Total pages in book: 210
Estimated words: 200837 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1004(@200wpm)___ 803(@250wpm)___ 669(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 200837 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1004(@200wpm)___ 803(@250wpm)___ 669(@300wpm)
“The… god?” Anneeta’s voice is small now. Like I scared her.
I exhale in frustration, then rub both hands down my face, trying to stay calm. When I look at her again, I’ve got more control over my tone. “There is no god in this tower, Anneeta. You and I both know this.”
“You keep saying that, but you see all the evidence of him. It’s all over the place. You heard the generators in the lower levels. You saw the power, remember?”
“I do, and I did, but there’s still no god here. If there was, don’t you think he’d be a little pissed off that several thousand uninvited guests are living in his fuckin’ tower?”
“Don’t you think he is?”
Anneeta and I stare at each other as these words of hers sink in.
I break away first. Then turn and look at Clara. “Tell me what happened.”
“I told you. I found that disc by mistake. I picked it up, it shocked me, so I dropped it. And the next time I picked it up that picture appeared. The… hologram, or whatever.”
“You can’t blame her, Tyse. It’s your fault too.”
I turn to look at Anneeta. “Explain.”
“You’re the augment. Without you, I can’t make a veil. And without her”—she points to Clara—“you can’t see the veil I make. So.” She shrugs. “It’s all of us.”
I stare at her for a few moments. Then my gaze travels down to the floor where the footstool is still overturned. My eyes dart up to meet Clara’s and she pleads innocent with her hands.
“I told you, Tyse. It was an accident. I didn’t mean to see that stuff. Your… that… hearing, or whatever.”
She watched my discharge hearing. And she saw what I did to my team.
I upright the footstool then position it in front of Clara and take a seat, looking her in the eyes. “You can leave, if you want. I’ll still pay for a hotel. I’ll even walk you into the Canal District.”
Anneeta stands up, objecting. “She can’t leave! We’re gonna be friends! You said so!”
“You…” I point to her, annoyed. “Go home now. Wherever the fuck that is.”
“But you promised!”
“Tomorrow, Anneeta. OK? Tomorrow. I need to talk to Clara.”
Anneeta’s eyes find Clara’s now. “Don’t go anywhere. We’re friends now.”
Clara sighs, then forces a smile. “I won’t.”
“Promise you’ll be here tomorrow. Promise.” Anneeta is not convinced. But honestly, neither am I.
Clara nods, her body language more compelling this time. “I promise.”
“Fine.” Anneeta walks to the door, pulling it open. But before she walks through, she shoots us one more look over her shoulder, directing her words at me. “You’ll figure it out, you know. Probably soon.” She smiles at me, revealing that gap in her teeth.
Before I can ask a million more questions about what she just said, she’s gone, the door closing softly behind her.
I turn to Clara. “I’m serious about the hotel. I won’t make a big deal about it. And I’ll still help you. In whatever way I can, at least. I saw your city, Clara. It was just as you described. I saw your canal and everything. The towers with the domes. And people walking around in traditional desert clothes.”
“Oh, my god!” Clara jumps up. “What?” Then she goes back to the window and peeks out. “You saw it?”
“I did.” And now I know for sure that she’s not lying. I know I said I believed her, but that was just something you say when the only other choice is to call someone crazy. I didn’t wanna do that, so I said I believed her. There was even evidence. A bit of it, anyway.
But this? This is something else entirely.
“I don’t see anything, Tyse. Make it come back!”
“Didn’t ya hear? I’m not running this thing.” I point to the augments in my head. “Anneeta is. She’s a child of the spark. She was born in it. She’s not right. It affected her brain. But there’s no denying that I saw what I saw. She made my augments work. She’s not lying and neither are you.”
Clara peeks back out the window, still hopeful for a glimpse.
“Sit down, Clara. We need to talk.”
She keeps looking for a few moments, but finally sighs and sits back down in the chair so we’re facing one another. I’m struggling for words, my mind spinning with the idea that she saw me kill my team, and what she might think about that. Which is a stupid thing to worry about after what just happened, but there it is.
Clara finds her words just fine and starts asking questions. “What was it then? Can you tell me that? I mean, you said you believed me.”
“I did. Kinda. But the overlay”—I nod my head to the window—“that’s irrefutable evidence.”
“Evidence of what?”
“The veil.”
“And what is that, exactly?”
“It’s…” It’s hard to explain is what it is, but I think back to how it was explained to me the first time I saw it. “It’s like a mirror, only instead of seeing a reflection, you see past it. Into places that should stay hidden.”