The Zero Hour

By: Shari Malin

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

The System doesn't make mistakes. Until them.

In a world where the Timer on your wrist dictates exactly when you will meet your soulmate, Sloane Mercer is a ghost. Her timer has read 00:00:00 since birth—a "Null" pitied by society and ignored by the algorithm. She assumes she is broken.

Kieran Hart is an anomaly of a different kind. Since the death of his assigned mate years ago, his timer hasn't stopped; it has been counting up.

When Sloane and Kieran accidentally touch in a crowded subway station, the impossible happens. Sloane’s dead timer wakes up, racing forward. Kieran’s infinite count reverses. But the universe doesn't rejoice. It recoils.

First come the accidents—missed trains, lost signals, near-miss traffic collisions. Then, the threats turn lethal. A rogue algorithm governing reality has identified them as a fatal error, and it will do anything to delete the corruption.

Hunted by the very laws of physics and aided by the System’s regretful architect, Sloane and Kieran discover the terrifying truth: The System isn't a matchmaker; it’s a cage. And Sloane isn't just a glitch—she’s a paradox who should have died twenty years ago.

Now, as reality begins to pixelate and dissolve around them, they face an impossible choice: Surrender to the separation to save the world, or hold on tight, crash the server, and burn the System to the ground.