The Quest Read Online Free PDF Page B

her?”
    “Yeah! She had a hook on her arm!”
    “That was really Terry Henderson! Oh my God! So that’s Adrian Gifford!”
    The two girls approached me, and one asked timidly, “Are you really Adrian?”
    I nodded numbly.
    The girl looked at me in awe. “Wow… It’s really you!”
    Wonderful, I thought savagely. We’re famous.
    In our two years living in New Haven, Alia and I had made no friends except for Terry and Laila. We couldn’t even go to a normal school. Because we lived with Cindy, Guardian parents forbade their children from associating with us for fear of being targeted by Angels. I was still bitter about that, and I didn’t appreciate our semi-celebrity status at all. It wasn’t right that we could be famous and friendless at the same time.
    “Was that little girl Alia?” the teen girl asked.
    I didn’t respond, but her friend said, “Yeah, it must have been. I heard she’s a Knight too.”
    “No way! That cutie?”
    I glared up at them both, saying irately, “Would you two please go take care of the little ones?”
    Looking wounded, they quickly backed off.
    The blond-haired boy who had led us here came up to me and said nervously, “Hi, Adrian. Maybe you don’t remember me, but we met once.”
    “I remember you,” I said, finally remembering where I had seen him before. “You’re James, the boy who can’t catch Frisbees.”
    James gave me a sheepish smile. “I’m sorry about that time. I really am.”
    “It’s okay,” I said quietly. “But leave me alone and let me rest a bit, okay? I just fell off a very tall building and I’m dead tired. Go help that boy over there quiet his baby.”
    Terry was gone a long time. I had lost my watch, so I couldn’t count off ten minutes, but nor did I care. Now that I was feeling stronger, I regretted letting Alia and Terry go off without me. I wasn’t going to lead these kids out of New Haven without making sure that my sister was alright.
    “Addy!” called Alia’s voice in my head. “Terry says get them ready to move. We’re at the north exit.”
    I stood up and, trying my best to assume a commanding voice, said to the crowd, “Alright, we’re moving out! Everyone get ready to run.”
    “No way!” said one of the tallest boys. “We’re staying right here till the Knights come get us.”
    He was considerably bigger than me, but I had learned not to worry too much about size.
    “I am a Knight!” I shouted furiously. “If you want to live, come with me!”
    The crowd looked at me hesitantly for a moment, but then James stepped forward, and the two annoying girls followed. Soon everyone was running with me as I led them toward the park’s north exit.
    Terry met us halfway. She didn’t have any Guardian Knights with her, but I noticed that she had acquired another pistol.
    “I left Gretel with Peter,” said Terry. “You got everyone here?”
    “I think so,” I said, not breaking pace. “How bad is it?”
    “Very, Hansel,” said Terry, jogging beside me. “NH-6 was nearly lost when I got there. I tried to get some Lancers to help, but they were too busy. New Haven is overrun. The Knights ordered a full evacuation.”
    “And Cindy?” I asked worriedly.
    “Silver,” corrected Terry. “She’s safe, I think. She was with the Council when all this happened. They made it to the airport well before the Seraphim cut off that road.”
    “What about us?” I asked. We were already at the exit. Stopped on the curb with its engine running noisily was an old vomit-green minibus.
    “We might just be the last civilian transport out,” Terry said grimly as the kids filed onto the bus. “New Haven is falling.”
    Terry drove, and I sat with Alia in the seat behind her.
    “They’re not going to just let us drive out of here, are they?” I asked.
    “You better believe they won’t,” said Terry, and then called loudly, “Everybody buckle up. Now!”
    The Seraphim were taking New Haven from inside our buildings. There was no