“I almost forgot about Will.” His low growl filled the tiny car. He punched the steering wheel, swerving into the other lane. A car horn blared next to us.
“Forget about Will and watch the road.” I snapped on my seatbelt, staring at him across the bucket seat. If I had to do this now, might as well get it over with. “Jake pretended to have intel on James, but he really wanted to take me somewhere under Nexis orders.”
His knuckles went white against the steering wheel. “What? You’ve got to be kidding me. If that’s true, it’s hard to believe Will wasn’t involved somehow.”
“I don’t know. He got beat up pretty bad, remember?” I hunched my shoulders. Tension seeped around the car. Even Betty Boop looked mad at me. My head ached until I couldn’t take it any more. “Enough about Will. You’ll like the next part. I asked for my angel, and he came. Like lightning, he lit up the sky and fought off tons of shadows. It was awesome. Dazzling, really.”
“Wow, the angel actually came when you asked? I can’t wait to see that.” His mouth curved as he looked at me. Warmth flushed my cheeks. “That can mean only one thing.” He grasped my hand across the seat.
I squeezed back. “What?”
For a split second, his eyes met mine. “You’re ready.” Then he turned back to the road, hand over mine.
“Ready for what?” I studied our fingers, entwined together like one, exactly how it should be.
“Ready for Seer training. Ready to become all that you were meant to be.” He eased the car onto the George Washington Bridge, the waters of the Hudson glistening below us. “Ready to be the next Seer.”
His words washed over me as I watched the river whiz by.
Was I really ready? It would be hard, even dangerous.
I’d come to Montrose to find myself. Somehow that meant seeing angels, demons, and prophets like they were straight from the Bible. But I couldn’t turn my back on it. This was my destiny, who I was called to be. Somewhere, in the back of my mind, I had settled into my new corner of reality.
“You’re right.” I squeezed his fingers. “I’m ready.”
I watched the New York skyline disappear as we crossed the bridge and drove away from the city, a city I’d come to love.
He brought my hand to his lips and kissed the back of it. “You’ll be the best Seer yet. You already have a head start.”
Was it a head start or a disadvantage?
If we could keep Nexis in the dark long enough, we could wield my early-onset powers to our advantage.
So many mind games, so much to lose. Yet I knew it was my destiny, fighting Nexis. We would win this thing. We had to. For James, for the Guardians, even for myself.
Finally, I was ready. Let the training begin.
Lucy’s story continues …
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Prequel Sample
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The Nexis Awakening
By Barbara Hartzler
JAMES
Here was the funny thing: I was never that guy. The responsible guy. No, I was the guy who froze his younger sister’s training bra. The guy who paintballed the Guardian floor of Denby Hall for Halloween open dorms.
Sure, I’ve been on my own for four years of high school living it up at Riverdale, New York’s finest boarding school. And I’m still president of the Nexis Society, for at least another day. Until they find out what I’m about to do.
Because there I was, sitting on the subway, about to break into a church in Harlem.
I had told the heir apparent this was his initiation mission. That’s right. I lied to the great Will Stanton, Jr., Golden Adonis of the Nexis Society. The fifteen-year-old boy wonder who’d supposedly usher in the Utopian society Nexis had been engineering for centuries.
It was easy to lie to this kid, but infinitely harder lying to all of my friends, especially my girlfriend, for two months now.
Here’s the truth—I was doing the most responsible thing I’d ever done in my life.
I had a plan to protect my kid sister, Lucy. Even if I had to break into a church to do it. You think the cops would buy it? Yeah, me neither. Let’s pray we don’t get caught.
Cocking my head, I glanced across the subway bench at the kid who’d soon replace me. Maybe tomorrow, maybe next week. But right now, Will Stanton didn’t know what I knew. He thought this was a Nexis mission like any other.
The corners of my mouth curled. Good. That’s what I wanted him to think. It was his family against mine. The Stantons vs. the McAllens. And I wouldn’t let them win. If I’m going down, he’s going down with me.
The brakes squealed as we slowed to a stop. I zipped up my black hoodie and stood up.
“You ready for this?” I asked as the doors slid open.
“You bet,” he said with a grin plastered across his face. “I’m always ready for a secret mission.”
I fought the urge to roll my eyes. Only a handful of bleary-eyed people walked out with us. Still, every hair on the back of my neck stood up. My blood pumped double-time, but no one seemed to notice two black-clad teenagers on the subway platform. It was midnight on a Thursday, after all. Only in New York.
We booked it up the steps, two at a time, and made our way out to the street without any more naive freshman comments that might give us away. I led our
