The Bionics

  ***

  A few hours later, I find Gage in his room with little Agata. The two are lying on the bed together, her head on his chest, and he is telling her a story about a fairy princess. I stand in the doorway and watch them, something familiar tugging on my insides as I remember being in a similar position with my father. A smile is pulling at the corners of my lips as I watch them, silently waiting for Gage to finish.

  “And the princess, her prince, and the unicorn robot, all moved into the pink castle together, and…”

  “They lived happily ever after,” Agata supplied with a grin. “You tell the best stories, Uncle Gage.”

  Gage looks up from his place on the bed, his eyes flashing in annoyance as they lock with mine. Agata, oblivious to his anger toward me, jumps up and runs over to where I stand in the doorway.

  “Hi! I know you; you’re Blythe. Your arm is cool.”

  I hold the bionic limb up and twist it around, flexing the metal fingers. “You think so? Your brain sounds much cooler.”

  She shrugs and grabs the hand, pulling me into the room. “You know my Uncle Gage, right?”

  I glance over at Gage, but he’s avoiding looking at me now, so I turn my attention back to Agata. “Yes, I do. He’s a great guy, isn’t he?”

  She pulls me down on the bed, and with Gage’s bulky frame stretched across one side of the mattress, it’s awful crowded. Agata doesn’t seem to mind as she crosses her legs and bounces excitedly, talking a mile a minute.

  “Oh, he’s the best. He brought me here to get me away from the Military Police. Is that why you’re here? Did someone bring you here to get you away from them?”

  I nod and smile, finding her innocence and sweetness endearing. “Yeah. My best friend, Dax—the really big guy I was with earlier—he saved me from them, too. They wanted to arrest me for being different.”

  “Different like me.”

  “Yes, that’s right. He told me about this place and the Professor. He told me I would be safe here and that we could be a family.”

  Agata frowned, her pale eyebrows scrunching adorably over wide doe eyes. “Don’t you have your own family?”

  My heart is beating in double time and my eye responds by filling my vision with my stats and vitals. Anxiety claws at me as the details of my past flicker through my mind like a slow-motion film. The little girl inside of me wants to fall to the floor, curl up into the fetal position, and cry. The brittle part of my personality wants to shove this girl across the bed and snarl at her to mind her own business. Another part of me feels Gage’s eyes on my face and I know he’s waiting for the answer too. And before I can stop myself, the words are coming out and, as I speak them, I am looking into Gage’s eyes, not Agata’s.

  “I had a family,” I say, practically choking on the lump in my throat. “They died.”

  “All of them?” she asks, her rose petal-pink mouth parted in disbelief.

  I nod. “Yes. The Military Police killed them trying to get to me. You see, my father didn’t want to turn me over to the government. Just like I’m sure your mom didn’t want to hand you over.”

  Agata shakes her head with conviction. “No. That’s why Uncle Gage hid me.”

  “Well, I didn’t have an uncle to help me get away. I just had my parents and little sister, who risked their lives to keep me hidden in the basement. Someone found out I was there and told on us. The police wanted to take me away, but my dad tried to stop them. They shot him for it. Then they shot my mom and my sister.”

  “Why would they hurt your mom and your sister?”

  Taking a deep, shaky breath, I decide to be honest with this girl. After all, she’s smarter than I am. “Because they can, sweetheart. Because they wanted to hurt me for being who I am.”

  Agata is crying as she reaches out toward my face, and as her fingers come away wet, I realize that her tears are mirrored on my face.

  “You must have been so sad and alone,” she says softly.

  “Yeah. But I had Dax. He saved me before they could kill me too. He’s my family now, and so are the Professor, Olivia, and Jenica.”

  “That mean one with the robot face?”

  I laugh through my tears and ruffle Agata’s blonde curls. “Jenica isn’t mean. She’s just a little too serious sometimes. But, you know what? I can tell she really likes you.”

  Agata seems to think about this for a minute before answering. “I like her too, I think,” she says. “I definitely like you. And that Dax boy is scary and big, but if he saved your life, then I like him too.”

  “Good.”

  “Blythe?”

  “Yes?”

  “Can Gage and me be a part of your family now, too?”

  I look up to find that Gage has come to a sitting position on the bed. He stares at me over Agata’s head, his face carved in anguish over my story. I wonder if he knows that when it comes to me, this is only the tip of the iceberg. My life, my emotions, my personality… all are epically screwed up, and I’m nowhere near as sweet or as perfect as this little girl asking to become part of my family.

  “I don’t know, honey. I think that’s up to your uncle.”

  His hand slips into mine on the bed, white fingers intertwining with dark. His lips curve into a half smile, and my heart does a back flip in my chest.

  “Uncle Gage wants that,” he says softly. “More than anything.”

  “Good,” Agata says as she stands and adjusts the hem of her shirt. “Then we can help the Professor with his mission.”

  Gage frowns. “How did you know about that, little girl?”

  She folds her arms over her chest and gives him a look that screams, ‘get real’. “Grown-ups say a lot when they think kids aren’t listening. I know what the Professor needs me to do to help those people. I want to do it.”

  Without giving either of us a chance to reply, she turns on her heels and leaves the room with a swish of her pigtails. I raise my eyebrows at Gage.

  “She’s got spirit, I’ll give her that. Wonder where she gets that from.”

  Gage laughs. “You haven’t met my sister yet.”

  He’s suddenly serious and bringing my hand—still clutched in his—up to his lips. “Thank you,” he says. “For telling me that.”

  I snatch my hand from his and stand with a grin. “I wasn’t telling you, I was telling Agata.”

  He stands from the bed, pulling me up with him. “Well, I’m glad you told her when I was in the room.” He faced me, his piercing eyes boring into me. “You are a mystery wrapped in an enigma, Blythe Sol,” he says with a smile. “I can’t decide if it’s going to be fun trying to figure you out, or a pain in the ass.”

  With a laugh, I turn to leave. Shooting him a glance over my shoulder, I say, “You let me know how that works out for you.”

  Part Two:

  Titanium

  (Dax Janner)