EXALTED (An Exalted Novel) Read Online Free PDF Page A

time to improve. “We basically had identical mornings. Garret had us working on target practice all morning. We’re already improving quickly though,” I say. Then I admit, “Ethan’s really good. Better than me. So how’d you like Millie?”
    “She never misses. She is amazing, like the goddess Artemis. Totally lethal.” Val gushes over her new idol. “Was her United as amazing as she was?”
    I pull the door open to the cafeteria and allow her to enter first, while I take the time to find the right answer. “He didn’t demonstrate his abilities to us. He only observed us.” Garret doesn’t need to show off his skills to trainees, everyone knows how skilled he is. He’s famous amongst the United.
    Val presses her thumb to the identification pad and then I follow suit. Our food is sent through the slot, and we then sit at our regular table. Evening meal times differ, in that boys and girls may sit together. This is our only scheduled social time of the day. Chasin and Ethan join us, and Az is quick to follow. He shoulders Chasin, forcing him to move down so he can sit next to me.
    I groan. The testosterone is building in the air. The guys all sit up a little straighter and stare each other down over their meals. Beside me, Az puffs out his chest and scoots a little closer to me, like he’s marking his territory. I suddenly lose my appetite and wonder how I’ll even begin to choke down the rest of my dinner.
    Az’s appetite, on the other hand, is big, and he has no problem scolding me with a mouth full of food, “You need to throw your punches harder, Mena.”
    “It was just a practice exercise, Az,” I remark as I try to inch my way down the bench seat.
    “None of this is practice anymore. Do better tomorrow.” He shoves forkful of broccoli in his mouth.
    I eat in silence for the rest of the meal, not bothering to take advantage of the social time to converse with Val, Ethan or Chasin, because I realize that I was weak today. As much as I can’t stand Az, he’s right. None of this is practice anymore.

FIVE
     
    My father lifts me onto his broad shoulders, and I wrap my tiny arms around his neck. I hold on tight. I’m so far off the ground that it makes me giggle. I can’t be any older than four years old.
    My two long braids, one resting on each shoulder, bounce as my father walks. He heads toward the East Gate, where there is barbed wire fencing between an opening in the stone wall. He points to the swaying fields of corn and says, in almost a whisper, “Look to the Taken. They know the way.” 
    “What do you mean father?” I ask him while gazing upon the golden field.
    He doesn’t answer me. Instead, he turns and begins striding alongside the stone wall, dragging his index finger along the mortar line. He won’t let me off his shoulders or speak to me as he continues to walk. The wall never curves or turns, and there is never another break in the wall. It just goes on forever.
    I scream at him, “Father! Put me down!” I scream louder and louder each time.
    He doesn’t hear me.
    I struggle to pull myself out of my dream as our alarm sounds, alerting us to the new day. The dream felt so much like a memory . . . but not the end. That was like a nightmare. I shudder.
    It’s early, and the room is still dim. Even the sun has yet to wake. It’s keeping that strange dream trapped here with me. I’m confused by the display of fear from the younger version of me. Exalted don’t feel such things. It felt real though.

SIX
     
    Val and I get dressed for the morning five-mile run. We leave our room and enter the corridor full of other girls leaving for the run as well. We all silently descend that stairs. The boys, men, and women join us from their respective floors. The morning run is mandatory for all Exalted, except for the children still at home sleeping in their parent’s apartments.
    We’re like one entity, all moving as one. Our feet hit the floor with that same tapping sound, the