It was far worse than any nightmare. Even in Glass’s darkest moments, she’d never have imagined trying to shove past her neighbors—the people she had grown up with—in an attempt to secure a spot on the dropship before they did. She passed one of her old tutors, struggling to drag a large bag down the crowded corridor. “Leave it!” Glass had yelled at her as she hurried past. But her words were lost amid the frenzy of shouts, footsteps, and sobs.
Up ahead, Cora’s father stood in the middle of the corridor, looking desperately from side to side as he scanned the surging crowd for his wife and daughter. He called their names while blinking rapidly, evidently trying to message them on his cornea slip. But his efforts were in vain. The network had shut down, rendering everyone’s devices useless.
By the time they had made it down the stairs and into the corridor that led to the launch deck, it was so crowded that they almost couldn’t move. Luke did his best to push his way through the people closest to the wall, pulling Glass and Sonja steadily behind him. Glass winced as she knocked against a man clutching something in his arms. He was holding it so carefully, she assumed it was a child, but as she hurried past she realized it was a violin. She wondered if he was an actual musician or just a music lover who thought to grab the relic from its preservation chamber, the one thing he apparently couldn’t leave behind.
Many of the other people in the crowd weren’t from Phoenix—not that it mattered anymore. They were no longer Phoenicians, Waldenites, or Arcadians. They were all just desperate, terrified people doing everything in their power to get off the doomed ship.
Until recently, the thought of the Colony failing had concerned Glass about as much as the prospect of the sun exploding—something she knew would eventually happen, but far after her time. She remembered when she was seven, the year her tutorial group had studied the inner workings of the ship. A member of the engineering corps had led them down to the engine room and proudly displayed a complex ventilation system and series of airlocks. All the machines and generators had looked so solid and shiny and invincible, like they would last forever. What had happened between then and now?
A shout echoed from the other end of the corridor, prompting cheers to ripple down the hall. “Someone must’ve managed to open the door to the launch deck,” Luke said softly.
“Do you think it was the Vice Chancellor?” Glass asked. It wasn’t clear who was in charge, or who the remaining guards were taking their orders from. The few guards still in uniform had abandoned their posts, joining the sea of bodies to fight their way toward the dropships. The terror in the air was palpable.
The crowd pushed forward suddenly and Sonja stumbled, crying out as her ankle twisted underneath her. “Oh no,” she said as she took a lurching step forward, her eyes filling with pain and panic.
“Luke.” Glass pulled on his sleeve to get his attention. “I think my mom is hurt!”
“I’m fine,” Sonja insisted through clenched teeth. “Just keep moving. I’ll catch up.”
“No,” Glass said as a chilling sense of déjà vu washed over her. When Glass had been nine or ten, there’d been an evacuation drill on Phoenix. It’d all been clearly planned out ahead of time. When the alarm sounded, the children would file out of their classrooms and walk two by two down to the launch deck. Most of the kids had been in the type of exuberant good mood that came from missing tutorial, but Glass had found the whole ordeal frightening. Would the Council really send children to Earth without their parents? What would it be like to leave without saying good-bye? It’d been enough to reduce her to tears, although luckily, no one but Wells had noticed. He’d taken her hand, ignoring the giggles and taunts, and held it until the drill was over.
Luke pulled them both over to the side of the hall, and then bent down so he was eye level with Glass’s mother. “Everything’s going to be fine,” he reassured her. “Now, show me where it hurts.” She pointed to the spot. Luke frowned, then turned around. “I’m going to have to carry you,” he said.
“Oh god,” Glass muttered, feeling her breath catch in her chest. They were already so far back in the crowd—they couldn’t afford to slow down anymore.
“Luke?” another voice echoed hers. Glass spun around and saw Camille staring at them. Her cheeks were flushed, as if she’d been running, and sweat clung to the hair that’d come loose from her ponytail. “You’re here! You made it!” Ignoring Glass, Camille pulled Luke into a hug, then reached down to grab his arm. “The dropships are filling up. We need to move quickly! Come with me!”
Some of the concern drained from Luke’s face as he smiled in relief at his ex-girlfriend, his childhood friend whom he had known as long as Glass had known Wells. “Camille,” he said. “Thank god you’re okay. When Glass told me what you did, I…” He trailed off. “Forget about it. There’s no time. You go on,” he said, giving her a nod. “We’ll be there in a second.”
Camille looked from Luke to Sonja to Glass, and her face darkened. “You need to move,” she said, looking only at Luke. “You’ll never make it if you have to take care of them.”
“I’m not leaving them,” Luke said, his voice suddenly hard.
Camille looked from Luke to Glass, but before she could respond, she was knocked to the side by a large man shoving his way down the packed corridor. Luke grabbed Camille’s arm to steady her, and as she regained her balance, she placed her hand on top of his.
“Are you serious? Luke, that girl is not worth dying for.” Even with the roar of the crowd, Glass could hear the venom in Camille’s voice.
Luke shook his head as if to keep the words from getting too close to him, but even as he shot Camille a look of frustration, Glass felt a cold wash of fear. Camille wanted Luke to come with her—and Camille didn’t stop until she got what she wanted.
“You don’t know her. You don’t know what she did,” Camille insisted.
Glass caught her eyes in warning. She wouldn’t dare tell Glass’s secret, would she? Not here and now, not after Glass had helped her get safely to Phoenix. They had a deal. But Camille’s eyes revealed nothing. They were hard and dark.
“I don’t know what you think you’re talking about, but I love her. And I’m not going anywhere without her.” Luke took Glass’s hand and gave it a firm squeeze before turning back to Camille. “Look, I’m sorry you’re upset, but I never meant to hurt you, and I hardly think this is the—”
Camille cut him off with a bitter laugh. “You think this is because you dumped me for her?” She paused. In that brief moment Glass felt her heart go still in her chest. “Didn’t you ever wonder what really happened to Carter? What Infraction he was suddenly accused of?”
Luke stared at her. “What could you possibly know about that?”
“He was arrested for violating population laws. Apparently, some girl on Phoenix named him as the father of her unregistered child.”
A woman holding a baby paused to stare at Camille, but then tore her eyes away from the group and kept moving.
“No,” Luke whispered. His grip on Glass’s arm tightened. Around them, people were shouting and running forward toward the dropships, but Glass couldn’t bring a cell in her body to move.
“They didn’t even bother to run a DNA test, from what I heard. They just took the little slut’s word for it. I guess she was trying to keep the real father safe. But, honestly, what kind of person would do something like that?”
Luke turned to Glass. “It’s not true, is it?” It was more of a plea than a question. “Glass. It can’t be true.”
Glass said nothing. She didn’t have to. He could see the truth written on her face. “Oh my god,” he whispered, taking a step away from her. He shut his eyes and winced. “You didn’t… you told them it was Carter?”
When he opened his eyes, they blazed with a fury far worse than anything she could’ve imagined. “Luke… I…” She tried to speak, but the words died on her lips.
“You had them kill my best friend.” His voice was hollow, as if the emotion had been burned out of him. “He died because of you.”
“I didn’t have a choice. I did it to save you!” Before the words left her mouth, she knew it was the wrong thing to say.
“I would’ve rather died,” he said quietly. “I would have rather died than let an innocent person take the fall for me.”
“Luke,” Glass gasped, reaching for him.
But he had already turned off in the direction of the launch deck, leaving Glass’s fingers clutching empty air.