Prodded by these reminders, Cody began to fixate on how badly she wanted to hurt the people who had hurt her. But she was better than them, and she wasn’t interested in simply inflicting physical pain. Instead, she wanted to hurt them where it counted, by dismantling the entire apparatus that allowed her to be detained. She wanted to destroy the Equality Act. She wanted to destroy the entire Equality Movement. Before her capture, Cody’s motives had been idealistic: She had believed in protecting the rights of the Ones and demonstrating to that end. But the torture had changed her. It had radicalized her, filled her with hatred, and created a more fearsome enemy. Now she wanted revenge.
Cody tossed and turned in her bed, fantasizing about getting back at Norton and the rest of the agents. She didn’t know how she was going to do it, but she vowed to try. They were the ones who still kept her awake at night. They were the ones who had turned her into a hopeless, empty body. They were the ones who would have to pay.
After a few days of recovery, including a strict cell-phone blackout, Joanne let James in to see her. When Cody finally saw him in the flesh after countless hours of imagining his face, she felt a bit of a shock. He was almost too real: His curls were curlier, his nose even more of a button, his eyes a richer hazel brown. Cody wanted to leap into his arms, but she was still sore and moving slowly. And James clearly felt tentative, too. He inched forward into her room and stopped when he saw what she looked like.
“I’m not contagious,” Cody said, smiling.
“I know,” James said, embarrassed. “It’s just hard to see you like this.”
Cody waved him closer to her bed, sensitive to the fact that James was processing this reality for the first time. He knelt down next to her and reached out a hand to softly touch her face.
“My God, it’s so good to see you,” he said, eyes tearing up. Then he tried to laugh. “I think security is tighter here than wherever the hell you’ve been hiding.”
Before he could say any more stupid things, Cody yanked his face down to hers, and they shared a kiss that she hadn’t dared to let herself imagine when she was gone. It was pure bliss, a concept she had forgotten still existed in the world. Then Cody pulled James down onto the bed and snuggled under his arm. She lay there silently with him, gaining strength from the warmth of his body.
After what felt like an hour, she was at last ready to speak. “Can you explain what happened to me?”
“My dad says Margie had a heart attack when the SWAT team rushed in. When they found her dead, they framed you for murder and held you under the Equality Act for being a member of a terrorist group. After that … well, I guess you know the rest.”
“Then how did I get out? How did your dad do that?”
James tried to smile at her. “Is that really important now? You’re home. You’re safe.”
Cody pulled back from him. She wondered why he seemed hesitant to tell her. “James. It is important. To me. So tell me what happened.”
“All right. I am kind of confused myself, but I’ll explain what I know,” James said. “When we couldn’t find you or do anything for you, everyone started freaking out, trying to figure out ways to help you. My dad had an old friend from growing up—he’s a lawyer in the Justice Department. He’s not, like, the attorney general or anything, but he put my dad in contact with the people holding you. I don’t know what he said, but I guess he convinced them to let you go. I’m sure they knew you didn’t murder anyone, so I assume they probably would have given up eventually and done that anyway. You know, with or without my dad pestering them.”
Cody couldn’t help but laugh to herself.
You are a terrorist.
We can do whatever we want to you.
You will die in here.
They weren’t just going to give up.
Cody didn’t know if James actually believed this flimsy story or if he was the one hiding something.
“Wow,” she said. “Good thing he had that friend.”
“Yeah, really lucky.”
“When we were driving home, though, your dad made it sound like you made it happen.”
“Well, yeah. I mean, I was begging him to help. You know, to think of something, figure out a way to find you. But it’s not like I put a gun to his head or anything. He was happy to do it. I know you’ll never believe it, but my parents actually do like you.”
Cody decided to let James’s explanation rest. “So what else did I miss? Any celebrities fall down naked or anything?”
“Yeah, like you care,” James said. “I don’t know if you saw yet, but schools all over the country had copycat takeovers. They weren’t all successful, but it’s obvious that young people are siding with the Ones. Of course, that’s just making the jerks in the Equality Movement even more enraged.”
“What are they doing now?”
James grabbed her computer. “You sure you’re allowed to see this? Or is your mom going to kill me?” James opened the laptop, brought up a website, and tilted the screen toward Cody.
“Have you heard of an Equality Team?” he asked. She shook her head. “They are ‘peacekeepers’ with guns who are sent to hot spots around the country to enforce the Equality Act. They’re everywhere now. They come in, intimidate the Ones into following all these new restrictions, and arrest anyone who doesn’t comply.”
“Have they been to Shasta?” Cody asked.
“Not yet. I guess we’re not big enough.”
James kept clicking through some news stories showing the recent interventions of Equality Teams, and Cody scanned the headlines: ONES SUBJECT TO NEW TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS … AGENTS CLASH WITH ONES DEFYING COLLEGE ENROLLMENT BAN … EQUALITY TEAM HONORED BY DIRECTOR NORTON IN D.C.
“Wait! Go back,” Cody shouted.
