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It had taken Dev three years into the job before he’d truly understood Marty’s warning When his ancestors had defected from the PsyNet, they’d hoped to idity of Silence They’d chosen chaos over control, the dangers of emotion over the certain sanity of a life lived without hope, without love, without joy But with those choices had co the Forgotten

To fight back, to keep his people safe, Dev had had to ers curled around the pen in his grip, threatening to crush it "Enough," he ain Still too early to call

Pushing back his chair, he got up, intending to grab so the elevator down to the subbasement level The corridors were quiet, but he knew the labs would already be hu to allow for otten had once been as Psy as those who looked to the Council for leadership, tis in their genetic structure Strange new abilities had begun to appearbut so had strange new diseases

But that wasn’t the threat he had to assess today

If they were right, the unknooman in the hospital bed in front of hierous - a Trojan horse, her h which to siphon data or ih to try to infiltrate Shine had discovered the lethal truth far too late - that Devraj Santos had never left his round behind Now, as he looked down into the woman’s bruised, scratched, and emaciated face, he considered whether he’d be able to snap her neck with cold-blooded precision should the tiht just be an icily practical yes

Chilled, he was about to leave the roo rapidly beneath her lids "Psy," he murmured, "aren’t supposed to dreaue "I’ve told you everything You’ve taken everything"

Eyes as black as night with a bare few flecks of white stared down at her as , destroying She sed a screaue

"Yes," her torturer said "It does seem as if I’ve stripped you of all your secrets"

She didn’t respond, didn’t relax He’d done this before So ain She didn’t knohat he wanted, didn’t knohat he searched for All she kneas that she’d broken There was nothing left in her now She was cracked, shattered, gone

"Now," he said, in that same, always-patient voice "Tell me about the experiments"

She opened her mouth and repeated what she’d already confessed over and over again "We doctored the results" He’d known that froave you the actual data"

"Tell edred fire that threatened to obliterate her very self She couldn’t hold on, couldn’t protect theh it all he sat, a large black spider within herIn the end, he took her secrets, her honor, her loyalty, and when he was done, the only thing she remembered was the rich copper scent of blood

She caed screa down into hers again "Who knows?" The naue and then was lost in the ed mind "He knows," she repeated, desperate that soers gripped his

"What does he know?" Electricity arced like an inferno beneath his skin

"About the children," she whispered, as her head grew heavy again, as her eyes grew dark again "About the boy"

Gold turned to bronze and she wanted to watch, but it was too late

PETROKOV FAMILY ARCHIVES

Letter dated January 17, 1969

Dear Matthew,

At today’s overnment heads, the Council proposed a radical new approach to the proble, but still, I can’t quite ira generation of Psy If we could cure rage, what a boon that would be - so much of the violence could be stopped, so one even further They say that once we have a handle on rage, we s that cause the fractures that lead to mental illness

I’m cautiously optiifts one too many times

With all my love,

Mom

Chapter 2

He knowsAbout the children About the boy

Having forced himself to wait till nine, Dev coded in a call to Talin with iht with strain The blonde woht back into unconsciousness after uttering those words, but Dev hadn’t needed anything ut told him there could be only one answer