DEDICATION
To my dad, Don Cummings, who taught me how to be fearless.
And to my #booknerdigans, for all your love and support.
CONTENTS
Dedication
Part One: The Shallows
Chapter 1: Zephyr
Chapter 2: Meadow
Chapter 3: Zephyr
Chapter 4: Meadow
Chapter 5: Zephyr
Chapter 6: Meadow
Chapter 7: Zephyr
Chapter 8: Meadow
Chapter 9: Zephyr
Chapter 10: Meadow
Chapter 11: Zephyr
Chapter 12: Meadow
Chapter 13: Zephyr
Chapter 14: Meadow
Chapter 15: Zephyr
Chapter 16: Meadow
Chapter 17: Zephyr
Chapter 18: Meadow
Chapter 19: Zephyr
Chapter 20: Meadow
Chapter 21: Zephyr
Chapter 22: Meadow
Chapter 23: Zephyr
Chapter 24: Meadow
Chapter 25: Zephyr
Chapter 26: Meadow
Chapter 27: Zephyr
Chapter 28: Meadow
Chapter 29: Zephyr
Chapter 30: Meadow
Chapter 31: Zephyr
Chapter 32: Meadow
Chapter 33: Zephyr
Chapter 34: Meadow
Chapter 35: Zephyr
Chapter 36: Meadow
Part Two: The Outsiders
Chapter 37: Meadow
Chapter 38: Zephyr
Chapter 39: Meadow
Chapter 40: Zephyr
Chapter 41: Meadow
Chapter 42: Zephyr
Chapter 43: Meadow
Chapter 44: Zephyr
Chapter 45: Meadow
Chapter 46: Zephyr
Chapter 47: Meadow
Chapter 48: Zephyr
Chapter 49: Meadow
Chapter 50: Zephyr
Chapter 51: Meadow
Chapter 52: Zephyr
Chapter 53: Meadow
Chapter 54: Zephyr
Chapter 55: Meadow
Chapter 56: Zephyr
Chapter 57: Meadow
Chapter 58: Zephyr
Chapter 59: Meadow
Chapter 60: Zephyr
Chapter 61: Meadow
Chapter 62: Zephyr
Chapter 63: Meadow
Chapter 64: Zephyr
Chapter 65: Meadow
Chapter 66: Zephyr
Chapter 67: Meadow
Chapter 68: Zephyr
Chapter 69: Meadow
Chapter 70: Zephyr
Chapter 71: Meadow
Part Three: The Ridge
Chapter 72: Zephyr
Chapter 73: Meadow
Chapter 74: Zephyr
Chapter 75: Meadow
Chapter 76: Zephyr
Chapter 77: Meadow
Chapter 78: Zephyr
Chapter 79: Meadow
Chapter 80: Zephyr
Chapter 81: Meadow
Chapter 82: Zephyr
Chapter 83: Meadow
Chapter 84: Zephyr
Chapter 85: Meadow
Chapter 86: Zephyr
Chapter 87: Meadow
Chapter 88: Zephyr
Chapter 89: Meadow
Chapter 90: Zephyr
Chapter 91: Meadow
Chapter 92: Zephyr
Chapter 93: Meadow
Chapter 94: Zephyr
Chapter 95: Meadow
Chapter 96: Zephyr
Chapter 97: Meadow
Chapter 98: Zephyr
Chapter 99: Meadow
Chapter 100: Zephyr
Chapter 101: Meadow
Chapter 102: Zephyr
Chapter 103: Meadow
Chapter 104: Zephyr
Chapter 105: Meadow
Chapter 106: Zephyr
Chapter 107: Meadow
Chapter 108: Zephyr
Chapter 109: Meadow
Chapter 110: Zephyr
Chapter 111: Meadow
Chapter 112: Zephyr
Chapter 113: Meadow
Epilogue: Three Weeks Later
Acknowledgments
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About the Author
Books by Lindsay Cummings
Credits
Copyright
About the Publisher
PART ONE
THE SHALLOWS
CHAPTER 1
ZEPHYR
It’s going to be a dark night.
Weeks ago, the darkest nights were the worst. Bodies dropped like flies around the Shallows, and blood dried in rivers all over the streets. The Dark Time meant dread. It meant the Murder Complex and its Patients came out to play.
That hasn’t changed. If anything, the deaths have gotten worse.
But something good will happen tonight.
It’s a new moon, and black clouds are gathering over the tops of the crumbling buildings. The thunder and lightning and the Dark Time combined make for the perfect distraction, the perfect storm.
And that means Lark Woodson will come out of hiding.
I’ve been tracking her for weeks, but every time I’m about to find her, she disappears. Like the wind.
Not tonight. Tonight, I’m going to catch her.
As I run, I see Meadow’s face in my head. Her gray eyes, determined and cold as steel. Her dagger in her hand, slicing Patients and Leeches as she fights her way through the Leech Headquarters from the inside out.
It’s been three weeks. She has to be alive. I’d know it if she were dead, wouldn’t I?
Maybe not. Maybe she is dead. Like Talan.
Oh, god, Talan. My best friend. Dead, because of me. I try to shove the guilt away, but it’s too strong.
“Damn it!” I growl and sprint harder, faster, down the streets of the Shallows. The gun sheathed at my thigh bobs with every step. I skid around the corner of an alleyway and stop. Fade into the mass of people heading for safety before the Dark Time takes over.
The Leeches are out in packs, searching, but they won’t find me easily.
I pull a baseball cap low over my eyes. My arms are covered in temporary tattoos, drawn on just this morning.
Hiding in plain sight is exactly what the Leeches wouldn’t expect me to do.
The crowd moves along, and I walk with them. I keep my head on a swivel, searching. Always searching, for the woman who created me. Turned me into a monster.
Five minutes, and the Night Siren will go off.
There’s a crackle in my left ear, the only good ear I have left, where a stolen Leech earpiece sits. Take the alley directly across the street. And hurry up. My little sister runs faster than you.
It’s Rhone, the guy from the Resistance who was so interested in sending Meadow into the Leech Headquarters in the first place. Now she’s gone, stuck inside. And I can’t reach her.
Zero, move! Now.
I do what he says, shove my way through way too many people. Running is still hard since losing my ear, and my balance isn’t quite right. But I can’t stop now. I wobble on my feet before I leap over the train tracks, then dive into the alley to my left. The setting sun disappears, and suddenly it’s dark.
And quiet. Too quiet, almost like it’s the Silent Hour.
I stop and look around.
There’s a Leech lying all bent and broken up against the brick building to my right. His rifle lies on the concrete at his side, and there are empty bullet casings all over the place. But no other body, which means if Lark was here . . . she’s gone. I take a step closer to him. Fresh blood drips from a slit in his throat, a perfect line of red, like a smile. The Leech chokes, lifts a hand for help that he’s not going to get.