Also by J.T. Geissinger

Shadow’s Edge

Edge of Oblivion

Rapture’s Edge

Edge of Darkness

Darkness Bound

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Text copyright © 2014 J.T. Geissinger, Inc.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Published by Montlake Romance, Seattle

www.apub.com

Amazon, the Amazon logo, and Montlake Romance are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates.

ISBN-13: 9781477825549

ISBN-10: 1477825541

Cover design by Inkd Inc

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014907966

To Jay, for knowing when to pet the bear, when not to poke it, and when to let it run off into the woods.

CONTENTS

START READING

PART ONE

PROLOGUE

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

PART TWO

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

EIGHTEEN

NINETEEN

PART THREE

TWENTY

TWENTY-ONE

TWENTY-TWO

TWENTY-THREE

TWENTY-FOUR

TWENTY-FIVE

TWENTY-SIX

TWENTY-SEVEN

TWENTY-EIGHT

PART FOUR

TWENTY-NINE

THIRTY

THIRTY-ONE

THIRTY-TWO

THIRTY-THREE

THIRTY-FOUR

THIRTY-FIVE

THIRTY-SIX

EPILOGUE

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Some say the world will end in fire,

some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if I had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

is also great

And would suffice.

—Robert Frost, “Fire and Ice”

PART ONE

PROLOGUE

The Wall Street Journal, Wednesday, October 16, 2013

STOCK MARKETS COLLAPSING AMID DOOMSDAY FEARSInternational stock markets are reacting to yesterday’s unexplained fire in the sky over the Amazon rainforest in Brazil with massive sell-offs. In the worst single-day decline the Dow Jones industrial average has seen since the infamous Black Monday crash of October 19, 1987, the Dow dropped 4,504 points to finish at 10,664, a loss of 29.7 percent. The SEC has temporarily suspended trading, but top financial gurus warn that without adequate, immediate explanation of the causes of the phenomenon that left approximately one hundred square miles of the rainforest northeast of Manaus burning, the hysteria will only worsen.Combined with a ground shock that registered 7.3 on the Richter scale, the intense pulse of light was visible as far away as Lima, Peru. One eyewitness described it as an “unearthly” explosion in the atmosphere, and many religious leaders are pointing to end-time biblical prophecies. Exacerbating the public’s panic are the uncorroborated reports that Brazil’s military launched a massive sortie from the Manaus air force base minutes before the enormous fireball was first seen. In his speech from the White House yesterday evening, President Obama denied the possibility that a nuclear weapon may have been detonated, in spite of the incredibly powerful electromagnetic pulse that destroyed satellites, power-supply networks, computers and electrical equipment in Manaus and surrounding areas, an effect consistent with a nuclear explosion. Information coming from Brazil is virtually nonexistent, but the Federal Emergency Management Agency estimates that the firestorms decimating the rainforest have the potential to create an ecological disaster on a global scale. One of the richest areas of the world in terms of animal and plant diversity, the Amazon, if deforested, could be ground zero for global extinction. The president is asking for calm amid a growing outcry for answers, but for now the long-term damage to both the environment and global economies remains to be seen.

New Vienna, Austria

16 September, 2027

1:17am IFST

Diary Entry #36

In the dreams, I’m always deaf.

That’s what comes first, the velvet silence, the utter lack of sound. It settles over me like the softest of blankets, comforting and warm. When I awake in that silence my dream self—so bold and fearless, so different than I—knows what’s coming. She knows exactly what to expect. She welcomes the unnatural lack of noise, my dreaming better half, and she’s glad.

She’s glad because she’s evil.

At least, that’s what Father thinks. He’s afraid of my other side almost as much as I am. The whipping he gave me this morning is proof enough of that. I didn’t mean to set the bed on fire, but I was so tired from chores and lessons and the constant effort of not touching and not speaking and generally pretending to be invisible that I forgot to put my gloves back on after my bath, and, well . . .