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)
Who will I be tomorrow?
I’m not sure. All I really know is that I won’t be Finn Scott. Not the way I am right now. The moment those tower doors close and Haryet is gone, I will be someone else.
“I don’t wanna do this, Mitch.”
He’s in the middle of a sentence when I say this, but he stops mid-word and kinda stares at me for a moment. Then he straightens his back and lets out a breath. “I don’t think your father did either. But… what choice do you have, ya know?”
“Isn’t there always a choice? Even if they’re all bad choices?”
Mitch actually scoffs. “Spoken like a true moralist. Don’t you wonder why they do it?”
“Who?”
“The Spark Maidens. Don’t you wonder why they actually go through with it? I mean, why don’t they just refuse? What would people do? Throw them in?” He laughs. “That would really wake some people up, don’t you think? So why do they do it?”
“Because they’re… trained.”
“Brainwashed, you mean?”
“That wasn’t what I meant, no. It’s just… they go to all those classes. Poised, polite, pretty or whatever.”
“Poised, proper, and polite, you mean.”
“Right. That. I know they don’t want to go in, but it’s tradition.”
Mitch shakes his head at me, throwing an incredulous look in for good measure. “You really think that those girls walk into that tower with no idea whatsoever of what will happen to them on the other side because it’s tradition?”
“Why else would they?”
“They’re compelled, of course. It’s the only logical answer.”
“What? How?”
“How? Well, I’m not sure of the actual mechanism, but don’t you think it’s strange that they just… walk in without running? Because, if it were me, I’d run. No way in hell I’d give up my life for the greater good.”
“Fucking hell, Mitch. That’s selfish.”
“Whatever. That’s not the point. The point is, they’re compelled. They don’t have a choice.”
I think about this for a moment, wondering if he’s right. “My father never mentioned this.”
“I have a suspicion that your father didn’t tell you much of anything, Finn.”
Well, I can’t really say anything back to this because he’s not wrong.
Mitch stares at me for a moment. And then, slowly, like he’s making some kind of decision in the same moment, he raises one eyebrow at me. “Did he ever tell you about the Looking Glass?”
“What’s a Looking Glass?”
His scoff is immediate and hearty. “See? You have no idea.”
“And you do?”
“I don’t know what it looks like, but I know he’s got one in here.”
“In where?”
Mitch ignores my question and looks over at the stairs that wind up to the fourth floor in a massive, graceful spiral. His eyes glide over to me. “What’s up there?”
“A desk. A couch. Windows with a nice view. My father’s personal collection of books.”
“But there’s a door too, right?” Mitch is practically smirking now. “One, perhaps, you’ve never seen the other side of?”
“Well… yeah. It leads to the… core, or whatever. That’s what I’ve been calling the massive space in the middle of the upper dome.”
“Let’s go, then. That’s where it is.”
“That’s where what is?”
But he’s already walking towards the stairs and going up them by the time I shake myself out of my stupor and follow.
Mitchell stops at the top and I finish climbing the remaining steps and stand next to him. Then we both turn to the right and focus on the door. I walk over to it and try the handle. But it’s locked.
“Where do you think we’d find the key?”
I look at Mitch and shrug. “Who needs a key? Just break the door.”
He laughs. It’s actually more of a scoff.
“What?” I ask. “It’s my palace now. Who’s gonna care? And anyway, it’s literally Extraction Day. If there’s information in there that I need, then get me in.”
Mitch huffs out a breath, then snaps me a mock salute. “Yes, sir, Extraction Master.”
It takes four good kicks to break the frame and pop the door open, but all in all, it was a pretty easy thing to do.
He waves a hand, inviting me to go first. “After you, Master.”
“Shut up.” But I do go first.
It’s a dark room, so I stop once inside and feel along the walls for a switch. But the walls have a dramatic curve to them and they are exceptionally smooth, like glass. “I don’t know—”
But then Mitch barks out, “Lights!” And the lights come on.
I look over my shoulder at him. “What the hell was that?”
“Voice commands. Rumor is—in school, at least—that there were rooms in the Extraction District with voice-activated spark power.” Then he shrugs. “It felt appropriate.”
When I look up, then around, I understand. This is not a room, it’s a… sphere. It’s like being inside a ball.
“Get out of the way.” Mitch pushes me aside and closes the door. Then he takes a step back so we’re standing shoulder to shoulder. “Ho-lee shit. What the fuck is this room, Finn?”