Rebel Nation Read Online Free PDF

a woman stepped out from between two buildings and cut her off, literally and figuratively. Clover almost didn’t recognize Leanne Wood. Her Time Mariner trainer had lost weight and her face was so gaunt she looked ten years older than she had the last time Clover saw her. Bridget and Jude stopped walking, too, and they all stared at each other until Clover said, “Leanne? Are you okay?”
    â€œWe need to talk.” Leanne’s voice was hoarse, like she had a cold or had been crying for a long time. She pointed at Jude. “Me, you, and him.”
    â€œNow?” Clover asked.
    â€œNo, not now.” Clover suddenly placed the strong emotion she saw on the woman’s face. Leanne was afraid.
    Jude put a hand on Clover’s elbow, as if to stop her, but she knew better than to tell Leanne where their secret place was.
    â€œWhat about your house?” Leanne paced a few steps, limping just slightly on her prosthetic leg. “Can you meet me there? At curfew?”
    â€œWhy?” Clover asked. “What’s wrong?”
    Leanne nodded once, as if she were agreeing with someone, although no one but her had made a suggestion. “Meet me there tonight?”
    They would be stuck overnight if they did. Reno had a sundown curfew. It had for all but the first few days of Clover’s life. “Can’t we meet somewhere on campus?”
    Leanne looked truly appalled for a moment, then shook her head. “No. No, campus won’t work.”
    â€œI’m not spending the night out,” Bridget said. When all attention turned to her, she took a step back and said, “I mean, are we all going to sleep at your house, Clover? Even her?”
    â€œThere’s plenty of room,” Clover said.
    â€œWe don’t even know her.”
    â€œI know her.”
    â€œBridget Kingston, right? You don’t have to come. In fact, it would be better if you didn’t.” Leanne’s voice was flat. She looked at Bridget with almost no expression. Bridget physically bristled, her eyes narrowed, and her back stiffened. “Unless you’re going to tell your father you saw me. You’re not going to do that are you?”
    â€œWhat? No, I wouldn’t—” Bridget looked genuinely offended, and for some reason that made Clover feel better.
    â€œClover, I really need to talk to you. It’s important, or I wouldn’t be here.”
    â€œWe’ll be there,” Jude said.
    Leanne looked at Jude, then Clover again, then walked away before either of them could change their minds. They watched her until she disappeared around the corner.
    â€œJesus,” Bridget said. “Could she have been any ruder?”
    Jude turned to face her. “Maybe you should go back to campus. We’ll tell West you said hello.”
    Something passed between the two of them that Clover couldn’t quite pick up. A look, but also a strange silence. “Seriously, what’s going on?”
    Bridget gave a tight little smile, then turned and left, back toward campus.
    After she was gone, Jude sighed. “Dropping like flies.”
    Clover had a strong visual of flies falling like rain from the sky, which was followed closely by a memory of standing in the rain with her head tilted back and her mouth open to catch the drops. She shook herself once, hard, which caused Mango to make a soft
woof
. “West isn’t going to be happy. About any of this.”
    â€œI agree,” Jude said. “Let’s go.”

For history does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.
    â€”DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER,
INAUGURAL ADDRESS, JANUARY 20, 1953
    Three months ago, Clover didn’t know Jude. She didn’t know any of the Freaks, except for her brother and Bridget, and she’d never been inside the Dinosaur. Now, the idea of going back to her house tonight and sleeping there was upsetting. The Dinosaur felt more like home to her than the house