Chrysalis

by Brendan Reichs

  “Did everyone make it?” I asked. “The MegaCom didn’t overload?”

  Tack sat down across from me with a slight grin. “Yes. But some stuff has happened since then. A lot of stuff, actually.”

  I was having trouble thinking. “Where are we? Is this the silo?”

  “No. The first time we regenerated we were being held inside a giant human habitat aboard a space station orbiting Mars, which had been hijacked by a nasty alien collective consciousness, but we managed to sort that out. You’re now on the Red Planet, although you won’t recognize it. It feels like California.”

  I stared at him. “Aliens?”

  “We fought her off. You ran away and hid in a closet at the very end, and I was forced to save everyone single-handedly with my bare hands. I’m king of the world now. They call me Emperor Tack.”

  I grabbed my head with both hands. “Tack, what’s going on. Where’s Min? Where are the others?”

  Tack popped to his feet. He rapped his knuckles on a dented black box beside the pod. “The others are mostly still in this hard drive. We lost a lot of people in the fight, but my new friend Skippy has been helping me put some things back together. Everyone else is afraid of using this hardware again, but I figured what the hell?”

  I was starting to freak out. “Tack, please. I don’t know what’s happening.”

  Tack crouched down and met my eye. “She’s miserable is what’s happening. Min isn’t the same, and it . . . I couldn’t sit back and do nothing. Some parts of Chrysalis still work, and the raw materials were there. Skippy did most of the thinking for me.”

  “You regenerated me a . . . a second time? After the Program?”

  Tack’s look became sad. “She’s heartbroken, Noah. We need you back.”

  He stood quickly. “Plus, I wanna see Floyd again. He owes me twenty bucks. Understand that none of the other Martians know about this little project yet. Not everyone is going to be excited to see you. But I was sure Sophia was really gone, and so far, so good.”

  “Sophia?” It was too much, too fast. I squeezed my eyes shut.

  “Get it together, already,” Tack snapped. “There are like forty more of our classmates we have to make, and I even found those Nemesis Four kids. Did you know another class has been inside their Program this whole time? And I’m sure Rose will want to bring back some of her people, too. She’s always barging into my sandbox. The point is, it’s going to be a long day, but we need to visit the village first.” He snorted. “They named it after you, can you believe it?”

  I shook my head, woozy. But I was alive. Min was alive.

  “Min’s waiting, Noah. Even though she doesn’t know it yet. Are you coming or not?”

  He extended a hand to me.

  I took it.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I dread writing acknowledgments because I live in fear of leaving important people out, so you can imagine my terror at crafting a thank you message to close out an entire series. Especially one that has meant so much to me and consumed the last four years of my life. But I’m nothing if not mildly on task, so I’ll once again try to give credit where it’s so obviously due. As always, to anyone not listed here who rightfully should be, I’m sorry, and you were right about me. I’m unreliable.

  Chrysalis was hard to write. Third book, final book, all the loose strands, you get it. The manuscript was late every step of the way, as I suffered a false start before finding the story I wanted to tell. The whole thing would’ve collapsed without the relentless efforts of my super-editor, Arianne Lewin. Thanks, Ari. That’s six books and counting together. I’m proud of how we finished strong, and that’s because of you.

  Thanks as always to the incredible team at G. P. Putnam’s Sons and Penguin Young Readers, including (but by no means limited to): Jennifer Dee, Elyse Marshall, Amalia Frick, Dana Li, Jennifer Klonsky, Christina Colangelo, Erin Berger, Emily Romero, Kara Brammer, Caitlin Whalen, Lindsay Boggs, Felicity Vallence, Katherine Perkins and countless, countless others. You guys run a great ship and I’m happy to swab the decks when ordered.

  I’d be absolutely nowhere without my agent Jodi Reamer. I mean nowhere. You keep me in line and make me appear generally presentable. This is no small task. Thank you thank you thank you.

  Thank you to David Gill, who gave me priceless notes on the very first pages of this book. I took them to heart. Thank you to my Tropebusters, who provided encouragement, feedback, and glowing Amazon reviews for the Project Nemesis series. Thank you to my YALL-family, who carry me through everything. I’m toasting Margaret Stohl, Melissa de la Cruz, Kami Garcia, Veronica Roth, Alex London, Rafi Simon, and Jonathan Sanchez, as well as west-coasters Marie Lu, Tahereh Mafi, Ransom Riggs, Leigh Bardugo, Holly Goldberg Sloan, and Richelle Mead. Further thanks to Tori Hill and Shane Pangburn for doing the actual work. And effusive thanks to Emily Williams for keeping the Reichs Express moving forward even when things got crazy. I couldn’t find my car keys without your help.

  Thank you to Kass Morgan and Ransom Riggs for their kind words on Chrysalis and the series. They mean a lot to me. Thank you to my fellow authors who have supported Project Nemesis from start to finish, with both praise and precious time: Ransom Riggs, Carrie Ryan, Renée Ahdieh, Ally Condie, Jay Kristoff, Victoria Aveyard, Alex Bracken, Margaret Stohl, Melissa de la Cruz, Kami Garcia, Marie Lu, Danielle Paige, Veronica Roth, Ryan Graudin, Rose Brock, Lauren Billings, Alex London, Stephanie Perkins, Maggie Stiefvater, Soman Chainani, Melissa Thomson, Jenny Han, and Kiersten White. You guys come through when it counts and I’m very, very grateful. The world is a better place with you all in it. Friends forever, no takebacks.

  I need to specifically thank my life coaches Ally Condie and Soman Chainani. I wouldn’t survive without you. Don’t make new friends. I’ll get jealous.

  Most importantly, thank you to my whip-smart wife, Emily, and my wonderful children, Henry and Alice. I love you all very much. Also thanks to Wrigley for being my soul mate cat and to Soldier, Flip, and Turk for causing me endless dog-related problems. Wouldn’t change a thing.

  Finally, to my readers, you’re the reason I do this. As I’ve said twice before, I will repeat once again: your support has given me a career that I love and a happy, exciting, fulfilling life. Thanks upon thanks until the end of time.

  Project Nemesis, signing off. Go forth and be great, like you know you can be.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Brendan Reichs was born and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina. He graduated from Wake Forest University in 2000 and The George Washington University School of Law in 2006. After three long years working as a litigation attorney, he abandoned the trade to write full time. He is the author of The Project Nemesis series, and co-author of the Virals series, written with Kathy Reichs. Brendan lives in Charlotte with his wife, son, daughter, and a herd of animals that tear up everything.

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