Glitch (33 page)

“Where’s Max?” I asked. “And Juan?”

“They are safe.” She smiled. “You’ll see Max soon. Listen, I understand your anger, Zoe,” she continued. “I
understand
your need to save others. Believe me. In the wrong hands the Link gives the power to do the unthinkable, and they must be stopped. But you’re going about it all wrong. You don’t have to leave. You don’t have to join the helpless Resistance. This world should be
ours
, and I’m working from the inside to change it. To make it the Community we were promised.”

“But,” I started, my mind whirring to make sense of everything she was saying. “How? The Resistance has been around for years trying to take down the Uppers.”

The Chancellor smiled. “My Gift is very … subtle, very persuasive. I can compel anyone close enough to me to do what I want. It’s how I’ve been able to survive undetected.” Her smile turned cold. “The Uppers give me the information I need to know. Then I make them forget. For the worst of them, I’ve encouraged them to administer their own punishments. I’ve developed my Gift slowly, but eventually I managed to simply take up the part of an Upper. I’ve been moving up the ranks ever since.”

“If that’s true,” I said slowly, still trying to figure out if she was lying or not, “then why become Chancellor of an Academy? Why not just install yourself as Chancellor Supreme of the sector?”

She’d been pacing but she stopped and turned to me. “I’m not strong enough to take down the entire Upper system on my own. I realized early on that there must be others like me. And I was right. There’s a veritable explosion of Gifted subjects in your generation. Installing myself at an Academy was the best way for me to discover and collect glitchers old enough to fight, before they get the final adult V-chip installed and lose their powers forever. When I heard about your anomalous incident and then disappearance, I was intrigued. I decided this would be the next place for me to recruit. I need your help, Zoe.”

She took another step toward me. “I’ve been transferring in other anomalous students to see if they would develop glitcher abilities as well. We’ve kept it quiet, of course. The systems databases have been regularly scrubbed so that the high number of anomalies don’t go reported. We’ve had to maintain appearances, perform regular diagnostics and so forth, but it has all been a show for the Uppers. They have no idea the work I’ve been doing here.”

I blinked. This was too much to take in at once. Could it be true that she was really on our side? She was powerful, there was no denying that. If what she said was true, then we wouldn’t have to run or leave our home, we wouldn’t have to face the adult V-chip or worry about deactivation ever again. But what about Adrien? He’d lied to me to help her. And there was something not quite right about the Chancellor’s promises. Something hovering at the edge of my mind that I just couldn’t quite grasp.

“No glitcher ever needs to be afraid again once we’re in power,” the Chancellor continued, oblivious to the turmoil that was going on inside me. “You can stop what happened to your brother from ever happening again.”

“What?” I felt my eyes widen as I looked at her. What could she know about Daavd?

“It’s such a shame. He would have been so useful to us. He would have escaped, if you hadn’t started screaming as you passed by a checkpoint.”

She paused, studying my face. Memories, the ones I tried to bury, rose up. The look on my brother’s face right after I’d called out to the Regulators—shock, betrayal, and forgiveness, all in the single breath before he’d taken off running and been chased down.

“Interesting,” she said, studying me. “They wiped your memory, but you seem unusually able to cling to bits and pieces of things you shouldn’t. Zoe, I
understand
you. Together we have a real chance to overthrow the Uppers. Just think of it. The oppressive Community gone forever. Any glitcher would be free to think and feel and demonstrate their powers. Complete freedom.”

Her eyes glistened with triumph at her own words, and I felt myself almost swept up by them. If she was right, we didn’t have to run away to fight the Community system. We could infiltrate it from the inside. With enough glitchers, it would be possible.

I kept watching the Chancellor. She was confident, passionate, and powerful. She smiled sweetly at me and it almost reached her small eyes. Almost. There was a strain on her face, and it sparked the twinge of warning in my stomach again. Everything sounded so perfect, but it felt like there was something she wasn’t telling me.

And then I grasped it. The question that had been in the back of my mind, just out of reach. The Chancellor was going on and on about rescuing glitchers, about saving them from being repaired or deactivated. But what about everyone else?

“What happens after we overthrow the Uppers?” I asked. “Are you going to upend the entire system of V-chip control?”

