Title: This is the Circle
Series: The Psionics, Book Four
Author: Tash McAdam
Publisher: NineStar Press
Release Date: December 16, 2019
Heat Level: 2 - Fade to Black Sex
Pairing: No Romance
Length: 75800
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy, LGBT, military, futuristic, alt universe, barbarians, bonded, dark, disabilities, body snatching, undead, polyamory, non-monogamy, minor romance
Add to Goodreads
Synopsis
In the middle of two wars, including one
that they didn’t want and didn’t ask for, the Psionics of ARC struggle to turn
back the Eaters. The Institute is still waiting for an opportunity to regain
control of the city, but right now there are more pressing concerns. Outside
the Wall, chaos reigns, and the slums are overrun. Citizens and dwells alike
are panicked and rioting. Cassandra hides in Epsilon 17’s body, convincing
those closest to her that everything is normal as she pieces together plans to
escape in the confusion.
But when the Eaters take her, Thea
manages to regain control. The tables have turned. Now she has to pretend to be
Cassandra to survive—but fortunately her time in the Institute prepared her
well. If she tries to flee, she’ll be killed, but if she stays with the
cannibal hordes she’s bound to be discovered. Escape seems impossible, but
help—and friendship—comes from an unlikely source.
Toby and Serena have their hands full
fighting the invading Eaters and trying to track down leads on where Thea could
be. Cut off from his twin, Toby’s relationships with ARC deepen and grow, but
he’s consumed by his guilt and his need to find Thea.
The cannibal threat looms ever closer,
and with one of their best weapons either lost or disabled, ARC has to decide
what their priorities are. Should they try to kill her, or save her?
Excerpt
This is the Circle
Tash McAdam © 2019
All Rights Reserved
TOBY
They’re coming over the wall, Serena
pushes the thought to me as we duck into a doorway, looking for our next
targets. People are running and screaming, I see a toddler dashed out of his
mother’s arms, grabbed by an invisible hand, and send a puff of telekinesis out
to catch him, whisking him out of danger and back safe onto her shoulder. A
scream of frustration rings in the empty air.
The woman doesn’t know what happened,
but she takes her child and keeps running. The streets are clearing now, the
gates shut to keep the attackers out, cutting off the flood of dwells. I can’t
help but think they’d be safer if they’d all stayed outside. The Eaters are
here; they’re in the City, but we can’t see them.
I desperately try to comm base, but
everything’s down, my datapad blinking uselessly as it tries to connect.
Serena marks two falling shapes that are
invisible to me as they tumble down the huge white edifice. They’re using their
power like parachutes, skidding their feet down the surface of the wall and
wafting their telekinesis above themselves, slowing their descent; it’s
unbelievable. Via our hand-to-hand connection I get a faint impression of
Serena skidding down a wall by herself, long ago, young and scared, with
devastation woven into the heart of the memory. She digs her nails into my
hand, jogging me out of the private moments she didn’t mean to share, and
points our joined hands at the first descending Eater.
I send out a burst of power, flatten the
body-snatcher against the massive white blocks of steel-hard stone, feel his
bones break, and his scream of pain reverberates through the air. Serena yanks
the other attacker down, but he…no, she, flips in the air and lands on her
feet, dodging into the panicked shapes before Serena can keep track of her.
A massive figure shunts refugee bodies
aside like a battering ram—Tudor: he can see them, just like Leaf could in the
desert—and heaves upward. The woman Serena lost sight of flickers into view for
a moment, and Tudor hammers a huge fist into her chest. Everything is so sharp
and clear in my vision. I see her rib bones bow inward, snap. Battlesight,
Serena crows, adrenaline pounding through her, making her forget the deaths
around us and focus only on the joy of war.
Together we race toward the fading trail
of another invisible attacker as they sprint down a street after the fleeing
crowds. They want the children, Serena sends to me, her inner voice shocked and
disbelieving. I caught it on her before Tudor took her down; they’re here for
the kids. The powered kids, she means. I feel it.
Why? My feet smash into the pavement. I
wish these boots were older, broken in, the tight synth-leather making my
strides just a touch uncertain on the slippery solar panels.
You should try doing this in the rain,
Serena jokes, not knowing the answer to my question. Then we’re on the escaping
Eater and have to focus. She reads and finds his feet for me, bare, soles like
hide but used to hot sands not smooth glassy surfaces. I thread a noose of
power around his ankle, ready to trip him. But I forgot what they can do with
an open line, and I gasp as he yanks on the tendril I sent toward him. He pulls
a gob of power right out of my chest, absorbing it with a shuddery cry I can
hear with my mundane ears, not needing Serena to read it and pass it to me.
I stagger, almost falling with the shock
of it, but Serena catches me with a strong hand around my belt, saving me from
a nosedive onto the ground. Toby. It’s a cry, thick with fear, but I’m okay. I
let go of the power and let him take it rather than try to keep the connection
open and fight him for it. I don’t know how to do that, and the memory of my
twin taking everything out of me is still too fresh in my mind to want to try.
I’m good, I spit it, finding my balance
and yanking Serena along, urging her to look for our prey, but he’s
disappeared, and she can’t find him. If they want the kids, they’ll be at ARC,
I realize and share at the same time, and Serena blanches.
Damon.
No comments:
Post a Comment