Light (38 page)
Authors: Michael Grant
“Yeah, well, um . . . here’s the thing. My mother and I . . . well. We aren’t really close anymore.”
“I’m sorry. There’s a lot of that going around.”
“And Astrid has to be down in LA a lot anyway. So . . . so my mother has emancipated me. That means I’m legally on my own. Legally an adult.”
“Can you handle the responsibility?” Diana asked.
Sam grinned. “Well, it’s tough. So much pressure deciding do I want pizza or Chinese food.”
“Yeah, you’re not good at making those life-and-death decisions.”
“We have a place. The two of us. It’s not far from Quinn’s house, in Santa Monica. The school’s not bad. The beach is right there. And it’s crazy, but it’s too big for just the two of us.”
Astrid came over and said, “Have you told her?”
“I’m in the process.”
Astrid sighed. “Come live with us, Diana. Don’t argue. Just say yes.”
Diana looked at the ground to hide her emotions. Then she said, “Would I have to be hearing you two going at it night and day?”
THEIR ROOM
WAS
furnished from IKEA. They had a queen-size bed, two nightstands, two dressers, and many lamps.
Sam still did not like the dark. But he no longer feared it.
They had a TV, two laptops, fast internet service, and two iPhones. Through the window came the sounds of traffic. There was a great deal of food in the refrigerator and the cupboards. The bathroom was well stocked with medicines. Enough to supply a small clinic.
Just in case.
They lay together under clean sheets and blankets having taken long, hot showers. Earlier they had gone to a Thai restaurant with Diana. Neither had eaten much Thai food before, but they were on the path now to being lifelong foodies.
Food. It was beautiful. The three of them had gone to a Ben and Jerry’s and ended up crying like idiots at all the ice cream.
Sam had still not shared everything with Astrid. He’d been holding on to the last of what his mother had told him, needing to make some sense of it in his own mind. But no matter how he turned the facts around, looking at them in this light or that, he still couldn’t accept it all.
“I love you, Astrid,” he said.
“Yes. I’m already in bed with you. You don’t have to sweet-talk me.” She put a cool palm on his chest and smiled.
“The gaiaphage,” Sam said.
Astrid pulled her hand away. “Why are we talking about that?”
“Because my mom . . .” He sighed.
“Ah.” She sat up, giving him a little room.
“I told you why she gave Caine up. She felt something was wrong with him. She felt guilty and believed he was almost a punishment on her. She gave him up for adoption to a couple who, unfortunately, also sensed something wrong. Or maybe they were just jerks, I don’t know. Anyway, my mom said when his adoptive parents came to visit Coates, there wasn’t much sign of affection.”
“That would not surprise me,” Astrid said cautiously.
“Anyway. I told you that she admitted to having an affair. I didn’t tell you all of it. I asked her. It was silly to, but I had to know. Was my father my father? Who exactly was the man who died that day in the power plant?”
“I thought you might have asked her. I’ve been waiting for you to tell me. When you were ready.”
“Stop thinking you’re always one step ahead of me.”
“Sam. Accept the fact that I’m always one step ahead of you.”
He reached an arm around her and pulled her close again.
“So, according to my mother, one of us, Caine, was the spitting image of the man who died when the meteor struck. The man I thought was my father. The man whose DNA was absorbed and became part of the gaiaphage.”
“That was the connection,” Astrid said. “That’s why your mother started to feel there was something evil in Caine. It was the gaiaphage.”
“Except that it wasn’t that simple,” Sam said. “My mom went to work at Coates once she realized Caine was there, so close to Perdido Beach. She was a nurse, so she was able to get a blood sample. And she was able to compare the two of us genetically.”
“Oh, my God,” Astrid whispered. A step ahead.
Sam sighed. “It turns out, despite her having an affair, Caine and I were true fraternal twins. The human DNA that became part of the gaiaphage wasn’t just Caine’s father. It was from
our
father.”
“You and Caine,” Astrid breathed.
“My mother sensed Caine’s connection to the gaiaphage. But not mine. We had the same connection. We had the same DNA. But Caine grew up without . . . you know. Without . . .”
“Without love,” Astrid said. “All of his life.”
“But not at the very end,” Sam said. “At the very end he found it.”
She put her hand back on his chest, then moved closer still to kiss his neck. “It’s over, Sam. Finally.”
“Yeah,” he said. “I guess it is.”
“Turn out the light, Sam.”
