Children of Evolution (The Gateway Series Book 2) (63 page)

Not like Nikki.
 

She expected to hear an echo of Sam's words from her better half. Michael was the rational one after all, the voice of reason and caution. The one who—

You have time. Do it.

The one who had her back when it counted. Always.

Nikki leapt, but not to Sam and not at Savior. She arced through the air with a shout and brought both fists hammering down on the generator powering the Gateway.
 

The generator crumpled and died with a blast of sparks and heat, and both sources of Nikki's power—the humming Gateway and Savior racing toward it from the other side—winked out.

She dug both hands into the twisted metal and ripped the generator free from its cables with a heave. Then she hurled it at the Gateway with a shout, toppling the now silent arch and sending it skidding and rattling across the dance floor.
 

Only then did she run to Sam.
 

Sam gunned the skimmer as soon as Nikki hit the seat behind him, stealing Nikki's breath.

She didn't look back as the skimmer raced out of the corral and across the Wasteland. Not at the forces chasing them. Not at the toppled Gateway. Not at the life she'd just kicked away. Not at the power she'd just given up.
 

She just wrapped her arms around Sam, closed her eyes, and held on.

* * *

I never thought of myself as a selfish person, until today.
 

Today I had to make a choice. I had to choose between the people I've come to care about and the man I thought I hated, the one who might end the world.

Sounds easy enough, right? Yeah, that's what I thought.
 

To say I was tempted wouldn't even begin to cover it. But it wasn't Savior's pretty face that tempted me, or the posh life I could have lived at his side. What tempted me was the promise of feeling my power flowing through me again whenever I wanted it. It was the chance to be whole again.
 

I made the right call in the end, but not because I'm a good person, and not because I'm any kind of hero. Now more than ever, I'm convinced I'm neither.
 

I made the right call today because the one thing I want most is the one thing Savior can't give me. I made the right call because he took my brother from me, and I wanted to make him pay.

This fight's not over, not by a long shot. All hell's breaking loose, and luck hates me way too much for Savior to be gone for good. He'll come back through that Gateway, and when he does, there won't be any more offers—no third chance for me. His gloves are off now.

But so are mine.

When he comes back, I'm going to be the one standing in his way, but not just because it will piss him off, and not because our jacked up world needs saving. I'm going to be there because when I fight him, I get to be powerful again.

Pretty selfish reason to do the right thing, I know.
 

I can live with that.

-Nikki Flux, March 23

From a partially burned journal
 

found in the Wasteland

Acknowledgements

This book wouldn't have been possible without the help of some of this world's finest.
 

Thanks to Holly and Nicki Burwinkle for always checking on my progress, in the nicest of ways, and to Kathy Hawes for much more aggressive reminders, in the funniest of ways. I'd rather work myself silly than disappoint people such as you.

Thanks to Katie Lewis, the finest copyeditor these pages could hope for. See what I did there? You make the world I'm trying to share so much clearer. My readers would be lost without you.

A sharp salute and proud thanks to Michael Minton and Tom Burwinkle for your invaluable expertise in all things martial and aeronautic. You keep my soldiers on their feet and my ships in the air.

Thanks to all my eager and honest beta readers: Kathy Hawes, Ashleigh Macleod, Nicki McLachlan, Holly Mehakovic, and Jennifer Plaza. I loved the praise, the suggestions, and the requests almost as much as I dreaded them. You made this a stronger book and me a better writer, and for that I can't thank you enough.

 
A late but no less earnest thanks to Dr. Philip Humber. When you started reading my work, I was terrified. Your wit, insight, and unshakable sense of humor could strike fear into the heart any writer. I know you'd read better books, and could have written better, yet you gave nothing but praise and encouragement. I question myself each time I consider a dream sequence now. The world thanks you for that.

Thanks to my mother, Julia Minton. You've been my biggest fan since I could talk, or at least that's how you always made me feel. I wouldn't be here without you, literally.

And, as always, thanks to Christine Burwinkle, my incredible wife. I know a creative dream is alien to your brilliantly practical mind, but you support me anyway, which shows how much you love me in a way words simply can't capture. Thank you for showing the world every day that when a woman embraces her strength, her determination, and her intelligence, she doesn't sacrifice her beauty, her tenderness, or her sensuality—she enhances them.

Books by Toby Minton

The Gateway Series

Children of Genesis
 

Children of Evolution

Children of Destiny (coming soon)

Toby’s haunts

Website:

tobyminton.com

Facebook:

facebook.com/TobyMintonAuthor

Twitter:

@MintonToby

Goodreads:

goodreads.com/author/show/7191758.Toby_Minton

About the author

Before he started writing novels, Toby worked as a technical writer for the [REDACTED] government and in the private sector for [CONFIDENTIAL]. He edited romance and paranormal romance novels in the freelance sector, and designed board and card games in the close friends sector.
 

Toby currently lives in Australia with his wife and their two happy food babies, but it’s only a matter of time until he gets them all deported. Truly. When that happens, they’ll flee to a land where home Internet plans don’t have limited data and the spiders aren’t big enough to carry off children.
 

If you try hard enough, you can find Toby on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Xbox Live, and the PlayStation Network, but don’t believe a word you read about him. You can’t trust anything you find online, especially in e-books.