Page 97 of Godslayer
She doesn’t answer, she doesn’t even have a face—but itisHaryet. Iknowit’s her. I recognize her cherry spark. It contains the memory of her life.
So I try again, floating forward, just the smallest of distances—immediately, she unravels completely. Spinning off into… strings. Unfolding before my eyes.
I gasp, floating backwards, creating distance between us.What did I do?
But again, her distorted outline reforms when I retreat. Her cherry light in place. Her heart light glowing, unlike the others, who didn’t have a heart spark.
This causes me to look down where I find my own heart spark pulsing in a steady rhythm inside my chest, as if counting something or ticking off time.
Why are we different? Why do we have this heart spark, when the others did not?
Then it hits me, Iknowher. She’s a friend. We are friends. Connected. Maybe that’s what’s different. And if Haryet is here, then maybe so is Brooke!
“Brook!” I yell. “Mabels!” I scream, combining their two names into one. “Lucy! Piper! Marlow! Imogen!”
It’s the saying of Imogen’s name out loud that clarifies things. At least a bit.
None of my Spark Maiden Sisters are here, other than Haryet, because they were all eaten by the tiny god Anneeta.Haryet and I, are the only ones who weren’t consumed by the baby god.
“So we’re different.”
Haryet’s shape glows when I say this, as if she’s confirming my realization.
“We’re different,” I say again. “Because…”
Because why? What makes us different?
“We both have heart spark?”
Haryet glows again. Pulsing with the beat of that same spark in our hearts.
“OK,” I say. Because clearly, I am here for a reason.Reasons. And I need to understand them.
First, to remember the women. That one is obvious. I don’t know what is going on with that, but it feels very important that each of them were…known. At least in death. Perhaps because they were nothing but remnants in life.
Second. This one, I’m still working out. But only two of us—Haryet and me—have heart sparks. This too, is important. Why are we different?
Well, it’s kind of obvious. “We’re from Tau City,” I say, aiming these words at the remnant of Haryet.
She glows, but not brightly.
“I’m wrong. Half wrong,” I realize. My brow furrowing in confusion. It’s true, we are, but that’s not what the heart spark is about.
A new idea forms. There is something else that only Haryet and I have done—and lived through. Sort of. “We walked through the door.” And that armada of faceless women, they never did. Because they weren’t Extracted, they were harvested.
Haryet lights up so bright, I have to shield my eyes. “OK!” I get excited. “Yay! I figured something out. We both walked through the door, which means, we both… crossed dimensions!”
Immediately, I know this is true. This is why we have heart spark.
“To what end, though? What does it matter?”
Suddenly, Haryet’s shape begins to shimmer. The glowing blue spark that outlines her body fills in, hiding both her cherry spark in her head and her heart spark in her chest. A pattern appears. A dress. A long, blue gown made of silks, and linens, and lace.
I recognize it as the one she wore for the Final Choosing during our Little Sister year. When she became Number Eight and I became Number Nine. And when I look down at myself, I’m wearing my Final Choosing dress too.
“What?” I ask, a little bit excited, but also scared. Because I don’t understand what’s happening. Will I be tugged back in time? Saving me from whatever ripped me away from Tyse and the Spark Source, but also putting me back to where I started, and thereby taking everything I’ve earned, back? Will I love the man I love…again?
But no. That’s not what’s happening.
