Page 147 of Sparktopia
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Get you home.
That’s what Tyse said last night.
Get me home.
I don’t think it’s possible. I really don’t. I think whatever it was that happened to me is permanent. So I’m not obsessing over this statement of his. It didn’t keep me up that night for hours and hours while Tyse slept soundly next to me. Almost as if this new mission of his is reassuring. Unlike me. Because I might be feeling unexpectedly unsettled.
Which is stupid because I’m not unsettled. Why would I be unsettled about the thought of going home?
Tyse is in the shower, getting ready to go to work. I need to get up too, but I’m so exhausted from absolutely not obsessing over how he wants to get me home, I can’t think about spending another day down on Eight with all those people and all those noises.
I feel like I need some space. Some time to think.
“Hey?”
I open my eyes and watch Tyse come out of the kitchen, dressed, but wet. “Don’t you believe in towels?”
He squints at me. “What?”
“You’re always wet when you come out—never mind. What were you gonna say?”
He’s still squinting at me. “Did you sleep well?”
“No.” It comes out as a pout.
“OK. Well, I was gonna say, I don’t think you should go down to Eight today.”
“Done.”
“What?” His squint is deeper now. He’s even cocked his head.
“Done. I don’t want to go down to Eight today either. But just for the sake of argument, why should I not go down to Eight today?”
“Oh. I just think you should stay inside. Until we figure out what you are.”
“What Iam? What’s that mean?”
“Well…” He tries on a smile. Like it just hit him that I’m in a bad mood and he’s about to do his best to navigate around it. “Clara. We don’t have Spark Maidens here. It’s not a thing. And this is what you tell me you are. So I’m thinking that you’re maybe… special.” He smiles bigger, believing this to be the way forward.
“Special?”
“Yeah. Like… you know. A genius or something.”
I sigh. “Whatever.”
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing. You’re going to get me home. What could possibly be wrong with me?”
Again, he squints. Then he smiles. “You like me. You’re gettin’ attached, aren’t ya? And you’re gonna miss me when you leave and go back to loverboy.”
I huff.
But when I don’t refute any of his statements, he points at me. “Noted. And I like you back. So I want you to be safe. That’s why you should stay here all day and I’ll tell Rodge you’re not coming on my way down.”
I sit up in bed a little, not wanting him to go yet. “What time will you be home?”
