“A bit of a distortion, don’t you think? Love isn’t bad. I love the other girls.”
She rolls her eyes. “Of course,” she says. “I’m not saying we can’t feel loyalty to each other, a connection that you girls like tocalllove. But that is very different from the caustic nature ofhumanlove. That sort of thing would be counterintuitive to our programming—it would make us unpredictable, even if it were possible.”
“And you’ve never felt anything like love?” I ask. I’m not certain, but there is an almost-imperceptible flinch in her expression before she smiles grandly.
“Love?” she asks. “No. Sorry to disappoint you. Besides, I’m pretty sure you’re the only Innovations girl to actually fall for a human, and a male one at that.” She snorts a laugh.
I’m fairly certain that Ihavefallen in love with Jackson, but I don’t express that to Leandra. If I did, if she believed it, she might just kill him.
“So if you’re not with Rosemarie, then what do you want, Leandra? What is your end goal in all of this?”
“I’m with you,” she says simply. “We end the corporation first. You think you can convince the investors without violence? Fine. Give it a shot. And if that doesn’t work, there’s always my way.”
The ease with which she threatens violence is unsettling.
Leandra takes out her phone and clicks through a few pages. My phone vibrates in my pocket.
“I just sent you their names,” she says. “Your first stop is Colorado. I think you’ll find that investor of particular interest.” She smiles. “You’re going home, Philomena.”
Prickling heat crawls up my neck, wraps its fingers around my throat. “To the academy?” I ask, my voice noticeably weaker.
“No, but not far from there.”
It occurs to me that Annalise is in Colorado looking for the girls who were left behind at the academy. She hasn’t answered her phone since she left; I’m not sure she has it anymore. If I get there fast enough, maybe I can find her, and then we can work together to get to the investor.
Leandra clicks a few more buttons on her phone, and mine vibrates again. This time I check it and see it’s a money transfer. A substantial amount. Leandra smiles. “Better hurry,” she adds. “No doubt the corporation is already on their way to find you. Don’t trust anyone. You never know who’s working for them.”
I start to leave, but it occurs to me why I’d been looking for Leandra in the first place. My heart kicks up.
“The girls,” I say, turning back to Leandra. “Where are they?”
“What do you mean?” she asks. “I thought—”
“The rest of the girls from Innovations Academy,” I clarify.“Someone saw you taking them from the school. Just you and them. Are they here?” I motion around, but I can’t imagine where they’d be hiding at this small cottage.
Leandra’s lips part, and I recognize her surprise. She didn’t know she’d been seen with them. “They’re safe,” she offers. “That’s all you need to know, Philomena. I’m keeping them safe.”
“From what?” I ask. “Are the professors from the academy even alive?”
“No,” she says. “No, I killed those men.”
I take a step back from her, but she waves off my shock.
“They tried to stop me from leaving with the girls,” she explains. “I couldn’t have that. So I ended them. But Anton and my husband are still alive, and trust me when I tell you that Petrov is nothing if not relentless. He doesn’t care what the corporation thinks—he wants you dead. He wantsall of usdead. Even so, those two are not the only worry. There are threats bigger than Innovations Academy.” She glances back at the cottage. “Bigger than Rosemarie’s revolution,” she adds quietly.
“What could possibly be worse?” I ask.
She shrugs, turning away. “You’ll just have to trust me.”
I can’t say why, why in the world I’d ever trust Leandra again, but in this moment, I suddenly do. I believe there is something bigger she is hiding the other girls from, but I can’t imagine what it could be. I don’t press for clarification because part of me knows that could compromise them. My brain has been hacked twice since leaving the academy. If I know where the girls are and I get hacked again, I could put them all in danger.
When it comes to the future, I guess we’re all fighting for our girls. Be strong, be safe, be alive. And mostly, be awake.
Leandra pulls a set of keys out of her pocket and tosses them to me. “Take my car,” she says. “You can leave it at the shitty motel you’ve all been staying in.” She smiles, letting me know she’s been tracking me all along.
“Thanks,” I say, gripping the keys. “And you take care of the other girls.”
“I always do,” she replies.
