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 awoke in the medical bay. Shelves lined the walls with bandages, bottles of pills, and liquids. Her head felt fuzzy and her body ached. She pushed her up off the cot. Every motion was like a battle raging in her aching muscles. The large hospital gown hung off her and made her feel even more thin and frail. She set her foot gingerly on the cold floor and tested her weight, steadying herself by clutching the bed. After her weight settled, she crept forward toward the porthole.


Dark blackness drifted by. She could barely tell that they were moving, but there was still a gentle rock to the building that made her feel like she was on a ship. She rubbed the back of her neck where the Vice had been. She remembered Jack's angry face when he saw what it did to her and smiled.


The door behind her slid open. "I am so glad to see you awake," a familiar voice said from behind her.


"Brooke?" Alex swung her gaze from the window.


Brooke gave her a gentle smile. "How are you feeling?"


Chapter 152: Flight/Reunited