Shutdown (Glitch)

the Chancellor could just as well be a mind-worker as it could be my brother. She’d used one on me before, and I knew just how lifelike the hallucinations could feel.
    I closed my eyes and felt out the contours of the boy in front of me. The details of the face matched exactly what I saw, the rounded nose and sharp cheekbones. He’d grown. I hadn’t seen him in over a year. He’d been still so much a boy when I’d last seen him but now he was clearly edging toward manhood.
    “We have to get you away from here!” I reached for him.
    “Stay close to me,” the Chancellor ordered and he remained unmoving on the ground. She laughed. I glared at her with hatred. She would not laugh for long.
    I slammed her hard against the wall. Markan’s body contorted and he screamed in pain, just like the Chancellor did.
    “What I said was true,” she said, looking at me through her stringy hair as she gasped for breath. “Another glitcher has an ability that has linked your brother’s life thread with mine. If you kill me, you kill him. Will you have another brother’s death on your conscience?”
    It was a lie. I couldn’t trust a thing she said. I tightened my hold on her and squeezed her throat shut so she couldn’t spout more poison. She was so fragile. It would be nothing to snap her neck and watch the life drain out of her eyes. I cinched my grip tighter still. Her hands went to her throat and Markan’s did the same. His eyes bulged wildly, and it made my heart stutter. The Chancellor could just be compelling him to act that way, I tried to reassure myself. Still I lessened my grip so she could breathe, and Markan’s breathing seemed to ease as well.
    “You’re only saying that to save yourself!” I yelled at her. “You will die today for your crimes.”
    “Then you’ll kill your brother as well,” she wheezed out, her voice raspy from my earlier crushing grip. “And I will have a sweet death, knowing this will haunt you forever. You’ll never know peace. The murder of both of your brothers will be on your head.”
    “Stop talking!” Doubt began to creep in. Because what if it wasn’t a lie? Glitcher Gifts were all so varied, what if one of them did have the power she spoke of? I loosened my grip on her and lowered her to the ground.
    The Chancellor, always so attuned to watching her manipulation at work, took advantage of it. “Markan, attack your sister. Kill her.”
    Markan pulled a laser weapon out of his boot and got to his feet.
    “No!” I put up my hand, freezing them both where they stood. I ripped the gun out of his hand and flung it behind me. Now that Markan was standing, I could tell he’d gotten so much taller in the past year and a half since I’d last seen him. He was fourteen now, almost fifteen.
    What was I going to do if what the Chancellor said was true? Adrenaline had carried me through the last few minutes, but it began to fade. I sagged against the wall as the pain throbbing in the background now came sharply to the forefront again.
    The Chancellor eyed me critically. “You don’t look so good, Zoe. I must admit, I am surprised you made it this far. I used the telepathic twin’s connection with his brother to locate you on the transport. I was sure I’d be able to kill you then and there. But you’ve always had an uncanny ability to survive.”
    So that was how she’d found us. It was an oversight on our part. Thinking back, it was clear that we should have kept Jare sedated or at least blindfolded. But there was nothing we could do about it now. So many mistakes. Especially the most glaring mistake of all: not going back for my brother before it had all come to this.
    “But it looks like it’s all taken its toll,” the Chancellor went on. She pointed at my blood-soaked tunic where Adrien had stabbed me and the blood still seeping from my head wound. “Just how much blood have you lost? Look at you. You’re so exhausted you can barely stand on your own feet.”
    The pounding of the Regs battering against the wall behind us got louder.
    “And listen to that.” A cold grin etched itself on her face. “Seems like the Regulators are breaking through your paltry barriers. You won’t be able to hold them off for much longer. In fact, I imagine you’re going to pass out very soon.” She leaned in and I immobilized her again with my telek. “Stop fighting it. If you give in now, I’ll have Markan grant you a quick death. I promise that I’ll spare the ones you