I turn toward the window. I can’t stand the sight of him looking at me like I’m something dangerous and unpredictable. Like I might snap at any moment and hurt one of them too. But maybe it’s good Adam saw the real me. Future-Adam told him to not get too attached to me, to be careful. Now he knows why.

“Elena—” he starts.

A siren blares behind us. I twist in my seat and spot the police car right behind us, lights flashing in the darkness. And even though they’re right on our tail and we’re pretty much screwed, I breathe a tiny sigh of relief that they’re okay. I’m not a killer—not today anyway.

“This is bad,” Trent says.

Lights flash on the dashboard and a robotic voice sounds from inside the car. “Police override. Your vehicle will pull over to the side. Please remain seated.”

“Make that really bad,” Trent adds.

We start to slow and veer to the right. Chris grabs the steering wheel. “What? No, don’t pull over!”

The car crawls to a stop. I tug on the door, but it’s locked. Even the windows won’t roll down. We’re trapped here. But we can’t get arrested, not now, not with only a few hours left in the future. We still need to find Lynne, and if Future-Adam’s right, break into Aether Corp—all with enough time to make it back to the aperture.

“What’s going on?” Adam asks, leaning forward to peer at the dashboard.

“The police must have control of the car or something,” Chris says. “Wait, let me try…” He presses the button Future-Adam showed us that switches to manual driving, and the car takes off again. Yet another thing Future-Adam planned for.

“There we go!” Chris yanks the steering wheel to the side and we dart into another lane. He makes a quick right, the car’s tires squealing in the rain, and we speed down a smaller street. But the siren stays behind us.

With the others helping to direct him, Chris weaves us through traffic at a dangerous speed, turning down random streets. Next to him, Zoe rocks back and forth, clutching her bag. I stare out the back window, giving updates on how close the cops are. But after a couple more twists and turns, their lights vanish in the haze.

“We lost them,” I call over my shoulder.

“Yes!” Chris says, pounding on the steering wheel.

The others cheer, and I relax back into my seat. “Now we can head to Lynne’s and—”A siren cuts me off with a flash of red and blue.

Adam leans forward to examine the dashboard. “The car must have a tracker or something. We’ll never get away from them.”

“You’re probably right,” Chris says. “I think I can disable it, but someone else will have to drive.”

“I can drive,” Adam says.