“You’re welcome.”
I opened my eyes to bright lights in an empty hallway. Cyrus was leaning over me, his white hair drooping over his face.
I sat up blearily, looking from the mutilated elevator door that Cyrus ripped out to the maroon carpet beneath us. “Did you pull me out?” I asked him, rubbing my sore ankle.
“The elevator grazed you,” he replied. “I grabbed you as you came up. You might have a sprained ankle, though. It’s going to bruise.”
I narrowed my eyes. Why would he save me when I almost left him for dead in the elevator?
The boy looked around, flexing his metal hand. “We need to get going. The fire could spread up here any minute. This is the sixty-seventh floor. We just need to climb three floors.”
Nodding, I struggled to my feet and followed Cyrus down the sparsely decorated hall to a door that said STAIRS. It was nice that they had all their doors labeled. But that was just how the government of Toran was: organized to an extreme.
Our feet padded up the metal staircase, echoing off the walls of the cavernous space. I could see towering skyscrapers and the bright din of the city through several of the windows we passed.
It was silent except for the thud, thud, thud of our boots. Where were the robots that were supposed to be stationed here? It didn’t make sense. I rubbed the palm of my hand with my thumb. Cyrus continued ahead, barely noticing my discomfort. “So…” I started as he glanced back at me. “How did you become a cyborg?” I had to ask him something to keep my mind off the lack of guards. No one was this lucky.
He gave me a skeptical look. “What’s with the sudden interest, Lira Liar?”
I threw my hands up in the air and stomped ahead of him. “Excuse me for trying to make small talk.”
“With a cyborg?”
I ignored him. It was called a conversation, but he was probably too “technologically advanced” that he couldn’t comprehend that’s what humans did. Figures.
“It was a train accident.”
I glanced back at him, but his silver eyes were focused on the steel beneath his feet. He continued, “They did everything they could to save me after the crash. Most of my body was burned beyond recognition, so they improvised with metal.” He pointed to his hair. “The white is due to the sterilization.”
I stopped in my tracks, horrified. “They bleached your body?”
“If they didn’t, infection would have set in,” he pointed out. “I was lucky enough that they got my skin back to normal color.”
“What about your eyes?”
He shrugged. “Bionic. Like most everything else.”
“What…” I struggled for words. Something about this boy I knew nothing about interested me. Which was stupid because he shouldn’t have interested me. “What part of you is actually human?”
“Most of my lower torso,” he said. “And all of my organs except for my brain and my—”
“Okay,” I said, “that’s all I need to know.”
“—heart,” he finished in a low voice.
I didn’t say anything to that. In fact, I didn’t even know what to say. How could you walk around knowing that the beating heart inside of you was fake?
“But I guess it’s useful because I have a hard drive in my brain.”
“You’ve just gone over the ‘too much information’ line, Cyrus.”
“How sweet,” he said. “That’s the first time you’ve said my name.”
I felt my cheeks flush and huffed, continuing up the stairs without another word. Stupid cyborg.
We finally made it to the top level, but something was racking my brain. Why had we been able to get this far? Were all the guards attending to the fire below? Even if I had set up the plans for a fake meeting, they should have noticed the fire by now. And us.
I checked to see if The Book of Knowledge was still within the compartment on my back and sighed when I found it. All of this trouble for one danged book.
Cyrus grasped the brass knob of the door leading to the roof. I had expected a guard to be posted. In fact, there should have been a guard there.
“I don’t think we should go on the roof,” I whispered, squeezing my wrist nervously. “Emperor Cedonia isn’t this stupid. He would have everything guarded. Everything.” My breath caught in my throat when I thought of the upright man who always seemed to be scowling. He had been the ruler of Toran for ten years. Ten years of control. Ten years of ignorance.
“We have no choice,” Cyrus replied. “It’s either get on a helicopter or risk imprisonment.”
I narrowed my eyes at his nervous, almost panicked demeanor. Why was the heliport the only option for escape? And how did he know there would be a helicopter on there in the first place? Oh, that’s right. He didn’t.
Before I could object, Cyrus opened the door, making a deafening sound that clashed with the silence outside. Warm air rushed into the stairway and made blonde strands of hair escape from my ponytail. Cyrus completely blocked my view of the outside, but before I could ask him what was out there, he stumbled backward.
“Don’t move!” a robotic voice bellowed.
Crap.
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A/N: Sooo, are you guys having fun with these cliffhangers yet? :) What do you all think of Cyrus so far with his history? :D
This dedication goes to @whyamisoobsessed, who has been such an enthusiastic supporter of my works! Thank you! <3
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The Girl Who Started the Revolution
Science Fiction❝One girl, one book, and an entire nation that wants to keep her from it.❞
