Rod screamed, but he didn’t think he could be blamed for that. It was like when they hit your knee with that little hammer and your leg kicks out. Just something your body does on its own.

  The pain (and the noise) dropped away. Rod let himself hang on his chains for a moment before working up the energy to raise his head and face Lorraine. She stared back at him, her face hard as metal, the wire still wrapped around her finger. He wasn’t too surprised that she was doing this, even though he never would have guessed it, before. Lorraine seemed to have accepted what Priya never could, that the coming of the Reds and the Blues had changed everything.

  She also seemed entirely willing to stand there all night pouring electricity into Rod’s body. She’d even run an orange extension cord out of the house to give her unlimited power. He could (almost) feel it already, pain piling on pain. He wondered if he would want to die. It was hard to imagine, given how much Rod enjoyed being himself, but he didn’t see any reason why he would be different than everyone else ever tortured in the history of torture.

  “I don’t get why you and I never went out,” he said. “Our chemistry is palpable.” It took an unpleasant amount of energy, but he managed to say “palpable” like it was the best kind of dirty word.

  In response, Lorraine sent a quick pulse of electricity through the wire, just enough to make Rod twitch. Lorraine always had been resistant to his tremendous wit. If it were Connor torturing Rod, Rod would have had him worked up by now. He’d be all hilarious and red.

  The black tarp, the one hung over the broken glass door into the house, flapped aside, and two of the other Blues came out. Sammy Lecker, his face still bruised, and Breanna Mulroney. “Lorraine,” said Breanna. She opened her mouth again, but words seemed to fail her.

  Lorraine cocked her head to the side. “Yes, Breanna?”

  “We were all just saying,” said Sammy. “We were inside, and we were saying…”

  “You were saying?” said Lorraine.

  “We were saying he’s making a lot of noise,” said Breanna.

  “Yes,” said Sammy. “He’s making noise and someone’s going to hear and my parents own this place, Lorraine.”

  “So what are you suggesting, Samuel?”

  “Maybe instead of you doing this to him, we should go ahead and, um…” He glanced over at Rod. “And, you know…”

  “Kill me?” said Rod. Sammy flushed. Rod wondered whether he could goad Sammy into killing him quick, and whether he should. After all, if you were being rational it was better to die before you hurt badly enough to want to. “Make sure not to get my blood everywhere. Sammy’s parents own this place.”

  “We’re not going to kill you, Rod,” snapped Breanna.

  “What do you mean?” asked Lorraine.

  “Um, what?”

  “Rod killed Danny. What do you think he deserves?”

  “I… I, um, I thought that what you’re doing to him now was his punishment. You know. Hurting him.”

  “He didn’t hurt Danny. He killed Danny.”

  “Exactly,” said Sammy, “so why drag it out? It’s dirty, how you’re doing it. Just get it over with.”

  “Or not,” said Breanna. “You could just keep doing what you’re doing, and actually it’s fine if it’s noisy, whatever, and then before the sun comes up we’ll drive him out into the middle of the woods somewhere and leave him. We could do that.”

  “I’ll take that into consideration,” said Lorraine.

  Breanna and Sammy slunk back into the house.

  “Finally,” said Rod, managing a grin. “We’re alone.”

  Lorraine lifted her finger, wrapped in wire, and shattered Rod’s sense of humor into electrified pieces.

  #

  “The Betas will be in custody before morning.”

  A chill ran through Kess when she heard the words. She was a Beta 2, a Blue, they must know she was in the building. They must be on their way to her.

  But no, the woman had said “Betas,” not specifying which type. They were going after both the Reds and the Blues, her Blues. And they were close.

  She fumbled for the button beneath the desk, because she couldn’t let them hear her, and then she pulled out her phone and turned it on and called Danny. No one answered. She called him again. The call went straight to voicemail.

  “Danny,” she said, leaving a message. “They’re coming for you—those people I told you about. Get everyone inside and—and—lock the doors. Call the police? I know we don’t want to involve them but they’re dangerous, these people that are coming for you. They’re close. Danny, be careful.”

  Who else could she call? She didn’t have everyone’s number. Samuel? Lorraine?

  “Kess,” said Elias.

  The door opened and Natalie Silver stepped inside.

  There was no greenish light coming off her, no signals of any kind. Was that on purpose? Had she known? Kess threw up her hand and sent out a lightning bolt that split in two, one sparking branch bending to the floor, the other hitting Silver in her chest.

  Nothing happened. And now Kess saw that Silver’s white shirt was unbuttoned and that, beneath, she wore a shirt of some tight dark material. Her hands were gloved in the same stuff. It must absorb electricity, or direct it to the ground or something. But her face was uncovered. Kess threw herself at Silver, reaching for her cheeks, sending out another jolt of electricity. But the white energy only angled down to hit Silver’s protected chest again. That dark stuff must go to ground, like a wearable lightning rod. Silver slapped Kess’s hands away, then hooked a foot behind her ankle and jerked. Kess stumbled back and fell against the desk.

  “Kaplan,” said Silver, not looking at Elias. “Is there any use in fighting me?”

  “No,” said Elias. “There are other Grays down the hall. They’re coming now.”

  Silver nodded, turned, and walked down the hall. Elias followed her. What was he doing? If he had helped her, Kess could have reached Silver’s unprotected face. If she actually touched Silver’s skin she could bypass that lightning-rod suit and shock her. Maybe then they could have gotten away. There was a chance. But instead of helping he had stood aside like a… like a fish, and now he was following Silver all blank-faced and fish-meek, so that if Kess ran the other way she’d have to leave him.

  Kess went with them. Of course. What else could she do?

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  #

  Connor was back in these stupid woods. Again.

  He and Priya crept through the trees, trying to make their way by moonlight like peasants or cavemen. The last time Connor had been in this particular patch of these stupid woods he and Rod had come to throw rocks at Samuel Lecker’s cabin. That seemed like a long time ago now, a story he would start with “When I was a kid…” Priya was quieter than Rod had been, stepping over twigs and things, so quiet that Connor had to keep checking to make sure she was still with him. She was a dark slight silent shadow.

  Until she spoke.

  “Connor,” she said, voice low. “Do you think the Redness makes us vicious?”

  He shrugged. “I think the Redness gave us enemies and no one knows whether they’re vicious or not until they have enemies.”

  “No I mean more than that. Those machines made us stronger, and they changed our brains. Maybe they made us more aggressive, like steroids. Maybe that’s why I was so ready to get Rod killed. Do you think that could be it? Could the machines be making us act this way?”

  He remembered Danny, how angry the other guy’s condescension had made him. He remembered the crack of Danny’s neck. “I think that would be an awfully convenient thing for us to believe.”

  Connor saw the light the same moment he heard the sound—the hoarse groan of someone too exhausted to scream. He would have run ahead toward the sound if Priya hadn’t put her hand on his chest to keep him back. They edged forward until the trees thinned enough to see the cabin, the rear patio lit up by lamps flanking the back door. Lorraine stood in the center of the concrete, her blue braids muted in the soft light. She was facing the basketball goal. And Rod, who was chained to the post. There was a thin black line outlined against the light, running from Lorraine’s hand to the goalpost. A wire.

  Rod groaned again and shuddered in his chains. Lorraine must have sent another shock down that black line.

  Just then, Breanna Mulroney came out of the house and said something to Lorraine. The two girls talked back and forth for a little bit. They were too far for Connor to hear what they were saying, though Lorraine seemed annoyed. Finally she gestured at Rod before turning and going inside. Breanna stayed where she was. Apparently Lorraine had told her to watch the prisoner.

  And then Priya’s phone rang.

  Connor jumped, and Priya fumbled the phone from her pocket and switched it off fast as she could and whispered “It’s Danny’s. I forgot I had it.”

  They looked back to Breanna, who was staring into the woods, in their direction.

  Before Connor could think what to do, could think at all, Priya charged out of the trees.

  A moment later Breanna was on her back on the ground with Priya straddling her, holding both her hands pressed palm to palm so the electricity couldn’t get out. Priya taking down the other girl had been so quick and controlled it was practically beautiful. It reminded Connor of earlier that evening (or an eternity ago), when Priya had done showy gymnast flips by the bonfire, and even earlier when she had run and leapt across rooftops so graceful-fast that trying to follow her had sent Connor careening to the ground. Really Priya deserved these superpowers, given what she could do with them. Connor came out of the trees to stand over the two girls.

  “Don’t call out,” Priya told Breanna below her.

  Breanna shook her head. “You came for him, right?” she whispered soft enough that Connor had to lean down to hear her. “I don’t want him here either, I swear.”

  Rod blinked at the girls on the ground in front of him. “Am I hallucinating?” he croaked. Connor had never heard his friend sound so beat, not when he was sick or sad or mad. “You’d tell me if I was hallucinating, right?”

  Instead of answering Rod, Priya spoke to Breanna again. “If you don’t want him, let him out.”

  “I can’t. Lorraine and Samuel are the only ones who know the combination to the lock.”

  “If we went to Lorraine, and explained that the deal is off and we’re taking Rod with us, what are the chances everything will end peacefully?”

  “She’d fry you. And the others might help, I don’t know.”

  Priya nodded. “Connor, break the chains.”

  He stared at the substantial iron dog chains wrapped around Rod’s body. “I’m not sure I—”

  “We’re stronger than we think. Just try, Connor.”

  So he tried. With a bit of difficulty because there wasn’t a lot of slack to the chain, he found a spot where he could get a handhold. He braced his feet against the concrete and pulled, pulled. Rod grunted as the chain tugged against him but didn’t say anything, which just showed how worn out he must be. “I’m hurting him,” said Connor, stepping back.

  “This is what we’re going to do,” said Priya. “I’m going to help break the chain. You,” she nodded down at Breanna, “are going to sit up and put your hands flat on the ground. We have you outnumbered two to one, three to one in just a second, so you’re not going to call out or try to run or anything. Alright? Alright.”

