Secrets of Startech: The Imprint Series, #2

By April M. Reign

Fugitives from Startech, Jade and Aric follow their map deep into the backwoods of Rutherford to find refuge at Dieter Copeland's house. In hiding, Dieter teaches them to connect with their alien metal, unlocking new potentials. However, their mentor harbors a dark, dangerous secret that could shatter their lives.

 

As Aric and Jade grow closer, falling deeper in love, the constant threat of pursuit casts a shadow over their romance. Startech is relentless, determined to reclaim their lost technology at any cost. Aric and Jade face a crucial choice, one that will redefine their futures.

 

In their fight for freedom, Jade and Aric uncover the truth: there is only one place they can go to have a life together...

• Language: English
• Publisher: April M. Reign
• Release date: Jun 10, 2024
• ISBN: 9798227315748

Book preview

Books by April M. Reign

The Dhellia Series

Dhellia

Quest for the Keys

Trial by Fire

The Tri-Blood

The Rise of the Elementalist Series

The Keys of Power

An Oath to Protect

Vampire Crimes Special Unit Series

Moon Hunt

Moon Gone

Moon Crimes

Moon Castle

Moon Scroll

Moon Storm

The HASH Series

Fall of the Institute

Secrets of Startech

The Queen of Ceren

Returning to Earth

The Turning Series

Bound to Darkness

Unleashed

Vampire Vengeance

Vampire Curse

Disciples of the Damned Series

Season One

Dominic

Vypers

Slayers

Revenge

The Horsemen

Season Two

Chari

Hunter

Dead to Rights

Ransom

Quest for the Throne Series

The Enchanted Sisters

Stand Alone

Eternally Us

Secrets of Startech

Published by April M. Reign

Copyright © 2013 by April M. Reign

All rights reserved.

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No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by an electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without the permission of the author, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of this author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

About the Book

Secrets of Startech

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Fugitives from Startech, Jade and Aric follow their map deep into the backwoods of Rutherford to find refuge at Dieter Copeland’s house. In hiding, Dieter teaches them to connect with their alien metal, unlocking new potentials. However, their mentor harbors a dark, dangerous secret that could shatter their lives.

––––––––

As Aric and Jade grow closer, falling deeper in love, the constant threat of pursuit casts a shadow over their romance. Startech is relentless, determined to reclaim their lost technology at any cost. Aric and Jade face a crucial choice, one that will redefine their futures.

––––––––

In their fight for freedom, Jade and Aric uncover the truth: there is only one place they can go to have a life together...

Dedication

To my readers, thank you for taking the time to read, review and enjoy my books.

Table of Contents

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Books by April M. Reign

About the Book

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

About the Author

Connecting with the Author

Chapter One

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Our boat floated on the water for three days—days that felt more like years. We were alone, stranded in a foreign world. During the day, the sun gave us no escape from its relentless heat. At night, the stiff wind brought much cooler temperatures that sent a perpetual chill through our sunburned bodies. The situation seemed hopeless, and our textbook knowledge seemed useless.

The exhaustion burdened our mental state far more than anything else. Where the outside world around us had once filled our spirits with excitement, it now dulled in comparison, allowing boredom to grow in its place. Our outlook became hopeless, and our confidence became doubt.

We had no food, no water, and no gas left in the boat and somehow, we realized we had veered off course. We vomited the bile in our stomachs, dry-heaving over the side of the boat while the waft of seawater coated our sinuses. The changes in weather dried our skin and cracked open our lips. When we weren’t seasick in the pitch and fall of the waves, we shared stories of the institute, comparing the knowledge we’d learned. We discussed Dr. Stevens’ dry attempt to befriend us and finally, we relived the explosion when we’d escaped.

We talked until...dehydrated to the point where our throats were dry and raspy...we finally just stopped talking. We laid together in the bottom of the boat, side by side, Aric’s fingers laced through mine. We were quiet and resolved to our uncertain fate.

In my other hand, I gripped the letter from Dr. Stevens with an undeniable commitment. Maybe I was afraid to let it go. Maybe the letter gave me some form of reassurance from home—the only home I remembered.

In one moment, my life had made sense and in the next, it hadn’t. In one breath, I had Em by my side and in the next...she had disappeared. I missed her wide eyes and cerebral disposition.

Three days ago, her emerald-green eyes had seemed mystical as she’d stood on the boat and stared out into the open sky. What had she seen? Why had she left at the first chance she’d had? Where had she gone? My mind tortured me with questions for which I had no answers.

