“You were born there, of course.”
“OK.” She shrugs and reaches for her boots. “All right. If you’re not worried about it, I’m not worried about it.”
Right on the edge of the Ruin Districtis a whole slew of shops that cater to the tower people. There are lots of quick food places, coffeeshops, and laundromats—that run off real power, not spark, so they are super cheap. And every single one of these places sells phones.
So as soon as we leave the Ruin District, I stop at the first shop and get one for each of us. Then I program our numbers, call her phone, and give my number a name.
“Look.” I hold Clara’s phone out to her. “This is the keypad, this is the menu, and this is where you can search for things.” I do a search for traditional god cities and pull up some images. Then hand her the phone. “There. Now you can get an idea of what they look like.”
Clara blinks at me, stunned. “You can ask it anything? Anything at all? And it will just give you answers?”
“Yes. Pretty much, anyway. You always need to take into consideration that each city has its own info rules.”
“What does that mean?”
“They scrub the databases of things they don’t want you to know. But I don’t think the traditional cities will be a problem.”
“OK.” She nods her head with resolve. “I will study as we walk so I can be the perfect dinner date.” Then she hooks her hand into my elbow—an old-fashioned gesture that actuallylends credence to the idea that she’s from a traditional god city—and looks intently at the phone as we walk.
She reminds me so much of Anneeta tonight, it’s crazy. Because after only two days of hanging out together, Clara has adopted Anneeta’s eccentric style. She’s wearing her new green dress from Rodge, but she’s layered it with a long-sleeve brown Henley that kinda matches her thigh-high brown socks. Not stockings,socks. Made of cotton and ribbed. And she’s not wearing sexy high-heeled boots like the city girls, but the combat ones I got her when she was at the health center. Her jacket is something from the lost and found and resembles mine, but olive green instead of black. It’s cropped at the waist and covered in flower patches instead of deployment badges. She’s even got her hair piled up into something that falls between a plait and a bun. It’s very messy, but in all the right ways.
She is a textbook description of a vagabond girl and the whole fuckin’ look is sexy.
Maybe too sexy? Is it too sexy? This is when I notice that everyone we pass on the sidewalk is looking at her. Not casually, either. I feel like the women are memorizing her style so they can copy it tomorrow, but the men will definitely be undressing her in their minds tonight.
Stayn’s girls are gonna love her.
“OK.” Clara looks up at me. “There are two cities to choose from. Zeta and Rho. Which one am I from?”
“I’d go with Zeta. No news gets out of that place. It’s zipped up tight.”
“Well, how did I get out?”
“It’s not a prison. You just left.”
“Do many people do that?”
“No. But vagabond girls come from all over. So you got on a train for an adventure. You’ll go back one day. Probably. But you’re young and enjoying your youth.”
“So why did I stop here?”
“You ran out of money and you’re using me for my pension.”
She laughs, leaning into me a little. “Tyse Saarinen, you make me happy.”
For some stupid reason, and even though the night is very cold, a warm feeling floods my body. I smile, looking down at her. “Well, I would like to go on record that you, up-city Clara Birch, are a complete delight.”
She leans into me again, hugging my arm a little. But she doesn’t say anything else. And though the rest of the walk over to Stayn’s house on the banks of the main canal is silent, it’s the perfect kind of silence. Filled with moments that are neither too empty nor too full.
“Wow.”Clara is looking up at Stayn’s canal-front house in complete awe. “I’ve never seen such a building in my life. This is a house, you say?”
“Yes.”
“One family lives here?”
“Yep. And it is over the top, but in Stayn’s defense, he is the chief of patrol. It’s a very big deal. There are literally fifty thousand men under him. He’s like the general of his own private army.”
“He’s in charge of the Canal District?”
