Read Online Override (Glitch) by Heather Anastasiu - Free Book Online Page A

going to meet at the Foundation? Do you know any of them?”
    “I usually steer clear of glitchers.”
    “Are you always this friendly?” My voice was sharper than I meant it.
    She laughed. “Look, I feel bad for you guys, okay? They put stuff in your brains, and your powers are a freak side effect. I get it, it’s not your fault. But in the end,” she shrugged, “you’re still just another bi-product of what Comm Corp created. The Rez is fighting so that the world can go back to the way it was , before the Community and brain hardware and glitchers ever existed.”
    The path narrowed, and Xona ran ahead of me. I gave up trying to continue the conversation. We were obviously never going to be friends. Instead I thought about what she had said about the future of the Rez. I wanted to be a part of it, to help people, but there was so much responsibility being put on my shoulders. Everyone had these huge expectations of me. I thought about how Xona had said people expected me to be the future of the Rez. And the way Adrien had described that fearless girl in the future …
    I just didn’t understand how I went from being me to being her. Every time someone talked about me being a leader, it sounded like they were talking about someone else. Would I wake up one day and suddenly be that girl, or was I supposed to somehow be actively trying to change myself into her?
    The memory of the little blue lights from Jilia’s brain scan flashed in my mind. I was changing all right. I just wasn’t as certain about what I’d become. I imagined the power multiplying more and more until my body split into a million pieces, little blue lights pouring out of me like water from a broken glass.
    I yelped in surprise when Xona suddenly stopped in front of me and pulled me down beside her against the tree. “Don’t move. Something’s coming,” she whispered. Her cool confidence was gone.
    We hunched down into a space between two fat roots. I heard a distant humming noise that grew louder as it came closer. The noisier it got, the more my heart hammered in my chest. My telek clamored to life under my skin. I squeezed my eyes shut as my forearm began to shake. Not now. If I accidentally let loose right now and was seen, we would all be caught and delivered to the Chancellor. Or killed on the spot.
    The mechanical humming got louder and louder until it was a dull roar.
    It passed directly overhead. Xona and I both tensed, curling ourselves up as small as possible against the tree trunk. Turning my head sideways, I could just make out a flash of metal through the tree branches. For a horrible second, I thought it was slowing down. But then it kept going.
    We stayed frozen for several more long minutes as the engine’s whine became a distant hum again. It didn’t loop back around. They hadn’t seen us.
    Xona let out a huge sigh of relief.
    “What was that?”
    “Sweeper drone, scanning the area.” She put her hand above her eyes and looked upward. “The canopy should have covered us. But still,” she dropped her hand and looked at me. “They don’t usually come this far out in the forest.”
    I swallowed hard. “They’re looking for me.”

Chapter 6
    I WAS TIRED and about to climb into bed, wondering when Adrien would be done with his shower. We might not be able to really touch like I wanted, but having him beside me last night … for a while it had made all my eddying fears calm into a still pool.
    I smiled at the thought of him curled around me, but then I heard the crash of something falling in the kitchen area. Followed by a scream.
    I scrambled to my feet and pulled back the tent flap.
    No. It wasn’t possible.
    Ten Regulators stood in the common area, barely able to fit in the small space. One lifted Xona off the ground by her throat. Her legs kicked in the air, heels banging spastically against the side of the kitchen counter. She tried to reach the weapon holstered at her ankle, but couldn’t lift her leg high