James returned to the previous photo, and Cody confirmed what had caught her eye. It was a picture of a medal ceremony in Washington, D.C., where an Equality Team was being honored for bashing the most heads or something. And standing front and center, giving away the medals, was none other than Agent Norton.
Cody almost felt flattered. Her captor and interrogator was clearly someone important. She had sensed as much while she was detained, from the way Norton carried herself and the scope of her questioning. Norton didn’t care at all about Margie’s death. She was after something much bigger.
What is the Ark?
What is the Ark?
What is the Ark?
Now that Cody knew this for sure, her liberation at the hands of James’s father made even less sense. What could Arthur have possibly offered to make Norton release her? Cody got the feeling that she might not want to know.
“What is it?” James asked, snapping her back to reality.
“Oh, nothing. I just can’t believe some of these photos. They are really confronting people in the street like this?”
“Yeah. Gennycide. The whole country is cool with it.”
Cody tried to wrap her mind around this new state of affairs. She wasn’t surprised, but she was still saddened by it. And she realized she had played a part, however small, in creating this moment. She remembered that James had warned her against it.
“Just like you predicted,” Cody said.
“Huh?”
“You said it a while ago. If we stay calm, this will blow over. If we act out, things will get worse. You were right.”
“Well, doing nothing wasn’t the answer. I came to terms with that when I was scraping gum off the floor. When we were segregated in our own school. When kids started getting killed because they were Ones.”
“But I talked you into the school takeover, and look what happened.”
“We have to be smart about it. That’s what we were doing until Kai showed up. That’s why you were taken away. It’s the Weathermen that are the problem.”
Cody knew some of this was probably true. But even though James had come around to taking action, he was still too many steps behind her. He wanted to continue with the peaceful protests. She wanted
Norton dead.
Cody was the one who had been jailed and tortured. And what had he done to get her back? Asked his dad to make a phone call? As grateful as she had been to see him walk into the room, she’d never felt so far away.
She saw that James had picked up on that.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
Before Cody could answer, her door swung open and her mother stuck her head inside.
“Sweetie, you’ve got another friend who wants to say hi,” Joanne said, then turned back to the hallway. “I’m sorry, I don’t think we’ve met before … did you say Taryn?”
Cody jerked her head up, and sure enough, Taryn was standing in her doorway, holding a box of cupcakes. She looked totally different—nose ring gone, hair in a prim ponytail that must have been fake, muted clothes.
“Yes, thanks, Ms. Bell,” she said in a bizarrely cheerful tone. And then she held out her arms to Cody. “Cupcake?”
Joanne left the room, and Taryn stepped inside. Cody saw her catch sight of James for the first time and noticed how Taryn stopped in her tracks. The two of them shared an uncomfortable look until James turned away.
“Oh,” Taryn said. “I didn’t realize it was a party.”
“Not to be rude, but what are you doing here?” Cody asked.
“A girl can’t come check on her friend?” Taryn said, again with the odd Valley-girl affectation. Then she threw the cupcake box onto the bed and transformed back into her normal self. “You’re being watched, Cody. Kai needs to talk to you, but he couldn’t risk coming here. He knows they’re looking for him. So he sent me. And we thought it might be better if I looked more like a basic Amber Reed clone than, you know, normal.”
“I’m being watched? Did you actually see them?” Cody asked.
“Assume your entire life is under surveillance.”
Cody leaned over to pull the curtains back and peek outside.
“So don’t do things like that!” Taryn yelled, and bounded over to slap Cody’s hand down.
James cleared his throat. “It’s nice of you and Kai to check in on her. Kind of surprising, considering the last time you were talking about her.”
Cody looked at James, confused.
“You can’t trust them, Cody. All they care about is themselves.”
Taryn looked at Cody. “Can we talk privately, please? It’s him you can’t trust—believe me.”
Cody turned her head between James and Taryn. Even though there was still a gulf between her and James, she knew he always had her best interests at heart. She might not be able to count on him to help kill Norton, but she knew she could trust him to protect her.
“James can stay,” she said to Taryn. “What do you need to tell me?”
Taryn glared at James, aggravated. Cody saw that she was choosing her words carefully. “The Weathermen want to debrief you, that’s all. If you learned anything about what the Equality Agents are looking at, it would be helpful for us to know.”
Cody thought about it and decided that this was a reasonable request. Not only did she want to help them, but she also had some questions of her own. An exchange of information would be very welcome.
“Okay. But if I am being watched so closely, how?”
“You like running, right?” Taryn asked. “Go out for a jog. Disappear in the hills. Tell us where to meet you.”
“I don’t think this is a good idea—” James started to say.
“Fine. I’ll do it tomorrow. Right after sunrise,” Cody said quickly.
“Where should I tell Kai to meet you?” Taryn asked.
Cody hesitated and looked over at James. She knew he didn’t want her doing this. But that was a moot point now. The least she could do was not offend him by keeping it a secret from him. She turned back to Taryn.
“Take the Whiskey Meadow trailhead to the top, and keep going. I’ll find him.”
