The truck is no zoomer, but I drive it like it has all the gear under the hood. I swerve around traffic, Macon swaying side to side in the passenger seat, body limp, face pale. He hasn't said anything other than mumbles about avoiding the Med Center. I nearly decide to damn his words and take him to the healers who'd brought me back from the brink of death, but it would cost shinies we don't have.

I glance over at him as we leave the Amethyst District and enter the Emerald District. Under the glow of the green lights, he looks dead already. He tries to shakily heal himself a few times like I'd seen him do in the alley that fateful night, but the white glow around his hand keeps flickering out before his magic works.

Keeping one hand on the steering wheel, I reach for the dashboard and press the button to call Gidget. The phone rings once through the speakers of the truck before she picks up on the other end.

"Mission accomplished?" Gidget's warm voice fills the cab. "I gotta admit I was a little worried you guys hadn't checked in yet."

"Macon's hurt," I say, the slight ache in my voice surprising me. "Badly. Call up the healer you know. The one you said fixed me up?"

"You mean, Jinx? She's not really a healer, she just-"

"Sure. Jinx. Whoever. Just call her!"

"Okay, okay, what happened? She'll want to know specifics."

"Venjo happened!" My words come out in a slurred rush. "He caught us and there's bad blood between the two of them. He got a good swipe at Macon with his claws and I'm pretty sure he's bleeding out."

"Got it. I'll call her now."

I hang up our call and turn onto Crescent Cross, trying my best to keep my eyes on the road and not on Macon. One of the lanes is blocked off, workers doing construction to fix the parts of the skyway the lorkins and I decimated during our chase.

It isn't too much longer before I pull up to a stop in front of Gidget's apartment complex. As soon as I get out of the driver's seat, Tiny is rushing from the building to the passenger's side of the truck. It only takes a moment for Tiny to lift Macon into his arms and carry him to the doors of the complex. I follow close behind, trying to peer around Tiny's massive frame to check on Macon, but it's impossible.

When we get upstairs, Gidget already has the door open and a bed ready-my bed. She quietly gasps, then covers her mouth when she sees the amount of blood covering Macon's clothes. She glances at me then, and I look down at myself and the scarlet smeared over my hands. A flash of Venjo's claws slashing Macon fills my mind. Venjo's cold eyes, his hateful words.

This is all my fault.

I stumble into the bathroom without a word and close the door behind me. Turning the knob at the sink, I try to wash away the blood staining my hands, but I can't seem to scrub hard enough. No amount of water will be able to clean my soul.

Tearing my gaze from my hands, I look up at my reflection in the mirror. A few drops of Macon's blood are splattered across my face and I wipe them away before staring at the circles under my eyes. If I wasn't a mess before, I'm now a certified disaster, causing havoc wherever I go.

But I'd helped cause this mess, and I have to help clean it up.

Leaving the bathroom, I return to the apartment to see Macon stretched out on my bed with Tiny, Gidget, and someone new hovering around him. At the sound of my footsteps, they all whip around to look at me.

The new woman, who I assume is Jinx, is staring at me like she could kill me...easily. Her silky black hair reaches down her back, and below her neatly-trimmed bangs is one dark brown eye and a glowing red one-the trademark identification programming of all cyborgs. It makes me wonder what kind of accident she was in that she had to be rebuilt. She is the first to speak to me, her tone harsh. "So tell me, Elfling, I risked so much to heal you from your previous lapse in judgment, for you to only throw yourself back into danger? If I would've known that you-"

"Jinx," Gidget interrupts. "Chill out. I'm the one who called you here both times, remember? Take it out on me."

My heart warms at Gidget's defense of me, but it's quickly eclipsed by Jinx's retort.

"She shouldn't even be here," Jinx argues with her. "She should be up in the sky with the rest of those selfish monsters who left us down here to rot with the Evernight."

Her words shock me for a moment, but then it quickly turns to anger at her judgment of me. "I was left behind, just like the rest of you. You were loved enough by someone to be rebuilt instead of lost, right? Not me. I'm just lost."

