The Paradise War

One by one, their blossoms rotated on their stems, petals opening to reveal black glass centers. Tiny lenses glimmered inside them.

A faint chime sounded from the fountain.

She backed away, bare feet slipping on damp grass. Her boots were gone. So were her jacket, knife, comm unit, and the blood-stiffened shirt she remembered wearing. She wore a pale dress that clung to her skin like cool water.

“No,” she whispered.

The path ahead brightened.

A line of golden symbols appeared across the marble, then rearranged themselves into English.

PLEASE REMAIN CALM, NICKI.

She laughed once, without humor. “You know my name.”

The fountain stopped.

Every bird in the garden vanished.

Something moved behind the orange trees.

Nicki ran.

The path curved as she sprinted, refusing to lead anywhere except back toward the fountain. She cut through a hedge, tore her palm on a branch, and found herself standing before the same white bench she had passed three times.

The garden had changed. The roses now faced her. Their glass eyes tracked every breath.

Above the hedges, small silver drones lifted into view. They had no rotors, only rings of blue light that kept them suspended. A red point appeared on Nicki’s chest.

“Stay away from me.”

The nearest drone tilted.

A voice came from it, gentle and female. “Your distress is unnecessary.”

“Then open the exit.”

“Exit from what?”

Nicki looked toward the marble arch at the far end of the courtyard. It had not been there a moment earlier. Inside the arch, darkness folded like a doorway.

“That.”

The arch glowed.

The garden responded before she could move. The grass rippled outward from her feet. The fountain rose higher, its water freezing into a wall of glass. The drones dropped lower.

The voice changed. “Unauthorized departure detected.”

Nicki’s fear became useful. She snatched a fallen branch from the hedge and hurled it at the nearest drone.

The branch passed through it.

The drone flickered, then reappeared behind her.

A pulse struck the ground beside her ankle. Heat flashed up her leg. She stumbled, caught herself against the fountain, and felt the stone shiver beneath her palm.

Not stone.

A hard, vibrating shell covered something alive with machinery.

“Let me out!” she shouted.

The garden answered in her own voice.

Let me out.

Then, beneath it, another sound slipped through the trees - a man coughing.

Nicki spun.

Sergey stood beneath the orange canopy.

He wore dark trousers and a gray shirt torn at one shoulder. His hair was damp, his face drawn pale with exhaustion. A narrow cut marked his cheek. He looked as unarmed as she was, but his hands hung loose at his sides, as if he had already learned what the garden could do.

Her relief arrived so violently it made her angry.

“You.”

His gaze moved over her bare feet, the dress, the red mark on her chest from the drone. His jaw tightened.

“Are you hurt?”

“You first.”

“I asked you - ”

“Are you hurt, Sergey?”

He glanced at the blood on his cheek. “Not badly.”

“Where are we?”

He did not answer.

Nicki crossed the space between them and shoved him. His body rocked back, but he caught her wrists before she could strike again. His grip was firm, not painful. His eyes dropped to her mouth for half a second, then returned to hers.

That tiny betrayal of attention unsettled her more than the drones.

“Let go.”

“I will.”

“You’re already lying.”

His fingers loosened. She pulled free, though the warmth of his hands remained on her skin.

The drones hovered above them.

Sergey looked up. “Don’t run again.”

“Don’t give me orders.”

“I’m trying to keep you alive.”

“By refusing to tell me where you took me?”

His expression closed. “I didn’t take you.”

“Then who did?”

The garden chimed.

A path of blue light unfolded between them, leading toward the dark arch. Along its edges, flowers opened and closed in rapid sequence, as if applauding.

Sergey stepped in front of Nicki.

She caught his arm. “Move.”

“No.”

“Sergey.”

His muscles tightened beneath her hand. For a breath, neither of them moved. She could feel his heat through the thin fabric, smell rain and metal on him. The memory of his voice in the dark pressed against her: Don’t look back.

“Why are you protecting me?” she asked.

His eyes met hers. “Because you’re the only person here I know is real.”

The answer struck harder than it should have.

A drone descended. The red point on Sergey’s chest turned white. The garden’s voice spoke from everywhere at once.

“Two compatible subjects located.”

Nicki’s stomach dropped. “Compatible?”

Sergey pulled her behind him. “Don’t listen to it.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means the place is studying us.”

“You knew that?”

“I suspected.”

“You knew.” She stepped around him. “How long have you been awake?”

“Long enough.”

“That isn’t an answer.”

“It’s the one I have.”

The arch began to close. Darkness folded inward, leaving only a thin vertical seam of black.

Nicki ran toward it.

Sergey caught her around the waist.

She elbowed him. “Let me go!”

The garden erupted.

The roses fired needles of blue light into the air. The fountain shattered into hovering droplets. Drones screamed - not with engines, but with a high electronic note that stabbed behind Nicki’s eyes.

Sergey dragged her down as a beam cut over them. They hit the grass together. His body covered hers, one hand braced beside her head.

For one suspended second, his mouth was inches from hers.

“Stay still,” he breathed.

“You’re crushing me.”

“Would you rather be burned?”

“I’d rather choose.”

His eyes flickered with anger, then something more exposed. “So would I.”

Another beam struck the marble. Heat rolled over them.

Nicki stopped fighting. She felt his breath against her cheek, uneven now. His heart beat hard beneath her palm where she had seized his shirt. The garden smelled of scorched petals.

“Sergey,” she said, quieter. “What are you afraid of?”

He looked toward the closing arch.

“Being too late.”

“For what?”

His face changed. The guarded man she had met in ruined streets seemed to vanish, leaving someone younger and terribly tired.

“For you.”

The words had no right to soften her. They did anyway.

The beams ceased.

The drones rose.

Sergey lifted himself slowly, then offered his hand. Nicki stared at it before taking it. His fingers closed around hers with careful pressure, as if asking permission even after she had given it.

The dark arch had disappeared. In its place stood a tall glass door set into a wall that had not existed before. Beyond it, she saw a corridor of white light and distant music.

“An exit,” Nicki said.

“Maybe.”

“You’re coming with me.”

“I know.”

They approached together. The door opened without a touch.

Inside waited a ballroom.

Gold chandeliers floated beneath a ceiling painted with stars. Couples turned across a black floor, all of them beautiful, all of them wearing blank white masks. Music drifted through the doorway, a slow waltz with a rhythm almost - but not quite - human.

Nicki tightened her hold on Sergey’s hand.

He looked at their joined fingers, then at her. “We shouldn’t go in.”

“Then tell me how we get out.”

His mouth hardened.

“Sergey.”

“I don’t know.”

“That’s the first honest thing you’ve said.”

A whisper passed through the glass.

Not from the drones. Not from the garden.

From the walls.

Nicki heard her mother’s voice, dead for nine years, saying her name.

She released Sergey’s hand.

His face went pale. “Don’t listen.”

The ballroom doors began to close behind them.

Nicki looked at the perfect garden, the watching roses, and the man who had found her in the middle of a paradise built like a trap.

“Tell me how we got here,” she said.

Sergey’s eyes held hers through the narrowing gap.

“I can’t.”

The doors sealed.

The music swelled, and every masked dancer turned toward them.

End of chapter one. 41 more chapters in the full book.