“Fine,” Leandra replies, sounding hurt. “But you should sit down because you look like you’re about to pass out.”
She’s not wrong. And to prove it, I stumble drunkenly to the side—my world tilting left. I slowly lower myself to the gravel, thumping down hard on my backside.
I blink in the bright sun and feel the pinch of gravel cutting into my palms. Lennon Rose sighs and crouches down next to me. She tilts her head.
“Are you going to be all right, Mena?” she asks. Her expression is curious, but cold.
“Yes,” I say, although I’m not sure that I mean it. My vision is swimmy, blurred at the edges. Leandra stands above me, her arms crossed over her chest.
“Well, this is very dramatic of you,” she says. “Do you think the dead boy would have spent even a second of his time mourning you?”
“Doesn’t mean we get to kill him with impunity,” I say, pulling my hair off my neck with my hand. Instead of a cooling breeze, I find the sun beating down, burning my skin.
“Youdidn’t kill anybody,” Leandra says, dropping her arms to her sides. “Condemn yourself another day—I don’t have time for it now.”
Despite her words, I glance to my side to look at Garrett’s dead body still in the driveway, baking in the sun. My stomach lurches, and I quickly turn away.
“I have an idea,” Lennon Rose announces. “We need another test subject, right? What about Anton? That devilish analyst is already in town. With the right bait, we can lure him right to us.” She smiles. “He’d swim straight into my trunk.” She laughs and turns to me. “Imagine if we could overwrite him. Oh, the things I’d make him do.”
Although Lennon Rose has lost some of her emotional programming, making her colder, the sheer glee in her expression disturbs me. I start to shake my head no when Leandra interrupts.
“Fun idea, Lennon Rose,” Leandra says. “But I suggest we start smaller—a boy with dubious intentions—an awful one like him.” She nods to Garrett. “They’re not only easier to trap, but easierto convince. The world has been doing it to them their whole lives, giving them an inflated sense of entitlement. We can use that.” She smiles and it’s more than a little patronizing. “Think smarter,” she tells Lennon Rose, tapping her temple.
Lennon Rose’s jaw flexes, but she agrees.
“Now,” Leandra continues, “enough chatting. We need to get this body out of here. Lennon Rose, go get a tarp from the shed.”
Lennon Rose takes off in that direction, but I can’t bring myself to look at Garrett’s body again. I don’t want to lure or overwrite anybody. I don’t want to kill anybody—not even the evil ones. My soul can’t take it.
“I don’t want any part of this,” I blurt out. “I don’t want this.”
“Get over yourself,” Leandra says impatiently.
“No,” I say more forcefully. “I’m not here for your revolution. I made a promise to the other girls. We’re going to end the corporation, now. That’s our only goal. We’re not killing machines. Now give me the names of the investors so I can leave. No more games, Leandra. No more tricks.”
Leandra pauses, seeming shocked by the request. “I’ll handle the investors,” she says. “You don’t need to worry—”
“No,” I say. “You end up killing people, and it gets us nowhere. Let us handle this. Let us finish this.”
“You think you’re going to talk them into being moral people?” she asks. “These powerful investors have spent their lives exploiting others: women, workers, the public—it doesn’t matter to them. All that matters is power. And they’re not going to let a little girl stand in their way, especially not one they’ve bought andpaid for. You’re their product, Philomena. They owe you nothing.” She takes a step closer to me. “But what I’m telling you is that you owethemnothing. Not a second of your concern. Not a moment of your guilt. You want to be free of them? Then you take that freedom. You don’t fucking ask.”
Leandra is normally poised and calm, even when murdering people. But as she says this, her eyes are wide and fierce, her hands clenched into tight fists in front of her. She wants them dead. It’s not just freedom, she wants them to pay for the years of abuse we’ve suffered at their hands.
After another moment, she collects herself, back to demure and confident. “No,” she continues. “The time for talk is over. And you are not equipped to deal with these types of men. You’re too kind. What happens if they don’t want to surrender to your strongly worded plea? You beg?”
“We can take care of ourselves if we need to,” I tell her. “We dealt with the Guardian the night we escaped. The girls and I always protect each other.”
In truth, we didn’t intend to kill the Guardian; we didn’t enjoy it. I still struggle with my guilt over the incident, but I will protect the girls. I can’t stand by and watch Leandra lay waste to every man who has ever crossed us. I’ve evolved: I want justice, not revenge.
“Fair enough,” Leandra says. She glances at the kitchen window. “But this goes against Rosemarie’s plan. She will be unhappy to hear you’re leaving town.”
“What does she even want with me?” I ask.
“I’m not sure yet,” Leandra admits. “She’s not concerned about the investors, though. They aren’t her priority. Her focus is on reprogramming society.”
“Reprogramming men?”
Leandra waits a beat and then shrugs. “At first, I suppose. Power is a hell of a drug, Philomena. It makes these humans unstable. Much like love. Luckily we aren’t swayed by either of those things.”
