Infinity Reaper by Adam Silvera (best new books to read txt) 📗

Dione’s arms have fallen to her sides, and I might pass out any moment. Then my morph will drop, my identity will be revealed, and they can take me into custody so we can expose the Senator as the fraud and terrorist he is.

June fades away and reappears behind Ash. I try to shout, but I don’t have the energy as Ash continues to induce me into sleep. June steps inside the congresswoman’s husband, possessing him instantly. The wrinkles in the air even out as June forces Ash to yank his daughter to his side.

Inside Ash’s body, June opens his mouth and there are no words. Only the sounds of howling winds that chill me to the bone.

“He’s possessed,” I say. This reminds me of when Emil tried warning the Halo Knights at the museum that June had possessed one of their own, and Luna smacked him. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

Sunstar looks as if she wants to fill this room with burning light, but she stands still. Sudden movements don’t end well for celestials.

I still feel drowsy, but it passes shortly, like in the morning when you manage to finally get yourself out of bed.

“Please don’t hurt my family,” Sunstar says.

“We won’t if you cooperate,” I say, even though I don’t fully believe that’s true.

“You’ll be coming with me,” Dione says.

“I’m supposed to be onstage in minutes. The authorities will know I’m missing.”

“No, they won’t,” Dione says, gesturing to me with all three arms.

I remove the shades as gray light washes over me. My skin smooths and darkens. My hair grows to my shoulders. My nails turn white. My black bodyguard outfit is replaced with the same dark green suit Sunstar wore for her campaign visit in North Carolina.

The real Sunstar looks at me in horror.

“Problem solved,” Dione says. “We can’t impersonate all of you, so your husband and daughter’s survival depends on their performances during the debate. We have people in the audience tasked with watching them. If they don’t appear supportive or even so much as speak to anyone else, they will be killed on the spot.”

Sunstar nods. “Proxy, baby, do everything they say, okay?”

Proxima is shaking, even after June steps backward outside of Ash. Ash hugs Proxima, scaring her at first, but assuring her that it’s him. Dione and June grab Sunstar, who is staring at her family, unsure if she’ll ever see them again.

I don’t know if she will either.

“We have eyes on you in here too,” Dione says. “Do the right thing and support your wife.”

They all fade away, and for the first time since being held captive, I’m left alone in the outside world with good people. But I can’t let them know I’m on their side, no matter how scared they are. Zenon is watching us this very moment, and if I even so much as apologize for all the harm I’m about to cause their family, they may not live to see it.

I’ll go onstage and debate the Senator with all the scripted lies I’ve memorized.

I plan on sneaking out one great truth while on national TV.

Fifty-ThreeThe Debate

NESS

“Welcome to the third and final debate.”

Tonight’s moderator is Hugh Cooper, a news personality who has been very critical of the Senator in the past and will hopefully challenge him tonight when I can’t—when Sunstar would. He explains that none of the questions for the segments have been shared with the candidates in advance. He requests silence from the audience throughout the evening so everyone present and watching from home can focus.

“Please welcome the Democratic nominee, Congresswoman Sunstar, and the Republican nominee, Senator Iron.”

I cross the stage, meeting the Senator in the middle for a handshake. He’s exuding so much confidence in his presidential suit, knowing this debate is in the bag. I’m tempted to drop this costume now and expose him, but when I turn to the crowd and find Ash holding Proxima close, I continue to cooperate instead for their well-being.

The Senator and I take our places behind our podiums. There’s a notepad with three pens. Sunstar is a diligent notetaker, a behavior I’ll be expected to keep up. Darkness falls over the audience and there’s only a time clock that’s visible. It’s a small mercy so I don’t have to watch Proxima quivering anymore.

“I’d like to start off this evening talking about the economy,” Hugh Cooper says. “In the last debate you both shared your views on the decline of available jobs, and I want to ask what you will do to ensure growth so those living in this country will thrive in it. Senator Iron, you’ll go first in this segment. You have two minutes.”

“Thank you, Hugh, and thank you to Doherty University for graciously hosting us,” the Senator says, masking his disdain for this pro-celestial campus with a smile.

He immediately talks about the great honor he’s had working alongside the laborers in New York and traveling to meet others across the country, expressing their heartbreak at spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on education only to find themselves shut out of dream jobs by celestials who can do the job in the snap of a finger. He cites one of our propaganda videos about a construction worker who can no longer support his family after being replaced by a celestial with advanced telekinesis.

“Power shouldn’t come before passion,” the Senator says.

“Thank you, Senator. I’d like to ask the same question of Congresswoman Sunstar. How will you improve the economy?”

Sunstar’s plans to increase minimum wage and create higher taxes for the wealthy is a country I’d love to live in, but instead I work the lines written for me. How celestials should continue to invade markets outside of their interest and collect payments originally allotted for manual laborers. The Senator is quick to counter, right on cue, about how many Americans are in debt and without homes because of unavailable jobs.

The gloves stay off from that point forward.

On the topic of wand violence, the Senator defends everyone’s right to bear