After Justus and I have exhausted all our arguments, I head to Harriet's office. I've put off talking with her about my visions for the future for too long, and I need her advice now more than ever. I can hear raised voices coming from her office all the way down the hall.

Wilde's voice is the loudest. "This is the grand finale we've been hoping for! There won't be a dry eye—Evolved or Throwback."

I freeze when I hear Sun shout back. "This isn't about ratings. This is Joan's life. We have to play this just right, or she'll end up dead."

I've never heard Sun speak in anything other than a measured tone.

"A martyr to the cause," Wilde says, his voice infused with melodrama.

I hear the sound crash, followed by a groan of pain. I enter Harriet's office and see Wilde holding his jaw, his grin nowhere in sight, for once.

Sun is cradling his fist, and Harriet is staring at him like she's never seen him before.

"Someone want to tell me what's going on?" I ask, and three sets of eyes meet mine. Wilde immediately looks back down at the ground.

"There's a warrant out for your arrest," Harriet says. "For the murder of Dr. Avery. The Governor and Officer Ben are delaying things on their end for as long as they can. But Strand has footage of what happened. Officer Ben says that it's better if you turn yourself in. He's giving you until the end of the day."

I remember Addie's fear when she realized that the power was back on inside the laboratory. I had thought she was afraid of the security that they'd be sending after us. But maybe she was worried about any violence against Evolved that we would have to answer for. If so, she was right.

"We send her out of the country," Sun says. "Aft can get her a passport. He's smuggled wanted Throwbacks out of the U.S. before."

"Then they'll go after someone I love, instead," I reply. "That's how Lexi operates."

"I didn't know that there was footage of Joan committing the crime. When the Evolved see Joan murdering one of their own, all of the progress we've made will vanish," Wilde says, his tone serious for once.

"He's right," I reply. "No one will see a grieving girl avenging the person who loved her most in the entire world. They'll see a deranged killer choosing to end a man's life, rather than incapacitate him."

And maybe they'll be right.

Wilde nods. "Everyone loves the kids on Just Like Us who have hearts of gold and are just struggling to survive in an unfair world. But when they see the danger that an empowered Throwback population could be capable of, their sympathy will vanish."

"Strand turns Joan into the villain of the story," Harriet says.

Wilde heaves a sigh. "Sun's right. Joan needs to leave the country. There's no salvaging this, even if Joan turned herself over to Strand in a dramatic act of self-sacrifice."

Before I can protest, the sound of voices—screams—reaches us, followed by the thudding of heavy boots running down the halls. A group of Deans burst into the office, and Harriet yanks me behind her, shielding me with her body.

"It's too late for that," I say, moving her aside. "You'll get yourself arrested, too."

In my peripheral vision, I see that Wilde has a camera activated and hovering in the air, capturing everything. I step forward, and a Dean yanks my arms behind my back and handcuffs me.

"I've been deputized to place you under arrest," he says. "Outside these walls you will be placed into Strand's custody."

"I demand to go to the police station," I try to insist.

"You can't demand anything. You're a Throwback, and Strand has every right to confiscate and retire you."

"Retirement? Even Genetic Replicants receive a hearing before that determination is made," Sun interjects.

The Dean ignores him, and begins yanking me away. The Joan of even a few days ago might have welcomed imminent death. But I think of the promise I made to Justus, and Mav's faith, and my parents' tears, and Harriet's pale face.

I struggle against the Dean holding me. Harriet and Sun try to yank me away, but even more Deans flood the room. They raise their laser pens, aiming at my friends. The Dean holding me presses one to my forehead, and everything goes dark.

***

I wake with a headache almost as bad as the ones that Strand likes to send me. But this one probably has more to do with being hit by the laser pen's stun setting at close range.

I'm back in the cell that I so recently escaped with Lozen, but this time I'm not alone. A disheveled woman is curled up on a cot across from mine. She's in rough shape, with cuts on her knuckles and dark purple bruises covering most of her exposed skin.

She rolls over, and I gasp. Lexi stares at me, her eyes empty. It's more terrifying than if she was angry.

"What happened to you?"

"I didn't meet the goals set for me," she says, her voice a rasp. One of her front teeth is chipped.

I can imagine what those goals were, and I can't say that I'm sorry that she didn't succeed. But it's hard to hate her when she's lying there like a broken doll.

"I'm sure you blame me for the situation you're in."

"I've always known where the blame lies, and it isn't with you. You're a child who throws temper tantrums. It was up to me to wrestle you into submission, so you could be useful. I've failed, and the punishment for that is death. For both of us."

"Maybe it doesn't have to be. You've always wanted us to work together. You know this place better than anyone. I got out once, and we can get out again."

Lexi releases a sound somewhere between a cough and a laugh. Blood sprays from her mouth and lands on the sheets. They've activated her H2IV.

"So many times I've thought we understood each other, and I was always wrong. Now I see why. You play the tough girl who sees the dark side of everything, but beneath that you never truly let go of your hope that things will get better. You fail to see the truth. Escaping won't change anything. Rebellion will achieve nothing. We are replaceable tools to be used by those with power. And they have decided that we are fundamentally broken. They'll kill us, and squash the progress that's been made over last year in a matter of days. Give up, Joan."

Lexi rolls back over with another wet cough. I don't know how long ago her virus was activated, but she's not even trying to fight her impending death. I'm disgusted to realize that this was how I felt only a few days ago.

And Lexi is right. I haven't given up all hope. I promised I'd fight as hard for myself as I would want my friends to fight if it were their own lives, and I will.

Lozen would tell me to reach for the door in my mind that leads to a vision. As soon as I form the thought, one rolls over me.

A Sofia enters a cell that looks just like mine holding cleaning fluid and rags, with white bed sheets tucked under her arm. I recognize that it's Bella by the brisk way she moves as she wipes down all of the surfaces in the room. With Addie gone, she must have inherited some of the cleaning duties.

With a flash of surprise, I see Lexi curled up on her cot, asleep. This is my cell, after all. Bella efficiently strips my empty cot and then begins re-making the bed with fresh sheets. A flash of silver tucked against one of her sleeves catches my eye. While tucking in the ends of the sheets, I see her slide something out of her sleeve and under the mattress.

Bella finishes her cleaning duties without missing a beat and exits the room.

A gift for you. Don't waste it.

My mind whirls with possibilities. I slide my hand beneath my mattress, but nothing's there yet. How many days until Bella brings that case? Will I even survive that long?

The door to my cell opens, and two Deans stare at me. They're both armed with laser pens and guns.

One of the men steps into the room and yanks me out of my bed. The second Dean handcuffs my wrists.

My heart slams in my chest. "What's this about?"

Lexi rolls over and watches, expressionless. "Why do you bother asking? You're not going to get any answers."

She's right, and I hate it.

One of the Deans pushes me out of the room, and it's all I can do to keep from stumbling. He leads me down the hall, and then opens a door that leads to the pods. They're empty now that Ciara and Mikao are gone. It's eerie in here, but far better than the cell.

"What am I doing here?"

"You'll stay here until they're ready for you."

A thousand more questions leap to mind, but the Deans leave, sealing me into one section of the pod. I'm able to access the bed and bath area, but nowhere else. Something tells me that Strand won't make the mistake of letting me get my hands on any technology, including the tablets in the living area.

There is a clean uniform on my bed, and my stomach turns as I remember all the horrible things that happened to me last time I was wearing something like this.

What's next for me? More torture? Immediate death? Or something even worse? The possibilities are endless, and none of them are good.