Summer Ruins Read Online Free PDF Page A

away the awful idea that I’m alone. Although I might be alone right now, in this room, I am not alone in this fight.
    Once my eyes are clear, I read Lucas’s words again, this time with a smile on my face and a flutter in my heart that I hope never goes away.
    Althea—
    I’m here. I love you. Don’t give up.
    —Lucas
    He’s here. He loves me. We’re not giving up.
    I may have screwed up with Deshi before, but if he comes back, I won’t stop trying. There’s always the hope that the truth was simply too much to handle all at once, and that after he has time to process what I said, he’ll come back wanting more answers.
    Last autumn, when Mrs. Morgan Broke and the Others showed themselves to me as they truly are—aliens who manipulate and control the humans on this planet in order to get what they need—I didn’t want to believe it, either. I didn’t want to hear that Other blood runs in my veins, or that Fire’s my mother and that my father died because I was born.
    None of that was easy to believe. Honestly, if I hadn’t had Lucas and Pax and months of proof staring me in the face, it might still seem unreal to me. It’s hard to remember that Deshi’s life diverged from ours so completely right after all of this began. That the same months I spent discovering who I am, learning what Earth’s really like, and glimpsing the horrible plots of the Others, Deshi spent in here. Zakej and Kendaja are his friends, the people he trusts to bear his weight when things get tough.
    If we’re going to change that, it’s going to take time. Weeks, not days. It’s going to take patience. While I might have the latter, if I try, the weeks are a different story.
    The words in Lucas’s note come back to me, digging into my mind and returning the memory of Deshi’s offer. He said he’d take me to say good-bye to them before our audience with the Prime. Now that Deshi’s distanced himself, I assume that he won’t be back, but at least I know Lucas is here.
    And we’re always within reach of each other, aren’t we? In the hive?
    I know the way between my sinum and Pax’s, but never mapped the route between Lucas and I. Even so, seeing Pax would be better than nothing, and maybe it wouldn’t be so hard to find Lucas. If we could talk, if I could get their advice on how to best handle Deshi’s conversion—if he ever returns—it could bolster my confidence.
    Maybe we could even come up with some sort of plan for eluding death, with or without Deshi. Winning him back is still the only way, though. If we leave without him, we’re in the same boat we were in before we were captured. It’s just that the idea of dying doesn’t appeal to me all that much. Abandoning Deshi almost appeals less. If we leave him here, part of me knows we’ll be smashing any hope of the four of us working together for good.
    I close my eyes, focusing on the hive for the first time in a long time, and follow my mind inward until I land in my sinum. The strange, living combination of fire, air, and ice still creates a seemingly solid barrier between my mind and the rest of the Others, but as I approach the opening into their joint consciousness, voices meet my ears.
    “So the Summer Celebration is back on, huh?” The pleasant, mesmerizing voice belongs to an Other. If they’re guarding my sinum—and they must be, since they’re right outside chatting—then they’re probably Wardens.
    “Yeah. Since the half-breed Elements proved they’re as stupid as the Prime thought, waltzing right into our grasp, there’s no reason to think we’ll leave before we’d planned.”
    The answering voice sounds identical to the first, making it as hard as ever to remember they all have minds of their own. Or so the example of Nat leads me to believe. They apparently can’t sense my presence through the barrier, which is both interesting and reassuring.
    The two of them continue discussing the Summer Celebration, and two more voices join the