From within their hulls, lowering to the ground like ancient gods, giant machines descended—all steel and glass and wires and hoses and four attachments that extended downward like legs but looked like giant wheels with spikes protruding in all directions. They descended to the sound of grinding, angry, screaming metal, until they landed with a rumbling boom of thunder that seemed to shake the entire earth.

All the while, unconsciously, Isaac and the others had slowly stepped backward to make room for the inexplicable vessels, to avoid being crushed. There was nowhere to run and there was nowhere to hide.

He looked at Sadina. At Trish. At Dominic. At Jackie. At Miyoko. At Old Man Frypan, Carson, Lacey. He looked at all of his friends, even Timon, even Letti, even Minho and Roxy. He looked at all of them and wondered, simply and with surprising peace, if it was all over. If, like for many of his ancestors, the world had come to an end.

The machines made a horrible screeching sound, the wheels and spikes moving in a coordinated, horrifying dance, then headed toward them.

PART FOUR

Old World, New World

I’m in a truck. On a road. A road scattered with the remnants of a world.

My life is over.

But I don’t feel sad. I feel worry and hope for Keisha and her kids. It’s enough to push the sorrow aside. I’m so glad I met them before the end. I feel loss for Thomas, Minho, for all of them. But I worry and hope that they’ll succeed, that they’ll win. That they will survive and be happy. It’s enough to push the sorrow aside.

What does it matter? The madness is knocking. The madness is creeping in, under the door.

They say that some things are worse than death. That might be true. Probably is.

But life and death are the beginning and end of beauty. You can’t have one without the other.

I feel like maybe I’m rambling.

—The Book of Newt

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Belly of the Beast

“Are you okay? Are you okay?”

Miyoko had her arms wrapped around Jackie, speaking those lines repeatedly into her ear. She nodded each time in response, but it must not have been convincing. Jackie herself wasn’t convinced. In fact, she knew it not to be true.

She wasn’t okay. Not at all.