Page 78 of Sparktopia
I laugh. “You’re definitely not from Tau City.”
“The hell I’m not. I grew up there. I live in the Maiden Tower. Well, Ididlive there. Until last night when I walked through the God’s Tower door.”
“ThisisTau City. And there is no god in Tau City, lady. It’s been dead for hundreds of years, I’ve already told ya that. And I’ve never heard of a Maiden Tower. There’s no Maiden Tower.”
She lets out a breath, but her eyes are flashing anger as they look around my small room. “Is that a window?” She points at the window, which is covered in steel shutters.
“Yes.”
“Can you open it?”
“We’re ten floors up. You can’t get out that way.”
She hisses her words at me. “I don’t want to jump. I want to look out.”
I’m annoyed at this request because the shutters are old, and rusty, and a pain in the ass to close after they’ve been opened. I haven’t looked out that window in a couple years, at least. But I go over there, fuck with it for nearly three minutes, and finally the louvers flip open.
I stand aside and present her with the view.
She comes over, lifting her dress up with dainty fingertips, and looks out, pressing her face up to the shutter. She doesn’t say anything.
“Well?” I ask, after many silent seconds tick off.
“I don’t understand what I’m seeing. It’s… very bright.”
“Well, it’s night so… you know. All the fucking lights are on.”
“But even down-city.” She looks over her shoulder at me, wincing. “I mean, the lower end of the canal. There’s no power down there. Not for lights.”
“Of course there’s power down there. There’s power everywhere. Tau City is a Level One metropolitan area.”
“What’s that?” She sticks a finger through the louver, like this is gonna help me see what she’s pointing at.
I lean in and bend down, trying to follow her point. “What’s what?”
“All that down there? Where the up-city towers should be. It looks like… a ruin.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re finally accepting reality. It looks like a ruin because itisa ruin. As I’ve said several times now, there is no god in Tau City. The tower was decommissioned centuries ago. It’s a place for spark addicts now. And… people like me. Who just… kinda hate society and don’t want to participate.”
Suddenly, she whirls around. Out of instinct I take a step back. “Wait! What about Haryet! Did you find her too?”
“Harriet? Who the hell is Harriet?”
“Har-yet.Haryet. She was number eight. She came the night before.”
I point to the floor. “Came here?”
“Yes! Two Maidens in two days!” She says these words with manic excitement. But then she deflates with a long breath of air. “Imogen, Marlowe, Mabel P., Lucy, Mabel S., Piper, Brooke, Haryet, and me. Gemna’s the only one left.”
“Well… I don’t know what to say about that. The only reason I went looking for you is because Stayn asked me to. He can’t come inside the tower himself. Well, I guess he could, but uptight up-city fucks like him think they’ll get addicted to thespark if they even come in once.” I chuckle. “I like that term. Up-city. I’m gonna call him that next time I see him.”
Clara’s face is blank. Like I’m speaking some other language. But she doesn’t yell at me again and she doesn’t throw a tantrum. In fact, I watch in real time as she gives up, flopping down into my chair.
Which makes me point at it. “Uhhh, that’s my chair.”
She looks at the chair, then up at me. “What?”
“My chair. You’re sitting in it and… you should just sit somewhere else. The bed or that one over there by the shower. But I’m warning you, if you touch my weapon again, I’ll break your fingers.”
