In a world where everyone is connected, disconnection is a death sentence...
Seventeen-year-old Kevin has never questioned the chip implanted in his brain. It gives him instant access to human knowledge, controls his daily life, and ensures his future unfolds exactly as planned.
Until the connection begins to fail.
Suddenly targeted by the Sovereign’s deadliest assassin, Kevin discovers a terrifying truth: his life was never his own. He was created for something far more dangerous.
Now, Kevin and his best friend Jared are on the run, hunted for the secrets buried inside their minds. Secrets that could unlock humanity’s ultimate potential—or destroy those deemed unworthy.
With countless lives at stake, Kevin faces an impossible choice—embrace the deadly power he was born to wield and risk losing the girl he loves, or defy his destiny and watch innocent people die.
14+ due to adult situations
Excerpt:
I saw the woman walking towards the end of the catwalk, a shadow behind the curtain, eyeing the trap door above her suspiciously. If I were lucky, she would think I had gone through it, follow, and then I would be rid of her for a few moments at least. I waited patiently for her to decide, my arms burning with the pain of supporting myself. I considered climbing down, but I didn’t want her to see the curtain swaying any more than it probably already was. I felt beads of sweat forming on my forehead from the strain and a quiet groan escaped my throat. I shut my eyes tightly, trying to pull strength out of some deep reserve in my body. Suddenly, the pain vanished and my arms stopped shaking. I couldn’t help myself, a whisper seeped through my lips.
“Wow.”
The woman’s head snapped around and glared in my direction. I scolded myself for being so stupid and tried to hold as still as possible, which didn’t seem to be a problem anymore. She took a few tentative steps towards me. I was only dangling maybe two feet from the catwalk, entirely within her reach. Through the curtain I could see her eyes turning white.
As if the situation weren’t bad enough, I heard the curtain above me start to rip. Two options were available—jump back to the catwalk, or smash into the floor. I looked through the curtain again and smashing into the floor started to look very appealing. I decided to go down with a bang. I started swinging myself back and forth. The woman looked confused when I kicked off the catwalk to send myself further away from her, the curtain ripping very audibly above us. The student center went very quiet, and I gathered that everyone was listening to me struggle and rip the stage curtains. The principal whipped the main curtain open to see what was going on, and his jaw dropped wide open when he saw my legs swing out of the black curtain.
The woman pointed an accusing finger at me. “Don’t just stand there! The boy is trying to escape!” Her thunderous voice reverberated throughout the space, sending several students to the floor in fear.
The principal frantically fumbled with the cords, yanking the curtains all the way open. Some of the students watched me as I swung, confusion painted on their faces. Just a few more swings I told myself, hearing the ripping get louder. The woman kept throwing her arms over the catwalk to catch me, but I was too quick for her, able to see where she was aiming before her hands made it to me. Her face reddened with anger after each miss. She held out her hand and proceeded to send numerous shocks toward me, and it was all I could do to not be hit. I felt like a trapeze artist, zigzagging in and out of range, throwing myself in all sorts of odd directions to avoid being fried.
Finally, the curtain had enough, and the final threads snapped apart like little firecrackers. I probably could have thought through my decision a little better, but I kicked off one final time from the catwalk and launched myself toward the open student center. The curtain transformed into a long, flowing cape, trailing behind me as I sailed through the air. The fate of the innocent students who would break my fall didn’t even enter my mind as I flew over the principal, who had rushed back to the middle of the stage. I let go of the curtain and it fell in a great heap right on top of him. He shrieked, cowering to the stage floor. Many of the other students in the room screamed and ran from my path. Instinctively, I tucked my knees in to roll on impact.
The floor screamed beneath me, my landing sending intense waves of pain through my knees and up my back. I rolled tightly, over and over until I came to a stop at someone’s feet. I struggled to get up, ignoring the pain, and pushing fellow students out of the way. I looked over my shoulder to see the woman running across the catwalk back to the ladder on the wall. She barely even held on as she slid down to the stage below, before making two large bounds out into the room. I held out my hand and shocked the end of the stage where the orchestra pit was located, causing the floor to drop out beneath her.
Her startled scream echoed through the room as she threw her hands up to grab for the edge of the stage.
But I didn’t have much time to admire my work, realizing it wouldn’t take her long to recover. I stumbled clumsily toward the back door to the parking lot.
Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder and spun around to defend myself.
“What on earth are you up to?” It was Marcel, the boy I had loathed for so many years.
“I don’t have time to explain,” I said breathlessly. “But we all need to get out of here!” Then I looked around and noticed there were no teachers anywhere. “Where’s all the teachers?”
“Principal dismissed them all to the teacher work room.”
“That makes no goddamn sense!” I yelled.
“I know,” he agreed. “What’s going on?”
“I’m not sure, but there’s this crazy lady chasing me, and a politician in the principal’s office who said the Sovereign was assassinated.”
“Yeah, they told us that,” he affirmed. “The principal said we weren’t allowed to leave. Something about a security situation. Then a bunch of suits took the teachers out, and now they’re guarding all of the doors.”
I clenched my teeth. “Perfect.”
Then he glanced back at the stage in shambles and the woman pulled herself out of the pit. “I’m guessing you’re it?”
“Probably,” I admitted. “Listen, I don’t know how much of what he’s told you is true, but I do know this lady is trying to kill me. We should get everyone out before something bad happens.”
Marcel looked uncomfortable.
“What should we do?” he asked. I motioned for him to crouch down next to me.
“We should probably create some sort of distraction to be able to get a door open without her noticing.”
“You mean crushing the principle under 300 pounds of curtain wasn’t enough?”
“Apparently not.”
“Who is she?” Marcel asked. “I thought she looked kind of familiar.”
“Really?” I said looking at him. “I thought so too.”
“Well, whoever she is, she’s obviously a psycho.”
“Calm yourselves!” we heard the principal yell. He had managed to get free of the curtain and was wobblily standing on the edge of the stage. By the look of him, I thought he might topple over into the pit as well. The woman was standing next to him with a scowl on her face. I didn’t know what kind of retribution Karrsen would inflict on her if she didn’t bring me back, but it probably wouldn’t be good.
“I’m looking for Kevin Everette,” the woman spoke loudly to us. “He is wanted for conspiracy to murder—” There were a few audible gasps around me. Marcel raised an eyebrow my direction, but I couldn’t tell if he was skeptical or convinced.
My mouth opened. “Marcel—”
“—of the Sovereign,” the woman finished. Everyone around me started backing away, except Marcel. His eyes searched me, curious and concerned. But he nodded.
“I got your back,” he said.
