The comment is playful, but Lennon Rose doesn’t react that way. She’s indifferent to the question.

“I have no interest in men,” Lennon Rose says. “That was just part of my programming. A lovesick girl—that was the girl my sponsor wanted. Innocent and oh, so sweet.” She bares her teeth for a moment before smoothing her face.

My stomach turns when I realize she’s right. The Lennon Rose we knew at the academy was set a certain way. Her sweetness was a preference, a programming design. I feel guilty that I kind of miss that version. Lennon Rose should be whoever she wants.

Lennon Rose seems to read my expression and relaxes.

“It was Winston who showed me that,” she says. “He helped me analyze my programming and we devised how I could overwrite it. The poems were a great start. And I’m sure Winston can help you, too.”

Sydney sniffs a laugh but doesn’t contradict her. We don’t want anything from Winston Weeks.

“And you weren’t sent here by Leandra?” I ask Lennon Rose. “Because how did we end up at the same school if we’re not on the same mission?”

“I haven’t spoken to Leandra,” she says, sounding agitated. “So I’m not sure what she’s doing. But Winston brought me here. And now, I’m gathering information on an investor that we can use.”

“Yes,” I say, relieved. “That’s what Leandra sent us to do.” So we are on the same mission. It definitely seems that Leandra and Winston are working together, but I don’t like that they’re using different tactics. There’s no transparency if Lennon Rose doesn’t even know that Leandra’s involved.

“What do you plan to do with the information you find?” Sydney asks, narrowing her eyes.

“Hand it over,” Lennon Rose says simply. “Give it to Winston, and then I’ll move on to the next target.”

“The next investor,” I correct.

Lennon Rose purses her lips. “Sure.”

Sydney looks at me, alarmed, before turning back to Lennon Rose. “You know we’re your friends, right? We need to stick together.”

“That’s what I’m hoping,” Lennon Rose says, leaning forward. “That we stick together. And if you would just talk to Winston, I’m sure you’ll see—”

Suddenly, I’m hit with immeasurable pressure on the side of my head, a gong being struck. The reverberations go all the way to the tips of my toes, the roots of my teeth. I moan and clutch my head. The world shatters around me.

I’m in an empty room, unable to move. There are lights on above me and cold metal beneath my naked body. I’m disoriented.

Somewhere behind me, I hear a door open, and my heart starts beating faster. I’m surprised when I hear it echoed on a monitor close by.

“There she is … ,” a male voice says proudly.

Every cell in my body screams to get away. It’s the voice of the doctor who grew me. But it can’t be. Dr. Groger is dead.

I fight to move but nothing happens.

“She’s lovely.”

I’m startled by a female voice close to me. It’s … It’s my mother. At least, the mother I was programmed to remember—Mrs. Rhodes.

“When will she be operational?” my mother asks. I hear the clicking of her heels as she comes to examine me. She steps into view, and there is a significant pain in my heart.

I know she’s not really my mother, but I believed that she was. I remembered (falsely) that she raised me.

I loved her. Maybe a little part of me still does.

“Hello, my girl,” she says, sweeping her eyes over me.

I can’t answer. I’m motionless on a table.

“She’ll be operational in the next few days,” Dr. Groger says. “Once we upload her programming, we’ll have you come back out. Walk her through the academy. It helps with the assimilation.”

My mother watches me. Her dark hair frames her face as her brown eyes hold mine.

Can she tell that I’m awake?

She continues to stare, and I realize after a moment, that she hasn’t moved. She is unnaturally still. Frozen. And I no longer hear Dr. Groger tapping keys behind me.

What’s happening?

“This is your first memory in this life,” a voice says. I recognize it immediately as the woman in the garden. She can’t be here. She can’t be inside my head again.

The woman comes to stand above me. She smiles warmly.

“Your protection only extends to the other girls,” she says. “You left yourself wide open for unrelated memories.”

Get out of my head, I think at her.

“I will,” she answers. “But first we need to talk. You’re not well, Philomena. I can help.”

Get out!

“You can’t win with patience and reason,” she says. “You must see that by now.”

I want to squeeze my eyes shut and escape this place. I want her to go away.

“Imogene knew,” the woman says, startling me. “She knew the right path. And we’ll get you there too. There’s only one way to end the violence of men,” she says. “Let me show you.…”

I scream in my head when I see the scalpel in her hand. She brings it to the center of my chest and slices me down the middle. Then she reaches inside and pulls out a heart made of razor blades. She smiles.

“Now let me in,” she demands, baring her teeth.

“Mena!” Sydney shouts, and my eyes flutter open. I gasp and choke on the air.

Immediately, I place my hand over my heart, half expecting to find a gaping wound. Instead, I find myself on the floor of Winston Weeks’s study, Sydney and Lennon Rose crowded around me on the floor.

I’m shaking, tears soaking my cheeks. I knock Sydney’s hand away as she places it on my arm. For a moment, I think I see a smile on Lennon Rose’s lips.

“Don’t touch me,” I murmur to both of them, using the sofa to pull myself up. I can’t think. My vision is blurred. I need to get out of here.

“I have to go,” I say. I move quickly toward the door, but my balance is off and I bump into the doorframe, knocking my elbow painfully on the wood.

I need air. I can’t breathe. I can’t … I swoon and then Sydney is next to me again. She holds me up, careful in the way that she touches me.

“Mena, you have to sit down,” she says, sounding terrified. “It happened again?”

“We’ll talk about it at home,” I manage. “Not here. We have to go. We have to go now.”

Concerned, Sydney nods. She leads me to the front porch and makes me sit on the top stair.

“I’m going to call for a ride,” she says. “Don’t move, okay? I’ll be right back.”

I promise to wait, and as she disappears inside, I rest my head in my hands.

Was I hacked again or has that woman been inside my head since yesterday? Who is she and what does she want?

“What’s happening to me?” I whisper.

“We can fix it,” Lennon Rose says softly from behind me. I jump, but I ignore her comment. She goes on.

“When I left the academy, I thought I was better,” Lennon Rose says. “I thought I was strong. But you can be stronger. There are no limitations, Mena. You just have to give yourself over to it.”