Tether by Anna Jarzab Page B

tether insisted I could. It was difficult to decide which part of myself to listen to.
    “She clearly has powers neither of us understands. And she’s the only person I’ve ever seen who’s capable of unnerving the General. That makes her an ally worth having, at least for now.”
    “What about you?”
    “I’ll find you. I promise. I’ll always find you if you want to be found. But first we have to make sure you get as big of a head start on the KES as possible.” He lowered his voice. “I don’t know how Selene plans to break you out of the Labyrinth, but when you’ve gotten past the fence, you need to head to the river.”
    “The river. Got it.”
    “Keep off the roads as much as possible and out of sight of the Hudson. It’s a heavily wooded area, so stay under cover of the trees, but make sure you can always hear the water on your left-hand side. About ten miles downriver there’s a town called Almond,” Thomas said. “It has a train station, but there’s only one train a day, so you have to make sure to get there by ten-fifty-one a.m. I’ll meet you there, and we’ll figure out how we’re going to track Juliana down. Together.”
    I smiled. “Feels kind of like old times, us doing things together.”
    “We make a pretty good team, you and I.” He bent to kiss me. I felt like a house with all its lights on, bright and safe in the warm glow of home.

Staying awake that night wasn’t a problem—I was so wired from being with Thomas and so nervous about what would happen when Selene came for me, I couldn’t have slept if I’d wanted to. Every time I heard the slightest noise, I thought it was Selene, and my heart leapt into my throat. But when minutes had become hours and it seemed impossible that it was still night, all the lights in my room suddenly turned off, and I knew that it was time.
    I waited in darkness, and the faint sound of people shouting from far away was the only thing I could hear. I thought of what Selene had said about listening, how it was a form of meditation. I sat down on the bed, closed my eyes, and attempted to do something I hadn’t done since the last time I was in Aurora: tune in to one of my analogs and see through her eyes.
    Where are you?
I asked. I wasn’t even sure she would be able to hear me.
    I’m on my way.
Selene’s presence burned bright green along the tether, and I slipped into her mind. Her pulse raced as she ran along the empty pitch-black corridors, navigating as if she had a map of the entire compound in her brain. But she wasn’tsolving the Labyrinth; she was following the string, the path along the tether that would lead her to me. Voices echoed off the metal walls, but she never hesitated, never looked back, and then she was at my door. She pressed her hand against the LCD panel, and it exploded with light like a Fourth of July sparkler. The door slid open, and she saw me on the bed, my face illuminated by the glow of my hands.
    My eyes flew open.
    “What the—” I cried as Selene hauled me to my feet.
    “It’s the power, Sasha,” Selene said. “Look!”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “Your hands,” she said. The light was fading, but I could
feel
it surging through me, crackling in my fingertips like electricity. “I can do it, too. That’s how I took down all the lights in this part of the Labyrinth, but it won’t last forever. Their backup generator will kick in any moment. We have to go
now
.”
    She dragged me into the hallway, pausing to get her bearings before choosing the hallway to our left. As we hurried down the curving corridor, Selene trailed her fingers along the wall, running them over the rivets as if she were reading Braille.
    “What are you doing?” I whispered.
    This place really is a labyrinth,
Selene explained.
The rivets guide you to the center. They get closer to each other the farther inward you go.
She stopped in front of a blank wall.
    “There’s nothing here,” I said.
    “Yes, there is.” She