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)
Anneeta is not going to answer. And if I were her, I wouldn’t answer that question, either. There is no good way out of this, it’s done. We are in the middle of running from the Tau City Patrol and we’re not even close to safe.
So I decide to take control here. “Take us, Anneeta. Clara, we can discuss this later, but right now we need to get the fuck out of this tower and onto that train. So whatever’s in this room where we need to go, close your eyes and take my hand until we get through it.”
Clara looks at me, squinting. Her gaze migrates over to Anneeta without breaking the squint and, in fact, she narrows her eyes down further until it becomes a glare.
Does she want to change her mind about feeding Anneeta spark so we can take her with us?
Maybe.
But it’s too late now. Anneeta is the only way we get out.
So I say, “Please, Clara.” And just as those words come out, the voice of Stayn echoes through the building. He’s got some kind of megaphone, or something. A PA system, maybe. And he’s talking to me.
“You’re surrounded, Tyse. There’s no way out. And we’re not after you, you know that. We just want Anneeta and Clara Birch. If you hand them over, you’re free to leave. Hell, you’re free to stay if you want. This has nothing to do with you. It was a mistake that you got involved. And everything will be just fine if you hand them over.”
“Are we going, or what?” I’m looking at Anneeta as she says these words and her mouth is an angry sneer. “If so, follow me.”
She doesn’t wait for me to make a decision. If I’m going to betray her, she’s gettin’ the hell out of here first. Clara and I look at each other. She shrugs. “If you want to—”
“Fuck off, Clara. I’m not turnin’ ya in.”
“I’m just saying—”
“If that’s all you got to say, then say nothing. Let’s go.” I grab her by the hand and pull her along at a run, trying to catch up with Anneeta.
Anneeta is waiting on a landing in front of a door a couple floors below. She doesn’t look too sure of herself, so her little attitude was a bluff.
But when I glance down at Clara Birch, she’s smirking like a girl who hasn’t got a care in the world. “What the hell are you smilin’ about?”
She really is smiling. And it grows bigger now. “Just… even if it doesn’t work, I want you to know… I appreciate the effort.”
Which makes me smile too. “Hey. What can I say? I’m a fighter.”
I get an even bigger smile—which actually comes with a blush. “Yeah. And trust me, I’m taking notes for later. When a man pledges to save me, it come with a reward regardless of whether or not he succeeds.”
“Oh, my god,” Anneeta moans. “Can you two save it for later, please?”
I pan a hand at the door. “Lead the way, ya little spark-sucker.”
She pulls a face at the insult, but Anneeta doesn’t say anything else. Just opens and leads the way into a dark hallway. The lights do not come on, but there’s power in here. Indicator lights on unseen pieces of equipment let off enough glow to allow us to see shadows.
When a weird smell hits my nose, I understand why there are no lights. Anneeta’s keeping the them off on purpose because she doesn’t want Clara to see the remnants of her friends. Whether they are shriveled-up skin suits, decaying meat sacks, or just bones—Anneeta knows better than to divulge this dark part of her inhuman soul.
If she even has a soul. Which, according to some—most, actually—gods do not. Because they are made by man and not created with spark like the rest of us. That’s why she has to feed. To fill up the empty spaces inside her that make Anneeta something… other.
And again, I can’t help feeling the connection between her and I. I was born human, but I was made into something else. It’s not the same, but it might as well be.
Clara is sniffing the air as we walk. She knows where we are. She’s right in front of me, Anneeta leading us both, and I’ve got my hand on her shoulder, urging her forward around and past the dark shadows.
But suddenly, my augments come alive. It’s so unexpected and such bad timing that I take a step back. Then, without warning, the overlay is everywhere and when I look, I see that Clara is standing a little bit apart from us with one hand raised in the air. It’s lit up with cyan-blue symbols and there is spark leaking out of her like a trickle of water might leak out of a hose.