Read Online The Search for Sam by Pittacus Lore - Free Book Online Page B

seat.
    I turn for one last look at the wall behind me, as all of the containment pods open
     noisily at once, a hydraulic chorus, disgorging their captive corpses. All except
     One’s pod, which is still linked to me through the mainframe.
    Exposed to open air, the corpses will be rendered useless to further Mogadorian experimentation
     within minutes.
    It’s hardly an elegant sabotage. But it will keep the Mogadorians from getting any
     intel from the dead Greeters, and should set Zakos’s research back a few years.
    The machine connecting me to One begins to thrum louder. I used up all the anesthetic
     to knock Zakos out, so I expect this will hurt. But I know that One has a plan for
     me, and it doesn’t involve dying.
    That’s when I see Malcolm Goode, waking up on his slab.
    “One?” I ask, nervously.
    In the heat of the moment, I hadn’t even considered what would happen to Malcolm,
     the sole surviving Greeter. I watch as he pulls himself loose from his connecting
     cables and steps off his slab. His legs, unused for years, instantly give out on him.
    He locks eyes with me. He’s almost three times my age, but he looks as lost and confused
     as a child.
    One’s voice in my ear: “Don’t worry about him. He’s going to be fine.”
    That’s when the pain hits.
    I’m plunged back into the moment of Hilde’s death, the blast of the Mogadorian’s gun
     opening up her chest right in front of my eyes. Hilde falls to her knees before me.
    Red, orange, and purple swarms my vision. Everything’s faster, louder than before,
     pulsing and buzzing. One’s thoughts are screaming in my head again: No, she can’t, they couldn’t. It’s my fault, I failed. How could I? They will pay,
     we’ll make them pay . I feel it again, that ripping sensation inside me. Oh right, that’s right, that’s how, so simple . The floors start to shake, a massive rumble coming from beneath my feet but also
     coming from inside me and as my heart sings yes, they will pay, they WILL pay , the walls of the shack begin to shake and I stomp my foot. A wave of energy shoots
     through the floor. It’s a power greater than any I’ve ever wielded, and it’s coursing
     through us and rippling outwards.
    Through the orangey blur of my vision I see the walls of the shack explode, I see
     four Mogadorian warriors flung out of sight by the force that’s come from within me.
    As the dust settles, I look down at my hands, at my legs. I expect to see One’s body
     as the source of this power.
    But I don’t see One’s body. I see only my own.
    “That’s it,” I hear. One’s voice.
    I turn around, surprised to discover I am no longer in the Malaysian shack. I am on
     that beautiful California beach. Our place.
    One sits on the sand, waiting for me. “Pretty cool, huh?”
    I nod, flabbergasted at the sheer power of One’s Legacy. I’m dizzy from wielding it.
    “Come sit with me. We don’t have much time.”
    I collapse beside her, still breathless.
    It’s perfect: the sun is warm on my skin, the sand cool on my feet. And best of all,
     One’s here, right by my side.
    Across the sea, there’s a roiling storm, the clouds as black as ink. But we’re still
     in the sun.
    One touches me.
    In this place, I can feel it. I reach out and touch her too. We’re shoulder to shoulder,
     staring forward at the approaching storm.
    “We got what we came for,” she says. “It’s time for me to go.”
    I turn to her. What is she saying?
    She bites her lip, looking at me apologetically. “You realize this was never about
     saving my life, right?”
    My heart sinks into my stomach, but I don’t know why.
    “Of course it was,” I say. “You think I came back and faced my family, went through
     all that for no reason? I was trying to save you.”
    “There was never any way to save me. A part of you knew that.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “We needed to help the Garde.” She looks away from me, like this is as hard for her
     to say as it