The Girl Who Started the Revolution

6 | s e n t i m e n t

I thought I was going to die as I flew into the fire, but titanium arms caught me in their grasp for the second time that night.

With me in his arms, Cyrus angled away from the flaming bookshelves as he fought to keep his balance and ended up tumbling over several times.

We finally came to a stop and I struggled for breath from Cyrus' weight. "Get off of me, you big lump of metal!" I squeaked, elbowing my rescuer in the ribs.

Cyrus released me, coughing wildly in the smoke. Phil was gone now—but so was Lotte's chem gun.

"We can't let him burn this library," I said as I stumbled to my feet. The heat of the flames singed my eyebrows, and I noticed that Cyrus was sweating. "I need to find The Book of Knowledge." It was more of a hopeless plea than anything else. It was impossible now. The flames would consume everything.

"Are you bloody serious?" Cyrus cried. I looked over to see his exasperated expression. He threw his hands into the air. "If you had just told me before, I would have been able to get it for you!"

I gawked. Was he serious? I thought he had just been playing, but what if he actually knew—

"Come on!" The boy grabbed my arm, enclosing me in a titanium grip as he dragged me toward the back wall with the study tables.

"What are you doing?" The crackling of flames was enough to drown out my voice, but the heat of it was impossible to bear. It roared behind us, consuming precious amounts of knowledge as it rose in an orange-green haze to the ceiling. "We need to go to the staircase!" I said. "I don't want to die here!" Cyrus was leading us in the opposite direction of where we needed to escape. The staircase would be on fire by the time we went back!

"There's an upper level," was all the danged cyborg said.

"We'll die if we go up there!" How could I get that through his thick skull? "Heat travels upward!"

I struggled as much as I could in his grasp, but it was useless. He led me through a hidden door next to a table and led me up a staircase. I gave up. What did it matter now? I'd have the book, but what good was it burned?

He slammed the door behind us and bolted up the stairs. "I know where the book is. There's a heliport on the top floor of the building. If we can get there—"

"Reality check," I snapped. "This building is hundreds of stories high!"

Cyrus yanked me in front of him and stared at me with those odd silver eyes. "Do you want to die?" He didn't wait for me to respond. "The heliport is our only option. Those robots are rebelling against the humans. They probably want to start a revolution, which is why they're burning down the library."

A revolution. How was that possible? Weren't they incapable of true thought? "A revolution against humans?"

He nodded, leading me through the upper level, which looked exactly like the lower, except it was ten times smaller. "Yes, Captain Obvious," he said. "Thank you for defending the known. They've been planning it for ages. Considering how smart you are, I thought you would know about it."

I wasn't able to object to his snottiness as he made for a glass case hidden behind a corner bookcase. A dark book with gold inscriptions rested on the inside. "Is that The Book of—"

Before I could say anything, Cyrus shattered the glass with his metal hand and extracted the book. He shoved it into my hands and I rubbed my palm over it. Dust was missing from the cover, as if it had been read recently. I turned to say something to Cyrus, but he was already heading to a door near the corner. He was quick and methodical with his actions, which was strange for a cyborg.