A YA Science Fiction Adventure
Nysha has inherited a strange ability from her father: her voice can influence people to do and believe whatever she tells them. Because of it, she and her brother and sister are on the run, hunted with no help in sight—unless she can turn one of their enemies into an ally with the power she barely understands and is afraid to use.
Jace just wants to keep his sisters safe—and avoid being taken back to the government facility. Nysha has the power of influence, not him, but after convincing the scientists that he’s the one they’re after, he’s committed to protecting his sister and keeping her powers a secret. But when he’s forced to rely on her unpredictable ability to defend them from the soldiers, the threat becomes far more personal—and inescapable—than they dared to imagine and forces them to answer the impossible question: What do you do when the lie that might destroy you is something you want to believe?
Keep reading below for an excerpt from Influent.
Jace ventured out into the open with slow, quiet steps, then charged the last five feet and swung hard at the back of the captain’s head. The blow knocked the man forward, and he collapsed unmoving to the forest floor.
Nysha gave a strangled cry and jerked back as he fell in front of her. Her wide eyes lifted to latch onto her brother. “Jace!”
Jace lowered his branch. The man didn’t move.
“You killed him.”
“No. No, I….” Jace inched forward and nudged the man with his foot but received no response. Keeping his weapon in hand, he bent to touch the man’s neck, which was streaked with two lines of blood from the open gash at the base of his skull.
Jace released a quick breath. “No—he’s alive.” Straightening, he looked around for the other men to appear, but his sister sat unmoving. “Go on, do your thing.”
“But he’s unconscious.” She moved toward the man and put a tentative hand on his head.
“So?”
“So I’ve never tried that before.”
“So try—we don’t have time!”
“I am, Jace!” Nysha put her other hand on the man’s head, then commanded, “Help me turn him over.”
Jace didn’t waste time asking why. With a grunt of effort, he rolled the soldier onto his back and stood again as guardian over Nysha, while she sat with her knees on either side of the man’s head and touched his temples.
“The other soldiers can’t be trusted,” she murmured and closed her eyes as though concentrating. “They’re a threat to you, so… so you should stop them. And don’t let them hurt us.”
Jace watched her impatiently as she sat in a moment of silence. “Is it done?”
“I don’t know,” she retorted and opened her eyes. “I can’t tell until he wakes up. I don’t even know if he can hear me like this.”
Flashlight beams appeared in the trees to combat the growing dusk, and Jace ducked as one flicked toward him, though it didn’t reach through the layers of branches. “So wake him up!” he hissed and knelt to shake the man’s shoulder. “They’re coming!”
“Sir?” Nysha prompted and lightly patted the captain’s cheek.
“Wake up!” Jace gave him a firmer slap and shook him again.
A tiny moan passed the man’s lips, and both siblings pulled back with fearful gasps. We want him awake, but only if it worked! Jace snatched up his branch again and held it ready as the man’s head turned an inch to the side and dark eyes eased open in a grimace….