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)
Tyse huffs. “Well, yeah. Technically. I’m not gonna do that, though. I’m not leaving you here. That’s why I’m thinking—”
“We’re trapped.”
“I wasn’t gonna put it that way.”
“It’s true though.”
“There’s one more option.”
“Which is?”
“I shut down.”
“You die?”
“No. I mean, at least I don’t think so. I just… turn the augments back off.”
“Can you do that?”
“Someone can. Because they used to be turned off.”
“Until I showed up.”
“Right. At first, I thought it was Delta, but now I’m not so sure.”
“Why not? What changed your mind?”
“He doesn’t know, Clara. He has no idea I can see through the veils. Which means he has no idea that I can pull spark from other dimensions.”
“How does he think you’re feeding me?”
“He doesn’t. He thinks you’re feeding me. Because, ya are. But I don’t think Spark Maidens work the way you and I work.”
“What’s different about us?”
He takes his time answering, having, apparently, not really thought this far ahead. But finally, he says, “It’s you, obviously.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because nothing changed for me until you showed up. Tell me this, did anything change for you when you stepped out of that tower?”
“Change like how?”
“Did ya suddenly inherit magic powers, Clara?”
“No,” I laugh.
“Did ya suddenly see through veils?”
“No.”
“Can you jump dimensions and pull spark from people?”
“Obviously not.”
“It was me who changed when you came, not the other way around. You are who ya are. I’m… new.”
I don’t like this word ‘new’. And from the look on Tyse’s face, I don’t think he likes it either. He says, “There’s somethin’ else.”
My eyebrows go up. “Good God, there’s more?”
“Yeah. Ya see, Delta—well, all the gods, but especially the Alphas—they’re playin’ some kind of game.”
My eyes practically furrow into each other, that’s how little sense this makes. “What?”
“That’s all I know about it. Just… there’s something goin’ on here that we’re not a part of. I know this because when he called me to the tower the other day, he said, ‘Good luck and Godspeed, Godslayer.’”
“Godslayer?” I don’t know what the word for an extreme level of confusion is—perhaps, bewilderment? But that’s what I am right now. “Like… the mythological man in the picture book?” I actually laugh out loud. “Why the hell would he call you that?”
Tyse just stares at me for a few moments. Like he’s waiting for me to catch on to the joke.
But it’s not funny, number one. And I’m still very confused. “I’m sorry,” I say, putting up a hand. “I’m going to need some hints here, Tyse. Why the hell is he calling you God—” My face crinkles up. “Is that the mission? We were sent out to kill gods?”
“And this,” he says, “leads me to the last point.”
The only thing I manage in response is a scoff.
“Ya see, the man on the train line—the one blowing shit up—”
“The terrorist?”
“Yeah. Him. He’s… Lover Boy.”
This time my laugh is a guffaw. “What?”
“Finn, Clara. The man we’re after? It’s Finn.”
I shake my head, unable to understand. “That doesn’t make a bit of sense, Tyse. He’s back in Tau City.”
“No. Well, I don’t really know where he is now, but I do know one thing. He blew that tower up. I saw him.”
“Saw him… where?”
“Through the veil. At the same time that my Versi exploded when Stayne threatened me, he did something to the tower in your world. Because that’s what really blew up. The explosion was so big, it caused some kind of synergy with my world. That’s why the explosion was so big. And then, when we were making our big escape, I saw him. Finn. He was running away from the explosion carrying a woman with red hair—”
“A woman?” It comes out before I can stop it. Before I realize how it sounds.
But Tyse doesn’t miss it. In fact, thinking about it now, this might be the reason he didn’t tell me about Finn immediately.
To protect me? Because Finn moved on after I was Extracted?
Or to protect himself? So he didn’t have to hear the desperation in my voice when I found out about this woman?
Either way, this is bad.
“Yeah,” he says. “A woman. She had red hair and she was unconscious. And I don’t know what they’re doing, but they’re blowing shit up all along the train line. Towers. It’s pissin’ everyone off, so that’s why Delta sent us out. To find Finn.”
Find Finn. But it’s a lie. Well, perhaps lie is a strong word, but that’s not what we’re doing. We were deployed to stop a terrorist. That’s quite a bit different than ‘finding’ someone.
And now it hits me. That weird feeling I got when Tyse started mentioning that we might stay here.
Here. In this cave world.
Because that’s one of the last things Finn Scott ever said to me. Our last amicable conversation. How he had a dream. How he would’ve done it different. If he were not the Extraction Master’s son and I was not a Spark Maiden.