Page 34 of Sparktopia
I wanted to see Clara. So badly. I wanted to skip out on this entire night and take her in my arms, and make love to her, and kiss her all night long and live this day like it’s a dream.
And then, maybe, when we woke up, we could’ve run away. Just walked out into the desert, leaving this whole city behind. We could’ve started over in a place with no tower and no god. Or hell, just dug a hole in the sand until we found an ancient train tunnel and spent the rest of our lives underground like the scholars who study that stuff do.
It wouldn’t matter to me. I wouldn’t care where we lived just as long as we got away from here before anything else had a chance to happen.
But it’s a pointless fantasy because it’s five minutes to seven and Mitchell, Jeyk, and I are already on our way to dinner. Infive hours, the incessant bells will stop ringing and Haryet will be gone.
But how much time will that buy us? A year, like the last time?
Or will it be a week?
Will it be a day?
Maybe those bells never stop ringing?
Maybe Haryet walks through the door and they just keep going?
Maybe Clara will be gone tonight too?
It should be an absurd fear, but it’s not. Because it could actually happen.
And the worst thing is, I couldn’t do a thing about it.
Or… could I?
I stop walking halfway across the canal bridge and look at Mitch. “What happens if I refuse to let Haryet walk through the doors?”
He and Jeyk both stop abruptly and turn back to me. Mitch squints his eyes. “What?”
“What happens if I don’t send her through? Has anyone ever done it?”
Surprisingly, it’s Jeyk who answers me, not Mitch. “I asked that question once.”
“To who?” I ask him.
“My father. And he said that his grandfather told him that your grandfather once refused.”
“Really? My father never mentioned it. And I never knew my grandfather. He died long before—” I pause for a moment, trying on the idea that I should stop here. That I should forget I ever asked this question. Just wallow in my own ignorance for a while.
But I can’t. I’ve already heard too much. “The god killed him?”
Jeyk’s expression turns uncomfortable and he shrugs. “He wasn’t the only one. The entire Council dropped dead. That was the night that Aldo became the Extraction Master and he was the one who sent the Maiden in. But Father said the worst part was that all the Maidens-in-Waiting, and even the Little Sisters who didn’t get Chosen had to go in too.”
“What?” This comes from Mitch. “That’s bullshit.”
Jeyk just shrugs. “Whatever. That’s what he said.”
“How would that even happen?” I ask. “I mean, did the god appear, or something, and then demand all this extra spark?”
“No.” Jeyk shakes his head. “He said they just did it. The door didn’t close after the first Maiden walked through. And then, all of a sudden, the other Maidens started walking towards the door too. People tried to stop them and they couldn’t. It was like they were in a trance. Like they were compelled. Then all of that year’s Unchosen did the same thing. They lost a hundred girls that night, not just one.”
I let out a long breath and look at Mitch. He wants to object. He wants to say it’s bullshit. But it was him, just a few hours ago, telling me that the only way these Maidens walk through is by compulsion. So he can’t. Even if what Jeyk just told us is completely false, Mitch can’t say shit.
But Jeyk isn’t done. He keeps talking. “A lot of things like that have happened over the years, Finn. My father told me a lot of things about Tau City. He’s worked in every single district. He has friends in all of them because he’s the guy they turned to when they needed help with mechanicals. And sometimes, they couldn’t pay. So he’d ask them questions about the past. What they saw, what they heard. This place doesn’t run as smoothly as they tell us. Things—likebigthings—go wrong all the time. It’s just, they don’t put that in the history books, ya know? They just… don’t tell anyone.”
I don’t respond. I just turn back to the bridge and continue walking.
Jeyk and Mitch follow behind me.
