Blackout (Darkness Trilogy)

by Madeleine Henry

  “Thank you, Laser,” I whisper, “and…”

  “Sunshine,” she says.

  Now I remember how I know them. From the magazines. Laser and Sunshine got disqualified from last year’s Carnival for being in love, and they ended up in the Chauncer Laboratories. I shiver. Star and I could still end up here, and God only knows if we’re immune.

  There’s so much more I want to know, but I’m too nervous to stay any longer. Getting caught could be the end of me. I slip outside and jog back down the hall. I reach the door at the end of the hallway and bang on it with my fist. I want to get out of here.

  The Suits let me out. I drop my coat and mask on the aluminum floor. Before they can tell me to pick it up, I run upstairs. Higher. Faster. As I move, the lights in the stairwell start to flicker. I ascend in flashing white and black light. Jumping up the stairs, I realize Mr. Chauncer was telling the truth about one thing: The world is getting more dangerous. We might have lost our electricity in the Dark Zone, but the Easies are losing their vision. The lights around me suddenly flicker back on completely, and my eyes sting in the brightness. My phone buzzes once to interrupt my thoughts. I don’t stop climbing and raise it to my ear.

  “Players,” Mr. Chauncer says. My jaw tightens. “The tri-state area has just suffered a temporary blackout. All power has been restored. The Carnival will continue, and your schedules have been altered accordingly. All players who are not currently in The New York will be caught and promptly disqualified…”

  I drop my phone and stop for a moment before reentering the door to my floor. The Carnival is back on, but for me, it’s become a different game. Burn’s words repeat in my head for the second time today. “If you love something, you set it free.” The phrase doesn’t just apply to Star. It applies to every DZ stuck in that goddamn basement. I’m going to set them free, too. I’ll win this electricity and then I’ll take them all back with me to the Dark Zone. We’ll leave the Easies alone to suffer in the blackest darkness of all.

  END OF BOOK ONE

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  PART I: THE DARK ZONE

  PROLOGUE

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  PART II: THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  16

  17

  18

  19

  20