“Try me.”
“There’s no time to talk right now,” I say desperately. “I need to leave before it’s too late— We can have a conversation about everything later—”
“Now, Rosabelle.Right now.”
“But I don’t—I don’t actually—”
“Fine,” he says flatly.
He moves so quickly I don’t even realize he’s picked me up until the world flips upside down. He actually tosses me over his shoulder.
I nearly scream.
“James,” I cry, panicking. “Please— Put me down—”
He starts walking. He moves unimpeded, unbothered by the effort. “Go ahead and try to shoot me, it won’t help you get anywhere faster.”
“James—”
“And you should know that Nazeera isn’t happy with you. She’s going to make your life a living hell.”
“I don’t actually know what’s in the vial!”
He stops, then spins around as if to face me—as if he’s forgotten he’s carrying me. “What do you mean you don’t know what’s in the vial?”
“I don’t actually know what’s in it,” I say, trying to catch my breath. The world is inverted, making me dizzy. “I don’tknow its exact properties. I only know that it’s going to be used by agents across the continent to set off a chain of undetectable explosions that will release a gene-editing virus that can rewrite your DNA.”
“What?” James stiffens. I feel shock batter him, his chest lifting, tension radiating through his limbs. “What do you mean,rewrite my DNA?”
I’m breathing hard now. Blood is rushing to my head. “Not just yours. All DNA. It will get rid of all preternatural abilities,” I explain. “Reset the genetic slate, dissolve your powers, and prep your population for remote influence by synthetic intelligence—”
James staggers. He sets me blindly back on the ground, looking suddenly horrified.
Gutted.
He searches my eyes in the dark. “You waited this long to tell me that The Reestablishment is trying to turn us all into mind-controlled zombies?”
“I’ve been trying to explain this to you since that night in the tunnel,” I say, anguished. “I’ve been trying to get back to the Ark all this time, to set things right—”
“Why couldn’t you just tell me?” he says, panic rendering him taut. “At literally any point you could’ve given me the explanation that took you two seconds to give me just now—”
“I didn’t know if I could trust any of you!”
Now he looks stricken.
James falls silent, the words visibly crushing him. “You didn’t know if you could trustme?”
“I didn’t—I didn’t mean you, specifically,” I say, backpedaling, trying to calm my heart. “I did trust you. Idotrust you—Of course I trust you—”
“Then—What—” He drags his hands down his face. “Jesus, Rosabelle, I don’t understand—”
“I just— I knew that if I told you everything, you’d want to help me.”
His head snaps up. “How is that a bad thing?”
“Because I’ve seen enough of your society and your methods to know that none of you would survive on the Ark long enough to do what’s necessary and I really”—I falter, my voice catching—“I really don’t want you to die.”
James stares at me, stunned.