Sam reached for the switch and turned out the light.
ANY BOOK
, AND
certainly any book series, involves more than the writer. Thanks to my lawyer and buddy Steve Sheppard, who helped me sell the series and was my consigliere throughout. Thanks to the wise Elise Howard, who acquired it at HarperCollins, and my first editor, Michael Stearns, one of the real good guys of publishing.
Thanks to Katherine Tegen, who inherited the series and embraced it and supported it and most of all put up with me. (Not always easy.) She’s been a real friend. Love you, KT.
Thanks to all the publishers around the world who made Gone a hit in so many countries. A particular shout-out to Egmont Publishing and my many UK and ANZ fans.
As always, thanks to my wife, Katherine Applegate, for basically convincing me to be a writer, and our kids, Jake and Julia, just for being cool.
TO THE FANS:
Wow. We spent six books and three thousand pages together in the FAYZ. Kind of amazing, isn’t it? Worn out? I am.
From the start I wanted the Gone series to be like one single, long story. I wanted characters who would grow with you over time, characters who might make you mad or disappoint you, characters you might hate, and hopefully a few that you’d respect, and like, and even love. That required extra patience and devotion on your part. I hope you found it worthwhile. I hope you had fun. I did.
I’m not retiring from writing. There’s the Magnificent 12, which I think you’ll find funny—yes, even if you’re supposedly “too old.” None of my other teen series are an attempt to continue the Gone series; each is its own thing. But if you’re looking for something to read, give them a shot.
I’ve enjoyed every minute I’ve spent with Gone fans on Twitter @TheFayz, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/authormichaelgrant, and at various visits around the United States and the world. You are a very smart, very interesting, very cool bunch of humans. It’s been a pleasure entertaining you.
From me, from Sam and Astrid, Caine and Diana, Quinn, Edilio, Lana and Patrick, Dekka, Brianna, Albert, Computer Jack, Orc, Mary, Sanjit and Choo, Howard, Hunter, Little Pete, and all the rest (even Drake), thanks.
You are now free to leave the FAYZ.
MICHAEL GRANT
has spent much of his life on the move. Raised in a military family, he attended ten schools in five states, as well as three schools in France. Even as an adult he kept moving, and in fact he became a writer in part because it was one of the few jobs that wouldn’t tie him down. His fondest dream is to spend a year circumnavigating the globe and visiting every continent. Yes, even Antarctica. He lives in Northern California with his wife, Katherine Applegate, and their two children. You can visit him online at www.themichaelgrant.com.
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Gone
“This intense, marvelously plotted, paced, and characterized story will immediately garner comparisons to
Lord of the Flies
or even the long-playing world shifts of Stephen King, with just a dash of
X-Men
for good measure. A potent mix of action and thoughtfulness—centered around good and evil, courage and cowardice—renders this a tour de force that will leave readers dazed, disturbed, and utterly breathless.”
—ALA
Booklist
(starred review)
Hunger
“Readers will be unable to avoid involuntarily gasping, shuddering, or flinching while reading this suspense-filled story. The tension starts in the first chapter and does not let up until the end. The story is progressing with smart plot twists, both in actions and emotions.”
—
VOYA
(starred review)
Plague
“Grant’s science fiction fantasy thrillers continue to be the very definition of a page-turner.”
—ALA
Booklist
Lies
“Grant continues to hurtle through an endlessly fascinating (and increasingly grim) story line; his chief achievement, though, is how the
X-Men
-style powers of his cast never overwhelm the mournful realization that their world is slowly degenerating.”
—ALA
Booklist
Fear
“Adding a layer of tension is the underlying feeling that judgment day is drawing near, but who will be judge and who will be jury? Fans can count on more excellent storytelling, multidimensional characters who continue to develop in unexpected ways, and some mighty fine eye-popping moments.”
—
VOYA
(starred review)
GONE
BOOKS BY MICHAEL GRANT:
Gone
Hunger
Lies
Plague
Fear
Cover photo © 2013 by Amber Gray
Cover design by Joel Tippie
Katherine Tegen Books is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
L
IGHT: A GONE NOVEL
. Copyright © 2013 by Michael Grant.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
ISBN 978-0-06-144918-5 (trade bdg.)—ISBN 978-0-06-144919-2 (lib. bdg.)
EPub Edition February 2013 ISBN 9780062202895
13 14 15 16 17
LP/RRDH
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FIRST EDITION
Australia
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