Elected (The Elected Series Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

alone together for the ceremonial last night. I’ve already developed my list of discussion topics—things I mustn’t forget to ask. It’ll be the last time I get to ask their advice on how Vienne and I are supposed to conceive a child when I don’t have the correct biological parts. Or how I’m supposed to hold off a revolution of the Technology Faction—a movement growing for more than fifty years.
    I am so engrossed in my thoughts, looking down at the dirt by my shoes as I shuffle along the path, I miss, entirely, the sound of an arrow whizzing past my cheek. It’s only when I see the arrow piercing the ground in front of me that I spin around to get on the defensive. A wave of adrenaline races through my bloodstream. My throat constricts in fear as I whip my head, looking in every direction to see from where the arrow might have originated. But when I spy no person furtively running away, and there are no more arrows threatening me, the adrenaline subsides, leaving me shaken and off balance. I stand in the same spot, my legs feeling like rocks.
    I’m not the only one surprised. Three guards from the nearby prison run to my side, covering me in a protective triangle of their bodies, their eyes also whipping around to find the perpetrator.
    My mother is running to my side too, having seen the incident from our front house windows. She’s flying out the door, her skirts swirling up dust as she runs.
    “Who did this?” she asks, pulling her way into the tight triangle so we’re facing each other.
    “I didn’t see anyone!”
    “Only one arrow? That was all?” We can’t argue this wasn’t an attempt on my life—only how much of an attempt. Out here, in the wide open, it couldn’t be just any old target practice or play fighting.
    “Only one. Do you think it was a warning? Or did they truly mean to kill me?” Everything I’ve assumed about murder no longer being part of human nature—that people are more civilized than generations past—comes crashing down. I am aghast, my eyes wide at the jumble of thoughts coursing through my head. No one ever tried to assassinate my father or my grandfather before him. Suddenly, all I can think is that I’d better get to shelter before any more arrows are aimed at my head.
    “Come,” my mother says, like she’s thinking the same thing. “We will discuss this in the safety of the house.” Before we leave, Ama pulls the arrow out of the ground and tucks it into her skirt.
    The guards follow close behind, their faces and bodies pointed away from us to watch for any more arrows.
    Once in the house, my mother leads me straight into a room where Tomlin and my father are talking. She closes the doors behind us so we’re the only people inside.
    “What is this about?” asks Apa. He glances over at me, probably thinking I’ve blubbered to my mother about witnessing my first execution. He can’t help but give me a disapproving look.
    “There’s been an attempt on Aloy!” says Ama. I see her face in the mirror in front of us. It’s white with fear. I’m about to say something to comfort her when I realize the face in the mirror is mine, not hers. I am the one whose pallor is dim, the one who is shaking like a leaf.
    Tomlin rises out of his seat and makes his way to me. He inspects my face and body for injury while my mother explains what she saw.
    “Up in the hills. I think the arrow came from there.”
    “Are you sure?” asks Apa.
    “We will have no way of knowing,” Ama says. “No recourse!”
    “Of course there is recourse,” says Apa. “For one, Aloy will have guards around him at all times. He will never be left alone. And I will go into town today to find out who trains in archery. Few arrows could have been shot so far.”
    Ama hands Tomlin the arrow, and he turns it over and over in his hands.
    After a minute or so he gives us his report. “I’m afraid it is quite like a long arrow.”
    I come out of my stupor, able to wrap my head around