Not as catchy as the Godslayer, but it’ll do.
When Finn’s done with me, he slaps my ass and falls into the couch cushions. Closing his eyes as he smiles his way into sleep like his father didn’t just give him a directive. Like he couldn’t care less. Like ending tyranny and slavery just aren’t on his list of things to do today.
I straighten my gown. Finn started ripping it off me at one point, so it’s practically a miniskirt right now. Then I walk over to the desk and pick up my notepad.
I read my succinct summary of what Aldo Scott told his son to do. Then I look over my shoulder at a passed-out Finn and decide… he doesn’t really deserve this honor.
The countdown for this Looking Glass has already begin. I couldn’t stop its destruction, even if I tried. Aldo Scott set the Looking Glass up to play a single message for Finn. Just the one, just the one time through. That’s all he wanted him to know about the room. That’s the only information he gave up.
However… my gaze darts to the bookshelf on the right side of the room. An exact replica of the one on the left side of the room. Which is the one that leads to the Little Sister dorm.
I’m slightly ashamed that I didn’t notice it immediately because it’s so obvious that if one bookshelf was a hidden door, might the other one be too?
Of course, this one leads to the tower. Which leads to the tunnels. Which leads to the trains. Which leads to… outside. Places that are not Tau City.
This is Finn’s mission. Leave here and repeat this act in every city where the train stops.
I take one more look at Finn, sleeping soundly on the couch. So satiated and satisfied.
And I decide that he deserves to die. If he is this apathetic. If he is this shallow. If he is this unconcerned that the tower he’s sleeping in is going to explode in just a few hours, then fuck him.
Let him die.
I tuck the notebook securely into the bodice of my dress and have only one regret as I open the bookcase and slip inside and onto the landing of a dark staircase. I wish I had boots. Because silk slippers are really not the most appropriate footwear for the end of the world as I know it.
But a girl plays the hand she is dealt, and honestly, who could’ve predicted the twist this night took?
I focus my attention away from my shoes and back where it belongs. The stairwell. When I descend, I notice that no nightlights pop on to help guide my way. In fact, there are no lights at all. Just a faint glow from the room beyond the bookshelf door.
For a moment I wonder if maybe I should go into this new life more prepared. Pack a sack or something. Find those boots, though where I would get boots at this hour—oh, for fuck’s sake, Jasina! Concentrate!
My hand wipes through the air as a way of casting all these thoughts aside and I resume my descent. Carefully, slowly, I creep down, down, down. It’s like fifteen levels to the ground floor of the Extraction Tower, but I’m counting as I round each landing, and this stairwell goes down further. There is no canal on this side of the tower, but there is a small lake. And in the center of the lake is the God’s Tower event center. Which is not where I need to be. I would check my notes, but I can’t see them. So I just keep going until there are no more stairs. There is a faint light here. It’s a lit-up sign that says ‘exit’ in red letters.
But there are two passageways—a literal fork in the road—and I can’t decide which way the exit sign is pointing. So I hesitate.
And that’s when I hear it. The faint sound ofbreathing.
I turn, gasping, desperate to see in the dark. But that small amount of light from the sign isn’t enough to make out anything other than a large, looming shape slowly coming towards me.
“This is the problem with you slutty down-city girls, Jasina.” These words come out slurred and angry. “You think that the rest of us are all dirty, stinking, stupid peasants like yourself.”
The shape forms up into something recognizable when Donal Oslin steps directly under the exit sign.
He’s laughing now. Because he’s got me. Fool him once, fine. But not twice. There is no way I will get his balls again and he knows it. “It didn’t even occur to you that we would have sensors guarding this stairwell?” He tips his head up, smiling. I can’t afford to take my eyes off him, so I don’t look up, but I know he’s looking at a very faint glow of light that belongs to the top floor of the Extraction Tower. “Thanks, by the way.” He sneers these words at me. “For leaving the door open. I’ve been trying to break into that tower since I was fourteen.”
Then he lunges at me. And a moment later, he’s got a hold of my hair and he’s pushing me down to the ground.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
All Clara has to dois feed me along the way.
It’s not a stupid plan. It’s not even as sinister as it sounds because the guys down on Eight pack up spark into jumps all day, every day. It’s a thing.
I’m thinking this in my head, but in the same moment Clara is saying it out loud. “Wecanactually pull this off.”
“Clara.” I shoot her a look. But we haven’t known each long enough for her to catch my subtle side-eye that, to me, is screamingshut the fuck up.
Because she doesn’t shut the fuck up, she keeps talkin’. “Yeah. I mean”—she shrugs, looking me straight in the eye—“those guys downstairs package up jumps, right?”
