Book excerpt: Invasion Impending Still shaken by the events that ended with the Old One’s Sanctum off-limits for the foreseeable future, Griffin, Adara, Terrell, and the puma Sand Shadow set out for the forbidden zone of Maiden’s Tear. There they hope to find another repository of the seegnur’s technology and, with that, the means by which Griffin can contact his orbiting ship. But although his Sanctum may be drowned, the Old One has not given up his dreams of being the one who will resurrect – and control – the seegnur’s technology. Along with Adara’s former lover, Julyan, and the mysterious child-psychic, Seamus, the Old One stalks them, intent that any prize they take will become his own. In the midst of this, Adara wrestles with her complex feelings for Griffin and Terrell – and with the consequences of her and Sand Shadow’s new bond with the planet Artemis. Focused on his own goals, Griffin is unaware that his arrival on Artemis has created unexpected consequences for those he is coming to hold dear. Unwittingly, he has left a trail – and Artemis is about to be invaded.