12 - FINN

CHAPTER TWELVE

A fter I leave my childhood home and return to the palace, the rest of the afternoon goes by in a blur. Like time is nothing. Flowing quickly, the way the wind carried the dust during the Great Sweep.

Jeyk and Mitchell are here, and we don't go upstairs, just stay on the first floor, but there are dozens of others. Sorting out who was going to do what was a whole task in and of itself, since no one has been allowed up here since my father became Extraction Master decades ago.

Finally, Mitch starts barking orders like a general, scaring the servants, and cooks, and my father's panel of advisors—which is another thing to deal with, since I will need my own panel. Everyone gets busy with their assigned roles while Mitch and I go over an Extraction Master manual penned in my own father's handwriting, which details the entire night down to the last minute, starting with the feast at seven, followed by a gala at nine, the god's tribute ceremony in front of the tower at eleven-thirty, and then, at exactly midnight, Haryet Chettle will walk up to the massive black doors and they will open.

The moment she steps across the threshold, she will disappear. And in that same moment, the bells will stop ringing and the entire city will let out a breath, relieved that it is now over.

And after the doors of the tower close, so is my job.

Ninety-nine percent of Tau City will probably never think of Haryet again.

Only Clara and Gemna will spend the rest of the night thinking about their friend.

Well, not Clara. Not if I can help it.

She's going to spend the night with me.

Fuck that god.

Those are the words running through my head all afternoon as Jeyk acts as emissary between the advisors and myself and Mitchell guides me through the ceremonial preparations, drilling me on the manual. We go through it page by page several times until a tailor appears stating that it is time for me to be dressed.

I have more Extraction ceremonies under my belt than any other Extraction Master in the history of Tau City. I've lived through eight of them. Eight in twenty-eight years. The first, of course, was when I was only eight years old myself. I don't remember much about that one, just that I was standing on the God's Tower stage with my father and mother. I didn't really pay attention to what was happening, just… kinda looked around and marveled at all the pomp and ceremony. I might even have enjoyed it.

The second was Imogen Gibson, Maiden number one in Clara's group. But aside from her spectacular display of spark as she entered the tower, it wasn't anything unusual. Of course it was sad. For some, I guess. Not for me personally. I didn't know Imogen. I danced with her a few times for the Little Sister dances, of course, but we never had a conversation. And anyway, she was meant to go in. She was number one. It was just… the way of things.

My third Extraction ceremony was Marlowe Hughes. And while two in one decade was rare, it was not unheard of. I maybe paid a little more attention to what was happening than I did the other two times. But it wasn't until we got to Maiden Number four, Lucy Fisher, that I really understood just how unusual this all was.

That was several years ago now. And three more ceremonies have happened since then, I barely need to study for tonight. I know all the words to say, I know what I'm supposed to do at each phase of the evening, I know where I'm supposed to stand and I've got it all timed down to the second.

But this is the first time I'll be the one in charge and I'll have to do it alone.

This is the first time I'll have to have that dance with Haryet and look her in the eyes. This is the first time I'll have to come to terms with the fact that I will be the one sending her through those doors. And she will disappear and never come back.

I will be the one to kill Haryet Chettle tonight at midnight, not my father. And I'm having a hard time coming to terms with it.

Who will I be tomorrow?

I'm not sure. All I really know is that I won't be Finn Scott. Not the way I am right now. The moment those tower doors close and Haryet is gone, I will be someone else.

"I don't wanna do this, Mitch."

He's in the middle of a sentence when I say this, but he stops mid-word and kinda stares at me for a moment. Then he straightens his back and lets out a breath. "I don't think your father did either. But… what choice do you have, ya know?"

"Isn't there always a choice? Even if they're all bad choices?"

Mitch actually scoffs. "Spoken like a true moralist. Don't you wonder why they do it?"

"Who?"

"The Spark Maidens. Don't you wonder why they actually go through with it? I mean, why don't they just refuse? What would people do? Throw them in?" He laughs. "That would really wake some people up, don't you think? So why do they do it?"

"Because they're… trained."

"Brainwashed, you mean?"

"That wasn't what I meant, no. It's just… they go to all those classes. Poised, polite, pretty or whatever."

"Poised, proper, and polite, you mean."

"Right. That. I know they don't want to go in, but it's tradition."

