‘We’re all alive so far – but where’s Nine?’ he replies, looking around as we all realize simultaneously that the battle sounds have disappeared. We run towards the center of the room, towards the area where Nine had been battling Setrákus Ra, keeping him at bay. Nine is lying on the ground, motionless, and Setrákus Ra is nowhere in sight. Marina falls to her knees next to him and frantically starts running her hands over his body while I spin in circles, trying desperately to see through the haze to make sure Setrákus Ra isn’t hiding, waiting to capture and kill us when our backs are turned. Aside from the shrill sound of the alarms, the room is eerily quiet and I realize there are no Mogadorians anywhere.
‘He’s alive!’ Marina cries. ‘He’s just stunned.’ Nine sits up, shaking his head groggily.
‘What happened?’ he asks.
‘I was going to ask you that,’ Eight says. ‘There was an explosion and everyone but the seven of us have disappeared.’
‘I don’t know – I didn’t see where he went. One second I was trying to hold my own, fighting him off, the next thing I knew I was here on the ground.’
‘What do we do now?’ Sarah asks.
‘We have to get of here,’ says John. ‘Setrákus Ra could reappear at any second, and this could be a trap. Even though this is a government base, it clearly isn’t safe.’
‘Anyone know a way out of here?’ I ask. They all look at each other grimly.
‘We have to go back the way we came in,’ says Eight. ‘My teleporting Legacy won’t work with so many of us.’
‘Okay,’ John says. ‘We don’t know what we’ll face on the way out and we may have to fight our way through more Mogadorians, or human soldiers, but we need to stay together now. We’re never splitting up again.’
Nine steps over and stands next to me, then looks me up and down. ‘I don’t believe anyone introduced us, proper like. It’s nice to officially meet you, sweetheart. I’m Nine,’ he says, winking at me. I roll my eyes and John snickers.
I look around for a second. It’s a miracle we’re all together, all still alive. Every living Loric on Earth but one is standing within a few feet of each other.
We’re alive and we’re fighting and that means we still have a chance. And we will meet Setrákus again, and soon. Next time, he will not get away from us.
He just wanted a decent book to read ...
Not too much to ask, is it? It was in 1935 when Allen Lane, Managing Director of Bodley Head Publishers, stood on a platform at Exeter railway station looking for something good to read on his journey back to London. His choice was limited to popular magazines and poor-quality paperbacks – the same choice faced every day by the vast majority of readers, few of whom could afford hardbacks. Lane’s disappointment and subsequent anger at the range of books generally available led him to found a company – and change the world.
We believed in the existence in this country of a vast reading public for intelligent books at a low price, and staked everything on it’
Sir Allen Lane, 1902–1970, founder of Penguin Books
The quality paperback had arrived – and not just in bookshops. Lane was adamant that his Penguins should appear in chain stores and tobacconists, and should cost no more than a packet of cigarettes.
Reading habits (and cigarette prices) have changed since 1935, but Penguin still believes in publishing the best books for everybody to enjoy.We still believe that good design costs no more than bad design, and we still believe that quality books published passionately and responsibly make the world a better place.
So wherever you see the little bird – whether it’s on a piece of prize-winning literary fiction or a celebrity autobiography, political tour de force or historical masterpiece, a serial-killer thriller, reference book, world classic or a piece of pure escapism – you can bet that it represents the very best that the genre has to offer.
Whatever you like to read – trust Penguin.
www.penguin.co.uk
Join the conversation:
Twitter Facebook
MICHAEL JOSEPH
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)
Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)
Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)
Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi – 110 017, India
Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)
Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, Block D, Rosebank Office Park, 181 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parktown North, Gauteng 2193, South Africa
Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
www.penguin.com
First published in the United States of America by Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 2012
First published in Great Britain by Michael Joseph and Razorbill 2012
Copyright © Pittacus Lore, 2012
The moral right of the author has been asserted
All rights reserved
The cover credit is: Jacket design by the-parish.com
ISBN: 978-0-14-195778-4