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 don’t say anything. I’m still sortin’ out this Game of Gods thing.
But the coolest thing about being an augment with a genetically assigned VersiStrike is that I have this luxury. I don’t have to pay attention. I have time to think my way out of things.
Too bad for Stayn he takes my distant look as negligence.
Big mistake.
Because he comes at me, and in the same moment, the Versi lasers are targeting eighteen men in a wide arc, at the same time.
“One more step!” I warn him. “One more step, Stayn, and you’re done. It won’t even be up to me.”
His lip curls up and his words come out as a growl. “Well… I think you’re a fuckin’ liar, Tyse. I think you’re playing big. Acting like you’re still in Sweep. But we both know you’re washed up.”
I sigh. Because he doesn’t understand. And it’s sad. I liked him. I did. But he’s gonna get himself killed here right now and there won’t be a damn thing I can do to stop it.
“One more step,” I warn again.
And once again, he curls that lip like what I just said was nothin’ but a dare.
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
Join us as we begin anew?
“Finn?” My mother’s smile is cautious as she comes towards me with arms extended. She takes my hands in hers. “You have questions, I’m sure.”
The only response I have is a huff.
“I know this is all very unexpected. It’s your father’s fault.”
Suddenly I have words. “How the hell do you figure that?” It comes out angry. Which is becoming a familiar feeling for me since my father died, but is completely at odds with who my mother thought I was.
So she hesitates. Reevaluates.
“He called them in, you know that right?” Her blue eyes are searching mine when she twists the knife in my back. Figuratively, of course. Though it doesn’t feel at all figurative in my opinion. “He called them in, Finn. Both Haryet and Clara. He rang those bells. He made those tower doors open. He sent her through. He did this to you. And do you know why?”
I sigh. Because this isn’t a surprise. I’m not shocked because I already figured it out.
If the Looking Glass controls the tower doors and the Extraction Master controls the Looking Glass, this means that the Extraction Master opens the tower doors.
“Do you?” My mother’s tone is sharp when she asks me this.
“Do I know why?” I scoff as my eyes scan the room because… yeah. I actually do know why. Gemna, Jasina, and the other girl are chained and cuffed inside a circle made of some kind of metal. The Matrons are lined up along the perimeter. The Little Sisters are standing in line to feed a teenage boy who dreams of raping girls in hallways or have already passed out from the stealing of spark. “Of course I know why.” I sneer these words at her. Because she thinks I’m stupid. Not only that, she thinks I’m disposable. “This is a door, Mother. One you can compel to open if you’ve got enough energy.”
My mother leans in, smirking. But also whispering as she side-eyes the room. “Keep your voice down, son. We don’t want to scare the Little Sisters. But you’re right. I don’t know if this is just a good guess or if your father left you some kind of message...”
“He did.”
She lets out a breath. Stares at me for a few seconds, then again, she sighs. “So you know. You understand. The god is dying.”
On a very basic level, this is accurate, I suppose. But it’s also deceptive. I wish I could remember what my father said exactly, but I can’t. I need Jasina’s notes. So I say nothing. Which forces my mother to continue her deceit.
“There’s more, Finn.” My mother takes a breath. I don’t recognize this woman standing in front of me in her ceremonial robes. She cannot be—is not—the same woman who baked me cookies and helped me do homework. “Because the real truth is, there is no god, Finn.”
I reach up and scrub my hands down my face, pushing the heels of my hands into my eyes.
“There’s no god, but,” my mother continues, “they might as well be gods.”
I pull my hands away from my face and look at her. Because I think this was the part of my father’s message that I missed. Maybe she isn’t lying? Maybe I’m wrong? Maybe the world isn’t ending right now? “What do you mean, Mother?”
“They control us, Finn. They control everything. We’re… prisoners.”
“Who?” I stare at her, mouth open.
“The gods who are not gods, of course.”
I blink at her as some my father’s words come back to me now. Workers, he said. Something about Workers.
“They control everything, Finn. Everything on the other side of those doors. We don’t have a say in any of it, so yes. I guess they are gods in their own way. Because they have god-like powers over us, that’s for sure. They need us, for now. But very soon, they won’t. They are building something on the other side of those tower doors. They are making something. And if they succeed, and it looks like they have, then we will become obsolete. One more Extraction, if we’re lucky, and then it’s over. We are on the edge of dereliction. We will be abandoned. They will starve us and while it will feel slow and painful, it’s really just a few months. They will come in, they will sweep us up, clean up the city, and shut it down. So we have no choice. We must enter that world through these doors, otherwise we all die. Which means… we need Gemna and the Little Sisters to get enough spark to complete this task.”