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Back Truth of the Divine Save as PDF
Chapters (70)
  1. Also By Lindsay Ellis and Available From Titan Books
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. Author’s Note
  7. Part 1: It’s A Fool Who Plays It Cool
  8. 1
  9. 2
  10. 3
  11. 4
  12. 5
  13. 6
  14. Part 2: Love Has A Nasty Habit Of Disappearing Overnight
  15. 7
  16. 8
  17. 9
  18. 10
  19. 11
  20. 12
  21. 13
  22. 14
  23. 15
  24. 16
  25. 17
  26. 18
  27. 19
  28. 20
  29. 21
  30. 22
  31. 23
  32. 24
  33. 25
  34. Part 3: A Crowd Of People Stood And Stared
  35. 26
  36. 27
  37. 28
  38. 29
  39. 30
  40. 31
  41. 32
  42. 33
  43. 34
  44. 35
  45. 36
  46. 37
  47. 38
  48. 39
  49. 40
  50. 41
  51. 42
  52. 43
  53. 44
  54. 45
  55. 46
  56. Part 4: Happiness Is A Warm Gun
  57. 47
  58. 48
  59. 49
  60. 50
  61. 51
  62. 52
  63. 53
  64. 54
  65. 55
  66. 56
  67. 57
  68. A Fiction Agreed Upon
  69. Acknowledgments
  70. About the Author

“We saw Enola Gay in the sky,” Miranda continued. “We demanded answers, and we still haven’t gotten them. And they did nothing to prepare us for this, even though they could have. Did they know this was going to happen? Did they know where? We don’t know! But now the bomb is dropped, but what is the fallout? Like radioactive fallout, we can’t see it, we can’t feel it, but we know it’s here!”

More outraged bellowing from the crowd. She felt Sol sigh next to her. “God-fucking-damn it, I hate it when they’re good.”

“Who do you mean by ‘they’?” asked Cora.

“These fucking polemicists. You try working in anti-terrorism for a few years. This guy terrifies me both less and more. Less in that I think he’s 900 percent less likely to strap bombs onto his chest and walk into a mall. More in that he’s way smarter and more charismatic than the usual grifter.”

“I don’t even know that I’d call him a grifter,” said Cora, transfixed. “I think he means it.”

Miranda waited for the noise to die down enough that he could be heard, but not so much that he had lost the energy of the moment. He raised the speaker to his mouth and trumpeted, “Truth is a human right!”

The crowd parroted back, “Truth is a human right!”

It would be her luck that Miranda would borrow Nils’s catchphrase. Cora deflated as “Truth is a human right!” turned into a chant. She looked back down in the crowd, and there was that guy in the black denim jacket looking her way again. “There’s a guy over there doing a bad job pretending he doesn’t recognize me.”

Sol looked down, scanning the crowd, and upon seeing who she was talking about, his expression turned to alarm. “Shit.”

“Shit?”

“Steer clear of that guy.”

“Should I be afraid?”

“Probably,” he said, speaking through clenched teeth. “Be careful. He’s dangerous.”

She stole another glance at the guy in the crowd just as he looked away, perhaps now realizing how utterly found out he was, but in that parting glance, she saw even more death in his eyes than she had earlier.

By now the “Truth is a human right” chant had devolved into the simpler “Hu-man rights! Hu-man rights!” It felt like that phrase meant something different now than it had earlier that morning.