by Melissa West
I climb the back side of the hill and peer down, my heart ramming away in my chest. I raise my gun, sight in Zeus, and am just about to fire when I hear a gun go off behind me. I fall to the ground, pain ripping through my right arm, blood soaking through my shirt. The gun falls from my grasp, and I spin around to see two Ancients advancing.
The sky pours harder, the rain making it difficult to differentiate who is who. All I know is that I have to stop this now before the Zypids decide to join the war efforts. I start to reach for another gun from my harness when one of the Ancients before me says, “Move and my next shot is your heart.”
“You realize what’s he doing, don’t you? He’s joining forces with them. Another species. His loyalty was never with Logeans. Can’t you see that?”
The Ancient peers behind me to Zeus walking toward the other Zypids, and I feel the Ancient’s uncertainty. He no longer trusts his leader.
“Shoot her,” the other Ancient says, but he doesn’t move. He isn’t sure.
The moment of hesitation gives me a chance to pull a gun. I ignore the crowd below. Ignore the Ancient on my back. Ignore the fear in my stomach that what I’m about to do may end everything. I point the laser at Zeus and fire just as the Ancient on me fires. I try to duck out of the shot, but I’m not fast enough and the bullet hits my side. I fall forward, unable to see if I hit my target, if I hit Zeus, and then I’m tumbling down the hill, unable to stop myself before I’m in the clearing, flat on my back, surrounded by Ancients. My injury is too great for me to move just yet, and I think, this is it. My death is finally here. But they don’t attack. They don’t shoot. Instead, they stare at me in wonder.
“You shot him.”
I try to back away, to stand, but the injury is worse than my arm, and xylem hasn’t yet healed me enough to overcome the pain. I wince as I try again, and then a female with vibrant red hair reaches out her hand to me. Hesitating, I take it, and once I’m on my feet, she considers me and says, “Thank you.”
“Did you say thank you?” I’m puzzled at what’s happening, but suddenly there’s a hush in the crowd, all eyes turned on me. Including the Zypids’. I can tell by their stance that they are military—they are fighters. They are prepared to kill us. I start for them, eager to try to make peace, but then Jackson is in front of them, and my nerves wind into knots, my body unable to move fast enough to get to him.
The rain lets up, the sky clearing above, and without the cloud cover I see, with horror, that the craft we’d witnessed before wasn’t the only one in our sky. There are two others. And then I’m racing through the crowd, ignoring the pain slicing through my side, reopening my wounds as fast as xylem can heal them.
What will they do? But Jackson doesn’t speak to them. He spins around, and I can see the change in his face. The strength in his stance. He is the Ancient leader now.
“We are one,” he says, his voice loud. “Earth is our planet now, and we are one. Humans. And Ancients. Together, we are one. This war ends right now, today. There are greater threats in the universe, and unless we stand together, we will die alone.”
I wait for a reaction, but then something amazing happens. The Ancients move into the crowd of humans and half-breeds, their weapons all lowered at their sides, every set of eyes now facing Jackson and the Zypids. Our differences have faded in the presence of a new threat, binding us as the protectors of this planet.
I reach Jackson at the same time as Dad, Vill, and Law. We are all that remains of our original army—five. But we are strong and capable, and we will not go down without a fight.
Jackson turns around and together we face the Zypids. “We do not want to fight you. We want peace. We ask that you leave us in peace.”
The Zypids remain silent for several moments, and Law grips his gun. I reach out to stop him, shaking my head. “Wait,” I whisper.
They watch us, taking in our forms, analyzing things I may never know about our kind, and then their craft reappears above us, and my breath catches, fear rippling through me as I prepare for the blast to hit. I grip Jackson’s hand, expecting him to offer comforting words before our imminent deaths, when he turns toward me and smiles. “Look.”
My eyes lift to see the Zypids disappearing into the craft’s beam of light, one at a time, before they’re all gone. My insides still feel uneasy, but for the first time, my muscles relax.
“They’re leaving?” I ask, unable to mask the hope in my voice.
“They’ve agreed to leave us in peace.” The three crafts zoom higher into the sky before disappearing, and the crowd explodes in excitement. I peer around, a smile breaking across my face as I see Ancients and humans hugging one another tightly, comforted by each other—by what is normal to us. We are no longer alien beings here—we are kindred, we are alike, we are one.
Jackson walks over to Zeus’s body, and though so much has happened, so many have died, I can see the regret on his face, and I wonder if he is remembering a time before Zeus was the horror he became.
The sun peeks out from the horizon, and now with the light, we can see clearly how many died today. All for a war we never truly understood. A war intended to support separation, the destruction of a species. But instead, through our common goal, we have unified.
The thought brings tears to my eyes as I watch in wonder as the humans and Ancients and half-breeds work, clearing up bodies, sharing water and food, working together.
Jackson wraps his arms around me from behind, his head over my shoulder, and I can feel the contentment and happiness rolling off him. This is what he always wanted. After all, he was the first half-breed. And never once did he want anything but the union of our kinds.
He kisses my cheek. “Only that…and you.”
My lips meet his and though I have no idea what will come of our world, how we will rebuild, or the state of the other Trinities, I know that together, we will find a way. We will live.
The end of the war…is just the beginning.
Epilogue
Ten years later
I walk out into the field, my hands outstretched, gliding over the wheat stalks as I pass, the sun so warm above me I can feel it burning my bare shoulders, but the feeling is so real and wonderful that I don’t try to seek out shade.
Laughter hits my ears, and I spin around in time to see the children crouched down several yards away, Kyla giggling while Sam shoots her his best death glare.
