"The Way Is" is a fiction thesis for the Master of Fine Arts program in the English department, as per the department guidelines, this is a portion of a book-length manuscript.

What would you do to save the one you love? That is the question Elise Andrews asks detective Graham Harding in her interrogation. Usually it is the other way around, but as Graham investigates Elise, the Way, and why a swath of young women are burning themselves out on Crash - it turns out to be the only question that matters. Elise has started a plan that might save the world or damn it, but Graham must choose to protect the things that matter most to him even as the federal response threatens the very safety of the city around them.