The city hummed outside of the thin apartment walls. I could already feel the eyes of cameras on me, despite not having left comfort yet. Florence stared at me from behind her mask, which she hadn't turned on yet. I couldn't quite tell if it was more disturbing seeing her without a face or with various false faces flashing across hers. Her roommate Sikke was nowhere to be seen, likely hiding away in his room trying to avoid everything. "Take this," Florence said. I looked down at her hands. She was clutching a digital eye mask, one of the ones that required communicator implants to work properly. "I got it for myself, but I've never been into body mods. You're going to need it." I took it from her hands with care and placed it over my eyes. Everything was tinged slightly pink to go with the color. I wondered why Florence would have picked out a color like that. I knew the color was associated with people we both wanted to forget. Outside, police whizzed by, weaving throughout the tightly-packed building

Inside, I fiddled with the comm menu on my arm to set up the mask, eventually deciding on a set of pink cartoon eyes to hide my own. I looked over and faces were flashing on Florence's mask. We were finally ready to leave the house. She looked like a traffic pylon in neon yellow pants, but I supposed I wasn't much better in my downright historical puffy color block jacket. I watched her palm a few stun grenades. Even in her own home she refused to let her guard down. I could never tell whether to be impressed or worried. "We have our best chance now while the cops are distracted," she said as I shouldered my backpack. Everything I had brought with me when I left my home city was coming back with me. Everything Florence needed was contained in her messenger bag, which was secured to her shirt. "Are you sure you don't want a jacket?" I asked, gesturing to her tank top. She had never used a real hovercraft before, so I doubted she knew how cold it got up there. "I have one. Let's go, fast."

In another part of the city a thud sounded. A bomb. I had never really heard one before, but it was a sound you couldn't miss. A feeling, too. Florence basically dragged me out of the apartment and down the stairs to the ground floor. We didn't trust lifts. She had taught me not to. She had taught me a lot of things. As we descended the thirteen flights of stairs, I wondered how Florence would react to the floating city. It had its own problems, but in comparison to the city we were in now, it was a haven of freedom. I had about had it with solid ground, personally. The moment we broke free of the apartment building we ran in the opposite direction of the bomb. I had no idea what this series of protests were about, but it was more than anything either of us had seen in a long time. It must have been something big, because they'd been going on for a week now and showing no signs of stopping. The police were getting more angry than they usually were. Someone had really kicked the hornet's nest.

My stamina wasn't so great, so we had to slow down much sooner than either of us wanted. All we really wanted was to make it to the train station on time and be able to stow away somewhere. Neither of us had permission to leave, a crucial part we hadn't been able to make happen before the right opening came to us. Sikke didn't tag along simply because of his fear of heights. Everyone knew he wanted out as much as we did. Florence led me around the city in winding paths to approach the train station without being suspicious. No one there took kindly to people in masks. "How are we gonna get in without a retina scan?" I asked once we both knew we were getting close. "We go over," she said. I nodded and pulled my backpack off of my shoulders. The thing taking up the most space was my hoverboard folded in half. They weren't exactly legal here, so I hadn't had a chance to use it in months. I didn't even know if I'd be able to get us off the ground, much less into a heavily-guarded train station.

It was worth the risk, I knew. Worth it for us to be free, and for me to be able to free Taide. That was the thing. I needed to see her at least once more. Apologize for leaving her alone like that. Luckily, my board turned on. It puttered a foot or so off the ground just waiting for someone to step on. I did, and motioned for Florence to follow. She had only talked about it briefly with me, but I knew she wasn't too excited about flying. She had never done it, after all. God news for her, we weren't going very high. "The station is roofed up until the actual docking area," Florence informed me as we ascended. She held onto my waist with an iron grip. I couldn't say I didn't like that. She was the one to carry me out of so much danger in our months here, I finally got the chance to protect her. Neither of us had a way to stop a fall, so if I messed up, it was the end of both of us. Most of the guards were gone so as long as I went high enough I knew I would be able to avoid detection.

Slowly I worked my way down to the roof of the train station. In order to get on the train proper, one required a proof of identity, a ticket, and a retina scan to make certain the identity was valid and the person had permission to leave. We didn't have permission to leave, and Florence would probably have been arrested on the spot. "When I made my way here, I hid out on the back of a bullet train. The little area no one uses," I said, pointing to the back of the train we were looking at. It was scheduled to leave for the floating city in five minutes. We didn't have much time to figure anything out. "Someone's going to check there, Arya. Don't be stupid," she said with a huff. "Do you have a better option?" I asked. She looked sheepish. A silent no. "Back of the train it is." "How do you not fall off?" she asked. "Hang on." I folded my hoverboard up and tucked it under my arm. Florence had taught me some parkour rolls to stop a fall from hurting too much.

"Their backs are turned," she said, leaning her head out over the roof. There were only a couple guards at the moment, and they were all distracted by a commotion at the door. We took our opportunity and jumped down to the platform, then sprinted towards the train. It was just starting to pull out. All the ticket collectors had left. We vaulted into the small back area that was completely open to the elements and hung onto the railings for dear life. I pushed Florence's head down and we tried to stay as invisible as possible as the train rapidly picked up speed. I was starting to become envious of her buzzcut. Soon enough, whether I could see it or not, we had escaped and were home free. We were going back to my home.