Bound to Ashes (The Altered Sequence Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

to Peregrine, back behind the serving table, into the kitchen....
    “Did he take it?” Peregrine whispers as she scrubs out the inside of one of the stew pots.
    My breath falls out of me, guess I was holding it in. “I think so.”
    “Go watch him!” She says, waving at the kitchen window. I lean out a little.
    Thank god. He took a sip. My relieved sigh makes Peregrine say, “Okay. Man, that was too close.”
    The cafeteria is quiet. The couple was smart enough not to stick around and some of Heydrich’s men are standing to leave. They never take their bowls back. Jerks. They’re really just... bullies. But instead of pushing around other kids on the schoolyard, this is real. What they do... it’s hard to look at them and not remember all the stuff they did. I glance at Peregrine, watching her watch them, looking for a shred of triumphant revenge for what they did to her. My stomach turns. The tall guy, the last one served, finishes his stew and stands up, moving off to wherever he’s stationed today. Soon, there won’t be any more stations or schedules. My heart beats harder thinking about what’ll happen to them.
    “Pere,” I say. “How long does the... how long will it take to work?”
    Peregrine glances at her watch and says, “Any second now.”
    I go to stand by the window to watch, but my eyes turn away immediately. My appetite is painfully absent. I turn around and slowly lift myself onto the counter. “I’m....”
    “It’s alright,” Peregrine says. She looks up at me, sets the pot down, and comes and sits next to me up on the counter. “Let’s just... wait.”
    She scoots closer to me. For a while the only sound is her boot heel tapping against the cupboards. From outside in the cafeteria; stifled grunts and shuffling feet. “Wonder how Aless is doing,” I say, just to have something else to think about.
    “I’m willing to bet she’s fine. She’s always fine,” Peregrine says.
    Aless might be doing the same kind of thing we are... but she’s got it way worse. Hiding in Heydrich’s shadow, using his own plan against him. So many things could go wrong... the deadly kind of wrong. I can’t even think about what’ll happen if Aless isn’t fine.
    Hushed voices. I turn around and glance out the window.
    There are more people in the cafeteria now, I recognize most of them. They huddle in big groups, leaning in and whispering. They’re crowded around the bodies of Heydrich’s men. Their voices slowly rise.
    I turn back around and my breath shakes out of me. We really did it.
    Peregrine stares at the floor and says, “It won’t get easier.”
     
    [Alessandra]
    Alright, Aless, just one dart. The Pneu-Dart tranquilizer darts, top of the line, able to put down a full-grown male African lion for enough time to tag it and do a physical.
    I wonder if it’s going to be enough.
    “Hey, Mead,” Heydrich’s voice reaches my ears behind my black fiberglass riding helmet. It’s so hot in here. And he says my name like he’s being sarcastic.
    I turn to look. He straddles his skimmer with that arrogant slouch, his thick dark eyebrows furrowed and scowling. He’s always scowling. That scowl, etched into my mind, the same scowl he wears every time he takes another one of my people. Calm down, Aless, he won’t be wearing it for long.
    “You’re taking Valley Central Road. It’s a straight shot. Don’t stop until you get there. Got it?”
    “Yeah. Got it.”
    Heydrich sits on his skimmer like it’s a warhorse. “Let’s not fuck this up,” he says, like he expects us to. Two of them are some stupid ‘foot soldiers’ he recruited somewhere, a bald man and a guy with infected cartilage ear piercings. They’re stern and staring at Heydrich like he’s a respected wartime general, or a king about to lead them into glorious battle. A sick knot of anger balls in my stomach if I look at them too long. I caught the guy with earrings bashing a kid, like a thirteen year old kid, with the butt of