She looked at me, a sad expression on her face as she shook her head.

“It is unfortunate, but the V-chip is necessary. Getting rid of it would mean there would be no more glitchers. But it was never the V-chip that was corrupt, it was the officials who controlled it. The V-chip makes it possible, for the first time in the history of our species, to truly have world peace.”

Her soothing voice washed over me. “None of the drones will ever have to experience pain or sadness or destructive passions. We will cleanse the ruling class of corruption and everyone in our society will fulfill their roles in a perfect, orderly manner. We’ll take better care of the subjects than the Uppers. No more labor farms. We can create a true Humanity Sublime. Logical. Orderly.
Perfect.
”

I stared at her openmouthed. I didn’t want to admit it, but some part of me agreed with her. I hadn’t seen the world. Adrien had told me about how horrible it was. I remembered his face when he’d talked about the horrific things he’d seen in his life on the run with the Rez. I myself had even wondered if people weren’t better off without emotion. What little I’d seen of hate and anger and jealousy had shown me that. A world without pain or hurt. There would be a heavy cost, but what if what the Chancellor was offering me, imperfect as it was, was still the best solution for a world too broken to fix?

But then I thought about my brother and the smile I’d always wanted to see on his face. If the Chancellor had her way and he never glitched, he’d stay a drone forever. Sure, with the Link system, no one would know pain or war, but they’d also never feel happiness, see beauty, or be loved. Didn’t everyone deserve at least a chance at joy? Not just glitchers, but every single living person? Who were we to decide who got a chance at that life? Who were we to decide who was worth saving?

Suddenly I could see clearly. No. I was not like her, and she did not understand me. “You talk about ideals—” I paused, shaking my head in disgust, “But really, underneath, this is just a way for you to gain all the power. You’re no different than the Uppers.”

The strained, saccharine smile on the Chancellor’s face disappeared instantly. She gritted her teeth and her cheeks turned splotchy red with instant rage.

“Don’t use that tone with me!” Her voice turned hard. “I’ve had enough. I thought you would see reason, but it is clear that you are incapable.”

She realized her mistake, quickly calming herself. Her expression quickly stilled, turning back into the sweet placid smile. But it was too late. I had already seen the real face of the Chancellor.

The buzzing suddenly burned through me at her change in tone. I had to get Molla away from this woman. My teeth clenched, and my fists began to shake with the effort. Everything inside me was screaming to unleash my power and get Molla and me out of here.

The Chancellor frowned as if in sympathy.

“Oh, dear. You are still having difficulty controlling your powers. I was afraid that might make this challenging.” She gestured toward Adrien.

“Believe me, Zoe, I am so sorry to do this to you. I was hoping to avoid this, but I know there is only one reliable method to control your power. And it is going to upset you.”

Adrien moved to stand behind Molla, a knife pressed against her throat.

“Stop it!” I yelled, starting forward.

I saw a thin line of blood from where he’d pushed too hard. I froze, not daring to take another step in case he kept pushing. Rage burned in my chest. My power begged to tear him apart. But I held it in. I had to protect Molla.

The Chancellor observed me, smiling as my arms began to still.

“Much better. But I’m afraid it’s just not quite enough. It’s a pity. If only you weren’t immune to my Gift, none of this would be necessary.” She turned to speak into her wrist communicator.

“Bring in the other subject.” She turned her hawk gaze back on me and smiled.

The door opened and two Regulators dragged in someone so beaten and bloody, at first I didn’t recognize him. But then I saw the blond hair, the angular jaw. It was Max. My heart seized up in my chest at the sight of him. They flung him to the ground like a bag of flour.

Molla went wild when she saw him. She let out an agonized scream that sounded more animal than human. It echoed throughout the room despite Adrien’s hand clamped over her mouth. She began to furiously jerk about in Adrien’s arms, struggling to break free and run to Max’s broken body.

“Max!” I started forward but the Chancellor just clicked her tongue at me.

“I don’t think so, Zoe. Remember Molla.”

I looked over at her. She was still struggling. Adrien twisted one arm behind her back, the knife edge still dangerously close to her throat.

“Molla, stop it!” I shouted, my voice ringing in the empty room. “You have to stay calm. For Max.”

