As in the very doors that Clara, and all the other Spark Maidens before her, walked through.
I suddenly understand what they are doing. They are opening the god’s tower doors. Not the ones above and outside, but right here in this room. Somehow, some way, this thick glass can be turned into a door. And then they are going to walk through.
What will they find on the other side of that door?
A god?
A new world?
Clara?
I’m looking right at my mother when she turns and suddenly, we lock eyes. She smiles. Her whole face brightening up, like she’s happy to see me. Like she didn’t join a cult and walk out. Like maybe I wasn’t just a job that ended with my father’s death.
“Finn! You’re here! Come.” She beckons me with open arms. “Come, my son. Join us as we begin anew.”
CHAPTER FIFTY
“It’s where I fed.”
These words come out of Anneeta’s mouth and it’s so honest and innocent, that it actually takes several seconds of silence before I am able to put it all together.
Sheatethem.
Literally ate them? Like… chewed them up and shit?
Or drained them of spark?
Not that one is better than that other in the grand scheme of things, but given the choice, I would prefer the latter.
It’s Clara who finds her voice first. “Youatethem?” I think she’s mad. But Clara Birch has been trained somehow. Trained to be… polite, or something. Manners have been ingrained into this woman in a way I can’t even relate to, so that’s all she says. One question, three words, loaded to the hilt.
Anneeta is not going to answer. And if I were her, I wouldn’t answer that question, either. There is no good way out of this, it’s done. We are in the middle of running from the Tau City Patrol and we’re not even close to safe.
So I decide to take control here. “Take us, Anneeta. Clara, we can discuss this later, but right now we need to get the fuck out of this tower and onto that train. So whatever’s in this room where we need to go, close your eyes and take my hand until we get through it.”
Clara looks at me, squinting. Her gaze migrates over to Anneeta without breaking the squint and, in fact, she narrows her eyes down further until it becomes a glare.
Does she want to change her mind about feeding Anneeta spark so we can take her with us?
Maybe.
But it’s too late now. Anneeta is the only way we get out.
So I say, “Please, Clara.” And just as those words come out, the voice of Stayn echoes through the building. He’s got some kind of megaphone, or something. A PA system, maybe. And he’s talking to me.
“You’re surrounded, Tyse. There’s no way out. And we’re not after you, you know that. We just want Anneeta and Clara Birch. If you hand them over, you’re free to leave. Hell, you’re free to stay if you want. This has nothing to do with you. It was a mistake that you got involved. And everything will be just fine if you hand them over.”
“Are we going, or what?” I’m looking at Anneeta as she says these words and her mouth is an angry sneer. “If so, follow me.”
She doesn’t wait for me to make a decision. If I’m going to betray her, she’s gettin’ the hell out of here first. Clara and I look at each other. She shrugs. “If you want to?—”
“Fuck off, Clara. I’m not turnin’ ya in.”
“I’m just saying?—”
“If that’s all you got to say, then say nothing. Let’s go.” I grab her by the hand and pull her along at a run, trying to catch up with Anneeta.
Anneeta is waiting on a landing in front of a door a couple floors below. She doesn’t look too sure of herself, so her little attitude was a bluff.
