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 side-eye him, reevaluating. He’s dangerous. Probably very dangerous.
But I don’t ask any more questions. It’s none of my business what he’s done in his past.
After a few minutes of this silence he stands up. And I find him looking down at me when I look up at him. “What do you want to do, Clara? Do you want me to call Stayn and report you? Take you down to patrol?”
“Do I have another option?”
He shrugs. “I’ll tell Stayn I found a vagrant and it’s taken care of. Then we go back upstairs and I’ll get you some clothes. You can’t wear that dress around here. It’s not safe.”
“Then what?”
“I dunno. I’ll help you figure it out.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why would you help me? According to you I’m an up-city Birch.”
He laughs. It’s a real laugh, too. His eyes—while no longer glowing—light up in a different way. “It was a good joke though, right?”
“Birch. Bitch. I guess it was.” Then I laugh too. And when he extends his hand, I take it. Letting him pull me to my feet and lead the way back inside the tower.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
The climb back up to the tenth floor goes far slower than it did going down. But I’ve had enough stair-climbing to last me a month, so I don’t mind the slow pace. Clara seems exhausted too. And by the time we actually get back to my place, she’s very out of breath.
“Have a seat and I’ll find you something to wear.”
She collapses into my chair, then slumps back, frowning at me. “You keep spare sets of women’s clothes around, do you?”
“No.” I chuckle, checking my inventory of tactical pants. I find an old pair that don’t fit anymore, and throw them at her. “They’re gonna be too big, of course. But they’ll do.” Then I get a t-shirt and throw that as well. “You can take a shower if you want. The water will not be hot. It’ll be just warm enough to make you feel worse when you get out than when you went in.”
“An attractive offer.”
When I look over at her I find her staring down at the clothes on her lap, frowning. “Sorry. It’s the best I can do. I can take you shopping if you want.”
“With what coin? I don’t have any. And not to be disparaging, but you don’t look like you have much either.” Her eyes dart to my small jar of coins that I keep around to pay Anneeta.
“Well, I was thinking we’d check the big lost and found on the ground level, not actual shopping.” This makes her laugh. “But ya can’t leave anything of real value in the rooms here. People know better than to fuck with my shit, but it occasionally happens that something in here goes missing. Despite the drama last night with the door locking, the doors don’t lock in the tower. I’m in the system, though. I’ve got a pension from Sweep and a digital wallet with the city. That’s where I keep my coin. So if you want to look the part of up-city Birch, I’ll buy ya something else. But we’d have to go into the Canal District for that.”
Her face crinkles up. “Down those stairs again? Then all the way over to the Canal District, then shopping, then back up? No, thanks. I’ll make do with these.”
“All right. I’m gonna step out while you do that. I’ll call Stayn and get a grocery order in.”
“You’re going all the way back down?”
“No. There’s a service hub on Eight. It’s got food and some other essential shit. Plus runners who are more than happy to go into the city for the right price. So I won’t take long. Then after that…” I shrug. “I dunno. We’ll figure something out.”
She doesn’t agree or disagree. Just sits there, staring off into space.
I leave and head to the stairs, wondering the whole way down what I’m actually doing. Did I just attach myself to this woman? Am I gonna be stuck with her for days trying to figure out what the hell is wrong with her? I didn’t see any bruising on her face. There are no obvious injuries to her head that I could tell and no blood in her hair to indicate that someone hit her. But something is definitely wrong with her mind.
I know more than most about how this world works because the Omega Outlands don’t exactly obey the same laws of nature as the places outside the Outlands do. But that’s different. In just about every way possible.
Her story doesn’t even make sense. I didn’t find her on the other side of a door. She was in an ancient server room. The party theory is the only thing that adds up. She was drugged. She was down there too long and the spark messed with her mind.