The first thing I’m struck by is how easy it is to see her, now that she’s dying in a hospital bed. When I was in 6th grade I tried desperately to get a meeting with Dr. Lianna Haven, to interview her for science project I was working on, and I never made it past… Continue reading CHAPTER 9. DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU’RE GOING?

Smiling mischievously, Fallon passes his pipe to Hal, who leans back and takes a long hit, the smoke crawling down his throat, slightly warming and burning his trachea, comforting to know that a sweet high is coming. You’re not allowed to smoke at clubs—in fact, you’re not allowed to be in nightclubs at all if… Continue reading CHAPTER 8. TWIN PURPOSE

As the HavenCorp Special Board Meeting winds into its fourth tedious hour, Alec wonders when it all began to go so wrong. And not just the meeting. Why did Alec agree to be chairman, anyway, when his skills lie in the lab and not with business and politics? When did he begin to lose control… Continue reading CHAPTER 7. BOARD GAMES

Monday morning, and it took me longer than usual to get out of bed, my head’s still throbbing, and then the crosstown xport got stuck in traffic, so I’m late. That shouldn’t really matter, since I’m not late for class—but I’m late for Cari, and in some ways that’s even worse. She’ll be pretty annoyed,… Continue reading CHAPTER 6. ALONE/TOGETHER

 Cari opens the door quietly in case Mrs. Page had fallen asleep on the couch; she lets herself in with the keys she was given a little over a year ago. She tiptoes into the kitchen and unpacks the groceries she brought. It’s the regular breakfast stuff—eggs, English muffins (the extra large kind, which works… Continue reading CHAPTER 5. LOVE, DARLING

It’s such an unnerving moment—light years away the most unexpected thing I’ve ever experienced in SlipStream—that I immediately press the GAB implanted at in the back of my neck and pull myself not just out of the virtual worldgame, but out of the Grid entirely. I see a swirl of colors, like a Technicolor black… Continue reading CHAPTER 4. THE FADED IMAGE OF A BEAUTIFUL GHOST

My Krait speeds into the asteroid field—a crazy move that only some would attempt, but I know I can handle it. And I’m not letting the Python craft out of my sight. I’ve been on his trail for two months, since I tagged him in the Beckali System. It started when I got a tip… Continue reading CHAPTER 3. IN THE GRID

Several hours past midnight—he’s not sure exactly how many—Hal stumbles through the formidable front desk security at Haven Tower. The guards purposefully turn their heads down as he walks into the complex, as if they are embarrassed for him—as if they might be able to wipe away his sorry condition by wiping away the record… Continue reading CHAPTER 2. SAFE HAVEN

And your eyes become corridors Where I wander with a candle Calling out to you.   – Something For Kate, “You Only Hide” “I guess I started smoking because I wanted a habit,” her breasts say—braless, perky, and perfect underneath a skin-tight bodysuit. I know I’m being crude and objectifying, we girls ought to show… Continue reading CHAPTER 1. THE ADVENTURES OF SOBER GIRL