Jinx stares at me a moment longer, her robotic eye unblinking, then stops arguing and turns back to Macon. "This isn't going to feel wonderful," she tells him, even though he's half-asleep. She unscrews the lid off the bottle she's holding in her hand and pours a metallic-colored liquid over Macon's exposed chest.

I inch closer, watching closely as the liquid swims across his skin like it's alive and finds the three giant slashes across his chest. The medicine covers the wounds completely, seeping into the exposed tissue and muscle. Macon's eyes were heavy and nearly closed before, but now they spring wide open, a scream bubbling up his throat as the veins in his neck bulge. Tiny places his huge hand over Macon's mouth, stifling his shriek before he can alert the entire building about the illegal medical practices happening in their apartment complex.

The liquid bubbles, steam rising into the air, and for a moment I'm slightly worried that Macon is being hurt by Jinx, not healed. But a few breaths later, the medicine hardens over his wounds the shining metallic, mimicking the ebony scars along my back. Macon sighs in relief and I let out a gust of air with him.

Jinx shoves the empty bottle of medicine in her pocket and turns to Gidget. "This is the last time," she tells her. "Call me again and I'll report you to your parents. I'm sure they'd love to know their daughter is living in a shoddy apartment in the Emerald District."

Gidget raises her chin. "Just like I'm sure the Council would love to know that you're healing lowlifes like us at the low cost of zero shinies." Jinx snaps her mouth shut, but Gidget continues. "Or that you're hoarding a supply of stolen medicine and selling it on the black market. Or that one time when you-"

"Okay!" Jinx says, holding up both hands as if she was surrendering. "I get it. I won't say anything."

A smile spreads across Gidget's face like she's talking to an old friend. "So great that we see eye to eye. We'll be seeing you next time then?"

Jinx narrows her eyes at Gidget and dons one of the fakest smiles I've ever seen, then she turns to look at me. "So you're competing in the Race for Light?"

Her question takes me aback. How did she know?

"Gidget told me," she answers before I'm able to ask the question outloud. So maybe the two of them are friends after all, or maybe just frenemies. Keep your friends close, your enemy cyborgs closer, I guess.

"No one can know who I really am," I remind her.

"I'm not an idiot. Plus, I think you might be the only one who has a chance at beating Clarx Bolton...if you make it to the finals."

An image of the manufactured Clarx Bolton leaning against his pristine zoomer flashes in my mind. I cringe at the thought of losing to him.

Jinx moves to leave the apartment, but as she walks by me, she leans in close and whispers to me, "If you want any chance of beating him, you've got to take away his advantage." She taps the corner of her robotic eye, the same as Clarx's, giving me the only clue I need. But how the hell am I going to take it away from him? It's in his head!

As her footsteps near the front door, I turn around and ask her a question that has been burning in the back of my mind, but I've been afraid to ask. "Will Macon be okay?"

Jinx stops and glances over her shoulder. "He'll be good as new in a few days. Most of the healing cast will disintegrate, but you can just wash away anything that remains." She turns to grab the doorknob, then stops. "Oh, and he'll be pretty out of it for the rest of the night. So don't take anything he says too seriously."

Noted.

Jinx leaves the apartment. As soon as the door closes, Gidget descends upon me.

"Tell me everything," she says.

So I do. But I leave out the part about how Venjo's words took its toll on me and still replay over and over in my head.

#

Everyone is sleeping, but I'm wide awake. Gidget is in her room with Zero at the foot of her bed, Macon is still asleep in my makeshift bed, and I'm on the couch. The glow from Gidget's wall of techscreens lights up my entire side of the small living room and I can't seem to look away from the screens and their shifting cam feeds.

Plus, I still can't get Venjo out of my head.

I've saved your life twice. What've you ever done for me?

I can't stand it anymore. I have to know if its really true-if he really did save me on City's Edge or if it's all just a big lie to break me. Throwing the small blanket off of me, I leave the couch and plop myself in Gidget's chair in front of her screens. The cyberglass table lights up with a soft pink glow when my fingers start typing.

CITY'S EDGE : 6/17/5067 : SLEEP HOURS

The night I found out just how dark the night could get.

