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asked.
    I shook my head even as I heard her think, You can’t put me in the middle of the pack, Mr. Leader of the Cracking Resistance.
    I wanted to fly closer and hug her. Tell her I’d never force her to do anything she didn’t want to. Prove to her that everything I’d done was for her and only her. Instead I turned my face toward Freedom and quelled the roiling in my gut.
    *   *   *
    Freedom suffocated me, stealing the oxygen in the air and turning it into cement. The city lay still, as if holding its breath—as if it knew we were coming.
    “Enforcement Officers,” Saffediene said, pointing toward the Rises. Sure enough, the ultrawhite light of tech haloed the Officers as they swarmed through the streets.
    More than fifty, maybe more than one hundred, all heading straight for us as we lapped over the last of the waves and flew above the sandy beach below.
    “This is bad,” I said to no one in particular.
    “Evasive maneuvers,” Jag called. “Find a spot to hide. Reconvene on the roof of Rise Twelve, midnight.”
    Then he disappeared down the coast and into the inky night, leaving the rest of us to save ourselves.
    I watched him go, crazy-mad, until I remembered that he’d charged me with protecting Vi. Neither one of us could be taken again. I couldn’t withstand the brainwashing—if I survived at all.
    Now that Vi didn’t have Thane’s protective buffer, she absolutely couldn’t be caught. With her powers, Director Hightower would strip her of her identity, mold her into a clone of himself.
    “Vi! This way!” I flew along the barrier on the southern edge of the city. To my right the orchards were just starting to bud, and the branches would provide decent cover for a few hours.
    The Insiders had a hideout in the Western Blocks, and that would be our destination. I crouched low, satisfied when Vi copied me. We flew at treetop level, dodging the occasional rogue limb that grew higher than the others.
    “We need to get to the Blocks,” I said.
    If she didn’t know what that meant, she didn’t show it. One of the many things I loved about Vi. She was as unafraid as they come. Fiercely determined. And crazy-quick at improvising.
    The faintest of sounds met my ears. I whipped around to find Saffediene and Gunner zooming behind us. Part of me rejoiced to see them and another part groaned at the large target the four of us created.
    Shouts filled the air. The crackle of tasers followed, their super-hot light made it look like lightning had struck the orchard. I saw hoverboards with dark shapes flying in all directions.
    “We’ve gotta get out of here!” I yelled to Gunn. “Block Twenty-Four!”
    He waved his arm to show he heard me.
    “Vi, let’s get down under cover,” I said. She nosed her board into the trees.
    We flew.
    *   *   *
    Reaching the outer Blocks took forever. I thought for sure midnight had come and gone. At least we’d left behind the debilitating spark of the tasers.
    We’d taken to the ground an hour earlier in an effort tosave the energy in our boards. I rounded the corner and entered an alley between two buildings, sure I’d see the familiar sight of Block Twenty—which had a tunnel to Twenty-Four.
    I didn’t. I swore under my breath, and Vi caught my eye. She couldn’t help me navigate the city; she’d spent the majority of her time in Freedom under the influence of Thane’s voice. Or mine. Or both.
    Sometimes the guilt crippled me. Sadness pooled in my chest, right where my heart struggled to beat against it.
    We both looked helplessly to Gunner, because he grew up in the Blocks and should be able to determine where we were. Saffediene kept her back to us, scoping out the possible danger behind us.
    “Block Thirty,” Gunn said, peering down the alley. “We’re too far north.” He twisted back the way we came.
    “No,” Saffediene said. “This is Twenty.”
    Gunner’s face remained unreadable, except for the tiny muscle below his right eye, which