Novels by Kristiana West

The next morning, the morning sun poured through the glass windows of our suburban mansion, casting a bright, golden light across the polished hardwood floors. To anyone else, it was a warm, beautiful Friday morning. To me, it was a ticking clock.Twenty-nine days left.I sat alone at the long granite island in the kitchen, sipping a cup of dark black coffee. The house was dead quiet. Sam was still asleep in the master suite, exhausted from the endless argument he had maintained with his mother and sister until three in the morning. Belinda and Deborah had retreated to the guest wing, furious and broke, while Madison had taken Hailey back to her apartment late last night after realizing no money was going to be transferred into her account.*【Host Freya, morning vitals confirmed. Heart rate: 68 BPM. Neurological phantom pain: Minimal. Contractor notification: Heavy machinery from Titan Defense Solutions has arrived on-site at Black-Stone Ridge. Excavation team is awaiting final author

Freya’s povThe smell of roasted garlic and rosemary filled my open-concept kitchen, but to me, it smelled like cheap bait in a steel trap.I stood by the marble island, adjusting my silk blouse in the reflective surface of the microwave. I looked polished, dutiful, and completely unsuspecting—the perfect, self-sacrificing wife they had spent years exploiting.*【Target cluster approaching front entrance. Heart rates elevated. Target 'Deborah' displaying elevated stress markers due to declined luxury transactions.】*The cold voice echoed at the base of my skull, accompanied by that faint, metallic ringing. I picked up a chef’s knife, calmly dicing fresh parsley on the cutting board."Let them simmer," I murmured under my breath.The front door unlocked, and the noisy chatter of my extended family spilled into the foyer."Freya!" Belinda’s sharp, shrill voice boomed first as she tossed her expensive designer coat onto the entryway bench. "Why is the garage gate taking so long to open? S

Freya’s povThe cool breeze from the air conditioner hummed quietly in the background as I sat at my desk, staring at the bright calendar display. My heart was still racing from the vivid intensity of the nightmare, the phantom ache behind my eyes feeling all too real. I took a deep, steadying breath, letting the calm atmosphere of the quiet office ground me back in the present moment.Before I could fully gather my thoughts, my phone buzzed on the glass tabletop. Sam’s name lit up the screen.I swallowed hard, answering and pressing the phone to my ear. "Hello?""Hey, sweetie," Sam’s voice came through the speaker, relaxed and completely casual. "Did I catch you at a bad time? Look, Deborah was asking about that funding for her boutique idea again. I told her you’d probably be able to transfer the start-up cash today. Also, Madison called earlier—she's having a tough week and I was thinking it might be nice if she and Hailey stayed in the guest room for a while, you know she’s your f

Freya’s pov The sun did not feel warm anymore. It felt like hot grease poured directly onto my skin. I pulled my leather gloves tight over my wrists and adjusted my thick plastic goggles. Outside the shelter’s inner door, the sky was not blue. It was an ugly, bruised crimson color, choked with sparkling grey dust that smelled like burnt copper. People called it the Solar Rust. When the sun tore through the atmosphere three months ago, it did not bring light, it brought blistering heat and microscopic metal dust that shredded lungs and turned electronics into junk. I took a deep breath inside my air mask, lifted my heavy metal toolbox, and opened the thick steel lock of the courtyard door. I was exhausted. My skin was raw, my muscles boiled with pain, and my eyes burned. But if I did not clean the outer intake filters right now, the air scrubbers inside would clog, and everyone in the shelter would suffocate in their sleep. There were five other people living in my underground hou