His sister. Elle. He might actually be able to uphold his promise to her now. Be able to ascend the tower and find her.

His answer was obvious. It was definitely a yes.

But then he paused for a moment.

Citizens of the tower-zone weren’t allowed to leave. It was illegal for a tower-zone citizen to enter the outer-rim. The punishment was known to be very severe: jail time or even death.

That was when he remembered: Sarah and Mr. Grimes. He had unfinished business in the outer-rim.

“How long have I been asleep for?” he asked.

Sakura tilted her head, confused by the change in topic. “Since yesterday evening. Why?”

Max stood up off the hospital bed, ripping out the medical wires attached to him.

It had been a full day since Mr. Grimes had thrown him into the tower. Who knew what horrible things he was getting up to now!?

He moved towards the door.

Sakura flashed into a blur and before Max could reach the door, she was standing in front of it with her arms crossed.

“I need to go back to the outer-rim,” said Max. “My friends. The other orphans. They’re in danger. They need my help.”

Sakura shook her head.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you do that.”

9

“What do you mean?” said Max. “Didn’t you just give me a choice whether I wanted to be a citizen of the tower-zone?”

Sakura did not budge an inch from the door. There was no way he could get past her without her letting him.

“Even if your answer was to stay as a citizen of the outer-rim,” said Sakura firmly, “There’s still legal procedures you would have to go through before you’d be allowed to leave the tower-zone.”

Max took a deep breath.

This wasn’t a battle, he thought. It was a negotiation.

“The man who threw me into the tower-zone is currently going about his life without consequences. If he thinks he can get away with throwing a kid over a wall, full of monsters on the other side, he might start doing worse things. In fact, I know he will.”

“We can notify the outer-rim police,” said Sakura. “There are channels set up between Zestiris’ two zones for situations like this one.”

“They won’t do anything!” shouted Max. “No one ever does anything. This man. You don’t know him like I do. He’ll blackmail the orphans to speak positively on his behalf. He’ll do whatever it takes. He’ll get away with what he did to me and—”

Max thought back to that night—only yesterday evening—when the orphan manager drunkenly pawed his hands on Sarah’s door.

“He’ll do much worse,” he sighed.

Sakura was frowning at him.

Maybe he was getting to her.