Page 79 of Sparktopia
She laughs. Then laughs again.
“What’s so funny?”
But she doesn’t answer. Just gets up, walks the three paces over to the end of the bed and crawls up it, flopping onto the pillow face down.
I’m not sure what to do next, but I did make a big deal about the chair, so I figure I should sit in it. Which I do. Then put my feet up on the foot stool.
I’m hungry, but there’s no food in here. And the door is locked—which is a mystery I really should solve sooner rather than later. But now that I am sitting, the day catches up with me and I realize that Stayn told me that there was a magnetic lock keeping people out of the location where I found Clara.
But there wasn’t.
There is, however, one on my door right now. That has to be why we can’t open it.
Fuckin’ weird.
My head starts spinning a little with all the sudden mysteries, not to mention the fatigue from all that stair climbing. Plus the hunger, and the added stress of arguing with a strange woman, and the sudden rebirth of my long-dead augments.
At some point during the past few minutes the words ‘hide her’ faded away, but I can still feel the connections. It’s not strong, but I’ve been living with no connections whatsoever for seven years now, so even the slightest bit of spark up there is a major development.
I close my eyes, thinking about this. About the way the blue words fell down like a waterfall. I feel the smile creeping up my face, and the guys all around me. Like I’m there again.
Dusty, it was always dusty. And it was always dangerous too. The Omega Outlands is a lawless place. But there were always moments, in between the deadly ones, when we were all together—me, Jast, Myra, Stepan, and Kirt. And when we were all together like that it was… OK. Maybe not good, but it was OK because we were all still alive.
My smile fades. Because we’re not all still alive now.
I’m the only one who made it out and none of this is real.
It’s just some dream about some place and a woman who I must hide.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
I’m watching him throughone open eye as he drifts off to sleep.
I see his eyes close, and his body relax, and then the strange blue light leaks out past his eyelids and he smiles. Like he’s hiding a secret.
But then the smile drops and he sighs. A very long, tired sigh.
He’s already asleep, I can tell. But he’s dreaming or something. Because he’s unsettled.
Then the blue light is gone and whatever that dream was, it’s over.
I hold my breath, waiting to see if he wakes up. When he doesn’t—when he starts breathing deeper—I move around a little. Making some noise. Testing to see how tired he really is. Helooksabsolutely exhausted. The dark shadows around his eyes are a stark contrast to his pale face under the dim lights of the dingy quarters, making him look like a specter.
But he also looks… very… fit. So while he may be sleeping, I’m not convinced that it’s deep. So I wait a little longer.
When he doesn’t move for several more minutes, I get up and walk over to the door, trying the handle again. It turns, but the door does not budge.
I press my lips into the doorframe crack and whisper, “Hello?” then look over my shoulder to see if I woke Tyse.
He’s out cold. So I try again, this time adding the name he used earlier. “Anneeta? Are you there?” I have no idea who this Anneeta is, or whether or not she’s the one responsible for the door locking, but it can’t hurt at this point. I need to get out of here. I don’t understand what’s going on. This can’t be the tower. I’m dreaming, or something. Or dead.
That thought sends a shiver up my spine.
But then I think of Haryet. I need to find Haryet. I mean, I get that Imogen and the others—the Mabels, and Piper, and the rest—they’re probably dead. Their trip into the tower was years ago. But Haryet was yesterday. Or… the day before. I’m not really sure how much time has passed. But it’s two days, max. She has to be here.
Wherever ‘here’ is.
He says this is Tau City, but what I saw outside was not my Tau City. The towers were so tall. And bright. It was so bright. Like the people down there have never even considered the idea that spark should be rationed. Also, I could only sort of see the canal. It was there, I saw the shimmer that indicates water where the canal should be, but it wasn’t bright blue like it is at home. I don’t know what’s going on with that. It’s not even important, I guess.
