that it’s out of the patrol zone.”
    He was trying to distract me, I knew, but all I could think
    about was that I could no longer see the path. My chest felt
    like it had been put in a vise, twisting tighter with every
    step. My breathing became more and more labored. I wanted
    to stop but couldn’t bear the thought of spending any more
    time gasping in this air. I needed to get to shelter, away from
    the green.
    Adrien led us around the base of a wide tree and changed
    directions, heading in a diagonal from the path we’d been
    on. He pulled a thick branch hurriedly out of our way so we
    could pass.
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    G L I TC H
    The trees were dancing and laughing at me now. They
    swooped dangerously in one direction, then pulled back with
    a mocking sway.
    Adrien turned around and scanned my face. He wasn’t
    bothering to hide his worry anymore. We kept going.
    My body felt so heavy. I paused and put a hand on my fore-
    head, then rubbed my eyes. 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.
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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
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    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