The Reckoning: Quantum Prophecy Book 3 Read Online Free PDF Page A

moving. And stay alert.”
    Smiling to herself, Renata marched on.
It’s Butler’s own fault that no one likes him. Before we got to Sakkara the only friends he had were Yvonne and Mina, and
they
only tolerated him because he was the first person they ever met who was close to their own age.
    Renata swallowed.
God, poor Mina…
    For a very brief time, there had been eight teenagers in Sakkara. Then Yvonne had turned out to be a traitor working for Victor Cross, and had used her mind-control ability to put her sister Mina into a coma. Colin had run away. After Solomon Cord had been killed, his daughters Alia and Stephanie had left with their mother.
    Now there’re just three New Heroes left,
Renata said to herself.
And I’m not even sure that I want to be one of them.
    Behind her, Butler crashed through the undergrowth. “Keep the noise down, Bubbles!” Renata whispered.
    “Don’t call me Bubbles,” Butler said. “And it’s not my fault. It’s these new boots of mine.”
    They’re still not as noisy as that big mouth of yours.
Renata knew better than to say that out loud: Butler had a tendency to sulk for days.
This is no kind of life. If it wasn’t for Danny…
She didn’t allow her thoughts to go any further than that.
    She knew that later, when they returned to Sakkara, she would lie awake in her sparse bedroom, staring at the blank walls, wishing that she didn’t have to stay in that horrible place.
    I wonder which idiot thought it was a good idea that we should stay there after Dioxin attacked. General Piers, probably. