CODES

T H I R T Y - N I N E

It was hard to continue our plan with Clara with us. Xerses made sure to keep her with him, holding her hands behind her back in a tight grip, but we couldn't leave her. If we let her go, she would run to Polk. He could ambush us.

I wasn't going to sacrifice our safety.

We continued through the halls, ignoring the panels on the side. What they were made sense, and I wouldn't disturb them. If they were memories, they couldn't harm anyone; the Codes could have them back eventually.

If they wanted them.

There were parts of my past I could live without.

"Hank's machine isn't this way, " Zara hissed, chuckling right after. "You won't find them down here."

I cleared my throat as I glanced back at her. Seeing her this way killed me. I vowed when we first met, that I'd protect Clara from all dangers. Instead, over the course of two years, I've only put her in harm's way.

With Zara in control, I didn't know what to expect. I was treading on water. The only thing I could do was be careful.

"We're not looking for his machine," I said.

"Roger," Matthews hissed as he walked beside me, "was that smart to say?"

The way I saw it, Polk had to know why we were here. He wasn't dumb. If anything, he knew where that weapon was more than we did. We only had a general location. For all we knew, he was sitting in the room, waiting to kill us.

Zara smirked when we locked eyes again. "Oh, so you're looking to just lose? That weapon you're looking for will destroy us all."

"Roger," Xerses, gently pushing her forward, peered at me from over her shoulder, "don't talk to her. She's just going to mess with you."

Zara glanced back at him. "Am I?" she snickered. Her grin dripped into a pout. "Xerses, you've forgotten me, haven't you? All of our conversations. Were those talks for nothing?"

I kept moving, but I didn't look ahead. As many times as I'd seen Xerses in the Void, not once had I bumped into Zara. She purposely hid herself from me, but also made herself visible to him. Why?

Now isn't the time for me to ask. We're on a mission and the others are outside waiting for us to hurry up.

I turned around, so that I walked backward, facing Zara. "Look at me," I hissed, and when she did, I continued, "do you know where the computer room is?"

She rolled her eyes. "Computer room, so boring."

Xerses pushed her again, harder this time. I looked at him sternly; even though her consciousness was different that was still Clara's body. I hoped he didn't forget that.

"Stop," Xerses hissed, clueless to the look I was giving him. "Zara, if you know where the computers are, just tell us."

Her tongue pressed into her cheek. "It doesn't matter. If you find it, know that Hank has already created a weapon to—"

"Counter it, right?" Matthews growled. I looked back at him just in time to catch his eyes roll, his jaw clench. The deep breath he took only meant his frustration was growing. He was a patient guy but only for so long.

Scoffing, he looked back at Zara. "Sure, of course, he did. You don't have to answer that. But tell me, what does his do, hm? Kill everyone else?"

Zara's brows shot up. "You got it."

She said it so easily, I couldn't just bite my tongue. This wasn't far and I knew I'd keep blaming myself. If I had just fessed up about this situation, about the errors in my dreams, and in my daily life, this probably wouldn't have happened. But I also couldn't ignore that Prime was partly to blame for this.