Acid (38 page)

‘You’re not helping,’ I say, thinking that the last time I cared about clothes this much was before I went to Mileway. Max gets up, puts his arms around me and kisses me. ‘You sure you want to go to this party?’ he says when we come up for air, grinning at me. Although he’s still on the thin side, he looks healthier every day.

‘We have to,’ I say, reaching up to push his fringe out of his eyes. ‘You’re supposed to be reading out that thing about your dad, remember?’

A pensive look flits across Max’s face.

‘You’ll be fine,’ I say, kissing him again. ‘So. Green or blue?’

He shrugs. ‘Green, I guess.’

Shaking my head, I grab the green shirt and pull it on. Then I glance in the mirror one last time. I have my old face back now – the one I had before FREE turned me into Mia Richardson, and ACID made me into Jess Stone. It felt strange at first, but I’m glad I had it done. At last, I feel like myself again.

‘Am I still coming over tomorrow to help you finish decorating?’ Max says as we walk into the living room.

‘You bet,’ I say, looking at the unpainted walls, and the plastic sheet covering the carpet. In the hall, I pull on my boots and fasten the buckles that run up the sides. Max hands me my coat and a scarf from the hook by the door. ‘I can’t believe you’ve been here nearly a month already,’ he says.

‘Me neither,’ I say. It seems like for ever since that early morning when Fiona shook me and Max awake in the roto’s prisoner hold to tell us we were back on the mainland. Straight away, Max and Anna were whisked off to a medicentre, while I was taken, of all places, to the lab where I first woke up after Alex Fisher broke me out of Mileway. After my arm was treated, I stayed on there while the arrests of ACID agents and officials began. FREE were afraid of a backlash, so everyone involved with them and the trial was kept under protection. I couldn’t go anywhere, but for once, I didn’t mind. Outside the walls of the lab, London was going crazy, with riots
starting
in Outer and Middle as news of ACID’s downfall spread, and the ACID control tower being firebombed. The chaos spread countrywide, and for a while it looked as if the law enforcement agencies who’d come in from Europe to help FREE might not be able to get it under control.

Things settled down in the end, though, and after that FREE moved me to another safehouse outside London with Mel, Jon, Max and his mum. The house was tiny, and by the time the trial was all over, I was desperate for a space that was really, truly my own. I wanted to go back to London, so Anna, who’s now working full-time for FREE, helping them to set up the new government, found me this flat. She offered to let me move in with her, but it would have felt strange – we’re still getting to know each other, and I’m still getting used to the idea she’s my mother. Meanwhile, Max is staying with his mum back at their old house, as we’ve agreed we want to take things slowly. I don’t feel ready to live with another person yet, not even if that person is a boyfriend chosen by me, not a fake LifePartner picked by FREE or a real LifePartner ACID and a computer have decided is my perfect match. But his house is just a few streets away, so we see each other all the time. And best of all, we know that no one’s going to walk in on us when we’re kissing on my bed and he’s got his hands under my shirt, or when I’ve got mine under his.

‘When we get to the terminal, I’ll link Mum and tell her we’re on our way,’ Max says once we get outside.
Although
the pulse barrier between Middle and Upper has been deactivated, there still isn’t any public transport going into Upper, so we’re taking a tram to Zone E, where Felix is sending a car to pick us up.

We walk along the street hand in hand. It’s dark, and so cold our breath puffs out in front of us in white clouds, but the streets are busy. I pull my hood up so no one will recognize me. Ever since the interim government lifted the curfew in Outer and Middle, people seem to come out in the evenings just for the sake of it. It was kind of cool at first, having them come up and thank me for helping to get rid of General Harvey and exclaiming over my escape from Mileway, but it soon got old. I like being anonymous.

We pass a statue of the general that’s had its head knocked off and obscene lightffiti projected all over its body which no one’s made any effort to get rid of. On the street corners, police officers in grey uniforms – a few of the thousands provided by the interim government – stand watching people go past. They have guns, but no helmets, and they look bored.

When we reach the magtram terminal, the tram going out to the edge of Zone E isn’t here yet, so we join the queue of people waiting for it and Max links his mum. There’s a news screen on the side of a building opposite.
CANDIDATES PUT FORWARD FOR FORTHCOMING ELECTION
, the headline says. The camera pans slowly across row after row of serious looking, smartly dressed men and women standing in a vast, grandly decorated
hall
. There must be hundreds of them. It feels so weird to think that
we’re
going to choose which of them has a say in how the IRB is run.

Then, as the camera continues to track along the rows of people, I see a figure who looks startlingly familiar. Tall, broad-shouldered, with blond hair and a square jaw. My breath catches in my throat.
It can’t be
, I think.
That’s just crazy. His hair’s too short, for a start
.

But hair can be cut, can’t it?

‘What’s wrong?’ Max says, noticing me staring at it.

‘Did you see that?’ I say.

‘What?’

‘On the news screen – that man.’

‘I wasn’t watching,’ he says, one side of his mouth lifting in a smile. ‘I was too busy looking at you.’

‘It was Jacob,’ I say. ‘I’m sure it was.’

Max snorts. ‘Don’t be daft. They wouldn’t let someone like that near the new government in a million years.’

I look back at the news screen, but the picture’s changed, showing an official from the European Criminal Justice Bureau reading out a declaration. I watch for a few moments more, looking out for Jacob, but they don’t show the candidates again.

Up the street, the tram noses into view. A few moments later it’s trundling to a halt alongside us, the doors hissing open. Just before we get on, I glance round at the news screen for a final time, wondering if I might have imagined seeing Jacob – with the new police force still hunting for him, and no sign of the rest of the NAR
group
either, he’s often lurking at the edges of my thoughts.

‘Jenna?’ Max is standing in the vestibule, waiting for me.

‘Please stand clear of the doors,’ a robotic female voice says. Max reaches out and grabs my hand, pulling me inside just as the doors begin to slide shut. I stumble against him and he catches me, smiling.

Forget about Jacob
, I tell myself as we head into the pod to find seats.
Max is right – they’d never let him near the government
.

I smile back at him, and the tram begins to move, carrying us into the night.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

A HUGE thank you . . .

To my family, for handing me the keys to my imagination and showing me how to use them before I was even old enough to know what a book was for.

To Pat and Graham, for supporting me in just about every way possible and for never telling me ‘don’t give up the day job’.

To my agent, Carolyn Whitaker, for all her hard work, wise words and encouragement.

To the brilliant team at RHCP, especially Jess, Ruth and Nat, for believing in this book and helping make it the best it can possibly be.

To the Lucky 13s, for keeping me sane throughout this whole process. (Elsie, I tried to get the word ‘smote’ in there, but . . . oh, wait. Ha.)

To all my friends, writing group compadres and library colleagues – your support ever since I ‘came out’ as a writer has been incredible, and I can’t wait to see you all at the launch!

To my faithful assistant The Hound – many a plot tangle has been solved whilst out on our walks.

And finally, to Duncan, because none of this would be happening without you.

About the Author

Emma Pass has been making up stories for as long as she can remember.
ACID
is her debut novel, and she is currently working on her next thriller for young adults, which will be published in 2014. By day, she works as a library assistant and lives with her husband in the northeast Midlands.

ACID
AN RHCP DIGITAL EBOOK 978 1 448 11991 2

Published in Great Britain by RHCP Digital,
an imprint of Random House Children’s Publishers UK
A Random House Group Company

This ebook edition published 2013

Text copyright © Emma Pass, 2013

First published in Great Britain by Corgi, 2013

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