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)
My smile fades. Because we’re not all still alive now.
I’m the only one who made it out and none of this is real.
It’s just some dream about some place and a woman who I must hide.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
I’m watching him through one open eye as he drifts off to sleep.
I see his eyes close, and his body relax, and then the strange blue light leaks out past his eyelids and he smiles. Like he’s hiding a secret.
But then the smile drops and he sighs. A very long, tired sigh.
He’s already asleep, I can tell. But he’s dreaming or something. Because he’s unsettled.
Then the blue light is gone and whatever that dream was, it’s over.
I hold my breath, waiting to see if he wakes up. When he doesn’t—when he starts breathing deeper—I move around a little. Making some noise. Testing to see how tired he really is. He looks absolutely exhausted. The dark shadows around his eyes are a stark contrast to his pale face under the dim lights of the dingy quarters, making him look like a specter.
But he also looks… very… fit. So while he may be sleeping, I’m not convinced that it’s deep. So I wait a little longer.
When he doesn’t move for several more minutes, I get up and walk over to the door, trying the handle again. It turns, but the door does not budge.
I press my lips into the doorframe crack and whisper, “Hello?” then look over my shoulder to see if I woke Tyse.
He’s out cold. So I try again, this time adding the name he used earlier. “Anneeta? Are you there?” I have no idea who this Anneeta is, or whether or not she’s the one responsible for the door locking, but it can’t hurt at this point. I need to get out of here. I don’t understand what’s going on. This can’t be the tower. I’m dreaming, or something. Or dead.
That thought sends a shiver up my spine.
But then I think of Haryet. I need to find Haryet. I mean, I get that Imogen and the others—the Mabels, and Piper, and the rest—they’re probably dead. Their trip into the tower was years ago. But Haryet was yesterday. Or… the day before. I’m not really sure how much time has passed. But it’s two days, max. She has to be here.
Wherever ‘here’ is.
He says this is Tau City, but what I saw outside was not my Tau City. The towers were so tall. And bright. It was so bright. Like the people down there have never even considered the idea that spark should be rationed. Also, I could only sort of see the canal. It was there, I saw the shimmer that indicates water where the canal should be, but it wasn’t bright blue like it is at home. I don’t know what’s going on with that. It’s not even important, I guess.
Haryet is important.
Because there is no god here. Tyse said the god has been dead for hundreds of years. It doesn’t matter if it makes sense or why it’s happening this way. The only thing that matters is that there is no evidence that a god lives like… this.
So I believe him.
And if there is no god here, then my duty is over.
I suck in a long breath, hold it for a moment, and then let it out.
What’s in the place of that breath is something I never thought I’d have again.
Hope.
Because if there is no god, and if my duty is over, then I am free to go home.
Which means my dreams of a life with Finn aren’t dead.
I still hate him. But… in a I-love-him way, of course. You don’t throw away your lifelong love over a trip into the tower. Not when it turns out the whole thing was either a total fabrication or a mistake. If there’s a chance to salvage our relationship and make that off-the-cuff dream of him being a scholar, and me being a wife and mother, come true, then I’m here for it.
All I have to do is find my way back to the door. Which, according to the man-baby sleeping in that chair across the room, is a million levels below ground.
But it can’t be a million. And while he is a very fit specimen of a man, he’s definitely not a god, he’s just a regular guy. Of… whatever species he belongs to. With weird blue lights in his eyes. And kinda hot. Maybe even… very hot.
I turn, leaning back against the door, and stare at the man across the room. Standing up, he’s extremely tall. But even sitting down, he takes up a lot of space. His hair is something between brown and ginger. That little bit of red could be from the lighting in here—which is a warm tone—but his beard also has some red in it. The sides of his head are shaved, but the rest is long and tied back at the nape of his neck.