Page 38 of Godslayer
Having run out of ways to assure her, I simply exhale. “Should we keep going?”
“What if they attack us?”
“They didn’t attack—” But I stop. “What’s going on with you?”
“What? Nothing. Why?”
“Because you’re suddenly so…”
When I struggle to find a word, she inserts one for me. “Timid? Spineless? Fearful?”
“I was gonna say uncertain, but if you’re feeling timid, spineless, or fearful, let’s just turn around. I don’t need to check this place out that bad. We’ll move on. We’ll get back on the train, go to the next station, and we’ll hit this place up on our way back.”
Her mouth drops open. “Way back? We’re coming back?”
I shrug. “Well, when we’re done. Where else is there to go?”
“Tau City will still be there, won’t it?”
“Yes. It’s there. I saw Gemna on the way out. I bet all the cities will still be there. Maybe not this one, but who knows. We’re not destroying everything. Just the idea of sacrifice.”
She actually brightens as I’m talking. “I never thought about going home. But you’re right. We didn’t destroy the whole city. And Gemna lived.”
“Gemna and everyone else who wasn’t a part of that sick ritual.”
Now she smiles. “Wecouldgo home.”
“And start over.”
“Forget the Godslayer and his Courtesan. We could be…”
I take her hand, looking her in the eyes. “The scholar and his wife?”
“Or the scholar and her husband.”
I laugh. Pointing at her. “Either way. I’m in.”
She lets out a long breath. “All right. I feel better. I don’t know what is wrong with me today, I just…”
“Missed home?”
“Yeah. I miss all of it. I don’t know what Tau City Factory is, but that’s where we grew up. That’s all we know. I want to go back. Not now. Not yet. But when we’re done doing what we came out here to do? Yes.”
I give her hand a squeeze. “Deal. Now let’s figure this place out and move on.”
“The faster we burn it all down, the quicker we go home.”
“A motto to live by if ever there was one.”
10 - JASINA
Idon’t know what’s wrong with me, but clearly something is. Because as we descend the staircase that will deposit us on the other side of the Extraction Tower, Finn is holding my hand like I need the moral support.
And… I do. My heart is racing. And while I do admit that this is a heart-racing situation to be in, it’s just… not me.
“What are they doing?” Finn’s voice pulls me out of my reverie. I find him pointing down at the workers.
We’ve descended all the way down to the fourth floor now, so we have a good view of them. Most are moving crates on carts that seem to float above the floor without any wheels. There are lots of little lights along the side of these carts too. Like they run off of spark.
