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)
For the first time I take a good look around at the cave. It’s pretty, I’ll give it that. The crystals are glowing a soothing cyan blue. Like the canal back in my Tau City. They are very big, about a dozen in number, and light the place up. Setting a very soothing atmosphere.
The cave is massive. Easily as tall as a tower. Maybe not as tall as the God’s Tower. But looking up, the distance from the ground to the ceiling could be the same height as the Maiden tower, which was twelve floors tall in total, including the ground floor and the very tippy top where the communal dining room was.
It’s a wide cave as well. Easily spanning the same distance across the canal from Maiden tower to Extraction Tower. But there are little nooks here and there. Built into the walls of the cave or part of the bigger outcroppings. Almost as if the designer of the Little Sister dorm used this cave as inspiration. In fact, now that I think about it, there’s even a canal.
Well, a small stream. Probably a few dozen of them, actually. More like flowing puddles, but the point is, they’ve got a glow to them. It’s interesting. Especially this newfound resemblance to the dorm. I like it. There’s just… there’s this little nagging feeling in the back of my brain that’s flashing red at me. Trying to tell me something. Or remind me of something, I’m just not sure what.
It doesn’t matter. The real point of all this introspection is that, aside from all this natural beauty and interesting coincidence, there’s nothing here but rocks, the crystals, and us. I glance back at Tyse, who seems to be watching me very closely as he patiently waits for me to come to a conclusion about his question. “It doesn’t really look anything like how I pictured a happily ever after.”
He forces a smile. “What does your happily ever after look like?”
I shrug. “I’m… kind of a city girl.”
He laughs, which makes me let out a breath, feeling better because his laugh is real. “Oh, I get it. You need boutiques to resupply yourself with cheeky underwear.”
He’s not wrong about that. Boutiques are definitely part of my dream. But that’s not it. “I need… people, Tyse. I’m not a loner. I’m a social butterfly.” I look around the cave again, picturing myself being stuck here forever, not a single friend in site. Not even Anneeta. I shake my head at Tyse. “I don’t see it.”
He is clearly not giving up on this because his smile just grows bigger. “Well, that’s because we haven’t explored yet. There’s a tunnel. It just… doesn’t have a train in it. As far as I know, but maybe it does? We could follow that tunnel. Instead of going back to an ambush.”
I must be frowning because he quickly continues. “It’s just a suggestion. We could find another world, if that’s what you want.”
“Another world where I can’t breathe? Sounds tempting.”
Again, his smile is forced.
“OK,” I say, planting my hands on my hips. “What the hell is going on?”
“What? What do ya mean?”
“You. This place and your new-found obsession with it. I understand that there’s danger back in our world on the train line, but… there’s a way around those…” Monsters. “Men,” is what I really say. Because they are augments. And so is Tyse. And he’s not a monster.
“Our world?” Tyse asks. “702 isn’t my world, Clara.”
“Wow. Really?”
“What?”
“Not your world, my world. What the fuck, Tyse?”
“I’m just saying. We don’t have to stay in 702. That’s all. That’s it. And this place—”
“Which is called… what?”
“Zero point fourteen forty.”
“Zero point?”
“It’s a fractional world. Very low. Between zero and one.”
I want to ask what that means, but even if he knows, and even if he’d tell me, it wouldn’t have any significance. I don’t have a frame of reference for ‘frequencies’ and ‘resonance’. It’s all very blah, blah, blah.
So why am I trying to start an argument with him about it?
Because he’s hiding something, Clara. And it goes against our code.
His code, actually. Not mine. He was the one who made a big deal about loyalty and lies. How he wouldn’t put up with them. How he would have my back, so I must have his. That was his code. My code is… well, just be nice to people and it comes back to you. It’s really as simple as that.
And right now, he’s not being nice to me because he’s treating me like a bracelet.
Seeing—or, more probably, sensing—my growing frustration, Tyse slips his arms around my hips, locking his hands behind my back and pulling me close. “It’s been a long day. For me, and you. Let’s just rest here. We’ll have some food, and look around a bit, and talk, and sleep. And then, when we wake up, we’ll make decisions together. Wherever you wanna go, Clara Birch, we’ll go.”