Graveyard of Empires

Wade discovers Abigail found by Ministry, exhausts lesser options (favor-calling, bribery, running) before desperate Envoy plan. Memory of eight-year-old Abigail drawing star charts in a park drives him to commit treason by sending deployment grid to Captain Grove.

Five-year-old Alaina attends Darius Gray's revolutionary speech on Tellus. Her parents argue about the rebellion's risks. Alaina decides to remember everything about this day, sensing it will matter—planting the seed of the determined, observant girl who will later investigate the Ministry and...

Thunder rumbled outside the soccer stadium: a deep roar as storm clouds gathered in strength, the prelude to a ferocious storm.