Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 144277 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 721(@200wpm)___ 577(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144277 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 721(@200wpm)___ 577(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
And down the middle is a canal. Filled with dark, gray, nearly black water.
I recoil just looking at it. “What the hell is wrong with the water?”
“Hmm,” Tyse hums. But it’s not one of his sexy hums. It’s one of his concerned hums. “I dunno. Looks gross though, right? Like oil, or somethin’.”
Yeah. Really gross. But then I get distracted by the smaller screens. Each of which seem to show a little slice of the city and the people in it.
Again, it’s reminiscent of my Tau City—but the vibes are all wrong. Everyone is wearing black. There isn’t a bit of blue anywhere. And they all look… well, not unhappy, exactly, but even after searching several dozen screens across the entire city, I can’t find a single person that’s laughing.
“There isn’t a bit of spark anywhere,” Tyse says.
“What?” I turn and walk over to him. While I was looking for laughter, he was looking for spark, I guess. “No spark anywhere? Hmm. It makes sense though. That’s why the water is black.”
“I think you’re right. That is why the water is black. But… why would there be no spark here? In your Tau City they raised spark. They cultivated it inside women, then sacrificed them to the fake god in the tower. Which was just them stealing your spark to feed Anneeta. So what is goin’ on here? Because there is no baby god back in Delta City. Well,” he laughs. “I guess, technically, there is. But trust me when I say this, Delta isn’t growing Anneeta up to take his place. I don’t know what he’s doin’ with those little gods, but it isn’t that. He doesn’t share.”
“He still has to feed them.” Even I recoil from my words. I think Tyse does too, but I wasn’t looking at him, so I don’t know for sure. “Wow. I can’t believe I just said that.”
“It’s true though. And might explain the lack of spark here?” He shrugs. “Maybe?”
My brow furrows, thinking. “Well, when Delta and I had that talk in my head after I first arrived in his city, he made a remark about the Extraction. Something like… it was barbaric. That he didn’t do it that way. Not his exact words, but along those lines.”
“If he’s not extracting spark,” Tyse looks confused, “then why does this place look dead and empty? And how does he live?”
I shrug. “Maybe he’s too old to need spark?”
“But… all gods need food.”
“What?”
“Nothin’. It just doesn’t add up. There has to be spark here. Why else does it exist?”
On the screens a buzzing noise sounds, pulling our attention back to the city. People begin rushing around. Some of them looking downright panicked.
Tyse presses in closer, trying to see the people better. “What the hell is happening now?”
I have no idea. But that buzzer was clearly a signal that people should be… doing something.
“They’re goin’ home,” Tyse says, pointing at a screen that shows a walkway in front of a row of houses. Whole families are scurrying through doors. “They’re rushing around tryin’ to get home.”
“Must be dinner time.” Which makes Tyse laugh and upsets my stomach. Because we both know they’re not rushing home for dinner. They’re not rushing home for something good like hanging out with your family. People looking forward to something fun don’t move with panicked, jerky motions and have fear-filled eyes.
Suddenly, all but a few of the screens switch from an outside view to an inside one. Tyse and I both lean in closer, trying to see everything, all at once.
I’m drawn to a view of a woman and her family inside a home that looks eerily similar to the home I lived in with my father. He was the Extraction Master’s valet, so we had a nice place in the Extraction District. Not as nice as Finn’s house, but it was comfortable.
The mother is busy doing something in the kitchen while the father is ushering three little girls into another room. I look around, trying to see if I can follow the father and children, but each screen seems to be a different home, so I focus on the mother. She removes lengths of clear tubing from paper packages, then hurriedly follows her family into the other room.
The view switches, and now I can see them all. The mother is attaching the tubes to her daughters, a look of panic on her face. “What the …” I lean in closer. “What the hell is she doing with those tubes?” I glance up at Tyse and find him pale and sickly looking. “What’s wrong with you?”
He points to the screen in front of him. “They’re all doing it.”
He’s right. Every screen I look at, I find the same scene—a family in a room. All the females—mothers and children alike, have those tubes attached to them on one end, and on the other they are plugged in to a wall. “What is this?”