Chosen Ones

Ten years after five teenagers defeated a supernatural entity known as the Dark One, whose catastrophic attacks called Drains killed hundreds of thousands across North America, the surviving Chosen Ones struggle with the aftermath. Sloane Andrews, now in her late twenties, lives in Chicago with her boyfriend and fellow Chosen One, Matthew Weekes. She has severe PTSD, waking from nightmares so vivid she nearly stabs Matt with a butcher knife. She relies on benzodiazepines to manage her anxiety and has been secretly reading classified government documents about Project Ringer, the program that recruited them as teenagers. The documents reveal that their late handler, Bert (real name Evan Kowalczyk), manipulated Sloane by exploiting her need for approval, comparing her to a stray dog that could be kept loyal with scraps of affection.

At the dedication of the Ten Years Monument, a memorial inscribed with every victim's name, Sloane reunites with the other Chosen Ones: Matt, the group's natural leader; Esther Park, a social media personality; Ines Mejia, who lives with Albie in Chicago; and Albert "Albie" Summers, Sloane's closest friend. Inside the monument, Albie confides that he is tired of being celebrated for the worst thing that ever happened to him.

That evening, Sloane finds an engagement ring hidden in Matt's drawer. At the Ten Years Peace gala, Matt proposes publicly, comparing Sloane to an Easter chocolate with a hard shell and a marshmallow center. She says yes to avoid humiliating him on camera, then escapes to a dive bar with Albie, where she admits she does not want to marry Matt. Albie observes that Matt does not truly know her.

Government agents summon the Chosen Ones to a Drain site, where they reveal that bizarre supernatural events are increasing worldwide. The Agency for the Research and Investigation of the Supranormal (ARIS) has built a prototype device that channels magic and wants the Chosen Ones to test it. Sloane refuses, but Albie agrees, arguing they need to understand magic to protect themselves. The test goes catastrophically wrong: The device produces uncontrollable fire that kills a technician. The guilt destroys Albie. He dies shortly afterward, leaving a note: "I'm sorry. I couldn't carry it anymore."

Sloane retrieves pieces of Koschei's Needle, a powerful magical artifact she once wielded, from a hidden storage space. Years earlier, the Needle burrowed into her hand during a disastrous diving mission, and she gnawed it out and kept the fragments secret from ARIS. She uses the fragments to break into the ARIS facility and destroy the prototype, then drops them into the Chicago River. At Albie's funeral, as the group holds hands while scattering his ashes, Sloane hears Albie's voice. She steps toward the sound, and everything goes dark.

Sloane, Matt, and Esther surface in the Chicago River in a parallel dimension called Genetrix, where magic is widespread and channeled through wearable devices called siphons. Ines, who was not holding hands during the ceremony, did not cross over. Aelia is the praetor of Cordus (Genetrix's name for Chicago) and tribune of the Army of Flickering, Genetrix's military force. She explains that they summoned a Chosen One to fight the Resurrectionist, a figure believed to be devastating the city with Drains. The magical effort required to send them home can only be performed once more, and they must defeat the Resurrectionist first.

Nero, Aelia's mild-mannered colleague, teaches them siphon use. Esther and Matt show aptitude, but Sloane's attempt produces a destructive indoor hurricane. Her magic manifests as overwhelming, uncontrollable force. During this period, Matt and Sloane end their relationship.

Sloane explores the city and meets Mox, a young man who repairs siphons. A Drain strikes Chicago, and Sloane leads her group through the destruction with combat instincts honed during the Dark One's attacks. The Resurrectionist captures Sloane and collapses the lungs of her military escort, Kyros. She wakes in the Resurrectionist's lair, the Old Main Post Office, and escapes by breaking through a boarded window and jumping from the building, fracturing her ankle. Esther saves Kyros by performing a magical breath to reinflate his lungs.

Sloane and Esther break into Nero's workshop and discover his journals, which reveal that they are the fifth set of champions summoned from other dimensions. All previous ones were killed. Despite this, Sloane agrees to fight because Esther is desperate to get home to her dying mother. During a dive into the river, Sloane spots what she believes is the shadow of the Dark One moving through the barrier between universes, but Matt and Esther dismiss her claim.

On the night of the mission, Sloane deviates from the plan. Instead of acting as bait, she infiltrates the Resurrectionist's lair alone and holds him at knifepoint. He removes his siphons, revealing himself to be Mox. He insists Nero is the true enemy: Nero was Mox's teacher and placed a siphon on Mox's spine as a child, giving Nero the ability to control Mox's magic. Nero murdered the original Army of Flickering and framed Mox as the Resurrectionist. When the Army attacks the building, Sloane fights alongside Mox to escape.

Mox takes Sloane to meet Sibyl, the prophet who made Genetrix's doomsday prophecy, in St. Louis, a haven city where magic use is prohibited. The Tenebris Incident of 1969, a U.S. Navy weapons test that shattered a magical core in the Mariana Trench, spread magic across the globe and left a fragment of energy lodged in Mox's eye. Sibyl's prophecy identifies Mox as the true Chosen One, "born marred by magic," and names Nero as the Dark One. Sloane and Mox grow closer. She shares the secret she has never told anyone: During her captivity, the Dark One forced her to choose whether she or Albie would be tortured, and she chose Albie. Mox responds with compassion. They sleep together, and Sloane feels fully herself for the first time.

Nero confirms his identity by sending Sloane the boots the Dark One took from her during her captivity on Earth, triggering a severe panic attack. Sloane and Mox plan an assault on the Camel, Genetrix's center for magical learning. Sloane dives into the Chicago River to retrieve the Needle fragments from the boundary between universes, and they burrow back into her hand and reunite. Nero appears on the river walk with Mox under his control, confronting Sloane, Matt, and Esther. Through a magical connection facilitated by the Needle, Sloane experiences Nero's memories: He is hundreds of years old, originally from another universe where his magic drained all life from his planet. He has been holding Earth and Genetrix apart but is exhausted and wants to die. Sloane decides to take on the burden herself. Using the Needle, she tears Nero apart, absorbing his accumulated power.

The barrier between universes collapses, and Earth and Genetrix merge into a single world shaped by Sloane's desires. Landmarks from both dimensions coexist in a patchwork reflecting what she loved and feared. In the aftermath, there is no electricity or communication. The group reunites with Ines, who survived. Mox says goodbye to his undead army, releasing them from the magic that sustained them. His lieutenant, Ziva, tells him she is ready to rest, and the soldiers' bodies go still. The novel ends with Sloane and Mox driving south along Lake Michigan. The Needle is back in Sloane's hand, and Mox, freed from his spine siphon, takes her hand across the gearshift as they head toward an uncertain future together.