Override (Glitch)

in my ears. I knew the feeling well.
    “Oh no,” I said, blinking my tears away and looking at my shaking forearm.
    Adrien took my hand in his, then his eyes flashed back up at mine. “Zoe, your emotions are triggering your telek. Can you calm down and get yourself under control?”
    I tried to take several deep breaths, but all I could see was my brother’s bloody face. The shaking got worse. I could feel the power building up inside me, begging to get out.
    Adrien put his hands on both sides of my face and looked straight into my eyes. “Zoe. You need to Link yourself. Right now.”
    I whispered the words to reconnect myself. Color leached from the room. And with it, I felt my tumultuous emotions calm and dissipate too. The sliding door of the Link came down, separating me from my fears and anxieties, and replacing them with numb calm.
    Simin stiffened in his chair.
    “It’s all right,” Adrien said. “Her powers are under control now.”
    “No, it’s not that,” Simin said, grabbing a small device from a shelf under the console and sticking it in his ear. He pointed at one of the monitors.
    “What is it?” Adrien asked.
    Simin raised a hand to silence him, but, after a few minutes of giving directions over the com, he turned to us.
    “It’s the General. She’s coming in. With a lot of wounded soldiers.”

Chapter 11
    ADRIEN’S FACE WENT ASHEN at Simin’s words. He headed directly to the Med Center where Jilia was already prepping beds. I followed.
    He had told me I should go to my dorm room, but I stayed behind anyway. One look at Adrien’s tense face helped me fight the numbing Link enough for one clear thought of my own to shine through the fog: I didn’t want to leave him when he looked like that. At the same time, I didn’t dare un-Link myself. I couldn’t risk adding to the crisis by losing control of my power.
    I pressed myself against the wall as Rez fighters came stumbling in with a loud chorus of shuffling boots, moans, and shouted instructions. Half a dozen wounded fighters were carried in and deposited onto the waiting beds. All of them bled from one place or another. The Link grayed color as much as emotion, but I could make out the dark stains on clothes and the floor, and the gashes on their skin. Adrien helped them all get situated. The cold readouts of the Link informed me of the size and breadth of each wound. One man’s leg looked like it had been blown completely off from the shin down. Another’s chest was half caved in, and Jilia laid her hands on him immediately. After a few moments though, her face fell and she cursed and moved on to another.
    Adrien’s face reflected the horror I couldn’t feel.
    In the chaos, a woman with sharp cheekbones and a hard mouth strode into the room. She wore the dark gray uniform of the Rez fighters. Her hands were stained with blood, but I couldn’t tell if it was hers. Professor Henry followed on her heels. “Are you sure you’re okay, Rosalina?” She must be the General.
    “What happened?” Adrien asked.
    The General ignored him and walked over to Jilia. “How are they?”
    “I’m almost done triaging,” Jilia murmured, pressing on the abdomen of a woman Rez fighter. The woman winced but didn’t cry out. “We lost Tirpte. Jenald might need a bionic replacement.” Jilia lifted her hands and finally looked at the General. “But I think the others will make it.”
    The General breathed out and closed her eyes. “We lost four more in the field. They were ready for us. There were only two cell commanders who knew we were coming.” She rubbed her forehead. “Chancellor Bright must have gotten to them.”
    The Professor’s eyes widened. “Then all the cells in the northern quadrant might have been cracked.”
    The General slammed her palm against a tray of instruments. “She knows our every move before we make it. And she’s being considered next in line to become Chancellor Supreme of Sector 6. If she manages it…” Her jaw tensed. “We can’t let it come to that.”
    “Why were you in Central City?” Adrien asked. His voice was hard, almost accusatory.
    The General’s eyes sliced over at him and something passed between them I couldn’t read. Her mouth tightened and a vein in her forehead stood out. “That’s none of your concern.” She glanced over at me. “No one should be in here except medical personnel. Leave now.”
    Adrien pushed off from the wall and I followed him. He didn’t say anything once