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

Alex sat alone in her living room. Well, Henry's living room. Everything was not hers anymore since Henry wasn't actually dead. She pressed a piece of matching puzzle into place on the table before her. The tour had rattled her. She couldn't help reliving every moment with fake Jack over and over. She tried to pinpoint exactly when things started to go wrong. Was it the tennis courts? Or was it before that?


The lock at the door turned from the other side. A man walked through, not a man she recognized, but one that was dressed like someone she did. He had long brown hair tied in a ponytail and a trimmed beard. He was dressed as Henry had been, but when he turned to her, he was a completely different person, a hybrid even.


Alex hesitated a moment. Was this for real? "Hi sweetie," she replied hesitantly.


"Is something wrong, baby? Are you feeling okay? You look pale. Can I get you something?" He rushed to her side and held his hand up to her forehead.


Chapter 145: Stranger/ New Old Friends