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  The item ended with another plea for anyone with information on the terrorists to come forward, and then the reporter’s image appeared on the screen as a panel of hastily assembled political analysts began to discuss the situation over vidcom links. The discussion opened with the reporter asking why mutant sympathizers were engaging in terrorist acts now, when the extermination laws had been enacted 269 years ago.

  The vidscreen went dead as Raven leaned forward to turn off the unit and they regarded each other in the sudden silence.

  “Why didn’t they mention me or Luciel, or Revenge?” Ali asked eventually.

  “Because legally you’re dead,” Raven pointed out. “The CPS have records of your extermination; they can hardly admit that you are alive without confirming the reports of the experiments.”

  “You’re still in danger,” Wraith stated. “They may not be admitting to it, but I’m certain the Security Services know exactly who you are.”

  “There wasn’t a description of Raven,” Luciel pointed out.

  “No one saw me and lived to tell,” the girl said grimly. “Jeeva flatlined them all.” Then she glared at the screen. “But I’ve never been this visible before. The CPS never even knew I existed. Now they know my name and they know how much of a threat I am.”

  “Are you intending to go into hiding?” Wraith asked, knowing that such an action would be uncharacteristic for Raven.

  “Are you?” she asked.

  Wraith considered, aware that all eyes were focused on him. He thought about the extermination laws, about the things he had seen in Kalden’s laboratory, about the broken body of Revenge, and about Raven’s continual fight to stay alive. Finally he remembered the official denial, the lies that would be believed unless the government could be forced to acknowledge the immorality of what they were doing and had done ever since the Hex gene was first created. The hopelessness of the past few days was erased as he made his decision.

  “No,” he stated. “I’m not going to hide.”

  “What then?” Raven asked, with a strange expression in her eyes.

  “I’m going to fight it,” Wraith declared. “The government thinks we’re a threat, so let’s be a threat.”

  “Become terrorists?” Ali asked.

  “No.” Wraith shook his head. “Don’t let them label us that way. Thousands have died because of their lies already. Whatever you do, you mustn’t believe them.” He paused to study them each in turn. Luciel, Ali, Kez, Raven, and the closed door of the room where Revenge lay sleeping. “Think of what we’ve accomplished already,” he told them. “I think we should stick together.”

  They looked at him. Ali’s eyes were shining with hope, and Kez and Luciel were smiling for the first time since the raid. It was a responsibility that Wraith had not intended to take on. But since he had arrived in London every step had led him inexorably toward the conclusion that this was something he had to do. But he knew as well as the rest of them that the decision was not entirely his to make. They would follow him alone if necessary, but as he turned to look at Raven, he sensed their eyes follow his.

  Raven’s head was bent, her eyes hooded as she thought. They waited for her answer, knowing that while Raven would never consent to hide, agreeing to fight was quite another thing. Then she raised her head and grinned wickedly. With an exuberant gesture she shook her hair free from its confinement and stood up.

  “I’m with you,” she said. “It should be wild.”

  • • •

  The flitter rose slowly through the levels of London, piloted by a dark-eyed girl whose hands rested lightly on the controls. No one noticed them as they cruised past the bridges, a Security Services skimmer remained stationary as they flew over it, keeping to the speed limit. Three levels further up Raven turned to the figure in the passenger seat and raised an eyebrow quizzically. Kez looked back slyly, conscious of Wraith seated behind them.

  “Dare me?” Raven asked.

  “Go for it,” Kez replied and the flitter went into a screaming climb. Raven’s laughter was drowned out by the music that blasted from the flitter’s speakers as they swept out of London, heading for the sky.

  RHIANNON LASSITER is an author of science fiction, fantasy, contemporary, magical realism, psychological horror, and thrill novels for teenagers. Her favorite authors include Ursula K. Le Guin, Margaret Mahy, and Octavia E. Butler. Her own novels explore themes of identity, change, and becoming. Rhiannon lives and works in Oxford, United Kingdom. Her ambition is to be the first writer in residence on the Moon. Find out more at rhiannonlassiter.com.

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  Also by Rhiannon Lassiter

  Shadows

  Ghosts

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  SIMON PULSE

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

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  First Simon Pulse paperback edition Sept. 2001

  Text copyright © 2001 by Rhiannon Lassiter

  Cover illustration © 2015 by Getty Images/Digital Vision/Jorg Greuel

  Also available in a Simon Pulse paperback edition.

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

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  Cover designed by Jessica Handelman

  The Library of Congress has cataloged the paperback edition as follows:

  Lassiter, Rhiannon

  Hex / Rhiannon Lassiter

  p. cm

  Summary: Fifteen-year-old Raven, along with her brother Wraith, search for their little sister in twenty-fourth century London when she is taken away on suspicion of carrying the hex gene, a mutation allowing interface with computers.

  [1. Brothers and sisters—Fiction. 2. Computers—Fiction. 3. Genetic engineering—Fiction. 4. Science fiction.]

  PZ7.L3287 Hex 1998

  2002442722

  ISBN 978-1-4814-5556-5 (ebook)