The Rift Uprising (24 page)

“Okay, so is that why you're using a music metaphor? Because I've gotta tell you, unlike
some
people in this room, I did not join the philharmonic when I was in diapers. Maybe you should stick with the math.”

“No.” He gives his head a vigorous shake. “I'm not using music to dumb it down. I'm using music because I think, I mean, I'm fairly sure, that's what they're using. Sound. To open a Rift, to navigate one.”

“Whoa,” I say, trying to keep the sarcasm from my voice—and most likely failing. “If that were true, then somebody through history would have stumbled on this magical note and opened a Rift already.” I shake my head. “This is crazy. Impossible.”

“Oh, really? Well, why don't you flip on over and balance on your pinkie finger and then we can have a conversation about what's impossible?” He says it just a little too smugly for my liking.

“Fine,” I concede as I lift my head up to stare at the ceiling.
“It just seems like, I don't know. Magic. Don't get me wrong; I love magic. Magic's the best, but it isn't real.”

“What was it Arthur C. Clarke said? ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from
magic
.'”

“Ahh yes, Clarke. Wonderful chap. Anything else, professor?” I ask in an over-the-top British accent.

He shrugs my sarcasm off. “So maybe this is exactly that kind of situation. Consider this: Sound waves are invisible vibrations. If you couple them with this kind of advanced technology it may seem magical, but so does a cell phone or solar power or breathing. You don't
see
how these things work, but they do, right? I've looked at the specs on this machine. I've looked at the formulas and I've also found what I can only extrapolate to be some kind of weird chart music. This is how they do it.”

I don't say anything for a moment. I think about Ezra's discovery, and maybe because I know it has to do with sound, I drum my fingers on my thigh. “Okay, so if we follow what you've figured out through to its logical conclusion and we continue to use the guitar metaphor
and
we assume that the device they've created is the guitar, then—what's the tuner?”

Ezra raises his eyebrows and waits for me to catch on. When I don't chime in right away he throws me a bone. “What's the one thing that every Citadel has?”

“Oh,” I say, mentally chiding myself for missing it. “
Come on.
How many things can this fucking chip do? It's like the world's most complicated Swiss Army knife. Look!” I yell with over-the-top infomercial enthusiasm while pointing to the back of my head. “It can change your DNA, locate you anywhere in the world, sometimes kill you, and now . . . at no added cost, it can open a poooorrrtalllll to the Multiverse!”

“Funny,” Ezra tells me. “But not that funny, obviously. And
look, the information I decoded about how the implant works in conjunction with the device is sketchy. I think it's some kind of a booster signal. Like, it amplifies the sound or maybe it directs it better? I don't know for sure.”

“
Clearly
you're not on your game today, then,” I joke, but Ezra's face remains solemn. “Fuck,” I sigh as I cover my face with my hands. Like all earth-shattering news, this is hard to process. My mind scrambles as I go over the hundreds of lies that turned me into this person, that led me right into this room. I'm supposed to be superhuman, but it was Ezra with some stolen files and my dad's computer who has finally figured out the truth. The same computer that makes up fliers for Literary Leftovers, our local bookstore, has also uncovered a way to navigate the Multiverse. How does that even make sense? I'm supposed to keep fighting now and Ezra is going to have to leave. He'll never see his family again. He'll always be on the run and I have to figure out what to do with this information. My confusion builds to frustration, which quickly turns to anger. There is one other person who could have told me the truth, who's known it all along.

“That bitch!” I practically yell. Ezra narrows his eyes at me. “I
knew
Edo wasn't telling me everything. I thought it was all about the kill switch. I should have known with her,
with them
, that there would be way more to it. God. Why didn't she just tell me?” I am fuming mad. I almost feel like going back to the base to kill her.

“Ryn, just calm down a minute.” Nothing infuriates me more than someone telling me to calm down. I give Ezra a death stare, and I'm both impressed he doesn't flinch and a little pissed my death stare isn't working. He ignores all that and says, “Maybe she didn't tell you because she was trying to keep you safe. Maybe just having this information is enough
cause for ARC to terminate you. Maybe Edo was, in her own way, trying to protect you.”

I throw my hands up in the air. Every time I think I have something figured out, I uncover something bigger, more horrible. I don't care what Ezra says. Edo should have told me. This changes everything. “Don't you get that the Roones have had this technology all along? If it's in our implants that means they've been able to do this from the very beginning. The only question is, what are they waiting on?”

“If I had to guess, I'd say, numbers.” Ezra gives me a look that I can't quite translate.

