Ava Altair grew up reading fantasy and science fiction novels. She graduated from Florida Tech with a BS in Science Education – Physics and a minor in Computational Mathematics. She taught as an AP Physics teacher for five years in Florida. She now lives in Oregon, teaching horseback riding lessons and managing the stables with her mom. She enjoys hanging out and talking about science concepts and story ideas with her dad.

What it is to be human doesn't apply anymore. The surface of the Earth has been poisoned by years of abuse and now most life lives beneath the waves of the ocean. Over the last 500 years, humans have become fragmented and specialized by genetic manipulation, but two main factions exist in the Undersea. The hybrids, a race that continues to genetically modify themselves to climb the social ladder, and the humans, the unmodified organic race that makes up the lowest tier of society. 

Alex, a Delta Six hybrid, finds an unlikely companion in a human man, Jack, while on a mission to steal the Athena file. Alex withholds the file to elicit help from Jack and they set out on an adventure across the Surface. Their relationship is tenuous until a device mysteriously links them together. Now, running from Alphas, an elite group of hybrid assassins, Alex and Jack must weather the hostile surface of the planet to reach their common goal. They soon find they can't both have the thing they want most, but also can't seem to let each other go.

FLUX

The darkness turned to sharp jabbing knives as Alex slowly became aware of her surroundings. Her head hung forward making her neck ache. Every time she sucked a breath in, it felt like someone was drilling a hole into her right lung. Must be a broken rib. She had seen that before. It was probably a beautiful plum color. She let her inner self laugh at her little joke.


Alex opened one eye and tried to open the other, but the swollen lid puckered painfully. The metal chair holding her weight clinked against the chains that cuffed her wrists tightly to the armrests. The chair was warm, so she must have been here a while. She had seen this scenario before while training with her master. These pathetic men would never break her. She grinned on the outside. Crusty blood broke at the edges of her lips as they curled upward.


Chapter 31: Betrayed, Part 3