Page 80 of Sparktopia
Haryet is important.
Because there is no god here. Tyse said the god has been dead for hundreds of years. It doesn’t matter if it makes sense or why it’s happening this way. The only thing that matters is that there is no evidence that a god lives like…this.
So I believe him.
And if there is no god here, then my duty is over.
I suck in a long breath, hold it for a moment, and then let it out.
What’s in the place of that breath is something I never thought I’d have again.
Hope.
Because if there is no god, and if my duty is over, then I am free to go home.
Which means my dreams of a life with Finn aren’t dead.
I still hate him. But… in a I-love-him way, of course. You don’t throw away your lifelong love over a trip into the tower. Not when it turns out the whole thing was either a total fabrication or a mistake. If there’s a chance to salvage our relationship and make that off-the-cuff dream of him being a scholar, and me being a wife and mother, come true, then I’m here for it.
All I have to do is find my way back to the door. Which, according to the man-baby sleeping in that chair across the room, is a million levels below ground.
But it can’t be a million. And while he is a very fit specimen of a man, he’s definitely not a god, he’s just a regular guy. Of… whatever species he belongs to. With weird blue lights in his eyes. And kinda hot. Maybe even… very hot.
I turn, leaning back against the door, and stare at the man across the room. Standing up, he’s extremely tall. But even sitting down, he takes up a lot of space. His hair is something between brown and ginger. That little bit of red could be from the lighting in here—which is a warm tone—but his beard also has some red in it. The sides of his head are shaved, but the rest is long and tied back at the nape of his neck.
Almost his entire upper body is covered in tattoos, but what’s not appears to be scarred. I can’t see them well from here, but I got a good enough look while we were facing off in the argument.
The tattoos and scars aren’t the only notable things about his upper body. He’s muscular. He did, after all, carry me up a million flights of stairs to save my life.
Apparently.
I get a little lost looking at him, but shake myself out of it. The point is—going back down those stairs has got to be a whole lot easier than going up them. And that’s my plan. Get out of here, go down, find the door, and go home.
I pause to smile. Then a chuckle escapes past my lips. Because I am imagining what the people of Tau City will think when they see me. When they realize a Maiden has returned.
I will have answers for them. We will never send another girl into that tower. The Extraction will be over, Finn and I will be married, and Tau City will live happily ever after.
A small snort comes out with the next laugh. It’s a ridiculous dream, I get it.
But it doesn’t seem unattainable.
I mean, that door has to be somewhere. All I have to do is find it.
I turn back around and knock softly on the door in front of me, giving it one more try. “Hello? Anneeta? Anyone? Can you hear me?” I press my ear to the cold metal, listening.
But it’s completely silent out there.
So I sigh, and look back at the bed. Then at the man sleeping in the chair.
I will admit that he looks dangerous. Like he was in a war. My eyes dart over to that weapon of his hanging in the belt on the chair. It was very heavy. Took two hands for me to lift it. I know Tau City has weapons, but I’ve never seen anything like that. And those darts it shot—my eyes glide up to the ceiling where the evidence of my stupidity remains.
I could’ve shot him. I nearly did.
My gaze wanders back down to the man in the chair again. This time I study those scars of his and decide it wouldn’t have been the first time he was shot.
This is when I realize I’m still wearing his jacket. I look down at it—trying not to see the slutty dress I’m still wearing—and find there are patches sewn on the shoulders and front. They all look very official, but other than that, they are beyond my comprehension. Tau City had a patrol, of course, but they all wore regular clothes. Certainly nothing like this jacket.
Which is another difference—the clothing. His clothes are very strange. Granted, I haven’t seen a good enough sample size of people here to make any kind of fashion determination, but he’s definitely not wearing gauzy desert robes or oversized linen pants. His pants are black and have a lot of pockets. I’ve actually never seen a garment like that and black isn’t a common color in my version of Tau City. Everything is a soothing neutral, the colors of sand and sun-bleached blue.
