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Chapters (58)
  1. DEDICATION
  2. PART 1
  3. CHAPTER ONE
  4. CHAPTER TWO
  5. CHAPTER THREE
  6. CHAPTER FOUR
  7. CHAPTER FIVE
  8. CHAPTER SIX
  9. CHAPTER SEVEN
  10. CHAPTER EIGHT
  11. CHAPTER NINE
  12. CHAPTER TEN
  13. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  14. CHAPTER TWELVE
  15. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  16. PART 2
  17. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  18. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  19. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  20. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  21. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  22. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  23. CHAPTER TWENTY
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  33. CHAPTER THIRTY
  34. PART 3
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  42. PART 4
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  45. CHAPTER FORTY
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  53. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  54. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  55. CHAPTER FIFTY
  56. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  57. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  58. ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

And they still haven’t told us who is attacking, thought Marcus. Knowing that they were covering something up scared him more than anything else.

“This isn’t supposed to happen,” said Trimble, her eyes only half-focused on the charts and videos that filled the wall before her. “None of this is supposed to happen.”

“You have to help us!” said Woolf. “We have to help each other!”

“Leave me,” said Trimble, and suddenly the Partials were walking for the door, grabbing Woolf and Marcus as they went. Their grips were like iron, and they pulled the humans outside as if they were children; Woolf and Marcus fought back, shouting all the way, but it was useless. The guard closed the door solidly behind them, and Marcus saw now that Vinci was panting for breath, flexing his empty hands and staring at the floor; Marcus couldn’t tell if it was anger, exertion, or something else. Hatred? Shame?

“I’m sorry,” said Vinci. “I’d hoped . . . I’m sorry. I warned you, but still. I’d hoped for something more.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

“Let us back in!” Woolf snarled.

“We’re in the middle of a war,” said Vinci. “There’s fighting in the city—if things go poorly, there’ll be fighting here, in this building. She doesn’t have time to talk to you.”

“But she’s not doing anything,” said Marcus. He looked around at the others, and the Partials didn’t meet his eyes. “We all saw her, it was textbook traumatic stress. She’s unfocused, she’s acting by rote, half the time she didn’t even seem aware of her surroundings. That can’t be who you have leading your armies.”

The Partials were silent.

“She said she was human,” said Woolf. “Worse than that, she said she used to be human. What does that mean? I thought she was a Partial general.”

“Except all the Partial generals are men,” said Marcus, remembering Samm’s explanation of the caste system. “Each model was grown for its ideal job. The older Partial women were all doctors.”

“This was not a Partial woman,” said Woolf. “She was human, or . . . she used to be.” He had fire in his eyes. “Tell us what’s going on.”

“I’m sorry we pulled you out,” said Vinci. “There was nothing we could do.”

“You could disobey,” said Woolf.

“No, they couldn’t,” said Marcus, realization dawning. “She used the link. She told them to leave and they were compelled to do it, whether they wanted to or not.”

Woolf frowned. “What kind of human woman becomes a Partial general and has access to the pheromonal link?” He looked at the two Partials. “What is going on?”