The Girl Who Dared to Think 7: The Girl Who Dared to Fight

“I love you so much,” I said, unable to stop myself.

“And I you,” Zoe sniffled back. “Now… can you get Eric please? I think… I think maybe it’s coming, and I need my last minutes to be with him, if that’s okay. It’s not that I don’t love you, I just…” She broke off, her own tears starting to flow down her cheeks, and I pressed my forehead to hers, shaking my head at her silliness. I understood perfectly why she wanted to be with Eric over me. I was her best friend, but he… he was the love of her life.

“It’s okay,” I said, pressing my lips to her cheek and trying not to cry at how cold her skin felt. “I’ll go get him, okay?”

She nodded, her eyes drooping heavily. “Hurry?”

I did, getting out of bed and moving to the door as I wiped my tears away. It didn’t matter that Zoe’s time was coming and she was asking me to leave. All that mattered was what she wanted to be comfortable, and I was going to make that happen for her, no matter what.





33





I was sitting quietly in a stuffed chair opposite where Tian and Liam were still sleeping, staring blankly at both of them. I hadn’t moved in the last twenty minutes, not since I had come out to get Eric for Zoe. He still hadn’t emerged, and it felt like the entire apartment was holding its breath, waiting for the inevitable.

Even though we all knew what was coming.

But that didn’t stop me from looking up when I heard the sound of heavy footsteps coming down the hall. And it didn’t stop me from getting out of the chair and crossing the room to head directly toward the sound.

What did stop me was Eric—or rather the hard lines of anguish on his face as he stepped into the weak candlelight illuminating the room, looking like he had aged ten years. “She’s gone,” he whispered to me, and I closed my eyes at the wash of pain that overwhelmed me.

She was gone. She was dead.

It didn’t seem real, even after having talked to her about it.

“I’m so sorry,” Maddox said softly from behind us. I wasn’t even sure when she had gotten there, but it didn’t matter. Zoe was gone. “And I don’t mean to undermine the tragedy of this, but we have more problems developing. Liana, sentinels have been spotted only a few floors above us. I’ve lost touch with most of the Knights that were loyal to us, and the handful of people still with us is wavering. We need to get out of here. We need a plan. What do we need to do to stop Sage?”

I heard the soft edge of panic in her voice. She was doing her best to try to hide it, but it was there nonetheless, and the sound of it scared me.

Not only because the sentinels were drawing close to us, but because I knew that whatever decision I made had to be the right one. But what was the right one? Ordering them to help me stop Sage? That was insanity; there was no way we were going to be able to get into the Core without raising some sort of alert, and every member of the IT Department was part of Sage’s army. Maybe if we had fifty more Knights and an entire arsenal with us, we could cut a path through the integration chamber. But we were just five.

No, I realized a heartbeat later, with a sickly jolt. We were just four, now. My heart twisted with the sudden reminder that Zoe was gone, leaving me feeling queasy that I had even dared to forget. Was this what it would feel like if I lost all of my friends trying to stop Sage? I could already feel Zoe’s absence poignantly, like someone had reached up in the sky and plucked the moon right out of it, leaving the terrain ahead dark and treacherous.

What would happen if Sage managed to kill the rest of my friends as well? I could handle my own death, but theirs?

No, they weren’t sticking around to fight. If anything, I was getting them out of here. I’d figure out how to fight Sage on my own, because I had to keep them safe. I couldn’t ask them to die over this. I wouldn’t. This was my fight now.

“Did you grab the Patrian communication device?” I asked, already knowing exactly how I was getting them out. I turned to Maddox and Quess, who were standing side by side, holding hands, and the two looked at each other in confusion, and then back at me.

“Yes,” Quess said, his tone mystified. “Why?”

“We’re getting out of here,” I said. With a plan now in my mind, I suddenly felt the need to move, to do something, and I walked past my stunned friends toward the kitchen table, going over the supplies there. They had my gun, and someone had managed to steal a few more clips of ammunition, but the box with the ammunition wasn’t there. There were several batons and lancers, and I left them out so that my friends could arm themselves. The rest of it—the medical supplies, food, water, pads—I started shoving into a bag I found on a chair, talking while I worked.

“We’ll override one of the lashway doors and scale up the Tower to the Attic, then take an elevator straight up to the roof. We’ll call Alex from there and tell the Patrians that we’ll give them AI technology in exchange for refugee status. Hopefully that’ll be enough for them to fly one of their airships over here and rescue us. You guys should be safe up there until they get here.”

“Wait, what?” Maddox said as soon as I finished. “What do you mean ‘you guys’? Where will you be?”

I paused in the act of shoving several apples into one of the bags and looked at her. When the Patrians had come, all of my friends had been excited about the prospect of leaving, but not me. I had always intended to stay. Only Zoe had known that, but now that she was gone… it didn’t seem like there was much use for secrets. Especially this one.

“I’ll be in the Core,” I told them, swallowing back my fear. “I’m going after Sage.”

“Alone?” Maddox asked, and I nodded. She frowned and looked over at Quess, then back to me. “Liana, don’t be ridiculous. If we’re going to escape, then we do it together. And if you’re going to stay, we’re staying with you.”

I raised an eyebrow at her calling me ridiculous, anger tearing through me at the thought that Maddox could believe I was acting irrationally, but let it go. It didn’t matter what she thought. She and everyone else was leaving.

“Not this time,” I said, returning to the bag and shoving more items in. “Sage has us outnumbered, outgunned, out-damn-sentineled! He’s got Scipio under his control, has had access to Leo for the past few hours, and is inside the Core. He might not know I’m still alive, but he will be expecting something. A large group will draw attention, and one person is a lot easier to hide than four.”

“That’s suicide,” Quess said, stepping around Maddox. “Look, I’m down to escape if you’re going, too, but I’m not going anywhere without you. If you stay, we stay! We can help you.”

“No, you can’t,” I said, swallowing back the warm feeling his declaration had left me with. I loved that they were being so loyal to me, but in this case, that loyalty was going to get them killed, and I couldn’t allow that. “Quess, you and Eric can barely lash, let alone fight.”

“Hey!” Quess said, folding his arms across his chest, affronted, but I ignored him, turning to Maddox.

“You know I’m right—that they will get killed trying to help me. And I’d keep you with me, but you need to stay with them, to protect them. Think about it, Maddox. They won’t be able to make it without you.”