7 - CLARA

CHAPTER SEVEN

T he Little Sister solo dance goes on for another five minutes, but finally Finn appears on his balcony and announces the true start of the gala and everyone down on the floor, even the spectators in back, starts dancing.

This is our cue to descend the staircase like the proper Maidens we are and mingle, so that's what we do. I spend the whole time looking for Finn. I need an update on Aldo.

But he's missing again and without him, I'm adrift. I have no interest in this ball. I only had a vague interest in it before I learned about Aldo. More of a curiosity, really—wanting to get a glimpse of the next generation, I guess. But now, I just want to get the hell out of here.

I look around, trying to gauge how much negative attention it would draw if I slipped out and didn't tell anyone.

I don't know. If all nine of us Maidens were here, like it usually happens during these Choosing celebrations, no one would notice. But there are only three of us left and every time my gaze wanders around the crowd I find several sets of eyeballs trained right on me. People who raise their glasses of bubbly drink and give me a toast and a smile—for moral support, I suppose.

Still, I am determined to try. Because there is something really gross about being at this party while Aldo is in the health center, hurt. Possibly dying.

I walk quickly towards the nearest exit and slip outside before I can change my mind. When I come out into the cold night air, I pause to take a breath and get my bearings. I'm on the north side of the God's Tower event center, so I go right, heading for the bridge that leads over to the Extraction District. That's the health center Aldo would be at because that's his district.

I'm just about to step onto the bridge when I see two men coming towards me. I don't immediately recognize them because it's dark and there are shadows dancing on their faces from the spark lampposts that line the bridge on either side, so I just watch for a few seconds until I realize it's Jeyk and Mitchell, Finn's best friends.

A sigh of relief rushes out of my mouth with my words. "Where's Finn? I've been looking for him. Is he over there?" I nod my head in the direction of the Extraction District.

They don't say anything. Just pause in the middle of the bridge and stare at me.

"No." I start shaking my head. Because this silence is a sign of something bad coming. " No ." I say it again.

My eyes dart to their faces and I suddenly feel weak as a sick, sinking feeling builds in my gut. They start running towards me and both sets of hands catch me when I crumple to the ground. I don't faint. I wish I did, because then I'd be unconscious and time would stop, and I would not have to face the truth. At least not yet.

But my weakness was not a precursor to some fade-to-black moment and the only way forward is with the truth. "What happened? Tell me." I plead with my hands as both Jeyk and Mitchell continue to hold me up. "Tell me. Right now."

They look at each other. Then down at me. Mitchell is the one who answers. "He's… gone, Clara. And Finn?—"

"No!" I yell this. " No ! That's not what's happening. I just saw Aldo yesterday."

Jeyk takes a step forward, putting his hand on my bare shoulder. "Finn wants you to go home. He sent us to escort you home."

Time begins to slow and then, somehow, it just stops and the world around me suddenly ceases to exist. A sort of black tunnel forms in my field of vision as my mind spins with the truth. But I am unable to process it. Everything was fine this afternoon. Finn and I were trysting in his quarters. Aldo was fine. The world was fine. And now… it's not.

And I don't know what to do with this information.

I don't know how to process the death of Aldo. It's even worse than when I found out my own father died because I didn't understand death back then. I didn't understand fear, either.

But these days, after all the bell ringing from that fucking tower, and all those Maidens in the line-up before me, missing —I know what loss is. I know what fear is.

And I know, in my heart, that the death of Aldo is the end of something. The end of… a reprieve, maybe. Because my life was so busy, and so full, and so cluttered with growing up and the Extraction that I didn't have time to think about the loss. I didn't have time to be afraid. There was a buffer around me and that buffer was Aldo.

Now he's gone and the harsh reality that was put on hold back when my mother died suddenly restarts and it's time now to face the truth. Everything that's happened to me in the past fifteen years suddenly catches up in a single moment. The death of my mother, the death of my father, my Choosing, my friends, the bells, the tower, the god.

And now this. Another loss.

The black tunnel vision fades and I begin to scream. Incoherent sentences start flowing out of my mouth, punctuated with swear words. Jeyk and Mitchell are holding me now, trying to calm me down, and then, out of nowhere, it seems, Matrons appear. A whole group of them yelling at me to be quiet as people come out of the event center, trying to figure out what is happening.

One of the Matrons leans into my ear and growls her words out. "Shut up, you stupid girl. Shut your mouth before you disrupt the entire city!"

And this is when I realize that the woman telling me this is Matron Bell. The pretty girl's aunt, or whatever. And I realize… she did pull strings for Jasina Bell. She did do this. The next thing I know, I slap her across the face.

Time slows down for me again and out of my fingers slides the cyan-blue light of spark. It makes a perfect handprint on her thick, wrinkled cheek and Matron Bell's facial expression changes as the realization sinks in that I just struck her.

Not only that, I assaulted her with spark.

Time suddenly speeds up again and she's about to slap me back, her hand in mid-air, when I'm saved by the ringing of the tower bells.

I blink. Then my mouth drops open.

Then someone else is yelling.

I whirl around and find Haryet, eyes cast up—looking at those fucking tower bells— screaming .

Because the god has just summoned her into his tower.

And this means I am next.

I am next .