Copyright © 2021 Jade Waltz

Project: Adapt - Failure is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

All rights reserved.

Published by: Jade Waltz

First Edition: January 2021

E-Book ISBN: 978-1-952420-00-9

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-952420-10-8

Cover Artist:

Kim Cunningham

PreMade Book Covers by Atlantis Book Design

https://www.atlantisbookdesign.com/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ABDpremades/

Formatting services provided by Purple Fall Publishing

Dedication:

To my sister,

May you continue to dance amongst the stars…

I love you,

Jade

Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Prologue Selena

An intense burning bubbled within me, traveling through my veins and expanding into every part of my very being.

Or what I thought was my being.

Stretching my consciousness, I couldn’t tell where I began or ended, only that I somehow existed, floating amongst the stars.

Was this death?

I aimlessly traveled past planets and stars, my very existence intangible, lost between space and time.

Why was I here?

The fading pain was my only evidence that I wasn’t dreaming.

Somehow, deep down in my heart, I knew this was real—at least, as real as it could be.

Was this a dreamscape?

Glancing around me, I couldn’t find any evidence of my void chamber.

Zirene wasn’t around to control it, nor did I sense an invasion from my teal Xenak stalker. The faded crack and my nestmates’ thread doors along the walls were both missing, too. Everything was seamless, the endless blackness of space expanding for eternity.

Extending my dimming consciousness, I searched for any sense of familiarity but found nothing. Slowly, my quest became a chore, and I felt my energy dwindling with each passing moment.

The heavenly bodies that passed by seemed to dim to my eyes. Everything blurred into a smear of colored lights painted against the vast void of space.

Time slowed as a sense of peacefulness washed over me, silencing my doubts and worries.

When I closed my eyes, a numbing warmth embraced me, welcoming me to my new home. Giving up my resistance and awareness of my surroundings, I accepted the will of the Fates and let the Stars guide me to where I belonged.

Chapter One Selena

“You must wake, Selena.”

I know, I know. But I don’t want to.

“If you don’t, how will you ever see those who matter to you?”

Scrunching my eyelids tightly closed, I refused to open them. Drifting eternally in space felt more welcoming than whatever unknown situation I would face. I just knew it. Something about discovering what awaited me when I opened my eyes sent a chilling spike of fear through me.

Praying to the Stars, I tried to will myself back to where I was.

Had I returned to another world of torture? Had my escape from my masters become meaningless after all this time?

Were the Fates so cruel?

Had they allowed me to have a taste of freedom—to be surrounded by the love of my clan and friends—only to take it all away right before my eyes?

“How can you know what surrounds you when you refuse to see?”

Because I am afraid…

It wasn’t just opening my eyes that I feared—I was afraid to move. Every time I had tried moving before, it only brought more pain. It was a sickening reminder that I was indeed still alive but not living, just injured and trapped within my bindings.

“You are better than this, Selena. You need to conquer your fears, learn from your past experiences, and adapt to your circumstances. Lying here won’t help you. You might as well just give up and die if you are going to refuse to move. Denial won’t help you, and those who are connected to you will share similarly dire fates.”

Those words echoing within me sounded familiar… and yet, distant.

Were they mine? Had I spiraled so far into insanity that I had resorted to talking to myself? Holding my breath, I waited for a reply, only to be disappointed by silence. Sighing softly, I concluded that I had fabricated it all.

The drugs that my captors had injected me with must have played with my mind, twisting my reality.

I had witnessed unexplainable things through my blurred vision—things that couldn’t be real. The first thing that came to me was an infirmary. Perhaps it was my desperation to be rescued that created the illusion that Q was here. He appeared how I had always remembered him, except… plucked of his feathers? Had his tortured screams awoken me from my drugged slumber?

Then I saw Kaede.

Was he really there?

Or was that an illusion, too?

One moment, I was strapped naked to a medical table. When I came to again, he was leaning over me with the same furious protectiveness that I had grown to love. He said something that I couldn’t make out over the throbbing heartbeat ringing in my ears.

The only thing I could remember as I fell unconscious from the numbing pain was something soft pressing firmly against my lips.

The next thing I knew, I was floating ethereally in space, lost in the beauty that surrounded me for an immeasurable amount of time. I would’ve stayed in that world if not for that voice of reason.

Now that my awareness was starting to strengthen, I realized that the mysterious voice was right. It was one thing to surrender alone, but now my life was connected to my clan, ingrained in our private mental network. If something happened to me, they would suffer.

My children.

If I gave up now, they would grow up without their mother in their lives to watch them grow and shape their