Read Online Swarm by Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan, Deborah Biancotti - Free Book Online

have some.” Thibault pulled the bills from his pocket and gestured after the car. “The money that guy threw on the bar.”
    Chizara stared down at it, then met his gaze. “Um, okay. But that’s not money.”
    He looked down. He was holding out a fan of white rectangles. The paper was the right size and shape for bills, but it was blank.
    He flipped them over and back—they stayed blank. “They were twenties, I swear. That guy slapped them down on the bar in a big wad. He was spending like it was . . . play money.”
    Chizara just stared at him.
    â€œYou had the UV lights going. I saw the security stripes!”
    She nodded. “So it’s not just her.”
    â€œThey’ve both got powers,” Thibault said.

CHAPTER 12
MOB
    KELSIE PACKED AWAY HER VINYL with unsteady hands.
    Nate had bought it all for her, laying down a cool two grand in a record store in San Francisco, like money was nothing. That Justin guy had sourced the turntables from a retro website. They were secondhand, finicky and temperamental, the most beautiful and demanding things Kelsie had ever owned. Before tonight they had looked exactly like hope, like an end to everything unloved and lopsided in her past.
    But now the Dish was a wreck. Strings of lights that had spanned the walls lay in glittering pieces on the floor. The few chairs in the club had been smashed, including an old couch of Dad’s. Crushed beer cans and broken plastic cups were everywhere. Ethan was dutifully collecting them in a garbage bag.
    Everywhere was evidence that people had fled, leaving behind coats, sweaters, phones—thrown off or forgotten in the terror. Even with only four Zeroes in the Dish, Kelsie could feel the feedback loop of shock. The invasion of new powers had shaken everything they’d built—the safe haven where they could hone their skills, the trust of their crowd.
    â€œLet’s go over this from the beginning,” Nate called to everyone from one of the last unbroken bar stools. “From when they showed up here—”
    â€œThey were at the Office-O first,” Ethan said, pausing with a crushed beer can in his hand.
    Nate turned to him. “When?”
    â€œJust before I came back. I had to print more flyers, and those two were there. I gave them one.”
    â€œSo inviting Sonia Sonic wasn’t enough,” Flicker said. She was pacing in front of the bar, her worry a cold shiver on the group’s spine.
    â€œI didn’t know they had powers!” Ethan cried, and then his voice dropped. “But they were acting kinda weird.”
    â€œWeird how?” Nate asked.
    â€œThey said they didn’t have money, but then they paid for everyone’s shipping. Like, they yelled to people on the street, telling them to come in and get free stuff!”
    Flicker broke in. “And the guy bought beer for the whole bar.”
    â€œSo why throw money around?” Nate asked. “To get the crowd churned up?”
    Even with only four of them there, Kelsie felt his methodical focus in the energy of the room. She grabbed hold of it gratefully, pushed it through to the others. Nate really could be glorious—smart and attentive to everything you told him, like you mattered more than anyone else in the world. What kind of speakers do you need? How sprung should the dance floor be?
    Of course, other times he was more like the ruler of some tiny country, making speeches and building statues of himself.
    The door of the Dish burst open.
    It was Chizara, bright-eyed and panting, like she’d run a mile. The Zeroes’ feedback loop blossomed with her bright, loose energy, and Flicker ran to wrap her arms around—
    Thibault , Kelsie reminded herself. She’d been doing so well remembering him, but now everything in her mind slipped and spun, not connecting right.
    â€œDid you catch them?” Nate asked.
    â€œI stopped their car,” Chizara