The underground was dead quiet, right up until the ground started to rumble. Not an explosion—more like a deep growl, the kind you feel in your teeth. Water in the puddles jumped. Maya still had her hand in Julian’s, but her fingers felt like ice. She wasn’t looking at him anymore. Her eyes were somewhere else, way past the mountain, like she was staring through rock and straight into the sky.
“Maya? Hey. Say something,” Julian pleaded. He squeezed her hand, trying to anchor her back.
Then, out of nowhere, every screen flickered on—even the ones everyone thought were broken for good. No more news. Now it was a live feed from some satellite way out in space. There, drifting in the dark, was something huge. A shadow, long and sharp, shaped like a black glass needle. Miles long. And it was