I glance up at four of the different-sized screens, watching as they shift feeds from the present to the past. The cams are set up at four different points on the outer circle of Voltyss, but I'm not sure which one is which until I see the small print in the corner of each screen labeling each section. I find the north cam, the one closest to where I tried to make my escape and scroll forward and backward to try to find the right moment.

City's Edge is a junkyard of sorts. In the feed, there are multiple zoomers and trucks that have been discarded with the Evernight, all with slashes that mar their sides. Nightstalkers. It chills my bones to know how close they are to the rest of us in the comfort of the Aura.

Even through the techscreen, I can practically feel the bitter cold of the night, remembering how it seemed like it would swallow me whole when I'd tried to escape into it with nothing but a lightstick.

I'm about to give up and try a different cam feed when a flash of white in the bottom corner catches my eye. It's me, my long white hair flowing behind me as I leave City's Edge then disappear in the darkness. Nerves bubble through me even though I'm not there, but the memory of the fear I'd endured still lingers.

I scroll forward until movement catches my eye again and I watch myself dragging my own body back across the barren ground and through the rubble of the junkyard. Blood smears behind me on the ground and my eyes well up with tears as I watch, my hands trembling against the cyberglass I rest them on. I keep pulling myself inch by inch, until I give out under a beam of light in the same place I'd entered the Evernight from.

It doesn't take long before there's another figure there on the feed. He's tall with broad shoulders and two black horns curl from his head. Venjo. Without hesitation, he scoops me up in his arms, not even looking at my blood that spreads all over him and his clothes. He says something to me, but the outer cams only record sight not sound. I would give anything to know what words he mumbled to me as he walked away with my limp body in his arms.

The sound of blankets rustling tears my attention from the screen and makes me swivel around in the chair. As soon as I catch sight of Macon squirming in the bed, he starts to thrash harder.

"No!" he yells, his eyes still closed. "No, I won't let you!"

I rush over to him and sit down next to him, bracing his shoulders. He must be dreaming, so I give him a small shake. "Macon," I say softly. "Shh, it's okay. It's just a dream."

His eyes crack open the slightest. He breathes heavy for a moment before his gaze finds mine. "Wowwww," he drawls. "Did you know you have an Aura of your own?"

I cock my head to the side, confused by his question. "Do what?"

"A light..." he smirks. "You're surrounded by this violet light. It's...pretty."

I can't imagine Macon ever describing anything as pretty, then remember Jinx's warning-don't take anything he says too seriously. He is probably hallucinating or not quite fully awake.

"You still need to rest," I tell him softly. "Why don't you close your eyes and go back to sleep?"

"You're pretty too," Macon says, his smirk growing into a full smile. "Like the prettiest."

"Shush, you're drugged up right now."

"Your eyes are sparkling. Did you know they sparkle sometimes?"

"Okay, really, go back to sleep before you say something you'll regret."

"Can I kiss you?"

"Macon!" I quickly glance away to hide the fierce blush that covers my cheeks.

"I'm sorry," he says, the smile falling from his face. "I'm so sorry. Don't hate me."

I sigh, rubbing my temple. "I don't hate you, Macon."

"But you did once." His voice grows quiet, dripping with sadness. "And you will again."

His cryptic words make my stomach turn uneasy for a moment, before I remind myself of Jinx's warning again. He probably just thinks I'll never forgive him and the drugs are making him spill his feelings.

"Macon," I tell him as I brush his black hair away from his forehead. I hope the softness of my touch will help lull him to sleep. "I don't think I will ever be able to hate you. You make it too difficult."

"Whatever you say, lovely." His eyelids flutter shut. "Whatever...you...say." Then he's dead to the world again, a light snore escaping through his lips.

I leave his side and return to the couch, hopefully to try to get some sleep. I should be thinking about so many other things like the Bounties eventually finding me or the upcoming qualifier for the Race for Light. But instead all I think of is Macon asking if he could kiss me and I can't stop the smile that spreads across my lips.

I'm thankful for the distraction from this crazy world as I finally drift to sleep.