Music Box (The Dollhouse Books, #4) by Anya Allyn Page A

what’s out there in the ocean, right?”
    “Yeah,” he says. “And something’s wrong—very wrong—but I don’t get it. What the hell are the snake monsters? Is that some kind of biological weapon gone haywire? Are we in a war?”
    I eye him with a level gaze. “Yeah, we’re in a war, Jack. I’m just going to tell it to you straight. Are you ready?”
    He meets my gaze, but his eyes aren’t blinking, which is never a good sign. He’s looking a little punch-drunk already, like someone who’s been told more than they can process.
    “Jack, the monsters are real. They came from somewhere else. Another planet. I know that’s going to be hard to wrap your head around. They’re aliens. They’re able to change the environment—make it cold so they can survive. I don’t know if there’s any military left—anywhere in the world. The aliens are intelligent, and they have the ability to send out some kind of weapon from themselves that looks like a shadow. And the shadows are deadly. They’ve killed anyone and anything that’s a threat to them. The rest of the human population—and our sea creatures—are food for them. The people pretending to be military down in the camp are just helping the aliens, to protect themselves. And there’s people like that everywhere. Mercenaries.”
    I leave out the rest. How can I explain travel between universes or the people of the castle and the ancient book they’re seeking? Things that make it seem like you’ve been living your life with your eyes closed and now your eyelids have been ripped away.
    Jack is silent for what seems a long time. Like he’s trying to make up his mind if he’s going to accept the impossible or not. It’s a battle inside him.
    Someone steps up behind us. I turn to see Rory standing with his hands thrust deep into his pockets. Deandra still has a gun on him, but she let him walk over here for some reason. She nods at him, as though prompting him to speak.
    Rory’s expression is changed—his guard is down. He looks directly at us. “I’m s’posed to be on board one of the trucks in another hour. I wanna help you. You tell me what you want me to do, an’ I’ll do it.”
    ~.~
    Within two days, we’d gained control of the trucks and taken the families to safety in the city, and returned with more than enough men and women to destroy the camp. They took the rangers as prisoners, to question them on operations in New York City. Then they took the war there.
    I watched explosions everywhere stamp the black sky white as I left. Jack and Deandra are staying behind with their family and the two boys in Chicago, where they’ll be the safest.
    Now, I make my way south with a truck of rebels. We bring a message. And the message is war.
    We’re fighting back, and saving as many people as we can. We spread the word. We’re a virus—a force to weaken and infect those who help the serpents, and dismantle their operations. The other rebels have collected photos and videos of the serpents—whatever they can to make sure people know the truth. We help the people of each town and city gather arms and make bombs and ambush the rangers.
    I push on relentlessly. In the cold silence of night, I see Cassie’s face before me. She haunts me. I tell myself that every day brings me closer to her, but I feel her slipping away.
    We’re living in the darkest of days.
    Nabaasa once said to me, ‘When we can fight, we will fight, and when we can no longer fight, we will endure’.
    It is time to fight.

9. The Amber Leaf
    C ASSIE
    That night, I dreamed of the tower. All its darkness descended on me. Its window was an eye piercing my soul, watching my every move. It had watched me all my life—I was sure of that now.
    I woke with a shuddering intake of breath.
    I had to push all thought of the tower from my mind. I needed to find out more about Reed and Etiennette. There had to be some clue here in the chambers—Zach had told me that Etiennette had spent her