Pulse

that it was very soft, and suddenly she was crying, unable to stop the tears from coming. “If we can find your second pulse, we can turn the tide. It’s in you—Dylan can feel it. The question is, How deep? You, Dylan, and Hawk—you three might prevail against a great evil.”
    Faith understood. She only had a single pulse. If a hammer hit her in the side of the head, it wouldn’t matter how many she’d thrown the other way. She’d be a goner. It was only the second pulse that mattered in a real confrontation, and somewhere hidden inside, she had one.
    “Take the envelope; read it later,” Meredith said, lifting it off the floor with her mind and letting it hover in front of Faith. “It’s from your parents.”
    “Can I please sit outside, on the roof?” Faith asked. “I can’t stand it down here. I need to think. Alone.”
    Meredith looked at Dylan for some reassurance. Could she be trusted not to do anything stupid? Had she calmed down enough?
    “Promise me you won’t go anywhere else,” Dylan said. “Just to the roof, and don’t fly. I’ll come find you in an hour, and we’ll get going.”
    “Going?” Faith asked.
    Meredith was convinced it would be okay to give Faith an hour, but that was the limit. Clooger was already gathering the rest of the Drifters for their long trek south.
    “We can’t stay here any longer, and besides, there’s no reason. We need time to train where no one can find us.”
    The deadbolt on the red door turned, and Faith started to leave. She was suffocating with information, and all she really wanted was time alone.
    “You might as well take this, too,” Hawk said, pulling Faith’s Tablet out of the bag he had carried in. “The tracking’s off now, so you can’t be traced. And I’ve made a few other adjustments. Like you can get more shows now. Unfortunately, there won’t be any more free pants.”
    “I was really going to miss this thing,” Faith said. “Thanks.”
    A few seconds later Faith was out the doorway, up the old escalator, and into the fresh air of a cool night.
    When they were alone in the basement room, Meredith turned to Hawk. She trusted him the most, for he was an Intel. He was ten times smarter than Dylan and Meredith put together. “If we can’t unlock her second pulse, the war is over before it begins.”
    Hawk seemed to be calculating something in his head as his eyes darted back and forth. “I thought the book would do it. My timing must have been off by a nanosecond.”
    “Feelings are hard to pinpoint,” Meredith said. “Better follow her; make sure she doesn’t go looking for trouble. This one is more unpredictable than most.”
    “And powerful,” Dylan added. “She’s something else.”
    Meredith stared at the open red door for a long moment before saying what they all knew.
    “Without her we haven’t got a chance.”

Chapter 19
Second Pulse
    Faith set The Sneetches on the wooden table where she and Dylan had done so much of their work. Carrying the book around was a burden, unlike her Tablet, which fit in her back pocket and never failed to deliver entertainment when she needed it. She’d followed the instructions, using the fire escape to climb up to the roof, but she still felt too close to other people. She needed real seclusion, the kind she could only get if she went higher still.
    The orange glow of the State was strong and clear as Faith flew straight up, higher and higher, on the rocket power of her own thoughts. She knew it wouldn’t take much of a mistake to end up with a broken leg or worse whenever she decided to come down, but she didn’t care. She needed somewhere to be alone—really alone—and the higher she flew the more isolated her world became. What she wouldn’t give for a second pulse—with that, Faith could fly right over the State, find Clara and Wade Quinn, and throw punches all night. She allowed herself to imagine picking up a bus and dropping it on Wade Quinn’s head. She thought glorious, useless thoughts of putting Clara through a brick wall.
    “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to protect you,” Faith said, the words falling like petals into an empty sky. She was saying it to her mom, her dad, her best friend. She hung in the air, thinking about the price she’d had to pay, and for what? She hadn’t asked to be like this. She hadn’t asked Dylan to stand outside her window invading her private dreams. No one had bothered to explain anything to Faith until it was too late.