Chapter 1 Omaha, Nebraska, March 3 Nika wasn’t crazy, and the only way to prove it was to dig up the bones lying inside her sister’s frozen grave. The shovel bit into her palms, rubbing them raw. A cold gust of wind threatened to rip down the hood of her heavy coat and suck the precious heat from her skin. She turned her back to the wind and kept digging. There wasn’t time to crawl into the car she’d stolen and warm up. She had to finish this before the Sentinels found her and took her back to Dabyr. Nika was now much stronger than she had been a few months ago when she’d barely been clinging to life, but with each pitiful half shovelful of dirt, she realized she wasn’t yet strong enough to be doing this. Not alone, and certainly not in the dead of night—the only time no one would be around to see her desecrating a grave. It was dangerous to be here in the dark. She knew that, but she had no choice. No one would listen to the crazy girl without proof, and the bones lying six feet down were the only tangible evidence she could find that Tori was still alive. Tori was out there. Nika could feel her baby sister’s presence inside her splintered mind, amidst all the other sinister, alien beings