Halo (Blood and Fire Series (A Young Adult Dystopian Series)) Read Online Free PDF Page A

reach, staring at him. “What’s going on?”
    He smiles crookedly and brushes his hair back out of his face. “It’s going to be okay, all right? Remember that.”
    I’m so thrown by his comment that I am utterly unprepared for what he does next. The knife in his hand snakes out toward me, and I skitter away from him to the left.   He knows how I react, however, and he moves with me, my mirror image. He darts for me and does the unthinkable, something that spells the end to the fight and me along with it. He grabs hold of my striking arm at the wrist. A low gasp runs around the Colosseum, growing in pitch until it’s a rushing echo in my ears. I try and fumble for the Balisong on my belt, hoping I can flick it open and use it, but Falin Asha is there before me. He doesn’t knock my hand away, just holds his over it. He pulls me closer to him and sucks in a deep breath.  
    “Don’t let them see,” he hisses. With that, I feel a twisting movement between our two bodies, and then his eyes go wide. He looks stunned, the way Elin children do when they fall and they’re unsure whether they’re supposed to cry or not. I look down and see his own knife submerged up to the handle in his stomach. A cracking, bubbling noise comes out of his throat, and he smiles slowly at me. The whole Colosseum has gone deadly silent.
    I gape at him, and for a split second everything is normal as the drugs from my halo force their way into my brain and take over. An angry look sweeps over Falin Asha’s face as I feel my expression turn flat, and he reaches up for me. At first I think he’s going to touch my face, but he doesn’t. His hand crawls along my shoulder with trembling fingers, and I watch the whole time, wondering what he’s planning on doing. It’s only when he has his fingers hooked underneath my halo that I realise, too late.
    He yanks at the metal as hard as he can, dragging me to the floor with him. A scuffle ensues, but Falin Asha’s grip goes slack pretty quickly, the energy seeping out of him right along with his blood. I roll out from underneath him and turn him onto his back, listening to the hordes of people in the stands clapping and calling polite victory chants. A cold, grim look sets on Falin Asha’s face as he looks up at me. Arena dirt is stuck to his skin, and blood trickles from the corner of his mouth.
    His voice is a wet rasp when he says, “Kit, let me…”
    I’m too stunned to think straight. I lean down so that our faces are closer, and his hand reaches up again. “Let me,” he whispers. “Don’t let them see…”
    His hand is on my halo again, only this time I stare at him as he seems to draw together every last scrap of energy he possesses. I hold still, and with one final deep breath he yanks on my halo. I scream a little when it rips free over my collarbone, but no one can hear. The shouts, the calls, the laughing of the Trues in the boxes are too loud for anyone to notice my small cry.
    I automatically touch my hand to my neck, feeling straight away where the metal has pulled away from my skin. When I look down, Falin Asha’s eyes are unfocused. His head has rocked to one side so it looks like he’s staring at the throwing knife I buried in the match floor only minutes ago. I’ve seen so many dead people before, but this ― seeing him like this ― suddenly makes me feel like dying.
    Feet race towards us, and then Penny’s pulling me back so she can lift Falin Asha’s head into her lap. Tears fall down her cheeks and her mouth opens, pulled down in a mask of grief. Her pain is terrible, and I topple backwards onto the arena floor, staring wildly at the thousands of people above me, all waving their hands and throwing down fistfuls of red tickertape. For a moment I really believe it is raining blood.
    I don’t know how to explain it, but my body is reacting. My lungs burn in a way so alien that I panic before I realise that’s even what I’m doing. I lurch forward and grab hold