Glitch

everything stirring inside me grow wings, let loose,
    and fl y.
    “Oh Adrien,” came his mother’s voice loudly from the
    doorway. Her face was stony, but behind her tight eyes there
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    Heather Anastasiu
    was resignation, and some sadness. Adrien pulled away from
    me quickly.
    “Just tell her already,” she said. “You think she’s going to
    lead the Re sis tance. You think she’s our only hope to deliver
    the whole human race from slavery.”
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Chapter 9
    i looke d back and forth between them in confu-
    sion. There had to be some kind of mistake. All of the
    blooming feelings froze in my chest.
    “Mom,” Adrien said, sounding angry, jumping back from
    me. His face reddened as his mother strode into the room.
    Sophia rolled her eyes. “It doesn’t matter what you tell
    her right now anyway. Or what you do with her.”
    “Mom!” It was a warning.
    I touched his hand to try to calm him down.
    “It’s true,” his mother continued. “You forgot she’s still
    got the memory disrupter inserted. She won’t remember a
    thing from the entire time since it was inserted till it’s taken
    out. And frankly, that’s a good thing, because she can’t stay.
    She has to go back.”
    My hand went to the back of my neck. Oh no, she was
    right. Adrien had said everything was recording separately
    on the drive, but I’d forgotten all about it. And soon I would
    forget all of this. My hands trembled at the thought.
    “Why?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
    “She
    can’t go back,” Adrien said. “Neither of us can.
    They’d cracking lobotomize us if we did.”
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    “Don’t be so dramatic. Besides, you are not going back.
    But she has to. She’ll die if she stays here on the Surface.”
    “What?” Adrien and I both asked at the same time.
    “I had her blood tested. Her allergy is extreme. Her mast
    cells will keep producing histamines and sending her into
    anaphylactic shock.”
    “Then we’ll keep her away from mold,” Adrien said.
    “Adrien.” Sophia pinched the bridge of her nose, looking
    tired. “Sanjan ran the medical tests twice. She is allergic to
    the most common outdoor molds. Almost all of them. I’m
    surprised she lasted as long as she did up here. Epi is just an
    emergency fi x— it’s not a long- term solution. The attacks
    will be worse each time. She’ll die.”
    “We’ll keep her inside, then.”
    She walked toward Adrien and her tone softened. “Look,
    honey, I’m sorry. I know how much you wanted this. How
    much you want to believe your visions and the hope they
    bring you. But your dreams and the facts just don’t add up.”
    He brushed her hand off when she touched his shoulder.
    “I know what I saw. I’ve seen visions of her out in the open,
    under the sun. Your results were wrong.”
    She tilted her head sideways. “I understand this is hard. But
    you have to listen to reason. Mold can grow anywhere— it
    can be carried in on boots and clothing. Even your skin. No
    Re sis tance safe houses have the kind of air- fi ltration systems
    like where she’s from.” She paused a moment. “I’m sorry, but
    the Community is her best chance at survival right now.”
    Adrien turned to look at me, the fi ght draining from his
    face. “No. There has to be another way. Some of the research
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    G L I TC H
    labs must have the kind of air- fi ltration systems she’d need.
    Or we could build—”
    “Enough!” his mother said sharply, losing the softness in
    her face in an instant. “The Rez doesn’t have those kinds of
    resources to spare. She would be a major liability, and we’re
    vulnerable enough as it is right now. There’s just way too
    much at stake.”
    “Okay, what about allergy shots? We could—”
    “Immunotherapy takes months to work, years sometimes,
    and with all the diff erent kinds of molds she’s allergic to, it
    would still be a long shot.”
    I cleared my throat. “If I went back— is there a way for
    me to pass the diagnostic tests without showing up anoma-
    lous?” They both paused to look at me.
    “With the memory disrupter in place, nothing that’s hap-
    pened could be recorded or found on your memory chip,”
    his mother said, scrutinizing me as if for the fi rst time.
    “No,” I said, “but everything else will. The glitching, the
    drawings and the tele . . . What did you call it again?”
    “Telekinesis,” Adrien said, turning to me with an ashen
    face, “but Zoe, you can’t go back.