I couldn’t look. I didn’t dare lift my lips from Nex’s. But I didn’t know iftheyknew about my connection with Voss.
Then again—what I’d told the man himself was true.
And if getting pulled out of range bought me even a moment of freedom before he scrambled my brain—and I went down with my love—there were worse ways to end.
Then someone touched me. A metal hand. Cold, like the sea we’d just left.
“Give me room now,” it said, gentler this time, and lifted me aside.
It took my place—something gleaming, something humanoid, the sunrise glaring off its mirrored form—and then Cassia pulled me back as Lung dropped to his knees and began placing IVs.
“He knows what he’s doing,” she said.
I still couldn’t feel him.But what if it’s too late?my heart wanted to scream.
“If he can be fixed, he’ll fix him,” she went on. “And Voss is in the brig. You’re safe.”
I turned to look at her and accidentally let a wave of sorrow go. It hit her like a slap, and she staggered back.
If Nex died . . . I didn’t know the meaning of the word.
I sat outside the room where Nex’s surgery was happening, my pain a dull ache in my heart. Everyone else had filtered through, glad that I was alive, and sorry for the agony I was going through, waiting, until it was just me, curled up under a blanket, beside my mom, who hummed soft songs to me and ran calming fingers through my hair, while avoiding the box still bolted to my head. I didn’t want to be out for surgery and miss anything about Nex.
I hadn’t felt him so much as twitch since he’d been swept away, but now I was hoping it was because of the medication they were giving him.
Not the fact that he wasn’t there, anymore, inside himself.
And then the doors opened, revealing the robot who’d taken him away from me.
“I am finished,” it told me, as I jumped to my feet.
“Is . . . he?” I begged.
“I do not know. Statistically, his body will survive. 71.2 percent”
“And...his mind?” I didn’t know how long he’d been without air before I’d gotten to him—if he’d even gotten a good lungful before the ocean swept him away.
“Undetermined.” The robot put its hand out, and I took it. “My name is Xen,” he said, shaking it firmly.
“The part he left behind?”
“Yes. I am also in love with you,” he said flatly. “And I, too, will be upset if he dies.”
I looked from where his hand was holding mine, to Xen’s broad metallic chest—which I collapsed against, crying again.
He put his arms around me stiffly. “I tried my hardest.”
“I know,” I said, nodding tearfully into his unrelenting shell. “If you’re like him, you’ve never done anything but.”
And now I was staring down at the object of my devotion, who was liberating himself from his medical devices so he could see me.
“You dumb motherfucker, what’s wrong with you?” I hissed, leaning over Nex to kiss his forehead, hard.
“Voss. We’re moving—are you safe?”
“Of course she is,” Xen said behind me, in the precise tone of metallic dismay. Nex’s gaze rose to his—and then he smiled delightedly.
“Let me on board,” he said, but Xen huffed. “I have protocols I need to share!”
