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
Glimmering through time and space.
They cut. They drive.
They are one and many and all and few. They consume. They harvest.
The harvest is broken.
Tendrils unfurl.
Fully.
Fully.
Awake.
TWELVE
COMPLETE SILENCE GREETED MY SUGGESTION. Then Mia snorted loudly. “You’re joking.”
“Why?” Cage demanded.
“Because it doesn’t work that way, genius.”
“Have you tried?”
“Oh, for the love of . . .” Mia threw up her hands in disgust. “Yes, I’ve tried. My invisibility affects me and a limited range of things touching me. My clothes, for instance. I can make your hand invisible if you stand close and keep it on my shoulder. Is that useful to you, Cage?”
I glanced over my shoulder nervously. So far, I’d heard no signs of pursuit, but Mia was really loud. And those guards had to be back there somewhere. “Have you tried since we left the alien ship?” Her silent scowl was answer enough. “Will you give it another shot? Please? Humor me? I’ll . . .” I tried to think of something to bribe Mia. What did she like? Violence? Chaos? Guns?
Guns. My heart stuttered in my chest, but I forced the words out. “I won’t say another word about that gun in your waistband ever again.”
Her eyes narrowed. “That’s almost worth it. Almost.”
Cage sighed heavily. “Mia . . .”
“Oh, fine,” she said. “Sorry, Jasper.” She laid her hand on his shoulder. Jasper shrugged, his dark gaze boring into me rather than her.
Mia shimmered and vanished. Her voice came from nowhere, more hollow and disembodied than usual. “See?”
“Mia,” said Imani, her voice strangled, “his arm disappeared.”
A long silence followed, during which we all stared at the place where Jasper’s arm should be. “Weird,” he said in seeming fascination, flexing the muscles in his shoulders. “I still feel it, but I don’t see it. Mia, do you not see yourself when you’re invisible?”
“Shut up,” she replied. Another long moment passed—and then Jasper faded out of existence.
“I’ll be damned,” said Reed. “I did heal myself.”
Alexei frowned. “Mia mine, how are you doing that?”
“How the hell should I know?” She and Jasper both reappeared, and for the first time since I’d met her, Mia didn’t appear confident. Her eyes were wide, and her hands trembled. Without her characteristic brashness, years slid away. I never thought of Mia as a teenager, someone my own age, but now she looked it. I didn’t even know how old she was. She could be years younger than me.
Mia turned to Alexei, her voice a bit quicker and higher than usual. “What’s going on, Lex?”
He shook his head, and I frowned, working things through. “Something happened. I don’t know what, but our powers are increasing.” Or at least, some of our powers. What about mine? “This could be the thing that turns the tide in our favor,” I continued, my excitement growing. “Increased powers that Omnistellar doesn’t know about? That’s exactly what we need to—”