Swarm (44 page)
Authors: Scott Westerfeld,Margo Lanagan,Deborah Biancotti
Kelsie was right next to her, a featherlight touch.
“You're doing good,” she said softly. “Just as glorious as Nate.”
Through all her exhaustion Flicker felt a shred of solace from the words. And yet, as she made her way to the alley door, she couldn't shake the nagging feeling that she'd forgotten something.
Something really important.
There was an absence in her, a gap where a vital spark had lived and was missing now. A nothingness that couldn't be explained, not even by Nate's arrest or the awful fact that Craig was dead.
Unbidden, her right hand went to her left wrist and found a bracelet there. She felt braille dots, punched into the leather.
TâHâIâB . . .
Nonsense letters. Where the hell had this bracelet come from? Flicker pulled it from her wrist and dropped it on the floor.
She tried to send her vision out into the alley but found no eyes.
“All clear,” she said.
The door yawned open, and the four remaining Zeroes left the Dish forever.
© Niki Bern
SCOTT WESTERFELD
is the author of the worldwide bestselling Uglies series, and the Leviathan series, the first book of which was the winner of the 2010 Locus Award for Best Young Adult Fiction. His other novels include the
New York Times
bestseller
Afterworlds, The Last Days, Peeps, So Yesterday
, and the Midnighters trilogy. Visit him at
ScottWesterfeld.com
or follow him on Twitter at
@ScottWesterfeld
.
© Steven Dunbar
MARGO LANAGAN
has been publishing stories for children, young adults, and adult readers for twenty-five years. Her work has won numerous awards, including four World Fantasy Awards. Two of her books have been Michael L. Printz Honor books, and she has been short-listed for the Hugo and Nebula awards and for the
Los Angeles Times
Book Prize in the young adult division. Visit Margo at her blog,
amongamidwhile.blogspot.com
, or follow her on Twitter at
@margolanagan
.
© Vicki Skarratt
DEBORAH BIANCOTTI
has written two short-story collections,
Bad Power
and
A Book of Endings
. She's been nominated for the Shirley Jackson Award and the William L. Crawford Award for Best First Fantasy Book. You can find her online at
deborahbiancotti.com
or on Twitter at
@deborah_b
.
SIMON PULSE
Simon & Schuster, New York
Visit us at
authors.simonandschuster.com/Scott-Westerfeld
authors.simonandschuster.com/Margo-Lanagan
authors.simonandschuster.com/Deborah-Biancotti
ALSO BY SCOTT WESTERFELD
Zeroes
Afterworlds
Uglies
Pretties
Specials
Extras
Leviathan
Behemoth
Goliath
The Manual of Aeronautics:
An Illustrated Guide to the Leviathan Series
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
SIMON PULSE
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First Simon Pulse hardcover edition September 2016
Text copyright © 2016 by Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan, and Deborah Biancotti
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Jacket designed by Regina Flath
Interior designed by Mike Rosamilia
The text of this book was set in Adobe Garamond Pro.
This book has been cataloged with the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-1-4814-4339-5 (hc)
ISBN 978-1-4814-4341-8 (eBook)