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)
I soften when he places a gentle hand on my cheek. “I will. Thank you.” I say it with more feeling this time. “I don’t know why you’re so good to me, but I want you to know I appreciate it. You’ve made my time here better.”
“I like you, Clara. I see your spark. Not the kind that goes into jolts and jumps, either. But the other kind that lives in your eyes. Tyse sees it too. And I know that you will make it.”
He gives Anneeta a glance now, then nods at her, but he doesn’t say sweet things the way he did to me. “I’ve always known what you were. And I hope that the people of the tower have taught you things, little god. Because if you want to be a good god, you have to care about your people.”
Anneeta, unexpectedly, is speechless. She just gazes up at him with big brown eyes that, I realize now, are deceptively innocent.
Rodge doesn’t wait for her to find her words. Just gives me another smile, and leaves.
Tyse appears holding onto several heavy packs that he slings over his shoulder. “Come on, let’s go. There are patrol officers outside the Ruin District. I don’t know what they’re doing here, but it’s not a good sign. Is that from Rodge?” He points at my pack.
“Yes. Train tickets, ID’s, and clothes to change into for a disguise.”
“Good. Anneeta.” He looks down at her. “We can’t risk going down the stairs. Is there another way to get to the train tunnels?”
“Follow me.” I think she’s actually happy that she’s got something to offer in the way of escape, because she takes off with light feet, looking over her shoulder at us with a smile, just to make sure we’re keeping up.
She stops at a door, which, when Tyse tries to pull it open, is locked. “Don’t worry.” Anneeta taps her head. “I’ve got the key.”
The next time he pulls on the door, it opens. We enter a stairwell and start our descent.
Anneeta stays almost a whole floor ahead of us, which gives me time to ask Tyse a few questions. “Are you sure this gonna work? I mean… I hadn’t thought about all the details. The ID’s, the tickets, the clothes. It feels a little unreal.”
Tyse huffs. “It’s all we’ve got, Clara. The only way out is through now. We don’t have a choice. Stayn knows what you are. He probably knows I’m playing a part too. And he definitely understands what Anneeta is. They’re trying to grow a new god for Tau City. This is a very dangerous thing. There’s a reason why gods were decommissioned hundreds of years ago. None of them are good. Not even the one in Delta. He’s an asshole. Trust me, we won’t be trustin’ him.”
“Then why are we even going there?”
“Because Anneeta is right. I’m his. All the people in god cities belong to the gods. They don’t keep us prisoner because they’re not allowed—it was part of the Sweep Accords. But everyone in Delta is marked, including me. If we tried to take refuge at another god’s city, Delta would consider me a defector. Worse, since I’m an augment, I’d be a traitor. He’d find a way to kill me for sure. One way or the other. So we have to go to him if we want any chance of getting out of this alive.”
“What about the train? I mean… disguises, Tyse? It’s fourteen hours. How are we going to get there?”
“Stayn has no power outside Tau City. The trains are governed by a neutral patrol made up of representatives from all the leftover god cities. They are impartial. So no one will fuck with us on the train. The problem isn’t the train, Clara. The problem is Anneeta.”
I sigh. I want to tell him what happened when she took my spark upstairs, but I don’t. I will have to find a way to endure it. So instead I redirect the conversation. “How many jumps did you get?”
“Thirteen.”
“Thirteen.” I look up at him. “Will it be enough?”
He shrugs. “Less than one an hour? Let’s hope so.”
Suddenly, the relative quiet in the secret stairwell is broken by a faint, crackling voice, floating up from down below. Anneeta stops on the stairs below us to listen.
“Tyse Saarinen! There is a warrant for your arrest. Come out, unarmed, and no one gets hurt.”
“It’s Stayn.” Tyse lets out a breath. Then looks at Anneeta. “I hope you know where you’re going. Because they’re inside now and we need to get to the train tunnels without running into them.”
Anneeta looks frightened for a moment. Then she lets out a long breath. “I do have a way. But…” She directs her gaze to me. “I don’t think you’re gonna like it.”
“Why not?” I ask.