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Chapters (61)
  1. Copyright
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. Map of The Wastes
  5. I
  6. Chapter One
  7. Chapter Two
  8. Chapter Three
  9. Chapter Four
  10. Chapter Five
  11. Chapter Six
  12. Chapter Seven
  13. Chapter Eight
  14. II
  15. Chapter Nine
  16. Chapter Ten
  17. Chapter Eleven
  18. Chapter Twelve
  19. Chapter Thirteen
  20. Chapter Fourteen
  21. Chapter Fifteen
  22. Chapter Sixteen
  23. Chapter Seventeen
  24. Chapter Eighteen
  25. Chapter Nineteen
  26. Chapter Twenty
  27. III
  28. Chapter Twenty-One
  29. Chapter Twenty-Two
  30. Chapter Twenty-Three
  31. Chapter Twenty-Four
  32. Chapter Twenty-Five
  33. Chapter Twenty-Six
  34. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  35. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  36. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  37. Chapter Thirty
  38. Chapter Thirty-One
  39. IV
  40. Chapter Thirty-Two
  41. Chapter Thirty-Three
  42. Chapter Thirty-Four
  43. Chapter Thirty-Five
  44. Chapter Thirty-Six
  45. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  46. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  47. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  48. Chapter Forty
  49. V
  50. Chapter Forty-One
  51. Chapter Forty-Two
  52. Chapter Forty-Three
  53. Chapter Forty-Four
  54. Chapter Forty-Five
  55. Acknowledgments
  56. Sample Chapter from ALL THESE MONSTERS
  57. 1
  58. Buy the Book
  59. Must-Read Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books
  60. About the Author
  61. Connect with HMH on Social Media

A small smile breaks across the Prime’s face. “Well, I can’t fault you there.” A pause. “Then again, he has his Oracle. She’s bound to figure it out eventually, and then he’ll drop the threat against your pack. Unless, of course, you stole what he wants you to read.” The Prime looks at me deeply, the way she did that day in the fields at Bedrock. She’s too close to the truth. I don’t think she’d use me to get to the General, but I know how far I’d go for my pack. Perhaps she is the same.

“I didn’t steal anything,” I say, and it’s not a lie. The map is mine, the brand a part of my skin. My body is my own, and no one else’s. If anyone is a thief, it’s the General. Stealing people. Stealing hope. And besides, he has a copy. This is about power and control. About thinking I know the language of the brand and wanting to force me to reveal its secrets.

The Prime nods slowly. I think she believes me, but I think she also knows that I’m sharing only a portion of the truth.

“I knew a woman who could read, once. She was a trader, came to Powder Town when I was just toddling. Zuly, I think her name was. Real good with tonics and tinctures. Been a long time since she visited here.” The Prime touches her lips in remembrance. “Another gods touched lost to the wastes. I wonder who the General will turn to when they all pass.”

My eyes flick south, toward the Old Coast. Zuly, the healer. Gods touched and living on an oil tanker. I thought he’d be the key to our salvation, she’d said of Asher. The truth hits me like a blow to the chest. She had seen his back that day she treated him as a child. And she could read it. Zuly knows whatever language makes up the brand.

I’m stunned. Shocked. The answer to my problems has been twenty clicks south of Dead River all this time.

The Prime puts a hand to my shoulder. “I’m sorry I cannot help right now, Delta. But I promise you this: when we are ready to take on the General, you will be among the first to know.”

It is a kind gesture, and I am grateful for it. But it does me no good.

I nod my thanks, knowing full well that I’m going to break my pledge to Kara the Prime. As soon as I figure out how to run without being caught, I’m heading south.

Chapter Twenty-Six