Down | Tyrus

XIV

We step into a room I've never been in before. It's small with some couches and a fireplace but lots of dust, like even the maids forget about it. As soon as I enter in, I see my friends' faces and look to Amber in question.

"I figured they'd know about all of this anyway," she explains.

"But how did you know about them?" I ask.

"I noticed them walking around with you at that party that happened a while ago."

Oh, yeah. I suppose anyone could've seen us while we were out there, but I'm still surprised that... "You remembered them?"

Amber folds her arms over her chest, looking more uncomfortable from the interrogation. "I remember faces well."

"How did you know where to find them?" TJ pushes.

"Because I was out one day and just happened to see Andi and her house."

TJ furrows his brows. "Why were you on the first floor?"

"Okay, we don't have time for all these questions!"

Amber's face is burning red, and I can tell we've struck some kind of nerve, but I don't know how. She directs her focus to the plan, straightening up to speak, although I do notice her eyes avoiding everyone else's, like she's still not over her earlier discomfort.

"So the captain is in his office, and I honestly doubt he'll be too easy to convince to come out, thanks to TJ and Cyrus here." She glances at her brother with annoyance. "That means, we need to make something happen that will force him to come out, something that will get in the way of him trying to fly the city. My idea is the power. Since the sun's on it's way down, it's currently too dark to comfortably see everything without a light, so if we disconnect the electricity, he'll have to go out."

"Who's going to do that?" TJ wonders.

"I'm glad you asked," Amber replies, "because that will be you and Cyrus. Since neither of you can be seen anyway, it will be easier if you two go down to the power room to do that. Once you get the power off, hide right away, because when the power goes out, captain will have to go check on it to turn it back on, so he'll leave, but there is still a guard outside of the office right now, so that's where Buffy and Jonah come in. You guys will have to get and keep his attention, so that Andi and I can sneak into the room, and since it will be dark with the electricity out, that should hopefully be a bit easier. Once inside, we'll wait for captain to turn the power back on, and once that happens, we steer the city down. Now, the city was never designed to have to land, like, ever, so that will be interesting and very bumpy. Make sure to brace yourselves."

"Cool," Jonah says. "Let's go."

He has a smile on his face like he's about to play a board game rather than a real life situation. It's kind of comforting, though, because it gives me a good sign of when things are out of hand versus way out of hand. Jonah does not get worked up unless it's the latter.

Amber doesn't expect the enthusiasm he presents, so she's a bit taken aback, but she smiles anyway, saying, "Yeah, let's go. TJ and Cyrus, you're up first. The rest of you, come with me."

Amber waves, and Buffy and Jonah stand up from the couch they were on to follow her. Andi joins too, but she makes a stop by me and TJ on the way, coming up close to whisper.

"You didn't say your sister was this pretty."

TJ chuckles a little and glances at me.

"Andi, now's not the time to go into gay panic mode," I tell her.

"Too late," she responds.

Then she continues past us, following Amber. When they're gone, TJ takes my hand and starts leading me out into a poorly lit hallway. The lights that are here flicker, reminding me of the gas lights in my own home. At the corner, we reach a doorway to something I didn't think would exist, a stairwell down from the main floor.