Once her sister disconnected, Cadence was alone in the world again, only the scarce sounds of the desert creatures around her and the vast expanse of sand and sky. Tempted to pick her book back up and just continue reading, she finally decided against it. She needed to let someone know what her sister had discovered.

It should’ve been Aaron, but it couldn’t be. She would talk to him again before the moon began to fill the night sky, but not now. It wasn’t quite 3:30, and if he ...