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)
“It’s in the Omega Outlands, of course. You don’t really think they’d let that thing inside some city, do you?”
“That’s not what we heard.” This comes from another man whose name I don’t recall. “We heard that every tower has one. And that the new god needs—”
“That’s enough, Edward!” Stayn’s roar echoes up into the high, coffered ceilings of his office, making everyone shut up at once. He stares hard at Edward, then straightens his tie and looks at me, smiling. “OK. Well, this is not proper dinner conversation. Let’s pick it up on Monday. How about nine AM?” Stayn looks around the room as they all agree. Finally, his gaze lands on me. “You good with nine AM, Tyse?”
I shrug. “I’ll be there.”
It’s the best possible ending, in my opinion. Because they have forgotten all about the Spark Maiden vibrational signature from Dimension 702, or whatever, and have refocused their attention on some Looking Glass thing I’ve never even heard of.
Everything that happens next is fake.
We smile, we clap each other on the shoulder, we joke, we dine, we drink, we make polite conversation. Clara is a perfect dinner party guest. She listens attentively, she smiles politely, and she uses all the right forks at all the right times.
But I am counting the seconds until it’s eleven-thirty because this is the earliest I figure we can escape without looking suspicious.
Janice and Stayn walk us to the door. We’re not the first to leave, so our jackets are ready, held out by the butler and a maid so we can slip our arms into them.
Janice and Clara say their goodbyes. There’s air kissing going on and lots of smiling.
Stayn leans in to me. “Monday, right? Nine AM in my office? Oh, and your woman is a keeper. You’ll bring her back, right? Janice loves her.”
“Yes, I’ll be there Monday. And of course we’ll be back. Can’t wait.”
We shake hands and then Clara and I escape into the night.
But even though we’re out, we’re far from safe. There is no way they’re not watching us. Even if they’ve forgotten about the Spark Maiden, I have some kind of critical information they need.
So I play it cool on the way home. “Wanna get some coffee?”
Clara thinks about this, but declines. “Nah. It was such a nice evening. I’m already wound up enough. I just want to go to bed.” She looks up at me, smiling. She’s got her hand around my arm again, like she’s never walked a city in her life without an escort. And hell, maybe she hasn’t. Because clearly, she is a dinner-party kind of woman. She’s been talking about her night since we left. She loves the girls and if we were gonna be in this city on Monday, I guarantee Janice would be her new best friend.
But we will not be in Tau City on Monday.
We’re getting the fuck out of here tomorrow.
I just can’t tip off Clara—not until we’re inside the tower, at least. Because everyone outside the ruin is tracked and monitored. Especially through the phones in our pockets.
I can’t throw them away, not yet. Not until we’re in the tower, because the cameras are watching and I’d bet my life that Stayn is up, right now, in some secret room in his massive house, watching us walk home. Looking for any sign that I might run.
“You didn’t have a good time?”
I look down at Clara. “What? Sure I did.”
“Well, you’re super distracted. What did you talk about with the men while I was chatting up the women?”
“Oh…” I blow out a breath. “Nothing much. Boring work. But not my work, so really boring work.”
“You have a meeting on Monday, though?”
I want to end this conversation and I’m trying to think up some kind of plausible way that won’t arouse suspicion when Clara suddenly stops and gasps out loud.
“What? What’s wrong?”
She lets out a breath, then looks around. “We just came back inside.”
That’s when I realize she’s right. We just entered the Ruin District. In other words, we just entered the spark. “Clara? Look at me.”
She tilts her head up, but I can see the panic in her eyes. I can almost see the blue, as well. Maybe I’m just imagining it, because I know that she wasn’t ready for the extra spark and now she’s feeling a little bit full.
It used to affect me that way too, though I never lit up blue from it.
And that’s exactly what she’s about to do.
Stayn—or someone, at least—is still watching. Probably leaning into the screen to get a better look at what’s going on right now. And if I don’t do something fast, they’re about to get an eyeful.
Clara is panicking. She knows this is bad. There are hundreds of people out here around the tower and if she explodes with light, everything changes.