Page 43 of Sparktopia
“I’m sorry. Finn?—”
“That was cruel, Clara!Cruel! We just lost our best friend to the tower and youleft me!”
Out of some long-forgotten habit, I look over my shoulder, expecting to find a Matron somewhere in the hallways, ready to chastise Gemna for being too loud.
Which is ludicrous. They were around in the early years, especially the first year when we were all so young and rowdy. But that Matron I saw giving the Little Sisters a tour the other day was the first one I can remember seeing actually inside the Maiden Tower since Lucy Fisher took the walk.
Gemna’s hysterics are increasing as I stay silent. Her makeup is streaked with tears, her voice is shrill, and when I take her hand, she’s trembling. “I’m sorry, Gemmie. I’msosorry! I wasn’t thinking. Finn just pulled me away and I… I just… went.”
Gemna stares at me for a moment. Eyes wide, like she’s terrified. And this is when it hits me. Wheneverythinghits me. All eight of the women who came before us have been Extracted. Gone. Lost. Forever. Never to be seen again.
And we’re next. We both know it. We feel it in our hearts. This doesn’t end until all ten of us are inside that fucking tower.
Which is a shock. Not the sentiment of it, but the reality of it. The realization that I am going to die and I am standing on the precipice of this death in this very moment.
It’s not like I had been blocking it out. It’s just… I think I was numb, or something. Or possibly conditioned to see these Extractions as something normal. Something common. It’s just what happens to the women in the Maiden Tower. One moment they are here, one moment they are not.
And it’s wrong.
This isn’t normal. It’s barbaric. It’s a sacrifice. We are sending young women to their death to appease a god we’ve never even seen. The whole thing could be fake, for all we know.
My arms wrap around Gemna and I hug her tightly, holding onto her like the god himself might appear at any moment and drag her away.
She holds me back just as tightly. Because that bell is going to ring for me. And it could happen in the next minute, in the next hour, or any time at all.
My death is assured. And that means that Gemna will be sitting up here in our quarters alone. Waiting for the bells to toll one final time after I’m gone.
What a horrible way to go out. Not that it’s not horrible for the rest of us, but to be alone when it happens? It’s pure torture. And any god who demands this of his followers is evil and no god of mine.
Maybe the Matrons will let Gemna go home? So she could at least be with her family while she waits?
But I don’t think so. They don’t care about us. Their mission is to keep us in line. To make us poised, proper, and polite. So we don’t question them.
So far, it’s worked. Because… come on! Eight fucking women have now walked into that tower in the last ten years. And every one of them did it willingly.
Gemna pushes back now, frantically wiping her eyes, smearing black makeup and making a mess of her face. She sniffs. “Did Finn tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“About the gala tomorrow?”
“What gala? We literally just came from two freaking galas. Why would we need another one tomorrow?”
“I’m not sure, but the Matrons were all lined up downstairs after I came back from the Extraction—alone!” She sneers that last word at me.
But I guess I deserve it. It was a really shitty thing to do to her. And the worst part is, I never even thought twice about leaving her alone on the tower stage and following Finn back to his new place. “I’m sorry, Gemna. I really am. I will never leave your side again. It’s us, together, until the end.”
She stares at me for a moment. Then blinks and takes a deep breath, pulling herself back together. “I don’t know what the gala tomorrow night is for, but the Matrons told me not to go anywhere in the morning. That the dressmakers will be here at dawn to fit us. Finn didn’t mention it?”
I shake my head. “No.”
“Did he sayanything? Anything at all about what the hell is happening?”
I blow out a long breath, then flop onto the nearest couch, kick off my shoes, and pull my legs up underneath my many layers of silk skirts. “Well, he did mention that there was no way he could help me if the bells rang again.”
Gemna sits down next to me, sniffling. “What? Why not?”
When I meet her eyes, I see the hope die. She has never said anything about my relationship with Finn or Aldo, never asked a single question in all these ten years. But she was going to ask for help tonight. Was going to beg, maybe, for me to find a way to get us out of our obligations using my connections to the Extraction District.
