The Navigator Read Free Page A

always imagined there was no situation I couldn’t handle by myself; I’m going to be proven wrong about this by being murdered on the streets of Capital City.
    I clench my fists. I won’t go down without a fight, at least.
    Suddenly a blinding light flashes through the square. I squint and reel back. The burst appears to completely disorient the creatures in black, who take the brunt of its force. And then the strange men are flying through the air, battering against each other and slamming repeatedly into the ground.
    Telekinesis. That means Garde are here somewhere.
    The one who appears to be the leader is thrown far—well out of my range of sight. Another one of the sword-carrying bastards is impaled on a broken Grid pole. He roars, and then his body starts to disintegrate, turning to dust. A girl who looks far too young to be facing such creatures darts past the pile of ash, one hand in front of her as she uses her powers to crush another of the attackers. Her metallic red pants reflect the flames of a nearby club called the Pit, which smolders, threatening to live up to its name. Two other Garde flank her, their arms outstretched as the bodies of their enemies crash against each other, eventually turning to dust as well.
    “This way,” the girl yells to them, flipping back her unnaturally white hair. “I see survivors in the distance.”
    She points forward, and there’s another flash of light. Then they’re gone. Whoever those Garde were, I think they may have just saved my life.

CHAPTER THREE
    THE LORIC MUSEUM OF EXPLORATION IS A WHITE-BRICK building that looks mostly untouched. Whoever is attacking us must not think of it as being a worthy target. As I race up the stone steps, I wonder what I’m going to do if Zophie isn’t here. What if she ran into some of those monsters and didn’t make it past them?
    Thinking about Zophie lying crumpled on the street makes me cringe in a way I wouldn’t have expected. We’re not close, but she was kind to me at a time when I had all but sworn off everyone in Capital City, and for that I guess I have some sentimental attachment to her. I grimace, steeling myself. This is no time to be getting caught up in emotions. I need to stay strong and focused.
    One of the tall glass doors to the museum opens when I approach, and it’s only when I’m inside and Zophie is closing it behind me that I realize it’s becauseshe was there, waiting for me.
    I breathe a sigh of relief.
    “Lexa,” she says, stepping forward. She looks like she’s about to hug me, but I hold out a hand instead. She pauses and then takes it, wrapping her fingers around it. Her curly red hair is pulled back into a tight bun, one strand falling haphazardly over her face.
    “What the hell is happening?” I ask.
    “Invasion,” she says. “On a global scale.”
    “Who? I saw some . . .” I struggle to find the right word. “ Monsters. They murdered a woman, but the Garde showed up and took them out.”
    Zophie nods, her eyes looking distant. “Those Garde were lucky, then. I saw some fighting on my way here too. But there were so many of the invaders. Armies of them, with beasts and weapons like I’ve never seen. The Garde were trying to defend some children and . . .”
    She doesn’t finish.
    “Why are we here?” I ask. “Is there a bunker? Some kind of shelter we can hide in?”
    “Bunker?” Zophie asks, her eyebrows forming a line of confusion across her forehead. “There is no bunker. There’s only the ship. You’re flying us out of here.”
    My mouth hangs open as I try to wrap my head around this.
    “What?” I ask.
    The idea is unfathomable to me. The ship Zophie’stalking about is the one she’d hired me to work on, refurbishing the vessel to the state it would have been in when it was in use generations ago. But it was never actually meant to be flown. It runs on fossil fuel, something our society hasn’t used in ages.
    “Impossible,” I say.
    “Not impossible.” She