56 - CLARA

CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

I 'm not awake , but I'm aware. That's the conclusion I came to as we were traveling towards Delta City. I knew I was feeding Anneeta and Tyse was feeding me. She was getting spark and I was getting jumps. But at some point, that ended.

At some point, I ended. And right now, I'm sitting in a… nothingness. An emptiness. Except everything is white.

"I died?"

The man kinda shrugs. "In a way. But like all things, it's relative."

I squint at him. "What do you mean?"

"We'll get there, don't worry. But you were saying…?"

"Was I saying something?"

"You were. It was about your friend, Haryet Chettle."

"Oh. Yes." I blow out a breath. "It's so frustrating these days. My mind is so scattered."

"It's normal."

"Who are you again?"

The man smiles at me. It's one of those indulgent smiles. Like he's answered this question a million times. "Delta."

"The god."

"Correct. Maybe we should start over again?" He doesn't sound mad. He doesn't even sound impatient. But I'm getting the feeling that he's tired. Like I'm wearing him out. "Do you know where you are, Clara?"

I'm opening my mouth to say no, because I actually don't. But then, in the next instant, it comes back to me. "I'm in the Delta City Health Center."

"That's right."

He's a nice-looking guy. For a god. Not that I have any idea what male gods look like—the only one I know is a child with a wildly whimsical sense of fashion. But he's easy to look at. In fact, he reminds me a little of Finn. Older. Late thirties, maybe early forties. But he wears his age well, if that's what it is. Age.

"Do you remember how you got here?"

"The train."

"But this building specifically? Do you remember that?"

His voice is so soothing, it kinda relaxes me. "I was taken from the train and brought here. But… we were talking about Haryet, right?"

Delta smiles at me. No teeth, just wide lips and bright eyes. "We were. Shall we pick it up then?"

"Yes. Because I saw her."

He leans in. And this leaning is almost imperceptible. But I catch it. "You saw her… where?"

"In my dream. It was… like the overlay thing that Tyse can do?"

"Tymothy?"

"Yes, I guess that's his real name, isn't it?"

"Real, like death, is also relative. I haven't spoken to him yet, so… he prefers Tyse now?"

"I would think? But don't quote me."

"So you saw your friend Haryet inside an augment's overlay. Do you think it was Tyse's overlay?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because he wasn't there. This was in that space of time on our way here when I was… dead?"

"Relative term." He swipes one hand through the air, dismissing my question. "So you have the abilities of an augment?"

"What? No, I don't think so."

"So, Clara. This is what I'm having trouble with. If you can't make an overlay, and you're positive this overlay you saw didn't belong to Tyse, then where did it come from?"

"We've had this conversation before, haven't we?"

" Hundreds of times."

"This isn't real, is it?"

"Real is?—"

"Stop. It's not relative. You know what I'm talking about. We're inside my mind. You are in my mind."

"I'm sorry if this upsets you. It's merely a thing of convenience for me. Would you like to wake up now? We can talk about this another time. I don't think you have the answers I'm looking for anyway."

It's kind of a loaded question. Because, obviously, I do know more than I've said. I just can't figure out how to put it into words. And he knows this. That's why he sat through this interview hundreds of times. He wants what I know. Implying that I don't have these answers prompts me to try harder.

"I had another dream. Back in Tyse's Tau City. I saw all the Extractions."

The god sneers out a laugh. "Is that what they call them? Extractions?"

"Yes. I mean, that what we called it. But…" This is when that final exchange between Stayn and Tyse comes back to me. "But we, the Spark Maidens, we were… ordered?"

Delta nods, but doesn't say anything.

"Like one might order a dress from the couturier?"

He nods again.

"That Tau City where we just came from, it placed an order for me to feed their little god. And there is paperwork proving that it's legitimate."

"This is all illegal, by the way. Here in the Alphas, we do not tolerate such things. There is spark here, of course. I make it. I don't eat it, Clara. I'm old. Thousands and thousands of years old. I came into being long before the Great Sweep even thought about destroying the world. There are a few others like me. But in the Omegas—and I know that Tau City doesn't consider itself to be part of the Outlands, but it is—in the Omegas they have turned your spark— our spark—into a commodity. Like apples, or wheat, or tin. The Tau City you came from shared a space with the Tau City Tyse came from. It's not the past, it's not the future, it's the present but along another dimension. There are many worlds like this. Tyse, as an augment, can see these worlds. Here, not so much. The veil is not thin. But out there, in the Outlands, and when he's working properly, he's like a…"

"A Looking Glass."

Delta points at me. "Precisely. But the reason I'm telling you all this is because you, as a Spark Maiden from the illegal Tau Factory in Dimension 702, you cannot see through worlds. You are not a Looking Glass. You are just a power source."

"So when I saw Haryet, and the other Extractions, it wasn't real?"

"And we're back to this. Real is relative. So, while I would love to dismiss this as a stupid, pointless dream, I cannot, Clara. Because I fear you are much more than you realize."

"Much more than what?"

"Much more than a battery ." These last words come out with the most frustration he's showed me so far. Though still, they are calm. "Which is why"—he stands up—"I'm glad you're here."

"Wait. You're just gonna dismiss me? What about my answers?"

"Maybe they'll come to you, maybe they won't. In the meantime, enjoy your stay."

Three things happen at the same time.

He disappears.

Everything goes black.

I open my eyes.

"Hey." Tyse is smiling down at me. "I thought you were waking up. How do you feel?"

I sit up and look around. It's not a bad room. Nothing like the health center in Tyse's Tau City. In fact, the soft corners and neutral décor reminds me of home. I peek under the covers and find that I have been dressed in a loose linen gown, which causes a bit of longing.

"Clara?"

I nod. "Yeah. I'm good. I think." Then I smile, trying to push everything that came before out of my mind so I can just be… present. "We made it. Anneeta is OK?"

"She's fine. They've got her in a special housing unit. Apparently, I'm not the first augment to steal a god and bring her home."

I raise an eyebrow. "Well. That's…"

"Concerning?"

I laugh. "To say the least. Did your god… plan this?"

Tyse blows out a breath, sighing loudly as he looks out the window to my right. "Do you want to see the ocean? We've got black sand here. It smells like oranges when you step on it."

He's changing the subject. Which means he's pretty certain that Delta did plan this, but he doesn't want to talk about it.

And I don't want to talk about it either.

When a god tells you to enjoy your stay, well… it's probably a bad idea to disappoint him.

I get up and walk over to the window, smiling so big my cheeks start to hurt. "It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

Delta City is something out of a dream. Kind of like the way my Tau City was. All the houses and buildings are white, which contrasts against the black sand, but it's not just the sand that's black, all the dirt is. Everywhere you look and you see ground, it's black.

And the ocean is cyan-blue, like the canals from home. A different, lighter color than the sky.

Tyse walks up behind me, slipping his hand around my waist like we've done this a million times already.

Like it's always been us. Like he's always been my happily ever after.

Like he's always been my dream.