Page 31 of Godslayer
We’ll go home to Tau City. A different Tau City. And I’ll find those scholars who study the ruins below the city and I’ll tell them all about our time on the train line, and those people will become our people. People with questions looking for answers. And Jasina and I will settle in with them, and the world will calm down, and that family will emerge, and grow, one baby at a time.
Jasina points. “There they are. The stairs.”
I’m up to my knees in mucky, murky water when she says this. I wade over to the steps and turn, letting her hop off without getting her feet wet. Then we start climbing.
We’re about halfway up when Jasina stops.
“What?” I ask. We’re on a landing maybe six floors up. Jasina walks over to the edge, peering out at the inside of the tower. All the way up to the top, then down where the water is still sloshing from the disturbance I made. Lights flicker erratically, casting eerie shadows over the walls.
“This feels wrong.”
I look around, taking in the vibe of the place. “Yeah. Can’t say I disagree. Let’s just get it over with and leave. We’ll be back at the train station in ten minutes and we’ll never have to come here again.”
She looks at me, nodding, but she’s apprehensive.
“You wanna wait here?” I ask. “I can do it alone.”
“No. This place is creepy. Don’t you think it’s creepy?”
I shrug, looking around. “I mean, I wouldn’t call it cozy but they’ve all been creepy, Jasina.”
She sighs. “You’re right. I think my imagination is just getting the better of me.” Then she turns back to the stairs and starts climbing again.
It only takes a few minutes to reach the top, and here we pause. Pressing our ears against the door. We have no idea what time it is, whether it’s day or night, or whether or not the Extraction Master is on the other side of this door sitting at his desk or doing something in the Looking Glass room, so we always listen.
Jasina shakes her head. “I don’t hear anything.”
I nod, agreeing. “Me either.” Then turn the handle and push forward just a tiny crack.
It’s completely dark inside. No sound. Nothing.
But we pause here anyway, just to make sure.
After several minutes, Jasina touches my arm. “I think it’s empty.”
I think she’s right, so I push the door open with more force, making the bookcase inside swing open. But it gets caught on something about a foot in, refusing to budge any further. “There’s something blocking it,” I say.
She squeezes past me, easing her body sideways through the door, then stares at the ground.
“What is it?” I ask. “What’s blocking the door?”
She bends over, picking something up. Then holds it in front of the door so I can see it. “Books.”
But the one in her hand isn’t just any book. It’sthebook.
The Godslayer and his Courtesan.
8 - JASINA
Ihold up the book, showing it to Finn as my mind races with questions. “What is this doing here?”
Finn pushes against the door now that he knows it’s just books in the way, forcing it open a few more inches—enough to squeeze his body through sideways. He looks down at the pile of books, then back up at me. “It was on the shelf, I guess.”
“Yeah, obviously. It’s been on the shelf in every single Extraction Tower.”
My brow furrows. “Has it?”
“Yeah, I’ve checked. This book has been following me ever since my first day in the Little Sister dorm. I found it on a shelf there too. Then up in your tower, and it’s been in every tower we’ve blown up so far.”
