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  They have to learn what they are. They have to learn what that means. They have so much left to do, and so little of it is certain, or clear, or simple. But as the firelight filters through the corn, the world is the color of mercury, and the embers from the all-consuming flame are like an improbable road leading upward, ever upward, into the infinite and ever-forgiving sky.

  “Where will we go?”

  “Anywhere you want.”

  “Will you stay with me?”

  Avery reached for Zib’s hand. She let him take it, and they tangled their fingers together like the roots of a tree, so tight that they might never come untangled.

  “Always,” he said.

  They started to walk. The improbable road was there to meet them.

  —From Over the Woodward Wall, by A. Deborah Baker

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Every book is a journey. Some are undertaken with the greatest of consideration and planning; others begin on a whim. This book, contradictory to the end, has been both. The story at its core is something I’ve been considering for years: for a very long time, it was the book I didn’t yet have the necessary skill to write. But the actual writing began in a fit of pique after my agent (the incomparable Diana Fox) said she didn’t understand the four-page pitch document I had written to try to sell the novel on spec. If she couldn’t understand the pitch, I reasoned, it made sense to write the 150,000+ word book to clarify things.

  I never said I was good at calculated decisions.

  Diana did understand what I was trying to do once she saw the finished manuscript, and brought me to Lee Harris, who has been an incredibly thoughtful and persistent editor, making what could have been a very thorny project smooth and utterly enjoyable. His hand has reshaped scenes and clarified action, and I am so proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish together. The entire team at Tor.com is amazing. I am so privileged to have the opportunity to work with them.

  Shawn Connolly, my self-proclaimed stupid brother, my partner in crime in all things X-Men … this book would not exist if not for him. His unflagging support and belief in me have informed every page. Without him, I would have given up a long time ago. The book is dedicated to him, which means technically my obligations are discharged, but I also want to take this space to say that he is the best accidental not-a-sibling a girl like me could have, and he makes me want to be better. He made me want to make this book better. I am so grateful.

  Kate Secor is one of my best friends, and we were living in the same geographical area while this book was being written. Thanks for hashing so many things out over Indian food and bad television, and for being a rock I could cling to when the waters got too high.

  Thanks to Chris Mangum, Tara O’Shea, and Michelle “Vixy” Dockrey for being the best pit crew and general support system I could ever have wanted. Thanks to Jennifer Brozek, for being a shoulder to lean on, and to Ursula Vernon for identifying weird birds when asked. Thanks to Jude Feldman, for emergency kitten retrieval runs and more Indian food (I am a simple soul). Thanks to Whitney Johnson, for being a delight. And thanks to my entire karaoke crew. You make the world better.

  Amy … I love you. Thanks for putting up with my tendency to forget that there’s something outside the written word.

  Finally, thank you all, for reading. I couldn’t tell these stories without someone who wanted to listen. The Impossible City isn’t far from here, and I can take you, if you’d like to go. Just take my hand, close your eyes, and trust me.

  I know the way.

  ALSO BY SEANAN McGUIRE

  Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day

  Deadlands: Boneyard

  THE WAYWARD CHILDREN SERIES

  Every Heart a Doorway

  Down Among the Sticks and Bones

  Beneath the Sugar Sky

  In an Absent Dream

  THE OCTOBER DAYE SERIES

  Rosemary and Rue

  A Local Habitation

  An Artificial Night

  Late Eclipses

  One Salt Sea

  Ashes of Honor

  Chimes at Midnight

  The Winter Long

  A Red-Rose Chain

  Once Broken Faith

  The Brightest Fell

  Night and Silence

  The Unkindest Tide (forthcoming)

  THE INCRYPTID SERIES

  Discount Armageddon

  Midnight Blue-Light Special

  Half-Off Ragnarok

  Pocket Apocalypse

  Chaos Choreography

  Magic for Nothing

  Tricks for Free

  That Ain’t Witchcraft

  THE GHOST ROADS SERIES

  Sparrow Hill Road

  The Girl in the Green Silk Gown

  THE INDEXING SERIES

  Indexing

  Indexing: Reflections

  AS MIRA GRANT

  THE NEWSFLESH SERIES

  Feed

  Deadline

  Blackout

  Feedback

  Rise: The Complete Newsflesh Collection (short stories)

  THE PARASITOLOGY SERIES

  Parasite

  Symbiont

  Chimera

  Rolling in the Deep

  Into the Drowning Deep

  Final Girls

  Kingdom of Needle and Bone

  Alien: Echo

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  SEANAN McGUIRE is the author of the Hugo, Nebula, Alex, and Locus Award–winning Wayward Children series, the October Daye series, the InCryptid series, and other works. She also writes darker fiction as Mira Grant. Seanan lives in Seattle with her cats, a vast collection of creepy dolls, horror movies, and sufficient books to qualify her as a fire hazard. She won the 2010 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and in 2013 became the first person to appear five times on the same Hugo ballot. You can sign up for email updates here.

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  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  Book VII. The End

  Failure

  Book 0. The Beginning

  Genesis

  Book I. The Second Stage

  One Hundred Years Later

  The Improbable Road

  The Impossible City

  The Astrolabe

  Book II. The Doctrine Matures

  Introduction

  Addition

  Purple Stars

  Isolation

  Telephone Wire

  Refuse Me

  Checkmate

  Book VII. The End of

  Deed

  Book II. Reset

  Checkmate

  Calibration

  Breakdown

  Perfection

  Rescue

  Book III. Graduate

  Familial Visitation

  Enrollment

  Reunion

  Experimentation

  Report

  Bucolic

  Home Again

  Book IV. Complicate

  Phlegmatic

  Variation

  Biology

  Consequences

  Blame

  Report

  Book VII. The End of All

  Cost

  Book V. Aftershocks

  We Are

  Flight Risk

  Galileo

  Long Distance

  Orbits

  Glory

  War

  Science

  Book VI. Up-and-Under

  Coal Dust

  Up All Night

  Ham and Eggs

  Water

  Fire

  Concrete

&n
bsp; Showdown

  Book VII. The End of All Things

  Outcome

  Spindrift

  Book VII. After the End

  Cost and Consequence

  Ghosts

  Birthright

  Pants

  Acknowledgments

  Also by Seanan McGuire

  About the Author

  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  MIDDLEGAME

  Copyright © 2019 by Seanan McGuire

  All rights reserved.

  Lyrics to “Erased” by Michelle Dockrey and “The Doctrine of Ethos” by Dr. Mary Crowell used with the permission of the original copyright holders.

  Cover design by Will Staehle

  A Tor.com Book

  Published by Tom Doherty Associates

  175 Fifth Avenue

  New York, NY 10010

  www.tor.com

  Tor® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.

  The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-publication Data is available upon request.

  ISBN 978-1-250-19552-4 (hardcover)

  ISBN 978-1-250-19551-7 (ebook)

  eISBN 9781250195517

  Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at [email protected].

  First Edition: May 2019