My body flew back. Guided by pure instinct, my hands shot forward and grabbed the Spider’s forelegs. For once, my black-box brain did its job. A smash came from far below me as the glass from the window landed on the terrace. I hung there, my feet kicking over empty space, the wind and rain buffeting my back. My heart drummed, without any answering purr from my blazer pocket. The robot limbs holding me rocked a little. Otherwise, the Spider didn’t move. Its blue eye had gone dark.
I swung my legs into the room and landed in a sprawl underneath the robot. My eyes went straight to Nico. He’d tumbled back against the wall next to the fireplace and slid to the floor. The red light hadn’t even finished draining from his heart. I scrambled across the room, wading through the pages of Stroud’s memoir eddying in the wind. Dead pucks lay on the floor here and there. Above, the projector had stopped working too. Dad’s face had vanished from the wall. I crouched next to Nico. The embers in the fireplace, almost dead themselves, threw a soft orange light across his ravaged face.
“You did it,” Stroud said, with disbelief in his voice.
I’d almost forgotten about him. Something deep in my chest seemed to flare at his words and then pulse with a blazing heat, like I had my own nuclear reactor concealed there. That man who’d made me kill the person I loved. That man who’d terrified me practically my whole life. Without thinking, I stood and grabbed the two-foot metal thighbone from its place above the mantel. I gripped it in my hands. The thing had a satisfying heft. I strode across the room to where Stroud sat, still pinned in place by his Spider.
“What are you doing, Lee?”
I stood over my grandfather and raised the bone above my head. Outside, the helicopter thundered past. With a big hole in the wall in place of a window, the room had turned deafening. The rumble of the waterfall. The moan of the storm. The roar of the fire that would probably reach us any second. And now the helicopter. All of it combined to create a noisy static that made my brain feel like it might explode.
“Lee, put that down!”
I wanted to tell him I knew he was behind everything that had happened. I wanted to demand answers. Why had he staged all those attacks? Just to further my father’s career? Why create Nico? For God’s sake, why make me fall in love?
Stroud sat up straighter. He pushed his chin forward. His ice-blue eyes shone. I was a US Marine, those eyes seemed to say. A hostage for nine years. Professional interrogators spent days on end beating and torturing me, grilling me for information. And you think you’re going to get me to talk?
I brought the club whistling down.
It bashed into the foreleg of the Spider, knocking it out of the way.
“You’re free, sir,” I muttered.
Behind me, the door crashed open. I spun around, the thighbone still ready. But this time humans, not robots, stormed into the room: a team of five soldiers, all in helmets and night-vision goggles and black body armor. They stopped in a pack near the door and snapped their rifles from point to point as they scanned the room. I threw down the bone and put up my hands.
“Don’t worry, it’s me, buddy.”
I recognized that surfer drawl. Ray yanked down his goggles.
“You okay?” he asked. “Any injuries?”
I shook my head. “Nothing serious.”
The other soldiers fanned into the room, helping Stroud, examining the Spiders. One soldier tapped the robot standing near the window with his rifle. It clanged but didn’t move.
“It’s all right,” I said. “They’re dead.”
Ray beckoned his puck. “Let POTUS know his son’s all right. Headmaster Stroud too. We have them both.” He waved the puck away. “What happened, Lee? We were watching on our pucks, then everything went black.”
“I detonated a bomb. A special one that destroys anything electronic.” For the first time since setting it off, I glanced at the watch on my wrist. The hands had stopped at 9:19, and the device felt warm against my skin, but otherwise it appeared the same as before. I held it up for Ray to look at.
“Don’t tell me you built that thing too.”
“I didn’t.” I nodded at Stroud. “I got it from him.”
Ray turned to him, squinting. “From you, sir?”
Stroud stood up from his chair and straightened his tie. He nodded but didn’t offer any further explanation.
“Well,” Ray said, “it’s a good thing you had it, buddy.”
I didn’t say anything more either. As much as I wanted to, I knew I shouldn’t start shouting accusations now.
From somewhere in the building came a crash.
“That’s the fire,” Ray said. “It’s getting close. We need to get you two out of here. The helicopter’s going to pick us up from the roof.”
“What about Dr. Singh? She was inside too.”
“It’s okay, buddy. She signaled us from the window. We already got her out.”
“How is she?”
“Hanging on.”
“Damn,” one of the other soldiers said. He bent down next to Nico and pushed at his chest with a gloved finger. “What the hell?”
I was on the other side of the room in a heartbeat. “Don’t touch him. Just back off. Now.”
The soldier threw a questioning look at Ray, who must’ve given him a signal. He stepped away.
I dropped to my knees next to Nico and stroked his metal cheek. Let Ray and the others think what they wanted. I rubbed some blood from his still-intact left ear. I felt ashamed for thinking it, but I’d miss this body. The smooth skin. The wild corkscrews of bronze hair. The eyes, honey brown with filaments of gold. Even the crooked teeth. All those things were part of Nico too. Still, I supposed he could have a new body made that looked exactly like this one. Another perk of being a robot.
I pressed my cheek against the rubbery muscle of his chest, still slick with his blood. His thrum had disappeared. That living heat of his had started to fade as well. Wherever Nico was—if he was anywhere at all—he wasn’t here.
Still, I couldn’t just leave his body for the fire to devour. He’d carried me a long way. Now I’d carry him. Maybe bury him in our cavern. I pulled his arm over my shoulder, hoisted him up, and turned to Ray. “I’m ready to go.”