She slowly stopped struggling, but she still looked wild and lost. The screams died down to a constant, painful whimper, and her eyes streamed a steady flush of water. Her wide gaze was trained on Max’s broken body, crumpled at the Chancellor’s feet.

As calmly as I could, I looked at Max, surveying the damage. My chest ached just looking at him. His beautiful golden hair was matted with dirt and blood. One eye was swollen shut, purple with bruising around his cheekbones and jaw. His lip was split open. All of the skin I could see was red and tender. He lay on the ground with a studied stillness, as if any movement at all would be too painful to bear. I watched his back carefully, relieved every time I saw the subtle rise and fall. He was breathing.

I looked at the Chancellor, keeping myself perfectly still as I scanned the exits and calculated the exact position of Adrien and his knife. If I had the right opportunity, I could overpower them and take Molla. If I could disarm one of the Regulators outside the door, we could be armed enough to have a fighting chance. The Chancellor looked at me as if she was reluctant to carry on.

“I know this is painful for you, but you do understand this is the only way for us all to be safe around your volatile powers. And as for Max, I assure you that his current unfortunate condition was his own doing, and I take no pleasure in it. He understood the terms of our agreement. When I offered him a position as Monitor, he seemed to truly grasp the importance and scope of my mission. But it seems he has suddenly changed his mind.”

“No!” I said immediately. “That’s not possible.” Max a Monitor, spying and reporting on glitching students? All my confusion suddenly wiped clear. She was lying. Max was trying to save me from
her
, and she was a fool to think her twisted lies would trick me. But she kept talking, oblivious to my growing disgust, and the buzzing that had started to ring in my ears.

“Poor thing. Maximin is such a good little liar. A veritable chameleon. He’d helped me keep an eye on the Uppers, and he was quite skilled at it, too.” The Chancellor frowned. “Max had access to everything he ever wanted. But he was willing to throw it all away. All that power, everything he could ever want—simply for the possibility of escaping with you.

“If Adrien hadn’t had a lucky vision, Max might have gotten away with it, too. And why did you want to escape, Max?” She laughed, turning to Max and putting a rough hand on his shoulder. He cried out in pain.

“Stand up.”

Molla strained against Adrien’s grip again as Max started to move. She started twisting in Adrien’s arms, her sobs filling the tense silence.

Max hobbled to his feet, even though it looked like it hurt him to do it. Dried blood was caked on his forehead and his lip was cut and bleeding. I hurt just watching him. I looked back at the Chancellor, wanting to hurt her for hurting him. For lying about him.

The Chancellor put a hand underneath his chin to make him look her in the eyes. “Tell them, Max. Tell them all about your scheming.”

“Stop it!” Molla shouted, her mouth breaking away from Adrien’s hand for just one moment. She started sobbing louder.

“Don’t you get it, you sniveling idiot?” She turned to Molla, addressing her for the first time. “He doesn’t love you. He will never love you, not even after he put a baby in you. He was going to abandon you so he could run away with her.” She pointed at me, then turned back to Max.

Molla’s eyes widened and she stilled, stunned.

“Max,” said the Chancellor, quietly. Her eyes stared into Max’s face intensely. All the pain showing on his face seemed to disappear instantly, and his eyes glazed over. His body tilted toward the Chancellor.

“Tell them,” she said. “You thought you’d found a way to escape my powers on the train platform, didn’t you? That I couldn’t latch on to you to control you when your image kept shifting. And it worked, for a while. But I’m much faster than you can imagine.” She leaned into Max’s face, her blazing eyes an inch away from his. “Now, tell them!”

“It’s true,” Max said, his voice rough, and raspy. He stared straight ahead as he spoke, looking completely empty of all that was Max. “The Chancellor approached me months ago. She caught me shifting on a surveillance camera. She offered for me to join her voluntarily and be a Monitor. She told me I could have everything I ever wanted. I’d be able to live like an Upper, with Zoe. We’d be allowed to live here together and never have to give up glitching or get the adult V-chip. I thought I could keep us safe. Keep Zoe safe. All I had to do was watch and tell the Chancellor about what I saw. I accepted her offer.”