I followed Xerses to the elevators taking us back to the upper levels of Provincial Hall. The slippers I'd put on squeaked with each step I made as I tried not to seem anxious as we walked, but I was. Everything hit and I couldn't process it.

I was on the lower medical floors; not above with the normal Codes or Malfunctioners.

He'd said it'd been a month. A month of what?

When the elevator doors opened, I found the lobby which was usually filled with happy Codes... empty. No one walked around for work. No one sat at the receptionist's desk.

"What's..." I stepped forward as pressure gripped my chest. "What's happened?"

"You know when you said Polk was planning something?" Xerses slowly stepped out of the elevator and glanced back at me. "Well, whatever it is, is in motion."

"What?" My eyes widened

He nodded, letting out a big sigh. "A lot of the Codes are reacting to whatever he's done, especially malfunctioners. They're—" Xerses paused before we hit the lobby. The emptiness really hit, then. Laura wasn't there, like she was every morning, chatting on the phone or greeting people who walked by; no one walked by. Without her cheery laughter, I felt like I could hear the silence. Eerie painful silence. I stopped by a pillar and leaned against it. The cool metal seeped through the sweater and onto my skin, chilling me.

Because it was more than the lobby, more than the Hall. The city outside the main entrance doors was empty. Flyers and signs were littered around the sidewalk. It looked like many protests happened, but when? Why? And how?

Xerses glanced back at me. "They've gathered together and are trying to take over the city, Roger."

"Everyone?" The word left me in a breath.

Xerses shook his head. "Not everyone. There are some Codes who don't agree with what Polk's putting in their heads, and they've willingly taken isolation in the Domes to prove they don't mean anyone any harm."

No. That wasn't right. The Domes weren't built to be a prison and shouldn't have been used that way! They were our homes, our peace.

As I shook my head, I pressed my hand against the side of my face. "No. Why?" I looked at Xerses. "How could Prime even agree to that? It's, it's—"

"Unfair and ridiculous?" Xerses clicked his teeth and nodded, before turning to the opposite elevator that took us up to the other end of Provincial Hall. He tapped the button as he cleared his throat. "I know. I tried to fight it but without you—" He lowered his head as the elevator doors opened. "—I was just one voice."

We stepped inside in silence. Xerses pressed the button to the seventh floor, the one I rarely stepped into. It was the place for the Malfunctioners with horrible traits; unable to even walk within the Lobby. It hadn't been used in months. But with another month added and Codes causing an uproar, was it in use again?

I looked down at the slippers on my feet as the elevator dinged, going up in floors. "You said it's been a month. What's been a month?" I asked.

"Since you woke up," Xerses cleared his throat, "since you opened your eyes."

And that was why he fought and argued with Prime on his own. I'd been out cold for a month. Was this what Matthews meant by déjà vu? He sat at Clara's bedside when she was in a coma. Now me.

The elevator doors opened. Xerses stepped out into the middle of the hall before me, then pointed at the first door to the left. "You wanted to know where Clara was. She's in there," he said.

Forget Matthews déjà vu—I had one of my own. Once upon a time, I'd brought Clara up to a room with Xerses inside of it. And I remembered why it'd been that way.

Gulping, I looked at Xerses hand before glancing at the door. I didn't think I could breathe after that point. I only thought of her. "Has she said anything?" I asked.

"I'll, um..." Xerses stepped toward the door "I'll just let her talk to you. I'm sure she'll tell you everything."

I held my breath as Xerses' had wrapped around the door handle. And immediately, I thought back to the Void, to what happened between us and Polk. For me, it felt like it was just an hour ago, but according to Xerses... and the obvious... so much time had happened. And who knew what state Clara was in? Had I really saved her by putting her in that machine, filling her body with nanos? Or did I put her in danger?

The door opened and breath escaped me.

The room was just as bright as the hallway, but the air was different. It felt warmer; maybe because it wasn't empty. I saw a pair of white slippers, just like the ones I wore, right beside a bed neatly made and seemingly untouched. My heart hammered in my chest, and my fingers trembled. Why was I afraid to step inside?

Xerses cleared his throat. "She's been wondering if you were okay," he said before peeking his head in. "Baby girl, you aware?"

Clara lifted her head, tucking brown waves behind her ear. When she looked up, I caught the colors of her eyes. They twisted nerves in my gut.

One eye was red, the other piercing blue of a Code.

What did I do to her?

"Doll," I whispered. She looked at me but didn't get up. Didn't run to me. Anxiousness settled inside. "Are you okay?"

Slowly blinking, she nodded and smiled. I extended my hand to her, my silent plea for her to get up, and she accepted. Pushing up from the bed, she slid away from the side to hold my hand. With a soft pull, I pressed her against my chest, my lips on top of her head as I hugged her. "Are you?" she whispered against my sweater.

