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)
His hair is dark and short, his eyes a little bit green, but maybe more like hazel, and he dresses neatly. He looks like an up-city fuck. A man my friends and I would often dream about seducing—before they died trying to turn Donal Oslin into a baby god and I ran away with the Extraction Master.
What a weird fucking world I live in.
Anyway, the point is… the God Xi is not bad looking for being fake. So I have a teenage moment of sudden infatuation, which I quickly rein in and pretend never happened.
“I’m offering a night out with your—” He raises his eyebrows at me making one of those expressions that lets you know his next word is going to be a guess. “Fiancé?”
Which only makes me sigh. “We haven’t gotten that far yet, but probably.”
“Right.” His smile is back. “I figured. So—” He shakes the garment bag again. “Date night? Can you be ready in two hours?”
“Who the hell needs two hours to get ready?”
“Trust me, Jasina. Once you try out the bath, you’ll be asking for three.”
I almost crack a smile. Because I could really use a bath. Finn and I have been travelling for weeks now. Surely, I stink. And the fact that I can no longer smell my own stink probably means I reek. So yes. I could use a bath and a luxurious one would be even better.
Xi acts like he’s been reading my mind, because he says, “I’ll be back in two hours,” like no more discussion is necessary.
“Wait,” I blurt, just as he’s turning. “Where is Finn?”
“He’s in the Augmentation Dome, which is inside the Reconstitution Tower. He asked for all available information on the subject, so that’s what I’m providing.” I’m about to disapprove here, but he puts up a hand. “I know you don’t want him to do it. He knows you don’t want him to do it. But consider this, Jasina. That augment that Clara Birch is travelling with, he’s coming for you. Both of you. And as it stands now, you haven’t a chance in hell of surviving his attack. He’s not human.”
I shake my head. “I understand that, but Clara—”
“She’s his power, Jasina,” Xi says. And he does this little lean-in move here. One eyebrow raised. “Do you understand? As a Spark Maiden—Clara Birch is powering her augment, Tyse Saarinen. She knows what he’s doing.”
I shake my head. “So you’re saying she wants to kill Finn? Why would she—” But I don’t finish. Because I suddenly have a vision of up-city Clara Birch standing in front of the Tau City God’s Tower screaming at Finn as she was pulled through the doors for sacrifice.
I will never forgive you! Ever. I will hate you ’till the end of time!
“It’s true, right? You believe me, don’t you?” Xi asks.
“I don’t know,” I admit. “She was pretty mad at him when he sacrificed her.”
Xi presses his lips together, nodding. “She has every right to be angry.”
“She does,” I also admit.
“All I’m asking, Jasina, is that you let Finn make up his mind. Don’t talk him in to it, but don’t dissuade him, either. He’s a man. You’re his woman, whether you want to be or not, you’re carrying his child. Which obliges him to take care of business. Augmentation is one way to do that.”
“What if he chooses not to? Can we leave?”
“Of course, you can. But don’t throw away this opportunity until the two of you have all the information. Today, Finn is learning all about the process. The benefits as well as the risks. Tonight, he will discuss it with you. All I ask is that you let him do that and that you listen. Can we at least agree on that?”
I pretend to think about this because I don’t want to give in so easily, but he’s making some good points. I might not love Finn, or him me. Yet. But we’ve got a real chance here. If we can stay alive and get somewhere safe.
Maybe this is our somewhere safe? Not this gross factory, but the upper dimension?
It’s like a bit of magic. It’s like walking through the God’s Tower doors without being a sacrifice.
It’s a second chance.
And while I would be perfectly happy to live in the cave as a scholar’s wife, it doesn’t hurt to check out door number two.
So I say, “Agreed.”
And take the garment bag he’s offering.
PART III
“Let me be clear: there is no credible evidence that ‘augments’ ever existed outside the fever-dream mythology surrounding the so-called Line So Bright Complex. The idea that biomechanical soldiers once patrolled a transdimensional rail system is not only preposterous—it’s anti-intellectual. Worse, Dr. Elena Nareen’s glorification of these so-called warriors reeks of anti-feminist bias.
“Nowhere in her work does she show concern for the real victims of this barbaric desert civilization—namely, the women and children who appear to have been ritualistically processed in some kind of cult-military hybrid. If this is scholarship, then perhaps we should start quoting comic books as historical record.”