“We?” I didn’t like the sound of that.
He laughed, one final defeated time. “I’ve heard you all theorize about it, and some of your guesses are less moronic than others. Maxfield Academy isn’t the only training facility. Trying to replicate human behavior is different for teenagers than it is for adults, different for Americans than it is for Chinese.”
“Let everyone go,” Becky said.
“Oh, I don’t have that kind of power,” he said. “I’m only one of many.”
The powerhead pipe was getting heavy in my weak hands. “I assume you have some way to escape?”
“I’m not staying here with you.”
“Good,” I said. “Because I’m smashing this glass in ten seconds. Becky, count it off.”
She grinned and began the countdown. The face spun angrily in the darkness, a froth of black bubbles battering the glass. As she counted, Becky jogged back to the door and pushed the computer bank—now completely silent and dark—out of the way and watched it crash on the floor.
The liquid began to froth, and the level dropped steadily. By the time she reached ten, there was only a foot of the black water left.
“Aren’t you going to smash it?” she asked.
I looked back at her. “What if it’s poisonous?”
“What if he comes back?”
I nodded, took a breath, and then punched the screw into the powerhead.
There was an explosion and I dropped the pipe. The glass didn’t shatter completely, but a two-inch hole punched through, and cracks splintered across the tank.
Becky took my shaking hand. We watched the monitors. Students were panicking, but I saw one boy down on the main floor try a door. It opened. He called to the others.
“Come on,” Becky said, pulling me toward the door. “They’re going to need help. And we have to find Shelly and the others.”
We stepped around the broken computer and pushed out through the splintered door. Ms. Vaughn lay lifeless in the hallway. Farther down was the Iceman Curtis had killed.
“I didn’t think it would work,” I said, letting go of her hand and pulling her next to me. The hall was narrow, but we didn’t need to walk single file if we were really, really close together.
“I’m not sure what even happened,” Becky answered.
The complex was silent and empty as we navigated the hallways back to the detention elevator. The alarm was off, but it felt eerie. We didn’t know exactly what happened here, but we knew enough.
Someone turned the corner. Gabby. Blood was streaming from a cut on her forehead, but she was smiling happily. “You guys okay?”
“It’s over,” Becky said.
Gabby gave a whoop and turned back down the other hall.
I stopped, taking a moment to breathe.
“Do you think he was right?” I asked Becky. “Worldwide panic?”
“If there isn’t now, there will be when we tell everyone what happened here, when we tell them what he said.”
He. It. Whatever it was.
Becky squeezed my hand, and stopped. “You came for me.”
I smiled, looking down at her. “I told you I would.”
She put her arms around my neck. “I hear you’re quite a kisser.”
“I knew that wasn’t you,” I said, feeling my face flush.
“Sure you did.”
I touched her side, my thumb pressing into her armpit.
“Hey!” She flinched away and laughed.
“Just checking.”