“Like more math? A better machine, a more accurate tuner? To filter out more of the noise?”

“Yes, that could be true. They could still be tweaking that, which is why everyone at the Village is working on the algorithms. But that's not what I meant. I'm thinking bigger picture. A much worse picture. I mean
numbers
as in more
of you
. More Citadels. Look, I don't know what the plan is. The Roones? They probably want to just go home. But different versions of Earth are dangerous places. They need an escort. ARC? They want to exploit the technology. Maybe. But I'm not even sure they can do this yet.”

“So they don't care about protecting The Rift, but invading it?”

“I don't know. Sure, they might be waiting for more of you to do just that. Or they might be waiting because they don't have it totally figured out yet. At this point, the why isn't what I'm worried about. What's really bothering me is that I give off a different quantum energy signature than you do, because this is not my version of Earth. I hate to use the same music metaphor again, but I would pitch to a different note than you, using their machine.”

I put both my hands together, almost like I'm praying. I put
my hands up to my lips, thinking about what Applebaum said today. Something clicks.

“Today the colonel at ARC, Applebaum, asked me about you. He told me that they have ways of finding you, ways that other government officials didn't have. I thought he was talking about the tracking chip, but now I'm thinking he was talking about your signature. We probably aren't safe here anymore.”

“We don't know that for sure. We don't know anything for sure except that they have the technology. But I never saw any data indicating that it's even been tested. I don't know how far away they are from a practical application. It could be days, it could be years. Applebaum could have just been trying to scare you. I think we should stay put. At least for the next twenty-four hours.”

I walk toward him at the desk. I reach my hand out, and Ezra takes it and presses it against his cheek.

“You're right, we can't panic,” I say to him gently, “because when you panic you make mistakes. But we need another plan and we need to move things along a little quicker.” Ezra is still holding my hand and when he looks up at me, I can see in his eyes that he's worried.

“The thing is, it's not that I don't think we need to run. It's that I don't
want
to. I . . . don't want to leave you. Isn't that crazy? What we're standing right in the middle of, it's life or death. It could be the end of a thousand worlds, and all I can think about is you. I've never met anyone like you, obviously.”

Each word he's saying is working its way inside me, past all of my natural defenses, past all the lies and the hurt. He makes me better, not happier, but whole. I suddenly realize that I need him, too. He can't leave. The thought is almost enough to take my breath away. I grab his hand tighter, and he smiles.

“Whatever is coming,” I say, “we're in it together. If you go, I'm going with you. I don't want to be alone anymore. I don't want to be alive if nobody knows who I am. That's not a life. It's a burden and now that I know you, I'm not strong enough to carry it anymore.” I look into his eyes—those glorious blue eyes. I bite my bottom lip. Quietly, almost a whisper, I say, “Put some music on.”

“Shouldn't you maybe take a pill first?” he asks tentatively. For the first time it dawns on me that he's dedicated his whole life to school. He went to MIT when he was fifteen. He might not be the most experienced guy when it comes to sex, either. Somehow, that helps relax me.

“I already did, in the car on my way here.”

Ezra turns to the computer and hits a button. Damien Rice.

He's on my list. I smile as Ezra stands. He is right in front of me. First, he takes my other hand. We hold fast, clenching our fists together. Our foreheads touch. My heart is hammering so hard I think it might break free of my chest. I'm not afraid, though; I'm excited. And I don't bother with the mantra this time, because my head is clear. There's nothing lingering there, because at this moment there's nothing but Ezra and me. No conditioning. No ARC. Just us.

We both look up at the same time. Slowly Ezra moves his mouth to mine. Our lips touch. The kiss unhinges me. I feel like I'm falling, but Ezra's hands are there, to steady me. He takes one of them and cups my face. I've only been kissed once—by that vampire—but that was about lust, if anything. With Ezra, it's so different. It feels like the first time, but it also feels like we've kissed a thousand times and I don't even know how to begin to understand how that makes sense. I wrap one arm around his waist and take my other hand and grip his head—his hair—and pull him closer. I break away
from him for a moment just to look at him. Can this really be happening? Am I really able to be this close to him? I'm not me anymore. This part of the Battle Ground lie isn't one I have to believe anymore. He is so beautiful it hurts.

“Is this how it's supposed to be?” I ask, close to tears.

“I guess with us, when it's real, that's exactly how it's supposed to be.”

“Is this love, then? Is this how it feels?” I take a step back, unfolding myself from his body. “I know that sounds cheesy, but I really don't know. I don't have anything to compare it to.”

