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)
“Fuck that.” Finn doesn’t even let him finish. “Fuck that, Mitch. I’m not doing this.”
“You’re not doing… what?”
“The Choosing. It’s not even gonna matter. The Council told me—” But he stops.
I can’t see them—they are in another room across the open space in front of me—but I don’t need to see Finn’s face to deduce that he just said something he wasn’t supposed to.
“The Council told you what?” Mitch sounds pissed. Possibly at being left out.
“Never mind. It’s not important. Just go, OK? Go and take everyone with you.”
“But the cooks. It’s nearly breakfast time. They’re already—”
“I don’t care!” Finn yells this. And it is followed by a long, dramatic silence on Mitch’s part. Then he’s there, in the doorway of the room across the room, and I slink back, letting the door I’m holding open close to just a sliver as I watch Mitchell Davies leave by way of a staircase going down.
About a minute later I can just barely make out his voice somewhere else in this building, telling the cooks, or whoever, to get out and go home. The Master would like his privacy.
What do I do now? Leave and go back to bed? It’s what I want to do. Desperately want to do.
But I can’t decide if I’ve found enough information. And just as I’m thinking this, Finn appears in the open door of the other room, holding a bottle of whiskey. He leans against the doorjamb, his eyes unfocused as they travel up a massive wall of windows with the most incredible view of the night sky, not to mention the God’s Tower.
He sighs. Drinks. Sighs again. Then he clumsily turns, walking back into the room, kicking the door closed behind him.
Is that the room I’m looking for? Is that the room Auntie told me to find?
Maybe. But it doesn’t matter. It’s the only room I’ve come across. This is the Extraction Tower. I’m here. That goal, at least, has been met. But it’s not enough. I need a yes or no on that room Finn’s currently in, one way or the other.
That’s actual information. Not good information, but what I’ve gathered so far amounts to a whole bunch of nothing.
It’s so close. There’s no way I can leave now. I need to get in there. Just a peek. That’s all I want. Just to see it one time so when Auntie asks for a progress report, I will have information she needs.
Finn is drinking. Probably well on his way to being drunk. The odds are pretty good that he’s going to pass out in that room. Which sucks, because that means I won’t be able to get in there and look around. But there is a lot to see here aside from that room. I must explore. I must have something to take back to Auntie.
“Finn!” Mitchell’s distant voice floats up from downstairs and I go absolutely still. “I’m leaving. Everyone’s gone, but we’ll all be back just after dawn.”
I wait for the door to open again and for Finn to appear and answer his friend. But he doesn’t. There’s nothing but silence.
“Finn?” Mitchell calls up one more time. Then I barely make out, “Fuck it,” as all the lights flip off somewhere down below. A door bangs closed.
I wait, listening for any noises that might indicate that people are still here, but when I don’t hear anything after counting out a full minute, I push my door open wider and take a cautious look around.
The first thing I notice is that this is not a door. At least, not on the interior side of things. It’s a bookcase filled with books. I’m just about to turn away when a spine catches my eye. The Godslayer and His Courtesan. The same book I found in the sewing room back in the dorm.
How odd.
I pull it out and look at the cover, examining it carefully. Taking in the details. It’s a nice illustration, though old and the colors are fading. The Godslayer is portrayed as a beautiful man and his courtesan an even more beautiful woman. Behind them is a desert background because the most popular of the tales take place during the Great Sweep when the winds dominated the world and covered it in sand.
I have an urge to open the book and read it, but it’s a stupid urge because it’s the middle of the night, I’m spying on the Tau City Extraction Master in my nightgown, and if I get caught, my life is over. So I put it back on the shelf.
Anyway, a soft voice inside me says, there’s another copy in the dorm. You can read it any time you like.
Right now, I need to gather as much information about the Extraction Master’s palace as I can. Then I need to get the hell out of here and get as much sleep as possible before dawn breaks and the new day starts because I will not have a single moment to myself until dinner.