52 - CLARA

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

" O ne more step, Stayn . I'm not fuckin' around." Tyse is in front of us, that weapon of his pointed at the men who are blocking our way out.

Anneeta reaches for my hand—an innocent gesture. But as soon as she makes contact, spark lights up my body, filling me up, and then the overlay comes alive all around us.

I'm looking right at Stayn when this happens and he's not surprised. At first, I think it's because he knows about it. He's got some kind of inside information.

But that's wrong. He just can't see it. It's just the three of us who can see it.

Suddenly, the overlay is reacting. To Stayn, or his men, or the weapons, or maybe it's just Tyse. I'm not sure.

All I know is there's a distortion in the air in front of Tyse and then everything in front of him is blown backwards. Like toy soldiers on the sand, they fall backwards. At the same time, a bright blue bubble forms around us. Protecting us from the barrage of fire coming from the enemy.

Everything goes quiet for a moment. But the moment feels long. So I watch as Tyse turns in slow motion, his mouth opening, no words coming out, but I don't need the words.

Let's go !

Time speeds back up as he grabs my hand and Anneeta is still holding onto me, so we are pulled through the passageway by Tyse. Down some more stairs, through more hallways—and the whole time, the overlay is with us. The spark is with us. And I know we're gonna make it.

But as soon as those thoughts are out of my mouth, the ground begins to rumble and Anneeta begins to scream.

Tyse stops, picks her up, looks me in the eyes. "We're at the tower boundary. You've got to feed her now."

For a moment I can't think.

And we don't have a moment.

"Clara!" Tyse snaps at me. Not because he's angry, but because I'm shutting down and if he allows me to do that, everything, all of this, is for nothing. "Take her hand. And run!"

I do. I grab onto Anneeta's hand as Tyse begins to run down the passageway.

Anneeta, who was screaming just a moment before, settles and the screams turn into sobs. I can feel her taking the spark from me. It's a little bit repulsive and I have to control the urge to pull away.

We haven't even made it onto the train yet. There are fourteen more hours of this.

But I can't think about it. All I can do is give her what I have and run.

The ground is no longer rumbling now, it's sliding back and forth. Shaking everything. We crash into the walls as they begin to crumble.

The overlay begins to react again, and that's when I see him.

Finn. Running up ahead of us. Carrying the redhead girl, Jasina Bell, in his arms.

"Keep going!" Tyse sees him too. I know he does.

But they're not here. They're there .

And we don't have time to worry about them or there.

Because something above us explodes, forcing the bubble of spark to form around us again, and all that's left is us and here.