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)
Almost his entire upper body is covered in tattoos, but what’s not appears to be scarred. I can’t see them well from here, but I got a good enough look while we were facing off in the argument.
The tattoos and scars aren’t the only notable things about his upper body. He’s muscular. He did, after all, carry me up a million flights of stairs to save my life.
Apparently.
I get a little lost looking at him, but shake myself out of it. The point is—going back down those stairs has got to be a whole lot easier than going up them. And that’s my plan. Get out of here, go down, find the door, and go home.
I pause to smile. Then a chuckle escapes past my lips. Because I am imagining what the people of Tau City will think when they see me. When they realize a Maiden has returned.
I will have answers for them. We will never send another girl into that tower. The Extraction will be over, Finn and I will be married, and Tau City will live happily ever after.
A small snort comes out with the next laugh. It’s a ridiculous dream, I get it.
But it doesn’t seem unattainable.
I mean, that door has to be somewhere. All I have to do is find it.
I turn back around and knock softly on the door in front of me, giving it one more try. “Hello? Anneeta? Anyone? Can you hear me?” I press my ear to the cold metal, listening.
But it’s completely silent out there.
So I sigh, and look back at the bed. Then at the man sleeping in the chair.
I will admit that he looks dangerous. Like he was in a war. My eyes dart over to that weapon of his hanging in the belt on the chair. It was very heavy. Took two hands for me to lift it. I know Tau City has weapons, but I’ve never seen anything like that. And those darts it shot—my eyes glide up to the ceiling where the evidence of my stupidity remains.
I could’ve shot him. I nearly did.
My gaze wanders back down to the man in the chair again. This time I study those scars of his and decide it wouldn’t have been the first time he was shot.
This is when I realize I’m still wearing his jacket. I look down at it—trying not to see the slutty dress I’m still wearing—and find there are patches sewn on the shoulders and front. They all look very official, but other than that, they are beyond my comprehension. Tau City had a patrol, of course, but they all wore regular clothes. Certainly nothing like this jacket.
Which is another difference—the clothing. His clothes are very strange. Granted, I haven’t seen a good enough sample size of people here to make any kind of fashion determination, but he’s definitely not wearing gauzy desert robes or oversized linen pants. His pants are black and have a lot of pockets. I’ve actually never seen a garment like that and black isn’t a common color in my version of Tau City. Everything is a soothing neutral, the colors of sand and sun-bleached blue.
“If you’re not gonna sleep on the bed, then I will.”
The man’s words surprise me. I was too busy staring at his body and studying his clothes to realize he had woken up.
Tyse stands up, rubbing his hands down his exhausted face, and then sighs. “I’m not holding ya prisoner.” But just as he says these words, that blue light is back in his eyes. Talking to him. Maybe even disagreeing with him. “If you can get the door open, feel free to leave.”
Then, as if that’s the last thing he ever expects to say to me, he flops onto the bed, facedown.
I stand still, holding my breath, waiting to see what happens next.
But all I hear is the soft sound of a sleeping man.
Which is just great. I had a bed and now I don’t.
I suppose I’ll have to take the chair. Because the door is most definitely locked and it’s probably that weird time of the night when everyone in the city is soundly sleeping so there’s no hope that anyone will wander by outside to ask for help.
The problem is, I don’t think I can sleep. Not in a strange room with a strange man.
This makes me actually chuckle out loud because that’s the least of my problems. I’m in a strange place with no god. A place that calls itself Tau City, but is most certainly not my version of Tau City.
It feels like a… fiction. Something made up. Like a fantasy story in a children’s book.
I cross the room and sink into the chair. Then I turn to the side and sigh. I’m not going to freak out. I refuse to be afraid.