Page 157 of Godslayer
“Superstrong,” Elsha deadpans, rolling her eyes. “Let me guess, Xi told you that he’s the brightest spark in the cascade, didn’t he?”
My mouth drops open.
“Cut the shit, Jasina,” Veyra says. “Why are you acting like we don’t know who you are and why you’re here?”
“W-what?” I’m stunned.
“We all know, Jasina,” Maelis says, her voice quiet and soft. A sharp contrast against the other two.
“You’re nothing special,” Elsha sneers. “You’re not above us.”
I place a hand over my heart. “I never said I was. I don’t know what sparked this?—"
“Sparked this,” Elsha laughs, spitting out some wine. “Oh, that’s so funny!”
“You’re gonna end up just likeher, you know,” Veyra says. And then she points to the empty space where Lilika should be, but isn’t.
I look at this space, blinking. Confused.
“One day,” Maelis says, her voice still very soft, “itwillbe your turn. Every spark has its purpose, Jasina.”
Then, as if they planned it this way, the three of them just get up and walk out.
Leaving me sitting at a table filled with dirty breakfast dishes.
Later,back in the room, I replay this morning over and over in my head. The looks on their faces.
The sneering attitudes of Elsha.
Maelis and her almost pitying manner.
That stupid city motto—Every spark has its purpose!
Veyra’s threat.
That’s how I took it when she said I’m going to end up just like Lilika—which is missing, I guess.
I only sat at the table for a minute—probably less. But when I got up and tried to find them again in the lobby—I mean, we had tea scheduled, they can’t justleave—they weren’t there.
Maybe the days aren’t structured like I assumed. Maybe book club and tea aren’t always paired together. But I went to the beach, and the movies, and the art studio, and the shops, but I couldn’t find them anywhere.
I even did the whole powerwalking route backwards, hoping I’d bump into them.
Nothing. They were gone. At this point, it was well into the afternoon and I figured I’d just go home. That’s probably where they were the whole time.
I walk into an empty room, sit on the bed, and flop back, wondering how this day went so wrong. Bored, and so not in the mood to do anything but nap, I reach over to the bedside table and grab the remote for the big screen on the wall across from the bed.
They have these big screens all over the city, and I’ve been enough places now to understand that they’re… well, stories, but in vids. Which is a new word I feel weird using in context, but there it is.
The point is, people watch these screens when they’re bored because they tell stories. It’s a way to pass time Maelis told me.
Since it’s only two in the afternoon, Finn won’t be home for many hours. Well,wellpast dark. So I might as well use the screen to pass time like everyone else. The girls and I will workthings out tomorrow, so I put the weird morning aside and let out a breath, resigned to an afternoon of well-earned laziness.
I’ve used the remote before, and after pressing a few random switches—which are actually called buttons here, weird—the screen finally comes to life, and sound booms through the room.
Music over a black background. A slow, dramatic organ swell that reminds me of a wedding march. Then a woman’s whispered voice: “Vows are forever…”
Violins—high and tense—screech, then go silent as a sparkling sound, like crystal wind chimes, fills the emptiness.
