Chapters (48)
- Cover
- Dedication
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- Copyright
I sighed. Trust him or not, I had to get moving. Sitting in the ductwork didn’t help anyone and wouldn’t give me any clues as to Liam’s motivations.
I could safely use my comm to access offline messages and functions without alerting anyone as to my location. With a thought, I triggered my wrist monitor, giving myself a beam of light to work with. Other bits of information flashed through my head: nineteen unread messages, all from my dad. I glanced at the most recent one. It was about what I expected: Kenzie, we have to talk. If you turn yourself in, there’s still a chance we can salvage this. If Omnistellar has to hunt you down, I can’t imagine how I can save you. I love you, sweetheart. Please. Contact me.
I froze, a riot of emotion tangling my thoughts and limbs. Images of my father flashed before my eyes, images of my family. Was Dad in on this plan? He couldn’t be. He couldn’t know Omnistellar planned to lure the aliens right to us.
Just like he couldn’t know about my abilities. Or my chip.
But no. That was different. I forced myself to move again, considering everything I knew about my father. The way he and my mom had chipped me was wrong. Or at least, not telling me about it was wrong. It cut deep, violated the security and trust I’d had in them—and in Omnistellar. But at the same time, I could sort of understand their logic. The file I’d read back on Sanctuary said as much. If they hadn’t chipped me, the company would have taken me away. I still didn’t like what they’d done, but they’d done it to protect me.
But Mom hadn’t tried to protect me when she’d left me to die on Sanctuary. What about Dad? He couldn’t know about this plan with the aliens. I had to believe that. When I found him and told him the truth, he’d be as horrified as I was. I would make him understand. If he still loved me, and his constant stream of messages told me he did, he would listen.
I rounded a corner and scrubbed my hands over my eyes, and in the same instant another realization occurred to me: Liam had neatly distracted me with this new information. He’d never explained why he’d stolen my comm device in the first place.
“You slippery son of a bitch,” I said aloud, half in admiration, as all of my earlier guilt slid away. I knew he was leaving something out. I was tempted to go back and beat the answer out of him. But he’d locked the grate and probably wouldn’t open it to a raging teenager, even if I felt like crawling backward through the tunnel. Besides, I had to get to Cage. Liam could wait.