“You gave us away,” he cries to her. “We’ll never sneak up on her if you warn her every time we’re near!”
“You mean like this?” Just then Jackson swoops Sam into the air, flying around and around as he spins, giggling even harder than his little sister.
“Daddy, do me, do me!” Kyla calls, and I smile over at Jackson and Sam before picking her up and twirling her around until I fall back. Then Jackson lies beside me, our children beside us, as we stare up into the peaceful morning sky, our quaint wooden home behind us, a hundred more behind it.
It took us months after the war to build the first real house, but something about doing it together, finding a new way, bound the humans and Ancients in a way they had never been linked before.
Now, we live side by side. Our world, in America, is different than the rest of the world, each country having to find its own way. But one thing became certain worldwide—we would no longer be afraid of alien beings, of different. After all, we are all different now. There is no normal, no right.
The Zypids never crossed our atmosphere again, and though we know they are out there, we also know there are other species, too. Far too many to count. Far too many to worry about. For now, there is no threat, or worry, or pain, or sadness. There is no fighting. No hate. No desire to rise above one another.
There is only life.
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Acknowledgments
As always, thank you God—especially for coffee. Kidding, sort of.
This book was a beast to write, and it would not exist without the help of many wonderfully talented people. First, thank you to my agent Nicole Resciniti for your continued support and wisdom.
Thank you a million times over to my editor, Liz Pelletier, who has always “gotten” this series and who has shaped each story in the most amazing ways. Thank you!
Thank you to Sara Brady for your awesome copyediting skills, Tara Quigley for managing the production of the book, and Debbie Suzuki and Heather Riccio for helping get the word out and just generally rocking.
I could not write without the support of my family—I love you Jase, Rylie, and Lainey. Thank you for helping me stay sane. And thank you to my parents, sister, niece, and mother-in-law for always being so supportive.
And no writer could survive without the help of friends. Thank you so much to Rachel Harris, Cindi Madsen, Tara Fuller, Stina Lindenblatt, Jennifer Jabaley, and Lisa Burstein for the emails and laughs. I don’t think I could write a book without each of you! Also, thank you to Heather Grimmett, Tonya Johnson, Erica Justice, and Charity Cirillo for showing excitement for every book. You have no idea how much that means.
Thank you to Kayleigh Gore and Jessica Mangicaro for reading early versions of the book and pointing out all the things that sucked! Thank you!
Finally, thank you to my readers, especially those on my Facebook page and reader group, Mel’s Madhouse. You are all so very wonderful. I feel so fortunate that you’ve found this series! Your enthusiasm and support means the world.
About the Author
Melissa West writes young adult and new adult novels for Entangled Teen and Embrace and Penguin/Intermix. She lives outside of Atlanta, GA with her husband and two daughters and spends most of her time writing, reading, or fueling her coffee addiction.
She holds a B.A. in Communication Studies and a M.S. in Graphic Communication, both from Clemson University. Yeah, her blood runs orange.
Connect with Melissa at www.melissawestauthor.com or on Twitter @MB_West.
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Other books by Melissa West
Gravity
In the future, only one rule will matter: Don’t. Ever. Peek. Ari Alexander just broke that rule and saw the last person she expected hovering above her bed — arrogant Jackson Locke. Jackson issues a challenge: help him, or everyone on Earth will die. Giving Jackson the information he needs will betray her father and her country, but keeping silent will start a war.
Hover
On Earth, seventeen-year-old Ari Alexander was taught to never peek, but if she hopes to survive life on her new planet, Loge, her eyes must never shut. Because Zeus will do anything to save the Ancients from their dying planet, and he has a plan. Thousands of humans crossed over to Loge after a poisonous neurotoxin released into Earth’s atmosphere, nearly killing them. They sought refuge in hopes of finding a new life, but what they became were slaves, built to wage war against their home planet. That is, unless Ari and Jackson can stop them. But on Loge, nothing is as it seems…and no one can be trusted.
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Yeah, Josie Harper didn’t believe it, either, until strange things started happening. And when this hot guy tried to kidnap her… Well, that’s when things got real. Now Josie’s got it bad for a boy who weakens her every time he’s near and a world of enemies want to control her gift. She’s going to need more than just her wits if she hopes to survive much longer.
Mirror X
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At the age of seventeen, I was put into a cryogenic tube and frozen. Now, more than a thousand years later, I’ve finally been awakened to a more serene and peaceful future. Or have I? Everyone is young. Everyone is banded and tracked. And everyone is keeping secrets. Not even Michael Bennett, the cute geneticist in the hospital, is being honest with me. When I’m told only I can save the human race from extinction, it’s clear my freeze didn’t avoid a dreadful fate. It only delayed the horror…
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Since discovering she is a shape-shifting dragon, Bryn McKenna has seen her world thrown into chaos. As a “crossbreed”—part Red dragon and part Blue—she will never be permitted to be with her taboo love, Zavien Blackthorn…who might be betrothed to someone else. Mixed breed. A forbidden heritage. A secret romance. Nope, Bryn is definitely not playing by the rules. And if she can’t fit into the status quo, then maybe it’s time for Bryn to change it.
A Darker Past
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Thanks to her heritage and helping her mother with the Darker Agency, the paranormal is definitely Jessie Darker’s “normal.” For one, Jessie’s been contracted into fifty-five years of annoying servitude. To a demon. Then there’s her sexy new boyfriend who’s been going through some…uh, changes. But it’s when Jessie accidentally releases a Very Nasty Demon that things get really bad, threatening both Earth and the Shadow Realm. And Jessie has exactly four days to fix it…before all of Hell breaks loose.
