“Welcome to Artemis,” the voice said. “Here, aspiring parents of all kinds can seek help with every form of parenthood—from natural fertilization and gestation in one of our next-generation artificial wombs to cloning and genetic enhancement.”

6 16

She had found the seed of a thought and fertilized it, made it grow, turned into something that would bear fruit.

1 22

“I flew because I loved it,” he had told her once. “I flew because I needed to be in the sky, to look down and see the world like an old patchwork quilt. See life like maybe God sees it. But I 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 because that’s what I 𝘩𝘢𝘥 to do.”

2 14

“But the man and woman in that memory were like characters in a movie, both vivid and unreal at the same time.”

1 13

‘They’re going to call me a terrorist, she thought. A monster. If they can, they’ll kill us and say that we kidnapped him. That he was a victim of our fanaticism.’

1 5

“Bowen didn’t give a damn about training spies for the U.S. government. The work that he did on telepaths would change the world forever, and all people like the senator could think about was espionage.”

3 13

Nothing’s really ours in the end, Val thought. That’s the key to everything. And it’s the hardest thing to accept.

2 6

“Your kid... a freak,” gasped the man, grimacing at the pain in his leg. “Monster.”

Val put her right foot on his mangled knee and pressed. He screamed and writhed, trying to pull his leg from under her. She pressed harder.

6 21

The doctor stepped to one side as a drone drifted into the room, its small propellers whirring. Next came a young woman with a buzz cut and pale skin. She wore a wry smile—the smile of someone who knows things that other people don’t.

5 17

“What are you going to do?” he whispered.

“I’m going to show you what you all want to destroy,” she said. Her jaw muscles flexed. Tears welled in her eyes. Those perfect eyes.

2 15

“This is what I love about you,” he said. “You never give up.” He made a hook into her ribs and sent her staggering backwards. “Even when you know you’re going to lose.”

1 9

They’re going to call me a traitor, or a terrorist, she thought. A fanatic. Because they have to discredit me. They have to make sure that no one believes me.



3 18

“I am risking everything to show this to you,” said the woman. She looked at Jessica, her face strained. Small beads of sweat glistened on her skin even though it wasn’t hot. “Now shut up and follow me.”

2 11

Val responded with a round kick aimed at the man’s ribs, but he blocked this with his knee. Her shin connected with his, sending slivers of sharp pain up her leg and into her hip.

2 19

“We’re going to lose this fight,” said Val. “God, why did we do this? What were we thinking?”

Kim sighed and shifted so that his arm pressed against hers.

“We knew what we were getting into when I took the implant out of you,” Kim said.

3 12

“Here,” said Havana, thrusting the messenger bag into Jessica’s arms. “Keep this hidden. Read the files, but don’t let anybody find it. Not your boyfriend. Not your girlfriend. Not your friend-with-benefits. Not your mom. Nobody.”

2 18

Ahead, a mass of limbs, trash, and mud had collected at a bend in the culvert. As they approached it, several rats scattered from beneath the tangled branches.

“That’ll be good cover for a few minutes,” Val said.

2 6

Val had been imagining this day for all of Braden’s life, running through a hundred different scenarios, thinking about variables, different routes they might take. And now that the moment was here, she had no idea where they were going.

1 6

Celina had put a thought into Bowen’s head. No, that wasn’t right. She couldn’t put a thought into a person’s head that wasn’t already there. But she’d found the seed of a thought and had made it grow into something that would bear fruit.

3 15