“That question is not exclusive to who you are or how you're built, you know. Love isn't a theory you can prove. You can't measure it or weigh it, it doesn't stay in one place, and you can never really be sure of it. But I would say that it's the only word that feels right when I look at you.”

Even when he's talking about love he's so nerdy. It's adorable.

“So you trust me? Just like I trust you.”

Ezra looks at me doubtfully. “That sounds ominous. But yes, I trust you.”

I smile as I pull out my cell phone from the back pocket of my jeans. “Good, because I'm calling my friends.”

“Whoa, there, Sparky.” Ezra looks at me wide-eyed. “Are you sure that's the best idea? Don't get me wrong—your friends sound great, and I know you trust them with your life, but can you trust them with mine? And even if you can, you're putting them right in the direct line of fire—endangering them.”

I put one hand on my hip and cock my head. “We
literally
had, like, a whole soul-mate conversation five seconds ago. Now you're calling me ‘Sparky,' which I'm pretty sure is a dog name,
and
you're second-guessing me in a way that makes me feel like you wonder about my judgment.”

Ezra sighs and looks straight at me. “That's not it. I'm just—kind
of—nervous because I don't know these people and they don't know what we know. You can't blame me for that.”

I smile and put my arms around him. “We can't do this alone. If something happens to me, you're going to need help getting out of here. If something happens to you, I'm going to need help, period. Besides, we have to get the implants out of their heads. ARC could hit the kill switch on them just for being part of my team. They deserve to know. You would want to know.”

Ezra sighs and nods. I'm tucked into him, everything seems to melt into everything else, and it's wonderful. I would love to stay like this. I'd love to stay in this bubble, too, this secret little world where it's just the two of us, but we don't have the time. I pull myself away reluctantly, then hit Vi's number on my phone.

“Hey, you.” Violet picks up right away and answers brightly. I can't remember a time when that wasn't the case.

I am acutely aware that ARC could be monitoring the call, so I keep my language vague. “Hey, I'm bored. And I'm also over the whole needing-my-space thing. Sorry for acting like an over-the-top emo chick. Please come over, and bring the boys.”

“You sure you want the smelly boys around? We could just have a girls' night.”

I have to play this right. I can't sound like I want them here too badly, but I have to convince Violet that it's worth the hassle of having the boys around when we haven't had much alone time together lately.

“Let's have mercy on them, save them from an evening of Halo and pull-ups. We can always douse them with perfume.
We could even water board them if the smell is unbearable or Boone gets particularly annoying.” Ezra shoots me a look. I'm guessing interrogation humor might only work with the military crowd, but at least Violet is laughing. The fact is I generally never push for all of us to be together. Rather, it always just kind of ends up that way, so it's good she's playing it loose. Violet isn't stupid, and now she knows from this conversation that something is up. The fact that I'm not saying whatever it is out loud is a tip-off, too.

“Well, okay, then, I'll let them know and see you soon.”

My nerves are close to exploding as I hit the End button on my cell. I'm not worried at all that my team will rat me out. What I am concerned with is how they will take the news I am about to share with them. They didn't exactly take my visit to the Village in stride. It's going to hit them
hard
. I sigh. Nothing to do but wait.

IN LESS THAN AN HOUR,
I hear the front door. Vi could have walked over, but I suppose she was waiting for Boone and Henry to give her a ride. I open the door and welcome them in. I had drawn all the shades and curtains in the house before their arrival, just in case anyone is watching. I don't see any suspicious-looking cars on the street, but still, I feel safer knowing that no one can see into the house. We all say hi and Violet stands there staring at me with one eyebrow raised. Oh, yeah, she for sure knows something is up. Before anyone can say anything else, I raise my phone and power it down. I point to it and to them so they can follow my lead. After Boone's eyes roll so far up and back that he looks like the little girl from
The Exorcist,
he finally turns his phone off along with Henry and Vi. I usher them back past the kitchen and into the family room, which has far fewer windows.

“Okay, Jane Bond. What the hell?” Boone asks.

“I don't want to sound like a total drama queen, but you're going to want to sit down.” I motion to the couch.

“Oh my God, you are killing me,” Boone says in a huff, but he sits down anyway. After everyone is settled, I remain standing. My stomach drops. I so don't want to have to do this.

“First of all, I am going to show you two things because if I try to explain anything before I do, I'm not sure you'll believe me. Before I start, I want you guys to promise not to freak out. I mean, you can freak out, just wait until we've explained everything. Then you can feel free to lose your minds. Only for tonight, though—by tomorrow you have to be normal again.” I bite my lip and tap a jittery finger on my thigh.

