The voice never stops. And it knows exactly what she wants.
Two years after her connection to the Hollowing awakened during the Sanctuary disaster, Kate Morrison has become humanity's most valuable asset. A nine-year-old living early warning system, she senses dimensional incursions with perfect accuracy, her warnings giving response teams the precious minutes they need to contain each breach. She has saved thousands of lives.
But the connection that protects humanity is slowly consuming her.
The Hollowing speaks to her now. Not in the cold warnings that wake her screaming in the night, but in whispers—soft, seductive, almost kind. It knows her loneliness, her exhaustion, her desperate wish to be a normal child instead of a weapon. It offers understanding that no one else can give. It promises an end to the endless fighting, to the bone-deep weariness, to the terrible weight of being humanity's canary in the coal mine.
All she has to do is say yes. Just once. Just open the door.
Chelsea Park watches her daughter-in-all-but-name slip further away each day, powerless to stop what's happening inside Kate's mind. Lucas Chen, scarred by his own brush with the Hollowing, recognizes the signs from classified family records—patterns that ended in tragedy two hundred years ago. New analyst Alexis Chen studies the impossible data and understands the terrible truth: Kate isn't just sensing the Hollowing anymore. She's becoming a bridge to it.
Marcus Reeves, dying by inches from his own exposure, delivers the hardest truth of all: there may be no way to save her. The only choice left is what kind of person Kate will be when the end comes.
But Kate Morrison is not ready to give up. Not today. Not ever.
The barrier between dimensions is crumbling. An ancient hunger waits in the dark. And the fate of humanity rests on a nine-year-old girl's answer to one impossible question:
How long can you keep saying no?
Book Five of the Last Light series.
Genre: Science Fiction
Two years after her connection to the Hollowing awakened during the Sanctuary disaster, Kate Morrison has become humanity's most valuable asset. A nine-year-old living early warning system, she senses dimensional incursions with perfect accuracy, her warnings giving response teams the precious minutes they need to contain each breach. She has saved thousands of lives.
But the connection that protects humanity is slowly consuming her.
The Hollowing speaks to her now. Not in the cold warnings that wake her screaming in the night, but in whispers—soft, seductive, almost kind. It knows her loneliness, her exhaustion, her desperate wish to be a normal child instead of a weapon. It offers understanding that no one else can give. It promises an end to the endless fighting, to the bone-deep weariness, to the terrible weight of being humanity's canary in the coal mine.
All she has to do is say yes. Just once. Just open the door.
Chelsea Park watches her daughter-in-all-but-name slip further away each day, powerless to stop what's happening inside Kate's mind. Lucas Chen, scarred by his own brush with the Hollowing, recognizes the signs from classified family records—patterns that ended in tragedy two hundred years ago. New analyst Alexis Chen studies the impossible data and understands the terrible truth: Kate isn't just sensing the Hollowing anymore. She's becoming a bridge to it.
Marcus Reeves, dying by inches from his own exposure, delivers the hardest truth of all: there may be no way to save her. The only choice left is what kind of person Kate will be when the end comes.
But Kate Morrison is not ready to give up. Not today. Not ever.
The barrier between dimensions is crumbling. An ancient hunger waits in the dark. And the fate of humanity rests on a nine-year-old girl's answer to one impossible question:
How long can you keep saying no?
Book Five of the Last Light series.
Genre: Science Fiction