Mitch shakes his head at me, throwing an incredulous look in for good measure. "You really think that those girls walk into that tower with no idea whatsoever of what will happen to them on the other side because it's tradition ?"

"Why else would they?"

"They're compelled, of course. It's the only logical answer."

"What? How?"

"How? Well, I'm not sure of the actual mechanism, but don't you think it's strange that they just… walk in without running? Because, if it were me, I'd run. No way in hell I'd give up my life for the greater good."

"Fucking hell, Mitch. That's selfish."

"Whatever. That's not the point. The point is, they're compelled. They don't have a choice."

I think about this for a moment, wondering if he's right. "My father never mentioned this."

"I have a suspicion that your father didn't tell you much of anything, Finn."

Well, I can't really say anything back to this because he's not wrong.

Mitch stares at me for a moment. And then, slowly, like he's making some kind of decision in the same moment, he raises one eyebrow at me. "Did he ever tell you about the Looking Glass?"

"What's a Looking Glass?"

His scoff is immediate and hearty. "See? You have no idea."

"And you do?"

"I don't know what it looks like, but I know he's got one in here."

"In where?"

Mitch ignores my question and looks over at the stairs that wind up to the fourth floor in a massive, graceful spiral. His eyes glide over to me. "What's up there?"

"A desk. A couch. Windows with a nice view. My father's personal collection of books."

"But there's a door too, right?" Mitch is practically smirking now. "One, perhaps, you've never seen the other side of?"

"Well… yeah. It leads to the… core, or whatever. That's what I've been calling the massive space in the middle of the upper dome."

"Let's go, then. That's where it is."

"That's where what is?"

But he's already walking towards the stairs and going up them by the time I shake myself out of my stupor and follow.

Mitchell stops at the top and I finish climbing the remaining steps and stand next to him. Then we both turn to the right and focus on the door. I walk over to it and try the handle. But it's locked.

"Where do you think we'd find the key?"

I look at Mitch and shrug. "Who needs a key? Just break the door."

He laughs. It's actually more of a scoff.

"What?" I ask. "It's my palace now. Who's gonna care? And anyway, it's literally Extraction Day. If there's information in there that I need, then get me in."

Mitch huffs out a breath, then snaps me a mock salute. "Yes, sir, Extraction Master."

It takes four good kicks to break the frame and pop the door open, but all in all, it was a pretty easy thing to do.

He waves a hand, inviting me to go first. "After you, Master."

"Shut up." But I do go first.

It's a dark room, so I stop once inside and feel along the walls for a switch. But the walls have a dramatic curve to them and they are exceptionally smooth, like glass. "I don't know?—"

But then Mitch barks out, "Lights!" And the lights come on.

I look over my shoulder at him. "What the hell was that?"

"Voice commands. Rumor is—in school, at least—that there were rooms in the Extraction District with voice-activated spark power." Then he shrugs. "It felt appropriate."

When I look up, then around, I understand. This is not a room, it's a… sphere. It's like being inside a ball.

"Get out of the way." Mitch pushes me aside and closes the door. Then he takes a step back so we're standing shoulder to shoulder. "Ho-lee shit. What the fuck is this room, Finn?"

I'm as astonished and perplexed as he is. "I have no idea." We turn and walk over to a kind of desk in the center of the room. It's round with a cut-out in the middle. The actual desk part is flat with a slight curve upward on the outer edge. It's made of glass and clearly it is some kind of control panel. "Do you stand in the center?" I ask Mitch. "How do you get in? There isn't an opening."

Mitch runs a finger along the smooth glass top and then pauses. He looks up to smile at me as he lifts a portion of the desk up, creating an opening. "Your throne, my king." He waves a hand at me, inviting me inside the circle.

"You're stupid." But I do accept the invitation to walk in. Mitch joins me, crowding me, because clearly this space was made for one person, not two. "What are you doing?"

"I wanna see." And then his fingers are sliding along the glass. Like he's looking for something. But after we've turned in a complete circle, tapping every part of the surface he possibly can, nothing happens.

A pounding on the door makes us both jump, then laugh. Mitch lifts the glass up, goes to the door, and opens just a crack so he can speak, but not enough that anyone can see inside.

I make out Jeyk's voice telling us time is short. So I look around the room, step out, and decide whatever this is—Looking Glass or not—the mystery will have to wait.

Because I've got a woman to Extract.