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 look around, waiting for the augments to kick in like they did before, but there’s no overlay of the veil between worlds and there’s no waterfall of data falling down my vision screen. It’s just me, shooting my team in their heads.
Clara gasps when she realizes which part of my discharge hearing is actually playing, then withdraws her hand, making the hologram disappear. “Did you see it?”
“The overlay? No. Anneeta was right. She’s the one powering my augments. Well, it’s us, I guess. The three of us…” I stop, trying to think of an easy way to explain it. “We’re like a circuit.”
“But what’s all that mean, Tyse?”
“Fuck if I know.” I blow out a breath, frustrated with myself because it’s not entirely true. So I take another stab at answering her question. “I guess it means… we’ve been given power and we should probably do something with it.”
“Do something like what?”
There’s only one clear answer here. It sucks, if you ask me, because I’m starting to get attached to up-city Clara Birch. But it’s rather obvious, so I just say it. “Get you home, that’s what. And if you still trust me, after watching what I did to my team, then I promise, I will get you home.”
“He’s not one of ours. He’s never been one of ours. We’ve never even heard of this ‘Godslayer.’ We will not allow our good name to be dragged through the mud over a man who has never been associated with our recruitment, training, or campaigns.”
—Gen. Del Anderson, Chief of Staff, Sweep Command
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The moment Clara enters the god’s tower there is a massive flash of cyan-blue spark, then… blackness.
Everyone in the entire city—gasps.
Then the lights come back on and there is nothing but silence.
Something akin to emptiness.
The quiet is broken by Finn when he raises his voice for all to hear. “There. Are you happy now? Does this make you happy now?”
Of course, no one answers him. He’s the Extraction Master and the God’s Tower stage is his domain. Everything that happens up here is scripted by tradition. Even when it’s not, which is the case here, as there are no more lines to say and no more acts to perform.
The only thing that happens after the Maiden disappears is… dispersal.
But no one moves. All eyes are focused on Finn.
He’s angry when he points to Gemna. “One more, right? We only have to do this one more time.” Then Finn whirls around to look at us, the Little Sisters, and for whatever reason, his gaze locks with mine as his words spill out. “You’re next, you know.”
I point to myself, mouth open in shock. “Me?”
“Not literally, of course. But then again, who knows? Maybe it will be you? Maybe I should just choose right now?” He turns to the crowd of important up-city people wearing all their fine clothes, with their fancy hair, and their sparkling jewels, and their prim attitudes. “What do ya say? Should we just pick her now? I can pick all ten, if you’d like. Then we can stop pretending this Choosing is anything other than a culling for slaughter. They might as well just be pigs. Hell, all of you might as well just be pigs.”
I think all of up-city chokes in horror at this comparison. Some of them start whispering.
Then Finn’s friends, Mitchell Davies and Jeyk Ward, come up on either side of Finn, leaning in to him, whispering as they grab him by his upper arms and try and lead him off the stage.
Finn resists. “No, I won’t shut up. And no, I won’t go home! This is fucked up, you guys. This whole thing is fucked up!”
Gemna steps forward, looking every bit the part of a Spark Maiden who knows her place and her value. Because her back is straight, her chin is up, her shoulders square, and her eyes are flashing. “When?” She crosses the stage, walking towards Finn as she speaks. “When, Finn? When did you first realize that this was a sacrifice? When Imogen went through? When Marlowe went through? When the Mabels went through? At which point in this culling did it occur to you that this was a slaughter? Oh.” She smiles sardonically as she taps her chin with a single, perfectly manicured fingernail. “No. It wasn’t until Clara went through that you decided to take a closer look at what the actual fuck was happening here.”
Finn closes the short distance between him and Gemna and growls at her. “That’s not fair. I wasn’t in charge until three days ago. That’s not fair.” He’s very tall, but Gemna is not a tiny woman the way Haryet was, so while they are not eye to eye, she in no way looks cowering.
Lucindy leans in to me. “What the hell is happening?”