Moving back slightly, I cupped her face in my hands. "I'm fine, but you? Your eyes," I stroked her cheek, "what did I do?"

Grabbing one of my hands, she pressed my palm against her lips, kissing it gently. "You saved me."

I did. She'd been shot, bleeding out; getting her to that hospital was out of the question. But putting her in the Codes machine changed her. My negligence created something else. "I..." gulped. "No, I didn't. You're trapped here, a prisoner—" Turning quickly, I looked back at Xerses who stayed by the door. "Why is she here? You said the others were at the Domes? But she's here alone, by herself, in some fucked up solitary confinement?"

Xerses shifted uncomfortably. His gaze shifted to the front of Provincial Hall, before glancing back inside Clara's room. With just his eyes, he motioned for me to step outside.

I didn't want to move. "X..."

Clearing his throat, he looked at Clara. "I'm sorry for bringing him in here without telling him everything. It'll stress you both out. So," he looked back at me and with his hand, motioned me to go to him, "let's talk, Rog," he said.

I didn't want to leave Clara's side. I wanted to stay beside her, where I felt I could keep her safe.

I shook my head. "No, I need to stay here."

"I think you should go with him," Clara whispered.

"What? No." Quickly looking back at her, I held her face to look deep into her eyes. "We promised to never leave each other's side."

Her smile weakened as she pressed herself up on the tips of her toes to kiss me softly. "No, Roger," she said. "I promised to let you go."

As the words left her mouth, all I heard was my pounding heart. That was her promise to me; to set me free and let me go. I'd been the one to promise to stay at her side and never let her be alone. But in this year alone, I'd done that more than I had ever before.

The guilt of breaking my promise filled me as I stepped back. Clara's weak smile stayed on her face as she watched me leave. And when Xerses closed the door, my heart shattered. Every part of me hurt. My eyes burned. Clenching my jaw, I turned my gaze, rimmed by tears, to Xerses.

He sighed. "She's safe in here," he said.

A tear fell from my eye. "What happened to her? Do you know?" I gripped my chest. "Did I do this to her?"

"You saved her, Roger. The nanos connected with her body and repaired the damage but..."

I pressed myself against the wall, gently tapping the back of my head against it. "This is my fault," I hissed.

"No, Roger," Xerses stepped toward me, "don't say that."

"But it is.' I held his gaze as I felt a tear slide down my cheek. "If I had been open with her, told her everything we'd been doing and our suspicions, then she wouldn't be in there." I pointed at the closed door. "She wouldn't be locked away like some criminal."

"That's not why she's in there, Rog," he said, scratching the side of his head. He sighed, passing his hand over his face. "She's in here for her protection. It was what Erica and I could do."

"Protection?" Pushing off the wall, I stood in front of Xerses. "Why does she need to be protected? What's happening besides unhappy Codes and Polk poisoning their minds?"

Xerses tensed. He pulled his bottom lip between his teeth. Nervous? Afraid? The silence made me uneasy.

"When you went into the Void to get her, she was the only one who woke up. But she wasn't herself." Turning, he walked down the hall, past the empty rooms with their opened doors. He stepped into the area of the floor lined with couches, pillows, and chairs—a living area designed to make Malfuctioners feel normal and safe. But that wasn't the feeling on the floor.

I followed him. "What do you mean she wasn't herself?"

Dropping down on one of the couches, he rested his arms on his legs before passing his hands over his face. When he looked at me, his eyes had reddened. He was emotional. Clara had been his best friend for so long, and now... "Clara wasn't the one who spoke to me when she opened her eyes," he said. "It was Zara."

My brows shot up high. "Zara?" I gasped. "No..."

"Yeah." Xerses rubbed his chin. "And Polk's been looking for Clara ever since... considering she's Zara's host."

I fell back on the couch across from him. Reaching beside me, I grabbed one of the pillows and pressed it against my face. I screamed, the sound muffled by the fabric. Not only did I change her and put her in danger, I allowed danger to slip into her body.

I let the pillow fall on my lap. "So, she's stuck in that room until—"

"Until we know Zara won't come out," Xerses said quietly. "You remember how this went. I was kept in a room because Verba used me to do... whatever she wanted."

Slowly, I nodded. "No one trusted you."

"But you did."

What he said made me look at him. I did trust him. I knew what he was going through. There had been times when I'd seen him in the Void and knew... he wasn't the evil the others thought he'd be.

"But Clara isn't an actual Code. She's human with some nano-bots and—"

"No, she's not," he said. "Butthose nanos made her pretty close. They saved her, but those little machinesalso connected her to the Void; the same way all of you are connected to it. Meaning..."his voice quieted for a moment, drifting away as if he lost his train ofthought. But he held my gaze after a minute and continued, "Zara can just popout whenever she finds a doorway, bringing Polk here. Enforcement won't beenough to keep him out anymore. The Codes on his side are just around thecorner."