Terra Nova (The Variant Conspiracy Book 3) by Christine Hart

brink of panic.
    “There’s nothing more I can do,” said Ilya.
    “Irina, you can try to see what happened.” Jonah’s tone soothed me, but I still wanted to punch something.
    Instead, I closed my eyes and pictured Ivan’s face behind the brick ruins.
    A black blink later, I was on a train with Tatiana and Ivan. Ivan’s complexion had faded to pale ashen gray-pink. He had always been pale, but this was different. Death had kissed him, reducing his strawberry blonde hair to near platinum.
    “We can’t keep running. The stabilization serum won’t work much longer. You’re taking higher doses more often. It’s time for the transplant.” Tatiana fussed over a blanket on his lap.
    He rested, eyes closed. “We’re not ready. Jinhua must do their part and they haven’t even started Phase One.”
    “Why don’t we release Terra Nova now? The test was successful. Your children will be much easier to catch once they can’t hide in human society.”
    Ivan opened his pale hazel eyes and stared at his sister with bloodshot anger. She met his gaze and broke contact quickly. Ivan resumed his resting position.
    “The complexity of The Compendium requires participation of industry and individuals that will be obliterated by Terra Nova. It must be our very last step. My true brothers from my real home cannot thrive here. Variants cannot thrive here. The Compendium can only be achieved if we stay on schedule and keep to our plan.”
    “Shall we move on to ground zero?” said Tatiana.
    “Yes. And the more we discuss this, the more ammunition you give my daughter.” Ivan turned slightly away from Tatiana to face the window and the countryside.
    “We should assume they know everything as it is. Melissa very likely shared The Compendium outline with them. They have all the research, execution, and implementation plans we had in Utah.”
    Ivan turned back toward his sister, but instead of meeting her gaze, he found my astral self. His face conveyed rage and for a brief flicker, his pupils flashed the bright red of the cobra king’s eyes.
    I jumped back and fell hard on my butt with my hand outstretched toward the closed cellar shutters. The shaded lawn behind the church was cool under my legs where I landed.
    “They’re on a train. Ivan is really sick. Like possibly dying sick. That thing inside him can’t survive in our world for long. That’s why he wants to change the planet.”
    “What is the status of Terra Nova?” said Jonah, gently but firmly.
    “Where do they plan to release it?” Josh stepped toward me as though he might throttle the information from my head.
    “I don’t know where, but they called it ground zero,” I said, grinding my fingers into my temples.
    “That’s helpful.” Faith’s purple dreads splayed in the air as she tossed her head.
    “They’re waiting for all the other Compendium projects first. It’s too complex to set in motion after all the people are dead. Whatever earthquakes and floods and poisonous shit he’s planning to unleash, he needs the unwitting accomplices working with Innoviro and Evonatura and Jinhua.”
    “We should spend more time with The Compendium documents. We were tracking Terra Nova, because that was the worst of it, but if they’re putting that off, we need to know what comes next.” Melissa skimmed the ground around her as though the answers lay there.
    “Especially if it’s disastrous enough to pave the way for more creatures like the one you’ve described,” said Jonah.
    “Where did it come from? This thing that’s got Ivan,” said Cole.
    I replayed the scene in my mind, as much to share it with Ilya again as to refresh my own memory.
    “A fireball that fell to earth,” said Ilya.
    “A meteor then,” said Jonah, rubbing his chin.
    “I guess so,” I said, exhausted.
    “Okay, they’re on a train. They’re not releasing Terra Nova right now. We have some time.” Josh scanned the buildings around us, evaluating.
    “Where do we go from