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)
She starts clapping. And then everyone is clapping.
And the next thing I know, Donal is coming at me with a wicked grin on his face.
I step back, trying to disappear into the crowd of Little Sisters all around me, but they push me forward and a moment later, Donal has me and he’s dragging me over to the massive glass room. And now I see that there are two more circles in there. Two more spaces on either side of Gemna, where two more women should be.
It couldn’t be more obvious who belongs inside this trio of circles even if they had engraved brass nameplates.
The radiating circles were meant for Spark Maidens, not Little Sisters.
Except these days Tau City is two Spark Maidens short of a trio.
This is when I realize what Aldo really told us last night. He did mention that the Extraction Master controls the tower doors. But he neglected to specifically spell out that he was the one who called Haryet and Clara inside.
Which I get, I guess. It makes sense. Because he knew they had this Looking Glass down here. And he knew it needed three Spark Maidens to work. He knew that, even if he destroyed the Extraction Tower, they could use this one to… well, I’m not really sure what they’re doing. But he didn’t approve and he made sure that even if they used it, the result would be unpredictable.
Aldo sent Clara into the tower.
Aldo ruined his son’s life.
I wonder if Finn figured this part out yet.
I wonder if Finn is even awake.
Suddenly, I understand why he’s not here. They were calling me a traitor. So Finn was a traitor too. They cut him out because they saw us as a team.
And then I cut him out too.
Now I’m sorry about that. I’m sorry for leaving him up there to die. And not because I’m stuck here inside this nightmare where Spark Maidens are drained to feed an evil teenage boy who thinks he is a god, but because Finn and I actually were a team.
They are going to drain me of spark until I die and give it to Donal for his ascension. And the ironic part is… it’s all my fault.
“All of you, of course,” Matron Scott is saying, “will be used in the ritual. You will all give him your spark, but you will not be consumed in the reaction like Gemna and Jasina. We still need one more girl. One more Little Sister who would like to go down in history. Who will it be?”
Well, the irony is overflowing today. That’s what I get, I suppose. I wanted my name in the history books, didn’t I?
It’s not exactly playing out the way I had hoped.
Suddenly, there is a voice above the murmur of others. “I’ll do it! I’ll volunteer!”
It’s Ceela. And I wail, “No, Ceela! No! Don’t you see? Don’t do it!”
Donal slaps me. “Shut up, Jasina. It’s an honor to give me spark for my ascension!”
Ceela has stepped out of the line of Little Sisters and is walking towards us as the Matrons praise her for her unselfish ways.
I want to throw up, but we’re at the door to the glass room now, and when it opens all other voices and noise is drowned out by the screams of Gemna Hatley.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
Iwatch Tyse as he reads the message on the phone that was just delivered. “What’s it say?”
He sighs. “‘Call me when you get this. The meeting can’t wait. I need you to come in now.’”
“What are you gonna do?”
He scoffs. “Fuck him. I don’t have the whole story here, obviously. But we’re leaving. And we’re leaving right now.” He directs his gaze to Anneeta, narrowing his eyes. “I’m warning you, Anneeta, if you do anything to hurt Clara—”
“I won’t! Geez! How come you don’t believe me?”
“Because you’re hiding things. And you need Clara to live. Do you think I’m fucking stupid or something? If it comes down to you or her, you’re gonna save yourself. And I’m going on record right now to say, if you do that, if anything happens to Clara, I will take you out.” His eyes narrow down even further now to indicate the threat is still incoming. “And it would be a very big mistake to think I couldn’t make good on this. Do you understand me?”
Anneeta is frowning, but she doesn’t talk back. Just nods her head. “I do. I understand.”
“Good.” Tyse turns to me. “OK. Let’s go talk to Rodge. I’m sure the runner has reported that the phone was delivered, so I figure we’ve got a couple hours, maybe, before Stayn starts to panic and does something stupid.”
The three of us leave the room and head downstairs to Eight. We pass right by the spark dealers and go straight to Rodge’s store. It’s early, so there aren’t a lot of people in line, but there is a line and we have to push through to get inside.