Don’t worry, Aric had said. He had explained how he envisioned the world to be much bigger than the descriptive text in our lesson books. He had concluded with something about Em wanting to explore the world. What she had seen in the sky, he had said, had to do with the technology around us.

I had agreed with him. After all, I had seen how Em had reacted to the technology in the institute, especially when she had a chance to get past the Faraday cage and next to working computers and cell phones. She was an explorer, and her job as an explorer meant she would download the world around me.

Even if I had wanted to stop her, or the alien metal wrapped around my spine, I couldn’t have. I had tried to get her removed from me for sixteen years, but she’d never left me. Until now. The first chance of freedom she’d gotten, she was gone. She had left me alone with Aric in a boat, floating to nowhere.

Now, while we floated on the ocean in the middle of absolutely nothing but water as far as the eye could see, I realized that Em was an immature version of the implant around my spine. Childish, even. I had been sheltered from the world—sheltered from growing up like any other human child.

Until I had gotten to know Aric, I had not even realized how Em’s childlike presence had held me back from maturing. Still, I ached for her, to tell her things. Things about Aric and my womanly emotions that grew more complex by the day.

Since it was important for me to keep my sanity at the institute, the alien metal had created Em, at first because there was damage to the full-potential metal and later, because it knew that I couldn’t handle the emotional and intellectual enormity of its full potential. 

The ocean waves sloshed about, pounding the sides of our small boat with boisterous, loud slaps. The water was rougher this evening. Sparse, dark clouds concealed the yellow-tinted moon—the moon I had dreamed of seeing for sixteen years. It was everything I thought it would be. Humming a song I’d remembered from childhood helped to drown out the noise of the waves, but without Em there, it was only a secondary escape.

My humming trailed off when I became too tired to even do that. In the silence, Aric turned his head to stare at me. His brown eyes fixed intently on my profile. It wasn’t long before I turned to gaze at him, our faces inches from each other and his cracked lips pale from the cold air. The dull flecks of silver in his eyes made me lose some hope that we’d get off the boat alive. Neither of us knew what we were doing.

I shivered.

Are you cold? Come closer. He draped his blanket over me, leaving his body exposed to the frigid air.

But it wasn’t the cold that made me shiver. No, I’d forgotten that the night temperature had dropped so much. My shiver came from the look in his eyes. They gave me a glimpse into his soul. He was easygoing, intuitive and inquisitive. He cared for humans. Even though humans had locked him up in a facility for sixteen years, he still cared. He showed no signs of anger. Even now, Aric carried himself with an air of noble courage.

Do you think someone will find us? A fog of smoky breath followed my words and floated away.

Aric explored my eyes before he lifted his shoulders and shrugged. In those hopeless windows to his soul, I could tell that he wanted to reassure me. And after what seemed like hours, he did just that.

I won’t let anything happen to us. We just have to find land and from there, we’ll make it to this Dieter Copeland’s house.

I’m scared. It wasn’t a lie. New things scared me—things like being out in a small boat in the vast ocean. And being under dark skies while the angry water rocked us from side to side with its relentless push. Sharks scared me. I had read about those monsters from the sea in textbooks. And of course...land. Land scared me because that was where we’d find people, and I didn’t know anything about interacting with strangers.

You’re safe with me.

Aric’s words comforted the cacophony of my thoughts. They shouldn’t have been a comfort, though. He was as much a stranger to this outside world as I was, but we would attempt this journey together. That reasoning comforted me. Aric would be my partner, as well as my protector.

Do you think Em will come back? My concern for her was unwarranted, but it came from an emotional place. She was the only friend I’d had while growing up.

She’s with you now.

I can’t see her.

She’s probably busy downloading the world.

My lips twitched into a tight smile. Aric was right. Em’s need to explore had to be the reason for her disappearance. Why else would she have picked up and left? Oddly, though, I wondered why I couldn’t feel her downloading this world of technology.

What do you suppose she meant when she said, ‘they’re coming?’

His lips pursed. You couldn’t figure out Em in the institute. You definitely won’t figure her out now.

While I stared into his eyes, the boat swayed back and forth, making me dizzy. Occasionally, a splash of seawater hit the side of our small vessel and a mist of salty wetness covered our faces. The frigid water made my body react by squeezing Aric’s hand.

A howling noise whistled past the boat as the wind danced with the waves. Scared and concerned, I rolled over to my side and cuddled close to Aric. His strong arms wrapped around me. With ease, he pulled me into him and kissed the top of my head. It was in the circle of his embrace that I felt an inner calm.

I hadn’t been in his arms for more than ten minutes when we heard the blaring noise of a horn almost on top of us. Mental fatigue had left me too tired to flinch.