Rogue (Exceptional) Read Online Free PDF Page A

clear up any doubts the other Exceptionals are having.  It will also be fun, very fun.”
           Aden looked nervous for a moment and then furrowed his brows.  “I don’t have time for silly games, Lukin.”
           “This is one game I don’t think you’ll mind.” Luke grinned up at his dad, feeling a rush he hadn’t felt in several days.  As his idea fell into place in his mind, he knew that he would finally show his dad, once and for all, that he would lead this City one day.
     

CHAPTER FOUR
     
    It had been a week since Theo and Flora had left the group, and there had been no sight of the couple.  There had also been no more sightings of Exceptional Guards from the City, which put Ally more at ease with each day that passed.  It was mid-afternoon and they were picking their way through a small, abandoned town. A few days ago the large, empty settlements had given way to more fields, more wooded areas, and fewer deserted towns and settlements. They were moving slow, too slow in Ally’s opinion, but there wasn’t much she could do about that. They had stumbled into this town an hour ago and were looking for anything that could be a sign that Po had come through here with the others.
           Po was the leader in Oakwood; the settlement that Stosh, Ally, and Willow had grown up in. On the night that they escaped from the City, Ally had found Po and told him to leave. She told him that he needed to gather up the other Ordinarys and head south. She had no idea if he had listened or not. It had been too dangerous to go back and check.
    “I found footprints!” Cody’s voice rang out a street over from Ally.
           She hurried through an alley and out onto a main street, searching for the spot where Cody had called from.  She spotted him standing in front of a large, stone building.  He was kneeling in the middle of the street, looking closely at something on the ground.
           Ally rushed to his side and knelt beside him.  Sure enough, a large boot print sat in the dusty street.  In some areas, there wasn’t enough dirt and dust to make more impressions, but several yards down she could see additional footprints.
           Stosh appeared from another alley, Sabine by his side. “What did you find?”
           “A footprint,” she responded. “There are more in that direction.”
           She frowned slightly.
           “What are you thinking?” Stosh asked.
           “If these were from Po and the others, wouldn’t there be multiple footprints, not just one set?”
           Sabine’s expression now matched Ally’s. “She’s right. Why would Po travel through on his own?”
           “Maybe he was seeing if the town was safe. Maybe the others were hiding in the side streets, waiting to take a back way?” Cody looked up at them, still kneeling on the ground.
           Stosh nodded. “That’s possible.  We’ll have to check the side streets, see if we find more.”
           He and Sabine headed off again, and Ally grabbed hold of Cody’s shirt.
           “You come with me, we’ll stick together.” She had a bad feeling about this single set of footprints, and silently wondered if there was someone else out there besides the others.  She couldn’t be sure if he or she was an Ordinary from the Wilderness, or a Rogue.  Stosh had the hunting belt with all the knives, so he and Sabine could hold off any attacks until she was able to reach them.  If she and Cody were attacked, she had her abilities to protect them.
           “It isn’t them, is it?” Cody asked as they walked.
           “I don’t know,” Ally responded.
           “Do you think it’s a Rogue?”
           “I don’t know,” she said more forcefully.
           “Or maybe another Ordinary…” Cody rambled on about all the possibilities of who or what might have made those footprints.  Ally pretended to listen,