  And Priya got up and arranged Connor’s hands on the chains, actually grabbing them and placing them where she needed them. Then she placed her own, and when the two of them pulled back, straining against each other, the chains didn’t cut into Rod’s chest, at least not so badly he made a noise. The metal links dug into Connor’s hand, and it hurt, but Priya was pulling so he pulled too.

  There was a snap, a flash of flying chain, a sharp pain across Connor’s hand as he staggered back. Rod fell forward and landed crumpled face-down, his back heaving with loud breaths. Connor helped him up and found that Rod’s face was red and glossed with sweat. Connor glanced over at the door into the Blue’s cabin. No sign of anyone coming through the tarp curtain.

  “You’re hurt,” said Priya.

  Connor. She was talking about Connor.

  He looked down at his hand and saw that the broken end of the chain had left an angry red cut across his palm. He wiped the blood away on his jeans. “It’s not bad. It’s shallow.” The worst part of the injury, as far as he could tell, was that some of his medal studs had been partially pulled away from the skin. “You okay, man? I mean, obviously…”

  “I’m fine,” said Rod, his voice still hoarse. “I’ll be fine.”

  “Rod,” said Priya. She looked him straight in the eyes. “What I did to you was wrong, and I am truly sorry.”

  “I get it,” said Rod, nodding. And she was forgiven with a sentence. That’s how you could tell the difference between Rod’s friends and everyone else.

  Beside her, still on the ground, Breanna gasped. “I have to go to them.”

  “After we leave,” said Priya.

  “No, now. It’s important. They need me.”

  “What are you talking about?” asked Connor.

  “They need me,” the Blue girl repeated. Her face looked almost anguished, if that was the right word. “I have to go to them. Please. It pulls.”

  “After we leave,” repeated Priya, “and after you give us a few minutes to get away.”

  Breanna squirmed, and a tear rolled down her cheek. “I won’t tell them you’re here. I promise. It pulls.”

  Priya sighed. “If you tell them and we find out, you won’t like it.”

  Breanna scrambled to her feet and ran around the side of the house at serious, stumbling speed.

  “What was that about?” asked Connor

  “Dunno,” said Rod. His voice was already beginning to sound better. He pulled away from Connor and stood on his own feet. “Are we going?”

  “Yes,” said Priya. But she glanced back at the corner of the house where Breanna had disappeared. She looked curious, and a little worried.

  “You two go,” said Connor. “I’ll stay and find out what’s happening.”

  “No,” said Priya. “No, you take Rod home. I’ll stay just a little longer.”

  With an exasperated groan, Rod broke away from the other two, strode to the house, and grabbed the wall. A moment later he was climbing. Priya and Connor ran to catch up with him, Priya quickly clambering up beside him. Connor had a bit of trouble—his hand that had been cut wouldn’t grip right, and he had to use his other hand and his feet in a slower, clumsier climb up the wall. By the time he got to the roof, Priya and Rod were already standing at the opposite edge, looking down.

  Two police cars were parked in front of the house. There were policemen—six of them, Connor counted—standing by the cars facing the Blues, who bunched up in front of the house with Lorraine standing out closer to the cops. All of the cops had their guns in their hands. And one, the one in front, pointed his gun directly at Lorraine. From up on the roof, Connor couldn’t hear what they were saying.

  Even from up here Connor could feel it. That Blue feeling, the boiling—Anger? Disgust? Fear? Mistrust? Hate? It felt bad being so close to Blues, especially after Danny. But he was curious. What horrible things had the Blues done to bring those cops out here?”

  “I recognize him,” said Priya. “That one, the guy at the front. His name is Stone. He tried to kidnap me. Remember Connor, I told you.”

  “Wait,” said Rod. “Someone tried to kidnap you?”

  “He knows what we are, what the Blues are. That has to be why they’re here. They’re not real cops.”

  Connor stared down at the scene below, but Rod seemed to have registered what Priya was saying. He grabbed her arm. “Come on, we’ve got to get back to Stephanie’s.”

  “No, we have to stay here.”

  “Those people might be at Stephanie’s right now.”

  “I know they might be. But we need to help the Blues.”

  “What?” Rod’s eyes bulged in disbelief.

  Connor couldn’t believe it either. “Why?”

  “Because maybe it will make everything alright.”

  Rod scowled. “Nothing ever makes everything alright, Ya-Ya.”

  “Well, maybe this will.”

  “You’re insane.”

  Connor could feel his own heart beating. What if they wasted time now and something terrible happened to the other Reds? And he agreed with Rod that helping the Blues wouldn’t make what Connor had done to Danny (what Lorraine had done to Rod) go away. But Priya seemed so certain.

  She stepped to the edge. “It’s the right thing, so if doing it for me is the only reason you’d do it, do it for me. And if that’s not enough… goodbye, boys.” And Priya jumped off the roof.

  Connor didn’t hesitate. Not even for a moment.