“Who is
we
?” Violet asks. I breathe out hard. No going back now. Ezra has been waiting on the stairs, listening. He knows this is his cue. When he makes his way down the steps, Violet looks around. “Who's here?” She can hear him, and so do the others. When Ezra appears before us, the three of them look at me and then each other, mouths gaping.

“You broke him out of the Village? Are you insane?” Henry asks in that tone he has, which makes him sound particularly terrifying.

“I did not. He got himself out. But he's hiding here. He was working in the Village. Ezra is a computer genius hacker guy. He found some stuff out, stuff that affects us all, and it's really serious and . . . bad.”

Bad? Stubbing your toe is bad. Sending out a nude selfie by accident is bad. What is going on here is so much more than bad I wonder how I'm going to explain it
.

Well, at least I can let them know part of what we figured
out without having to use any actual words. I hold my hands out, palms up, beckoning Ezra straight to me.

“Ryn! What are you doing?” Vi screams at me.

“Stop!” Boone says right after.

We ignore them. First Ezra takes my hands, then he pulls me inside of his arms. I hear my friends gasp. Henry jolts up. I look over Ezra's shoulder and tell my very tall and very large team member to sit the hell down. Ezra runs his thumb over my lips and I smile slowly. He keeps his hand in my hair as we kiss. We kiss hard and long and deep. We put on quite a show for my dumbstruck friends, who are just staring at us like we might burst into flames.

I won't lie—I couldn't care less about them at this moment.

“Holy shit. You guys figured out a way to have sex!” Boone announces with a fist pump.

“Really, Boone?” Violet says, exasperated. “I get it. You're horny. The entire town, if not the entire planet, understands how horny you are. But don't you think there's a bigger-picture thing going on here that we might want to ask Ryn about?” she demands with a mixture of awe and annoyance.

Ezra and I sit down on the large ottoman in front of the couch and we lay out everything we know.

“OKAY, TWO QUESTIONS,” BOONE CHIMES
in the second we are done talking. “Can I get some red pills off you right now, like immediately? And also, what are we going to do?”

“Shut up, Boone,” Violet says. “But . . . yeah, I'd like some red pills, too,” she says sheepishly.

“There are enough red pills to go around. But honestly, you two are going to have to take it super slow. I mean it. You're both Citadels, so that means double the danger. This is not a
game. And this is not about getting laid. This is about feeling both vulnerable and safe at the same time. Not so easy,” I warn.

“Not that I don't want to engage in sex as much as the next guy,” Henry chimes in, “but isn't the bigger deal here that the implant inside of our head could explode at any moment?
Killing
us?”

“No—it's about getting laid,” Boone says.

“Boone—come on,” Violet says. “Henry is right. That has to be our priority. I know it's been hard—”

“I
wish
it's been hard!” he says, gesturing to his lap.

“Jesus,” I mutter, but I realize this is just Boone being Boone. If anything, it means he's focused.

And so is Henry. “This is serious. There's a chip in our head that can end us, and crazily, that's not actually the biggest issue.”

“What is?” Violet asks.

“The biggest issue is what if this theory of Ezra's is right? That ARC has a way to jump from Earth to Earth? That would mean that not only every iteration of this planet in the Multiverse would be at ARC's mercy, but every iteration of us, too—talk about being able to play us off each other.”

I look at Ezra and I can't believe that I have not considered this liability. If they have to go to ground, all ARC would have to do is abduct a version of Vi, or Ezra, or her parents, or even herself to use as leverage. No one that I know or care about would ever be safe,
anywhere.

Ezra shrugs, his eyes wide, and it's apparent this is a new thought for him, too. Which means he hasn't thought of a solution to it.

Great
.

I turn back to my team. “Look, let's just focus on what we
can do. We can solve the intimacy problem, which
is
a pretty big deal. I can remove the implants myself. I just need Violet's help.” I lean forward as I try to read them all. I think ARC's betrayal will eventually hit them. For now, like the soldiers they are, my team is focusing on the logistics. I guess I should have known that they would be reluctant to show any weakness in front of Ezra, who is not only a stranger, but an outsider. Still, I am worried about how they will process this information and I hope they won't internalize it all. That once the shock wears off they will remember that we're a team and that they don't have to grapple with this alone.

“You want me to assist?” Vi offers.

“I want you to sneak into your father's office and get the drugs and supplies we need,” I tell her. Even though I hate this idea, I see no other choice.

