Glitch

my-
    self, but Adrien only nodded.
    “Of course. But”— he had that pained expression again
    on his face—“we can only take Markan because there’s a
    hope he’ll be a glitcher like you. We can’t take your parents.
    Even away from the Community and the Link, there’s no
    way we’ve found to extract the adult V-chip hardware with-
    out it killing the subject.”
    “Why?” I asked. “Surely you have the equipment to take
    the hardware out.”
    “It’s not that. By the time people reach adulthood and get
    the invasive fi nal V-chip installed, they can’t survive without
    it regulating their limbic functions. Their brains become
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    completely dependent on the hardware. We can keep them
    alive on life support, but the damage just gets worse till
    they’re brain- dead.”
    “It’s all so horrible,” I whispered, his words sinking in.
    “How could human beings do this to one another?”
    “It’ll be okay.” Max moved closer and put an arm around
    my shoulders. “I would never let anyone hurt you.”
    “But Max,” I said, pulling away from him in exasperation,
    “this isn’t just about me. There are so many other people out
    there being hurt. We have to help them.”
    His jaw hardened. “You can’t just save everyone—”
    Adrien cut him off . “Maybe not everyone, but we can
    help some. I know there’s at least one more girl. I had a vi-
    sion of her a couple days ago. I’d been laying low so they
    wouldn’t notice anything anomalous about me, but I had to
    contact you after I saw the vision. Her name’s Molla— she’s
    a year behind you at the Academy and she’s been glitching
    for a couple weeks now. She’s not handling it well. If we
    don’t get to her soon, they’ll crack her for sure.”
    “What are her powers?” Max asked, glaring at Adrien.
    Adrien shook his head. “I don’t know, that wasn’t part of
    the vision. I’m not even sure they’ve manifested yet. She’s
    been glitching such a short time, and they don’t always show
    up right away.”
    “Maybe we should wait until we see if she’s worth it,”
    Max said. “There’s no point in risking exposure if she isn’t
    powerful enough to be useful to us. It’d just be dead weight.”
    “Dead weight.” My mouth dropped open. “She’s a person ,
    Max!”
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    G L I TC H
    He waved a hand. “You know what I mean.”
    “No, I really don’t,” I said, suddenly furious.
    Adrien cocked his head sideways, listening. “Your broth-
    er’s getting off the treadmill. These walls are cracking thin.
    We can’t risk talking anymore.”
    “Fine.” My whole body shook in frustration at Max. “I’ll
    try to talk to Molla tomorrow. Will you point her out to
    me?” I asked Adrien.
    “Yes,” Adrien whispered, “but be careful. New glitchers
    can be unstable, sometimes they struggle with it and turn
    themselves in. The Chancellor’s been watching you very
    closely ever since you disappeared, so you gotta be crackin’
    careful with how you approach Molla, If she’s skittish, back
    off , or we could get all cracked.”
    I nodded. “I’ll be careful. Now you guys, go.”
    Max’s jaw set. “Not until after he does.”
    “Max!” I barely managed to keep my voice under control.
    Everything that came out of his mouth to night made me
    want to punch him.
    “It’s fi ne,” Adrien said calmly. He looked at me, like he
    wanted to say something. After a moment he just closed his
    mouth, shook his head, and climbed up the ladder to my loft
    bed. He lifted his body up through the square space of the
    ceiling tile he’d removed.
    The door to my room suddenly opened and I felt my heart
    stop cold. It was Markan.
    I clenched my fi st tightly behind my back, my fi ngernails
    digging into my palm as I stifl ed a yelp of surprise.
    Markan was sweaty from the treadmill, but his eyes were
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    sharp and alert as he scanned the room. He looked back and
    forth between Max and me, his forehead furrowing. Max
    and I stood still. I held my breath, wanting to look up and
    make sure that Adrien was gone, but made myself resist. I
    forced my eyes to stay on Markan, knowing I’d give some-
    thing away for sure if I glanced at the ceiling.
    “I heard voices,” Markan said, his head tilted sideways as
    he looked at me with an uncanny acuity.
    “Maximin and I were discussing an Academy assignment.”
    My voice was a little high in spite of my attempt to control it.
    Markan’s gaze