in, like, two hours.”
“Right.” Lilly turned to Evan and Marco. “Boys, let’s give our newest member a slingshot.”
“All right.” Evan didn’t sound thrilled, but he stepped beside me, towering over me and smelling of some better form of sweat. Then he grabbed me under the arms. “Hang on.” He sprang and hurled me straight up into the air.
I tensed, hoping I could keep my feet beneath me when I landed. Below, the other four fish dashed to the corners of the trampoline. “Ready!” Lilly called.
I hurtled down, and the moment I squished into the trampoline center, they all stomped down too. I sank deep, then shot up into the night.
“Nice!” shouted Marco.
I arced through space, losing my balance, cocking sideways. As I plummeted toward the black water, I tried to straighten myself, but I slammed into it in a chin-first belly flop. I dunked deep underwater, my chest compressing, and hung there, for a moment not knowing which way was up or down. My face throbbed. So did my stomach. Then, without even really thinking about it, I made a gulping motion that sealed my throat, and my gills fluttered to life. I sucked in water and relaxed.
A hand closed around my wrist. I looked over, and there was Lilly, cast in moonlight and blue, hair snaking around her, a siren calling to me: ‘Come on.’
She pulled me deeper, toward the cold depths. I heard tinny splashes, and soon the other CITs were around me, and we were plunging into the dark.
As we descended into the abyss, I glanced from one outlined figure to the next and wondered how this had happened. Sure, there had been each moment—I remembered those—but it seemed like there had to be something more at work, like a plan or even a God, that had orchestrated this: me, Owen, suddenly something new, a creature of the deep, of mysteries. And I felt like I wanted to be down here forever, in Lilly’s grasp, with these others who I almost dared to think of as my own.
PART II
[ GAMMALINK CONNECTION LOADING . . . 100% —welcome back to the Alliance Free SignalCast— buffering— you want to know what EdenCorp is really up to, just look at the locations of the domes. They claimed that their placement was based on climate stability, but the proximity to ancient sites can’t be a coincidence. Then there’s the secretive EdenNorth complex. No one can confirm its location, but our sources say it’s on the coast of Greenland, and is rumored to be some kind of modern-day Area 51. It was the first one they built. So you have to ask yourself: What is Eden hiding up there? And does it connect to what we’ve heard coming out of Desenna, the former EdenSouth? Rumors of some kind of awakening, or calling, that’s only happening to certain rare people? They believe that it’s the Gods returning, but what if it’s something else? Something ancient, like— connection fail ]
Chapter 7
THE MOON PROJECTION SET OVER THE BLACK OUTLINE of the hills to the west, fading into the faint amber glow from the city. Camp Eden was located on a secluded inlet, hills to three sides and Mount Aasgard to the fourth. That distant hazy brightness was the only thing that indicated there was a city in here.
As purple lights imitated predawn on the eastern curve of the dome, we emerged from the water, wading to shore like some kind of invading monster army.
Walking alongside the CITs, I considered that we looked like one of those groups, the kind I always saw from the outside, that seemed so exclusive, such a natural part of the universe, and you wondered how things like that formed, and why they didn’t happen to you, and you wanted, just once, to be in one, and to know what that secret, sacred thing was that created such an impenetrable unit. Apparently, gills could do it.
I felt the disappointing grit of sand, the pressure of solid ground beneath my feet. Back on land. Dragged down by that persistent tugging of gravity, eliminating possibility, turning me from shark
“Right.” Lilly turned to Evan and Marco. “Boys, let’s give our newest member a slingshot.”
“All right.” Evan didn’t sound thrilled, but he stepped beside me, towering over me and smelling of some better form of sweat. Then he grabbed me under the arms. “Hang on.” He sprang and hurled me straight up into the air.
I tensed, hoping I could keep my feet beneath me when I landed. Below, the other four fish dashed to the corners of the trampoline. “Ready!” Lilly called.
I hurtled down, and the moment I squished into the trampoline center, they all stomped down too. I sank deep, then shot up into the night.
“Nice!” shouted Marco.
I arced through space, losing my balance, cocking sideways. As I plummeted toward the black water, I tried to straighten myself, but I slammed into it in a chin-first belly flop. I dunked deep underwater, my chest compressing, and hung there, for a moment not knowing which way was up or down. My face throbbed. So did my stomach. Then, without even really thinking about it, I made a gulping motion that sealed my throat, and my gills fluttered to life. I sucked in water and relaxed.
A hand closed around my wrist. I looked over, and there was Lilly, cast in moonlight and blue, hair snaking around her, a siren calling to me: ‘Come on.’
She pulled me deeper, toward the cold depths. I heard tinny splashes, and soon the other CITs were around me, and we were plunging into the dark.
As we descended into the abyss, I glanced from one outlined figure to the next and wondered how this had happened. Sure, there had been each moment—I remembered those—but it seemed like there had to be something more at work, like a plan or even a God, that had orchestrated this: me, Owen, suddenly something new, a creature of the deep, of mysteries. And I felt like I wanted to be down here forever, in Lilly’s grasp, with these others who I almost dared to think of as my own.
PART II
[ GAMMALINK CONNECTION LOADING . . . 100% —welcome back to the Alliance Free SignalCast— buffering— you want to know what EdenCorp is really up to, just look at the locations of the domes. They claimed that their placement was based on climate stability, but the proximity to ancient sites can’t be a coincidence. Then there’s the secretive EdenNorth complex. No one can confirm its location, but our sources say it’s on the coast of Greenland, and is rumored to be some kind of modern-day Area 51. It was the first one they built. So you have to ask yourself: What is Eden hiding up there? And does it connect to what we’ve heard coming out of Desenna, the former EdenSouth? Rumors of some kind of awakening, or calling, that’s only happening to certain rare people? They believe that it’s the Gods returning, but what if it’s something else? Something ancient, like— connection fail ]
Chapter 7
THE MOON PROJECTION SET OVER THE BLACK OUTLINE of the hills to the west, fading into the faint amber glow from the city. Camp Eden was located on a secluded inlet, hills to three sides and Mount Aasgard to the fourth. That distant hazy brightness was the only thing that indicated there was a city in here.
As purple lights imitated predawn on the eastern curve of the dome, we emerged from the water, wading to shore like some kind of invading monster army.
Walking alongside the CITs, I considered that we looked like one of those groups, the kind I always saw from the outside, that seemed so exclusive, such a natural part of the universe, and you wondered how things like that formed, and why they didn’t happen to you, and you wanted, just once, to be in one, and to know what that secret, sacred thing was that created such an impenetrable unit. Apparently, gills could do it.
I felt the disappointing grit of sand, the pressure of solid ground beneath my feet. Back on land. Dragged down by that persistent tugging of gravity, eliminating possibility, turning me from shark
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