“My dad is a vet,” Violet says flatly.

“Well, vets use scalpels and local anesthetic. I know it sucks, but there isn't another way. I won't ask Edo to take your implants out, because I don't want her knowing that I've told you all—not yet. I don't care one way or the other about lying to
her,
I just want you to all be as safe as possible. I'm well aware that she helped me, but she has an agenda. Maybe.” I run my fingers through my hair and sigh. “Maybe I'm just pissed off at her and all the Roones for what they did to us and it's messing with my ability to see things clearly. Maybe she's as innocent in all this as we are.”

“No,” Henry says right away. “We don't trust anyone from ARC, not anymore. Edo may well be a victim, but there wouldn't be an ARC without the Roones, not an effective one, anyway. We need far more information before we start choosing who to trust.”

“Agreed. And to that end, Vi, you know you're going to have to get this stuff during your dad's office hours,” I tell her.

“Wait, what? No, I can't. It'll be way easier to grab them tonight when everyone's asleep.” Vi sits up on the couch a little straighter while I sigh and let my shoulders drop.

“Ezra? Can I be super rude and ask you to go back upstairs for a while? I just want to talk to these guys alone for a few.”

Ezra stands and kisses the top of my head. I can tell by the body language of my friends that they are unsettled by this affection. They want it themselves, but it scares them.

“Sure, It was nice to meet you all. I'm sorry, obviously, that the circumstances weren't better.” Ezra walks away and the four of us sit in silence for more than a few seconds. They are waiting for me, but they aren't going to like what I'm about to say.

I pull my legs up and fold them beneath me, crisscross style. “Violet, it worries me that you would even suggest going to the clinic tonight. You're smarter than that.”

“Ryn . . .” Boone warns.

“Shut it down, Boone. We don't have time to dick around, and Violet doesn't need you to play the hero. She is totally capable of defending herself. I don't blame her or any of you for not fully comprehending the situation yet, but we can't afford to be reckless. Every move we make from here on out has to be precise,” I explain. Boone grits his teeth. They are all used to taking my orders on the field, but out in the world they are used to a certain level of autonomy. I've just stripped that away with a single conversation. No one, including me, is really in control, but I have to take charge. “Violet, ARC is monitoring us. You don't think it will be suspicious if they check where you are tonight at three
A.M
. and see you in your dad's office? I pushed things with the intake and Kendrick,
but that was before I knew that them finding Ezra was even a possibility. If I had known then what I know now, I never would have gone in that room,” I admit.

“But you
did
go in that room,” Henry jumps in aggressively. “You went to the Village. You're harboring the world's biggest fugitive in your attic. You've made a lot of impulsive decisions and now you've just made us all your accomplices. I'm not saying that I wish I didn't know, but . . . well, maybe I am saying that. I wasn't exactly the happiest guy in the world, but at least I thought I knew where I stood. I had a job to do and I did it. Now I don't know what the fuck is going on.”

“Are you serious right now? Your
job
? You don't even know what your job is! You're cool with basically being a slave?” I snap.

“Don't get all high and mighty with me, Ryn,” Henry growls. “You didn't go looking for answers because you sensed that we were in danger or your conscience was suddenly bothering you. You did all of this for a guy. You were following your snatch, not your morals.” Now it's my turn to growl. I get up off the ottoman and stare at them all.

“It doesn't matter how we got here. It doesn't make a damn bit of difference how I figured this out—and in the future, Henry? We're going to leave my vagina out of this, thanks.”

“Don't even try that shit, Ryn! Are you kidding me? We've known about this for two seconds and you've known about it for days—for weeks, for all we know. You're going to sit there and dare to judge what
I
say or do? Fuck you.” He gets up, and for a moment I think he's going to leave and I realize that would be a disaster. I also realize that he's right. I'm being self-righteous and sanctimonious, and I definitely didn't begin this with anything like the high-minded ideals
I'm spouting now. I think, perhaps, that I'm shocked by Henry's language and anger.

The problem is, though, there's no time for that. No time for his anger, or
my
anger, or any of it. Shit is real
now,
and it's clear they haven't yet accepted my command on this particular mission.

That needs to end.

“Sit down, Henry.”

“Go to hell, Ryn.”

“Henry. Sit.
Down!
”

There is no mistaking my tone. This is how a team leader sounds. I don't yell it, but every part of me, from my voice to my eyes to the set of my legs, indicates there is no arguing anymore. Henry doesn't hesitate—he sits down, even as Vi and Boone sit up a little straighter.