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)
I keep looking.
When I finally find a place that registers spark, I realize it’s been half a day since I started the search and Clara is nothing but a limp body in my arms. She’s still breathing, but for how long?
I turn my attention to the world with the spark signature, tryin’ to make sense of it. Because it’s not an empty room like the one we’re in, it’s a cave filled with massive cyan-blue crystals. The frequency associated with this place is extraordinarily low. 0.1440.
Which mimics the frequency of my own Delta City, but in an extremely low-energy way. And this contradicts what I’m lookin’ at. Because I’m getting the impression that those crystals are pure spark.
Did I just stumble into the source of everythin’?
Better question—do I dare steal it?
I look down at Clara. She’s not gonna replenish herself. She needs spark from somewhere, and it’s unfortunate that, across many worlds, this particular space in the grid is practically void of options.
So I don’t have a choice.
Source or not, sacred or not—I need this spark.
Before I can change my mind, I reach for it. I stretch my will across the veil, making the cyan-blue crystals glow momentarily. Then, as I watch, the spark begins to come off it in swirlin’ tendrils that float towards me.
My heart is poundin’ in my chest.
What the fuck am I doing?
But the fear isn’t enough to stop me.
I need this spark.
It comes right through the overlay—kind of merging with it. And then, when I look down at my fingers, the spark flows out of me and seeps into Clara, like I’m a faucet and she’s a sponge, soaking it up.
Suddenly, the cave-world collapses, disappearin’ from my overlay. And other worlds rush in to take its place. But it doesn’t matter. Clara is already stirring. Already feeling better. The spark fillin’ her back up—making her pale, nearly translucent skin, flush pink with life.
And anyway, I saw the frequency.
0.1440.
I can find it again any time I want.
After only about ten minutes, Clara is sittin’ up, back against the wall just a few feet away, drinking water from a flask and absently swiping at loose tendrils of hair near her eyes. Eyes I can’t stop lookin’ at because on my overlay, they’re glowing. Not like mine do with the little indicator lights for augmentation. Something far more subtle.
But when I turn the overlay off, they’re normal.
It was the spark I fed her. Source, I’m calling it. Even though I’m not sure that’s what it was.
“Whew,” Clara sighs, finishing her long drink. “That took a lot out of me. What happened?”
“We crossed,” I say. I’ve been trying to piece together a story, but the lies are starting to pile up and we’ve been on this mission for one day. So I’ve decided to tell her the truth. “But it took everythin’ from you, Clara. All your spark. I think you were dyin’.”
Her brow furrows, eyes narrowing. “Dying? I don’t remember… well, I don’t remember anything, actually.”
“I needed the spark—” I’m gonna say it. I am. I have every intention of tellin’ her what’s goin’ on here. How she feeds me and how I take everything. I mean, I won’t do it again. I didn’t understand. It’s not gonna happen again. So I’m gonna tell her. But in the same moment that I’m thinkin’ this, I see myself on the train out of Tau City. How helpless I felt. And what I did to save the woman I love.
I killed for her. I took the life of a whole family.
If Clara knew this was the price, she would see me different. That cost is too high. I know her well enough now to understand that up-city Clara Birch would never take an innocent life to save her own.
“OK,” Clara says, when I don’t continue. “You needed the spark so…” She kinda rolls her hand at me to keep going.
“To cross over. It takes a lot. It was me who did that to you. Who made you feel so weak.”
She smiles, crawling over to me to erase the couple of feet that separates us. “But we did it, right?” She wraps her hands around my upper arm, settling herself against me. “We’re here? In the other world?”
“We are. Frequency 702.”
She lets out a long breath. “Good. And I’m fine now, so it was worth it. Now we can continue.”
I get to my feet and extend her a hand. “Yeah. Let’s find the train and head up the line. See if we can find…” LoverBoy. “…the terrorist. And settle this mess.”
Once on her feet, Clara places her hands on my shoulders and leans up on her tiptoes. Kissing me on the lips before I even understand what she’s doin’.
Of course, I kiss her back. But it’s just a quick ‘thank you’ I think. Because she pulls out of it and stares up at me like I’m her prince. “I’m ready. Let’s go.”