Read Online The Always War by Margaret Peterson Haddix - Free Book Online Page A

that’s pretty much proof you don’t know squat,” she said. She snorted again. “Military pilots! Bunch of pampered, overfed desk jockeys, think they know how to fly …”
    “He flew here on purpose,” Tessa said, because even though she was disillusioned with Gideon, she didn’t think he deserved quite that much scorn.
    “Why?” the kid asked.
    “To apologize,” Gideon said. “I … killed a lot of people here last year.”
    “What—you wanted to visit their graves? You thought they were going to be able to hear you?” the kid asked. She had her head tilted to the side, sneaking glances toward the windows.
    “No—I was going to apologize to the survivors,” Gideon said.
    “You did apologize,” Tessa said. Once again she felt like she needed to defend him. She looked back at the kid. “He stood right in the doorway, and announced everything he’d done, and asked for punishment….”
    “You had the door open?” the kid asked, snapping her attention back from the windows and leaning closer to Tessa and Gideon. “What did you see outside?”
    Tessa was annoyed with herself that she hadn’t thought to ask that question a long time ago.
    Believing you’re about to die … it kind of makes it hard to think straight,
she told herself.
    Gideon winced.
    “I didn’t actually see anything,” he admitted. “I kind of … had my eyes shut. I just thought a military plane with the enemy’s insignia on the outside … it was bound to attract attention….”
    “So we don’t know what’s going on outside,” the kid said. “You disabled the exterior cameras last night, and it’s going to take another minute or two for them to cycle back on. So we don’t know if it’s going to be safer to restart the engines right now, or if it’s safer to wait until dark. Do we have enough fuel to get back home?”
    “I didn’t think I’d need—,” Gideon began.
    “Never mind,” the kid said. “I don’t want to slow the computer down by checking data like that in the overall system right now. But there’s a manual fuel gauge in that closet. Works even when the engine’s been disabled.” A mischievouslook danced over her face, almost as if she were enjoying herself. “Could one of you go see what it says?”
    Gideon and Tessa looked at each other.
    “I will,” Gideon said, and began crawling back toward the closet.
    The kid motioned for Tessa to crawl closer to the pilot’s seat.
    Is this a trap?
Tessa wondered.
Would I be a fool to trust her?
    She reminded herself that the kid was scrawny and undersized, and that Gideon was nearby. What did she expect the kid to do?
    She lurched forward.
    “What you have to ask yourself,” the kid said in a low voice that Gideon probably wouldn’t be able to hear from back at the closet, “is why he made that choice. Is he protecting you? Or did he pick what he thought was the safer job for himself?”
    “Or,” Tessa said, “was he just not sure I’d be able to read a manual fuel gauge?”
    The kid raised an eyebrow in surprise.
    “Ah,” she said. “You’re someone who tries to consider all the possibilities. I like that. Might come in handy getting us out of here.” She stuck out her hand. “I’m Dek.”
    Tessa shook it.
    “Tessa,” she said. She tilted her head backward. “And he’s Gideon Thrall.”
    Tessa had kind of expected the name to make an impact on Dek, but Dek’s expression didn’t change.
    “He your boyfriend?” she asked.
    Tessa hesitated.
    “No,” she said.
    “Good,” Dek said. “Never fall in love with one of those ex-military types. Sometimes their brains are a little scrambled. And I’d say he’s showing all the signs.” She pointed over her shoulder, back toward Gideon.
    It annoyed Tessa that Dek could sound so world-weary and wise when she didn’t even look like she’d passed her tenth birthday. Tessa wanted to defend Gideon again, but she couldn’t exactly say he’d been acting normal.
    “How do you know