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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

“I didn’t say that either. I think you’re . . . I wouldn’t change . . .” He puts his fist to his mouth, blows a muffled breath into his hand. “I thought about you every day when I was at Bedrock,” he says finally. “At least when I could. There were years in the middle when I was on the sleeping ilk and everything was hazy. But in the beginning, every time they beat me or burned me or cracked a rib to try to get me to read the map, I thought of you. Every day they let me heal, every time I realized I was never going to get out of there—that I couldn’t give the General the answer he wanted because I didn’t have the answer to begin with—I thought about you. I could picture you in my head, standing on that rock at Alkali Lake, your dark braid shining in the sun, your eyes cutting into me, yelling at me to put my shirt back on. You were right. I thought every day about how you were right. If I’d only listened . . .”

“That’s a horrible memory to be stuck reliving. I’m surprised you don’t hate me.”

“No. You got me through it,” he insists. “You were so scared that day when we were kids, and nothing scared you. I saw it on your face, and I tried to shrug it off, but you were terrified for me. And when things were at their worst at Bedrock, I pictured how much you cared. And it made me realize how much I cared about you. How if I ever got out, I’d find you again and tell you that you were what got me through it. Then the sleeping ilk happened, and I forgot everything, until the Oracle helped me get clean. And that’s when the if became a when—when I got out. You gave me a reason to keep going.”

He glances at me, eyes glistening.

“And you did get out,” I say.

“I did. But when I saw you there on West Tower . . . Delta, I think my heart broke. I was finally with you again, and the first thing I saw in your eyes after all those years was disgust. You recognized me, realized the con I had pulled. You hated me.”

“I don’t hate you, Asher.”

“You did in that moment.”

“And you hated me in the moment we were thrown from Powder Town. We fought as kids sometimes, too, but we always came back together.”