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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

The flashlight shone back in her direction, and she held her breath, tightened the ball she was in. If it wasn’t line of sight that had cut her off from him, maybe it was something else.

Maybe it was someone else.

When she opened her eyes, it wasn’t Murderguy’s flashlight that met her, not his eyes staring down at her, but a different set of eyes hanging in total darkness. There was no silvery iridescent skin surrounding those eyes. There was nothing but formless, black ink. She sucked in a sharp breath that bordered on a shriek, and sat up straight. Upon hearing her, Murderguy whipped his flashlight in her direction, fully illuminating the owner of those eyes.

It stood in a crouch about twenty feet away from Cora, barricaded on either side by pine trees, its eyes open wide, its head moving in a fluid, erratic way like a cobra following a charmer. It had the shape and form of a midsize Similar, larger than Ampersand by at least a foot, though crouched so low its back was level with the ground. But unlike every other amygdaline she had seen, this one was the color of pitch, its midnight skin shining like the shell of a beetle. Every inch of it was black except for its eyes, which sucked up the light from the flashlight and spat it back out like bright silver suns with purple and blue halos, its head down in the antagonistic position that Cora knew well. The bull about to charge.

It took one delicate step forward, and she heard Murderguy’s breath catch in his throat, the light of his flashlight now shaking. It took one more step before it jumped, defying all laws of physics, a dinosaur that jumped with the speed of a flea. In a flash, its hand was holding her torso to the forest floor, and one of its feet had pinned her legs.

She screamed.

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The tiny sliver of her mind still capable of thought wondered if this was Enola Gay, or if this monstrosity might be the much-demonized transient sister species. That this might not be amygdaline at all but physeterine, and she was about to get killed and eaten. Perhaps Ampersand had been right and physeterines had been on Earth all along, and Cora was about to discover that in the most gruesome way imaginable. Its movements were animalistic, nothing like the way she had seen Similars move in the past. Its gaze didn’t belie intelligence any more than a machine did, half–wild animal, half-algorithm.