Page 52 of Sparktopia
Not through the night, but through the morning.
And when I wake, the sun is high above us—blazing down through a large, circular window—and Clara is sobbing.
I turn, trying to kiss her. Neck, lips, breasts, pussy—I want to kiss her all over.
But she pushes me away and gets to her feet, completely naked. And this time, when I look at her, she doesn’t even try to cover herself.
“What?” I ask, my voice groggy from just waking. “What’s wrong?”
She makes a face of confusion. Then she’s spitting words at me. “What’swrong?” She pauses to let out an incredulous snort. “I’m going to the tower tonight, Finn. Are you really,reallygonna let me do that?”
I get to my feet as well, and try to pull her into my arms. “Clara?—”
“No!” She pushes me away. Two flat hands against my chest. It’s a not a hard shove, but I do take a couple steps back just to give her space. “I want an answer. Ineedan answer.”
I scoff. “Clara. An answer… to what question?”
“Are you sending me into that tower tonight?”
My mouth drops open and I point at my chest. “Do you think this is up to me? Because it’s not. I have no say in this. It’s the damn god. Do you have any idea what happens if the Extraction Master refuses to send a Maiden in when she’s summoned?”
“No. Because no Master has ever done it before! They’re all a bunch of cowards!”
Rage flares up inside of me. Because myfatherwas the Extraction Master before me and he was not a fucking coward. But I force my voice to be even and firm when I speak next. “That’s bullshit. They have, Clara. Not many of them, because they learned pretty quick that the god in the tower gets what he asks for or else.”
“Or else what?”
“Or else he takes youall. Not just you, but Gemna too. And not just you and Gemna, either, but all those Little Sisters down there as well.”
Her eyes go squinty. She takes a breath. Lets it out. Then replies in a seething whisper, “That’sbullshit.”
“You say that because you’ve never seen it happen.”
“Neither have you.”
“No. But I’ve got a reliable source. Are you willing to chance it?” I’m looking her straight in the eyes as I say this, glaring at her. Pissed off, again. And hating this fact, because this isn’t me. But I don’t know how to feel any other way right now.
All I can do is try and explain. “Because I’m not, Clara.” It still comes out as a growl, but it’s not as harsh as it could’ve been. I am at least a little bit in control. “I’m not willing to chance it. Sending Haryet last night was bad, but you? This is going to kill me, Clara. I might be alive when those doors close, but inside, I will be dead.”
I pause here, waiting to see if she’s listening closely or not. If she’s taking me seriously, or not. And I think she is, because she doesn’t reply. Just stares at me with an open mouth.
“I can’t kill them all just on the hope of savingyou! Because you won’t be saved, Clara. The god will compel you to walk through the doors. That’s why none of the Spark Maidens ever tried to run before. It can compel you. It can make you. And after it makes you do it, it’ll make all the others do it too. And there is nothing we can do to stop it. I’mnotin charge of this.”
I pause again, but still she’s got nothing to say.
“So now, knowing this, what would you do, Clara? Go into that tower sotheycan all live? Or kill them, and yourself too? Because those are your options.”
She gasps. And then she slaps me, the cyan-blue light once again leaking out of her lit-up hands. There are hundreds of glowing symbols on them now, though. Not just her hands,either. I watch as the weird markings crawl past her wrists, past her elbows, over her shoulders—then her whole torso lights up. A moment later, it’s covering her whole body. She points at me, screaming. “Get out! Get out right now!”
I grab both her wrists, grip them so tight she winces and cries out, and then I pull her right up to my chest, forcing her to look me in the eyes. “I will not get out.” My voice is even now, my tone low and calm. “I will not. Get out. Because I love you. And this is my last day with you. And I’m gonnamissyou. I’m going to wake up tomorrow and have nothing to live for. Because you, Clara, have been my reason to live since I was a little boy. Everything I’ve done, I did for you.”
She yanks back, trying to free her wrists from my grip, her face still hard and angry. “Is that your reason for fucking me like a whore today?”
I actually laugh out loud. “Whore?” Then I narrow my eyes, the heat creeping up my spine as her accusation fully sinks in. The words come out before I can stop them. And the worst thing is, they are easy words that send all the wrong signals. “Well, you seemed to have a good time, so…”
She wriggles in my grip, itching to slap me again. But I keep hold of both her wrists, staring directly into her eyes, as I speak. “Do not ever hit me again.” And these words do not come out easy. They come out like a threat.
She recoils, like I scared her, which is not what I was trying to do, so I let go of her wrists. Immediately she turns and walks to the other side of the room, picking up a silk throw and wrapping it around her upper body to cover her nakedness, the glow she was just displaying gone now. She points at the door and speaks very calmly. “Get out.”
