Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 144277 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 721(@200wpm)___ 577(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144277 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 721(@200wpm)___ 577(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
She hisses, coming as she does this. And now it’s really my turn, because I let it all out. I put it all inside her. Kissing her neck, and her mouth, and her tits. Until finally, we’re spent, and I roll off to the side, reaching for her. Pulling her in to my chest and holding her.
This is when we both sigh, content. Happy. And fall asleep.
Except, I don’t fall asleep. Because being here, in this other world, isn’t free.
It’s got a cost. And that cost is spark.
I feel it the way I felt it back in Delta City. Thick, like ash floating through air. Which is good, because I need it.
I need a lot of it.
Which means I have to take it from Clara. And if she’s here, she can refill without me killin’ people.
Because jumpin’ across dimensions is expensive.
When the augments ambushed us, I didn’t even need to react. In a perfectly functioning augment, the Versi does that all on its own. Which is helpful if you’re fighting spectral code in the Omega Outback with your augmented team who all have the same weapon.
The Versi knows who you are. It’s biologically tagged to me, and on a team, we’re all tagged together. It is impossible to be hit with friendly fire from a VersiStrike unless you’ve got the fucker on manual because you need to shoot your team in the head to end their suffering.
So there was no chance that augment team in the tunnel would hit themselves by mistake. It was seventeen against one. There was no way I came out of that alive.
I did what I had to do. Stealing spark from Clara was the only way to get us to a new place.
A safe place.
I had to.
And it took more spark than I thought. She went limp immediately. Stopped breathing on the second jump. Looked absolutely dead on the third. Sometimes she woke up when I stopped, but most times, she didn’t.
For three agonizingly long minutes, I thought I’d killed her.
Like I did my team.
And that’s when I remembered this place. Zero Point Fourteen Forty. And the crystals. The spark. The source?
Maybe.
It worked though.
But the price? Because this place, it’s thick with it. And if this is what it takes to fill Clara back up after a jump, how will we get anywhere?
We can’t leave. We’re stuck here. Because I think she’ll die if we leave. And that is not gonna happen. I’m not living without her. I’m just not.
If she goes, I go.
I’m not playing the Game of Gods without her.
Of course, the answer to our problem is simple, really. Go back to Delta City where the spark floats in the air, thick as ash.
He knew.
Delta.
He knew. He’s not worried about me doin’ his bidding. Because he knows Clara is like Anneeta. In some ways, at least. In the only way that matters right now.
She can’t leave the metaphorical tower.
She’s trapped. Addicted to spark like a little baby god.
Only that’s not true, is it?
It’s me that’s trapped.
It’s me who’s addicted.
It’s me.
And Clara’s spark is my drug.
I get up, pull myself together, button up my pants, and walk over to the nearest crystal. It’s comin’ out of the earth at a forty-five-degree angle. I touch it, feeling the edges—seven sides to it. Which is kinda weird, I think. But what the hell do I know about spark crystals? It’s about five feet in diameter and the part I can see—the part sticking out of the wall, pointing across the cave—is about twenty-five feet long.
It’s big. And there are more. Just glancing around, my display counts forty-seven of them. Not all this big, but at least a dozen are. There are many more smaller ones. And if I look closely at the rock walls, it’s glittering a light blue color. Like the whole place has been dusted with spark.
Touching the crystal doesn’t feel like anything. Not to me, at least. I’m pretty sure Clara would say different. Which is telling. And unfortunate.
Because it would be nice if I could suck the spark out of this stone instead of the woman I love. But I can’t. It has no effect on me at all.
Clara Birch drops into my life and activates me. Some might even say elevates me. I can see through veils. I can trip through worlds. But it’s not me doin’ it.
It’s her.
Delta knew this. Maybe he was confused about what Clara was. But he’s a god. He’s got the power of probability on his side. He took a good guess—that’s why he deployed us together.
All gods need food, Tyse.
Good luck and Godspeed.
He knew.
16 - CLARA
Tyse is standing next to one of the giant crystals when I open my eyes. He’s looking at it like it’s a puzzle that needs to be solved when I get up and put my clothes back on.