Taryn nodded and headed for the door. Cody saw her give James a withering look on the way out. The last time Cody had seen all of them had been during the school takeover. James and Taryn had always been tense around each other, but it seemed a lot worse now. Clearly something weird had happened in the aftermath, and she could tell James was keeping something from her. Cody wanted to ask him about it, but he stood up to leave.
“They used you and then threw you away like garbage, Cody,” James said. “Make sure you remember that tomorrow.” And then he walked out of her room.
Cody heard the front door shut and tried to consider what James was saying. She didn’t really want to think about it, because she already knew she disagreed. She also already knew what she had to do.
So she started packing a bag.
* * *
Cody knew it was cruel to be leaving again so soon, but she still slipped out of the house the next morning before dawn. The note she left on the table for her mother was brief but heartfelt. She hoped it was enough.
It felt amazing to be outside. She took several deep breaths of fresh air. Dawn was breaking, and the streets were quiet and empty. Cody jogged down the middle of her street, slower than usual, her wind gone, her legs heavy, and her backpack weighing her down. It reminded her, of course, of the day the Supreme Court had ruled against the Ones. But she wasn’t anxious like she had been then. What was there to be afraid of anymore? The only thing left was to act.
Cody made it to the edge of town and found the trailhead that led up into the hills. As she turned onto it, James was standing in her path.
“James—” she started.
“Can I run with you?” he asked.
“James, you shouldn’t have come.” She saw him clock her bulging backpack even as she made a pointless effort to obscure it from him.
“Let me run with you. Please.”
His eyes pleaded with her. She thought for a moment and then nodded. And as usual, she darted off ahead of him.
James caught up with her, and they fell into stride together. Cody wasn’t laboring anymore. James’s pace was pulling her forward, and she felt that exhilarating spring return to her legs. They ran in tandem, breathing as one, up the hills and through the trees. The sun began to creep through the lowest branches and warm their faces.
They were both beautiful, and the ground flew by underneath them.
By the time they’d reached the end of the trail miles later, Cody’s mind had been on autopilot for so long that it was a genuine surprise to see Kai standing across the meadow in front of them, his face covered, as usual, by his dark hood. Cody slowed to a stop before they reached him and stood with James.
She thought about what awaited her on each side of the meadow. She knew what existed between her and James: love, safety, familiarity. And she knew what made her pack a bag to leave with Kai: power, excitement, possibility. Cody selfishly wondered why those two extremes couldn’t be combined, but she understood that this was impossible. The lack of one was inherent to the other. Neither she nor anyone else could ever have both, and she knew she’d have to pick. Cody wasn’t ready to decide forever, but she was confident in what she needed now. She turned to give James a hug.
James started to talk, but Cody stopped him. “You don’t understand what they did to me, James. And I care about you too much to make you share it with me. I know you—it would break your heart. So I have to leave. I have to handle this without you.”
“Why?”
“Because I love you,” she said. “I can’t drag you down to the place I need to go. Even though I want to, it would be too cruel. Does that make any sense?”
James looked at her with tears in his eyes. “No.”
“Then you have to trust me. Even if you don’t understand, you still trust me, right?”
James nodded. “Always.”
“You got me home. But my mind is still back there, and I need to fix that. When I do, I promise I’ll come home for real.”
Cody stood on her toes to kiss James on the lips. She held him tight, even though he stood as still as a statue. And then,
with each step harder than the last, she started walking across the meadow to Kai.
* * *
On their long hike to the quarry, Kai had the good sense to leave Cody alone with her thoughts. When they finally ducked through some thick brush and entered an old mining cavern, Cody was shocked at what she saw. It looked as if a college dorm had been set up in the tunnels, with fancy sleeping bags and laptops lying around in the dust. Cody recognized several of the Ones from the first meeting she had attended.
“There’s been a lot of heat on us in the last week, so we just all started staying here,” Kai said.
“What kind of heat?” Cody asked.
“The usual drunk Equality bozos. But more serious stuff, too. Cars following us. Our phones being hacked. Gunshots. Better to play it safe.”
Kai didn’t stop in this first area of the mine but continued leading her deeper underground into a smaller cavern, where they were alone. He stopped and turned to look at her for the first time.
“So … was it as bad as I imagine?” he asked.
Cody nodded. She had decided she would tell Kai everything. Unlike James, she knew it wouldn’t hurt him. It would probably make him stronger, in fact. And since she needed his help now, she wanted him to know exactly what was motivating her. But before she got into it, Kai was ready to move on.
“I’m sorry you had to endure that,” he said sincerely, then quickly switched gears. “Now tell me everything they know about us.”
Cody suddenly realized this was a business meeting. Kai didn’t want to check in on her as a friend; he wanted to pump her for information. She had to admit she was a little offended, even as she respected his professionalism—if you could call a militant student protester living underground a professional.
Most of all, though, Cody was pleased with how desperate Kai seemed for information. It meant she could make a trade.
“I’m happy to tell you everything I learned,” she said. “But in exchange, I need to know something from you.”
Kai nodded.
“What is the Ark?” she asked.
Kai’s face immediately went blank. He didn’t exactly reveal anything, but the effort he put into not having a reaction spoke volumes.
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