Valentina.
I glanced at the finish line and did something I’d never done before. I ranawayfrom victory. Toward the stands. I had a new mission now. Find my sister. The stampeding crowd might hurt her and knock her out of her wheelchair.
There.“Tina!”
She was trapped by a mob of spectators.
Before I scaled the wall, I reached out and scooped up an aluminum walking cane. It would have to do. I took a running jump and froze mid-stride. I was stuck. Unmoving.Useless.I couldn’t even blink as my body rose in the air. My plan to crushThe Trials disintegrated. I was helpless. As I zoomed toward the sky, I heard my sister shout my name, “Hermosa!”
A lump lodged in my throat. She was the only one who still called me that. And I couldn’t save her. I couldn’t even see her anymore.
The arena sprawled far below me now. I spotted Nieve and Querida, along with the newbie, rising in the air. Some were positioned higher, others lower. Above us, a massive dome protruded from the sinister clouds.
I strained to keep my eyes on Valentina, but they wouldn’t move. What if they took her? Or worse, what if she was left behindwithout me? The questions spiraled because, in a flash, I understood what was happening. I was being taken. Stolen from the only decent person in my world. The only one I still cared about.
An invisible force flipped my body into the horizontal position, face up. I could see the bottom of a metallic orb. A ship? It spread out further than the perimeter of the arena. A section of the craft slid open with a hiss. Jagged edges lined the opening like a yawning metal mouth sucking up snack-sized humans.
Giant claws attached to robotic hands plucked racers from the sky, one by one. As I passed through the opening, a silent scream blasted through my mind. I fought. I struggled with every cell in my body. The claw descended.
Moments later, I entered the craft, and the world went black.
CHAPTER 2
Ifloated througha sea of ink. The darkness felt different, heavy, and the only thing I perceived was the cool metal of the cane in my hand. Seconds later, I dropped through the air and landed on my ass.
Stunned, it took me a few minutes to realize I was free. Until I scrambled up and immediately hit my head.Mierda!Crouching down, I crab-walked in a circle, feeling my way through the dark. My hands slammed against an invisible barrier every few feet, which made me feel like an abducted mime.
I’m in a coffin-shaped box, floating through the air.
A low thrum vibrated my body to the point that my organs jiggled. A faint light grew, descending like a soft mist. It surrounded me, disintegrating my clothes but not irritating my exposed skin. When I could finally see beyond my hand, I looked around and spied other cubes, thousands of life-sized containers stacked in rows. Some remained empty, while others housed human beings.
I pressed my face to the transparent wall and searched every inch of the vast space, trying to catch the slightest glimpse of Valentina, but I sped by too quickly.
Eventually, I emerged from the misty section into… deep space. I scrambled back but only moved a few feet. Nothing but velvet black and bright white stars twinkled around me. My heart slammed into my chest so fast I almost fainted from the speed. A crystal blue marble, littered with space junk, dominated my view. E-earth?
How would I breathe?How would I—I slapped my hand against the invisible coffin surrounding me, reminding myself it offered some sort of force field. Even if I couldn’t see it. My legs buckled and I slammed onto my ass, my survival instinct waning as reality set in. I am no longer on Earth. I am trapped. And alone.
Valentina.All that mattered was finding her.
In order to do that, I’d have to figure out exactly what was going on. I looked beyond my coffin, and realized I was still in the ship. Slowly, the craft’s features came into focus. Hard-edged machinery poked through the mist. It was massive, at least forty stories high—so large I couldn’t see where it began or ended. Occasionally, the walls would shimmer, confirming I was surrounded bysomething. They were made from a translucent substance, a slightly more metallic version of my cube.
I floated endlessly, careening by cargo bays and technology I couldn’t comprehend. I trudged on, dangling from a human-sized conveyor belt, touring the endless ship.
Until the cube stopped.
There was a hiss, followed by a click. One of the pods, about six women ahead, shook violently. I saw a girl I’d grown up with pound against the invisible walls. Then, there was a flash, and she collapsed. Again, I heard the warning hiss, another flash, and a subsequent body collapsed.
It knocked me out of my trance. The trajectory was clear. My turn was coming soon.I have to get out!I sat up on my knees, double-fisted the cane, and swung. It hit the side of the wall, and the force rebounded on me, slamming me back. I studied the barrier. Not a scratch.
Hiss. Flash.
This time, the sound echoed inmypod. A small machine popped up in front of me, level with my eyes. I tensed, and held the cane in front of me like a shield. White light flashed throughthe cube and blinded me. A whirring projectile shot out, but I managed to duck out of the way. The force of the mini-missile lifted my hair, missing my ear by millimeters.
I spun around awkwardly and swung. By some miracle, the cane connected, and the dart exploded. A few moving parts embedded themselves in the wall. I got on my knees and hovered my hand over the thin needle protruding from the barb. I tapped it with the cane, surprised when a few golden drops fell from the tip.
What the hell is going on?
For months, the rumor-rags had speculated about young women disappearing—conspiracy theories about undercover government labs conducting experiments were splashed across the news. But I’d never heard of technology that could suck a person out of the sky.
