Joan Ascends

Chapter 30: Don't scream

"Why tonight? The other day you said we weren't ready yet."

Lozen carefully puts Dr. Rodriguez's tablet back in the drawer and turns back to me. "We're ready because your Molly came through for us."

"Her name's Addie."

Lozen reaches into her pocket and pulls out Dr. Rodriguez's key card, which has several short strands of black hair stuck to it with tape. "Addie snatched this when he was leaving today. He didn't notice thanks to the black eye you gave him. Mikao managed to get me a sample of Dr. Rodriguez's hair as well for the DNA match. One of the other spies from your rebellion also sneaked Addie some of that gel that will block the signals from the chips in our heads."

"What's the plan?"

"We're going to split up. You get Addie, Ciara and Mikao from the pod while I get the others from the cells. We'll meet back here and exit as a group."

My heart starts to pound as my mind struggles to catch up with the reality of what we're about to do. "Did you have a vision of this going without a hitch?"

Lozen hesitates long enough to make me suspicious. "My visions are like yours. I see fragments of time, not the whole picture. There are several ways things could go wrong today. I've accounted for most of them."

"Most of them? Lozen, we're not ready. Let's take the time to plan this properly."

Lozen shakes her head. "You don't get it. Throwbacks have died down here, Joan. I've had visions of more deaths coming. I'll never forgive myself if we wait and then someone else pays the price."

I want to argue, but I see enough of myself in her to know that she won't change her mind. "Okay. I'm in. What do I need to know?"

Lozen hands me the key card. "Get to Mikao first. He'll help you get Ciara and Addie. As for me, I've got another way to get everyone out of their cells."

I tuck the ID into my pocket and take a breath. "Anything else?"

"You're also going to need this," Lozen says, handing me the shiv she made out of Lexi's pen. "You're going to have to fight. I didn't have a vision of exactly what happens, but I saw you all make it to this lab eventually. Stay alert, move fast, and trust your gut. The rest we'll have to figure out in the moment."

Lozen peeks out into the hallway. "It's clear, and the cameras are still down. I've got to go. Good luck."

Lozen slips into the hallway, and I press the button on Dr. Rodriguez's desk that opens the panel separating this corner of the room from the rest of the lab. I make a point not to look at the bed I was strapped to as I move to the door that leads back into the pod.

I pass Dr. Rodriguez's ID across a scanner embedded in the wall, and then press his hair against the DNA reader. I breathe a sigh of relief when the door opens silently. It's dim inside the pod, since everyone is supposed to be sleeping.

A light catches my eye—it's coming from the bathroom area across from where I'm standing. I instantly recognize the silhouette standing in front of it.

As I hurry down the glass hallways toward Mikao, I slam into the walls twice. This place is an invisible maze without the lights in the ground to guide me. When I reach him, Mikao points to the wall that marks the outer edge of his section of the pod, and I see a sensor below a series of buttons. I swipe the sensor, and the buttons light up in green.

I look up at Mikao, not sure what's next, and he whispers a series of numbers. I follow his instructions, and the panels slide into a new configuration that allows Mikao to join me.

I let out a breath of relief that the first part of the plan has gone without a hitch. Mikao seems to know where he's going, so I follow him to another part of the pod, where Ciara is sleeping.