Page 116 of Sparktopia
I turn back to Anneeta, place both my hands on her shoulders, and wait until she’s looking me in the eyes with her full attention. “Anneeta. Can youseethat tower? Like actuallysee it?” I nod my head at the empty air where the tower used to be, but isn’t now.
She nods.
I let out a breath and stand up. Then I let my gaze wander up to where the tower would be if my augments were still working. There’s not supposed to be any veils left outside the Omega Outlands. They were cleared hundreds of years ago.
Did they miss one?
No. That’s not even possible. That was the whole point of augments in the early days. To clear the veils in all the tower cities. And even if they failed back then, the augments ran the cities for decades after sweeping.Someonewould’ve seen it. Even now, plenty of augments come to Tau City for leave.Someonewould’ve seen it.
Hell, seven years ago,Iwould’ve seen it. I still had some vision when I was discharged. Maybe I wouldn’t be able to see an actual tower, like in my prime, but I would knowsomethingwas there. Even if I couldn’t see the overlay, I would’ve felt it, at the very least.
It cannotbe here.
But it is. I know it is. And it’s got something to do with Clara.
“Anneeta, could you see this tower before you saw that first lady?”
“No. But I could feel it. And I couldn’t see other ladies before her, either. She was the first one I ever saw. But then, after she disappeared, when I turned back to the ruin, it was all like this.” She shrugs and opens her arms to indicate all the things I cannot see.
“How many towers do you see?”
She looks around, her lips moving a little as she counts. “Five. But not all of them are tall. Just this one”—she points to the empty space we’ve been talking about—“and that one.” She points across the canal, to the other side of the Ruin District.
Two towers on either side of the God’s Tower. Just like Clara described to me.
“Sometimes”—Anneeta points to the space in front of the God’s Tower now—“there’s a lot of people out there. That night we found Clara—well, the night before that, actually—there were alotof people out there. And the night before that, too.”
“What kind of people?” Because this… I don’t understand. “Like…thatkind of people?” I point to all the people in front of the tower right now.
Anneeta shakes her head. “No. Those are real people. The people I see are ghosts. And that night before Clara came, I saw ghosts. I sawher.”
“Wait.” I stare at the tower, trying to picture this. Then I look back at Anneeta. “Did you see her, the ghost Clara, walk through the tower doors?”
Anneeta nods. “I did. I followed her—I always follow them—but she wasn’t inside when I got there.”
“You always follow…who?”
“I mean.” She turns away, not looking at me. “Idon’tsee them.”
“But you just said you saw the lady last year. And the crowd?—”
“Well, yeah! I do seethem!” She’s turned back to me now and her voice is higher in pitch and a little bit frantic. “But that’s it. That’s all I see.”
She’s lying.
I think about this for a moment, then decide this is as far as I can push her. She’s said too much and she’s backtracking now so any more discussion is pointless. It’s all gonna be lies. If I want more information—that’s true, anyway—I need to give her space. “OK.” I look down at Anneeta. “Thanks. For the info. Come on, let’s go meet Clara.”
Anneeta might not trust me enough with the truth, but she might trust Clara. And the three of us need to have a very serious conversation about what is happening here.
Anneeta follows me into the tower and up the stairs, hanging back a bit, like she’s nervous or something. Which is out of character for her, so I’m thinking about these possible reservations when I walk up to my door and reach for the handle.
This is when I hear voices. I flip the handle and kick the door open, Versi already at high ready, then just stand there, unable to react because I’m so stunned at what I’m seeing.
A hologram floats in the middle of the room. A hologram of me. But not just me. Jast, Myra, Stepan, and Kirt are all dead on the ground at my feet, holes in their heads the size of my fist, because this is my discharge proceedings and it’s playing the worst moment of my life right out in the open.
“How?” The word comes out before I realize that Clara is on the other side of the hologram and I can just barely make out the spectra she’s holding between her fingertips.
Still, even though the hologram is playing and she’s holding the spectra up, I am still unable to figure out what the hell is actually going on. Because… there’s no spectra player. I don’t even own one. I keep the spectra because… well, it’s mine. My time in the Sweep was two-thirds of my life, if you count recruitment and augmentation prep. I couldn’t just toss it aside like it meant nothing.
