13 - JASINA

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

A ttending the funeral is a drag . It takes up so much of the day. We had to board the large boat before dawn so that everyone would be in place by the time Finn Scott, the new Extraction Master, arrived, so we had to wait around for hours, then again after the ceremony was over. Which took sooooo long.

Everyone was complaining about the smell. Which, of course, turned into a whole tirade about how gross down-city people are because they breathe the air of dead bodies every night.

The five of us got a lot of side-eye attention after that little comment.

It wouldn't have been such a bad experience if the boat was something nice. But there are seventy-five of us. The only boat big enough to transport all the Little Sisters at once was a mid-sized barge and we were packed in the cabin like canned fish for the ride down and back, so squished together I thought I was gonna suffocate.

Back in our little section of the dorm, everyone is feeling tired, and frustrated, and not the least bit beautiful because we've been wearing these dresses for two entire days now. Not to mention feeling dirty. Though, as down-city girls, we would not admit the last part. We grew up in the ash. It's a part of us now. But being up-city full-time for couple of days is enough to make us question the practice of burning bodies like that so close to people.

"Look at me!" Britley is pointing to her sweat-stained dress. "My dress is a mess!"

"Look at mine!" Ceela points down to her feet. "Rosalit Bayner stepped on my hem getting out of the boat."

All four of us look down at Ceela's torn hem and gasp.

I walk over and put an arm around her shoulder. "Oh, Ceela. I'm so sorry. But it can be fixed."

"Fixed?" She scoffs. "We've got forty-five minutes to be lined up and ready. There's no time."

"There is," I insist. "Take it off and I'll take it to the sewing room and fix it."

Ceela pouts her lips. "But what about your dress?"

"Mine's fine. It's wrinkled and seen way too much action." The bad mood breaks and we laugh. "But it'll do."

Harlow huffs. "I'm gonna burn mine when I take it off tonight."

But Lucindy, ever the optimist, has a different idea. "We'll just tear the seams, wash the fabrics as best we can, and turn them all into something brand new." She beams a smile at us. Everyone but me groans.

"Come on, girls. She's right. Think positive. Everyone take your dresses off. We'll steam them and freshen ourselves up at the same time. It's an Extraction. It's… exciting, right?" I feel a little bad for calling it exciting for obvious reasons, but it is. I mean, I highly doubt a single Little Sister, in the whole history of Tau City, ever got to attend an Extraction. "It's special, girls. And while I do understand that we're here for a reason"—I shoot them each a knowing look—"we agreed to make the most of this experience, did we not?"

They perk up, just a little. Then mumble out agreements and start unzipping their dresses.

I take mine off as well, then hand it over to Ceela as I take hers. "Steam it. That's how you can repay me. I'll be back in twenty minutes and we'll still have plenty of time to steam yours too."

She leans in and kisses me on the cheek. "You're the best, Jasina. The absolute best."

I smile and then turn, not bothering to put something on over my corset and drawers. It's just us Little Sisters in the dorm and anyway, we're tucked so far in back there's no chance anyone will see me.

I make my way to the nearest sewing room, then rush over to a machine. I haven't had a chance to work the electric machines yet, but once I figure out how to turn the power on, it's pretty much the same as the foot-pedal model I grew up with. There are a lot of settings for fancy stitches that I have no clue how to use, but I don't need a fancy stitch to make a hem repair.

The mending goes quickly and soon, it's done. I stand up, gather up the dress, and I'm just about to head back in the direction of our space when I spy the spine of a book sticking out from a bookshelf just a few feet from me.

It's… enticing. Almost deliberately so. Because who in their right mind can walk past this half-shelved book without pushing it back in?

Not me. I walk over, place my fingertip on the spine, and push it in. But as I'm doing this, I read the title. " The Godslayer and His Courtesan. " I smile and pull it back out so I can study the cover.

I know the stories. The kid's versions, not this one—which is something much more than a child's tale because this is a thick tome and not a picture book. It actually has a subtitle that reads: The Untold History.

Interesting. Because this implies that it's not a myth, the way it was portrayed in the children's book I had as a child, but something more.

I like the story because it's a happy one. Kind of. I guess it depends on how you look at it. It starts out as a classic star-crossed lovers story, but there are adventures. Many adventures and many versions too.

I read them all as a child. The main characters never had names. Maybe in this serious version they do, but in the book I had as a child they were only known as the Godslayer and his Courtesan.

I've never thought about that title before. Courtesan makes sense for the girl, I guess. It's a little derogatory, if you ask me, but OK. Godslayer though? I don't remember ever knowing why they called him the Godslayer.

Weird.

"Jasina?"

I turn, startled, and find Ceela standing at the entrance that leads to this space. "You scared me."

She lifts up one shoulder in a half apology. "Sorry. I just got worried when you didn't come back." She eyes the book I'm clutching to my chest. "What's that?"

"A book I found sticking out of the shelf. Do you remember the story of?—"

"Jasina! We don't have time for this! Did you fix my dress?"

"Oh. Right. Yes." I thrust it at her. "All done. Let's go."

I put the back on the shelf and we both scurry back to our spaces to finish getting ready.