Before the Fire Burns

Rush, a headstrong 14-year-old, never knew true sadness—until now. After a party of raiders bring tragedy to his town, his...

The trees gossiped, a breeze carrying their rumors from branch to branch. Rumors of an attack, Rush suspected. Almost as...

The rebels weren’t fools. They must have prepared themselves thoroughly. Rush dreaded the carnage he would see on the other...

She grabbed his shoulder and shook him, shattering his reminiscing. She turned him to face south—back toward the school. An...

Never again, he thought, would he live times like this. Everything had come crashing down because of one man. Now,...

Rush had become accustomed to many unfamiliar sounds on the Embark. But a bone-chilling screech was not one of them.

He didn’t even want to think about what would happen if they caught him. But he wouldn’t be caught. It...

He couldn’t shoulder what surely happened on the ship at that very moment. And it was all his fault. Vance...

Rush shivered under a tree. The boughs offered some shelter from the rain, but droplets still found their way through...

He tossed and turned through a sleepless night. The question pounded him again and again: What should I do? As...

New Atlantis sat on the steep banks of a sea, covering the hills like a rug. Seaships steamed in and...

Brisk footsteps echoed down the corridor. Their pace spoke of urgency. Olive rubbed her eyes and sat up; Rush paused...

At dawn, they entered the Pinnacles. Eventually, the call rang through the decks. “All hands, to your posts! We approach...

Voices turned his attention upward, and he peered through the flames at the top of the stairs. He locked eyes...

Lewis was still dead. His family was still upended, his fellow townsmen still in their graves. Did he have to...