Page 63 of Godslayer
“Which is?”
“I shut down.”
“You die?”
“No. I mean, at least I don’t think so. I just… turn the augments back off.”
“Can you do that?”
“Someone can. Because they used to be turned off.”
“Until I showed up.”
“Right. At first, I thought it was Delta, but now I’m not so sure.”
“Why not? What changed your mind?”
“He doesn’t know, Clara. He has no idea I can see through the veils. Which means he has no idea that I can pull spark from other dimensions.”
“How does he think you’re feeding me?”
“He doesn’t. He thinksyou’refeedingme. Because, ya are. But I don’t think Spark Maidens work the way you and I work.”
“What’s different about us?”
He takes his time answering, having, apparently, not really thought this far ahead. But finally, he says, “It’s you, obviously.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because nothing changed for me until you showed up. Tell me this, did anything change for you when you stepped out of that tower?”
“Change like how?”
“Did ya suddenly inherit magic powers, Clara?”
“No,” I laugh.
“Did ya suddenly see through veils?”
“No.”
“Can you jump dimensions and pull spark from people?”
“Obviously not.”
“It wasmewho changed when you came, not the other way around. You are who ya are. I’m…new.”
I don’t like this word ‘new’. And from the look on Tyse’s face, I don’t think he likes it either. He says, “There’s somethin’ else.”
My eyebrows go up. “Good God, there’s more?”
“Yeah. Ya see, Delta—well, all the gods, but especially the Alphas—they’re playin’ some kind of game.”
My eyes practically furrow into each other, that’s how little sense this makes. “What?”
“That’s all I know about it. Just… there’s something goin’ on here that we’re not a part of. I know this because when he called me to the tower the other day, he said, ‘Good luck and Godspeed, Godslayer.’”
“Godslayer?” I don’t know what the word for an extreme level of confusion is—perhaps, bewilderment? But that’s what I am right now. “Like… the mythological man in the picture book?” I actually laugh out loud. “Why the hell would he call you that?”
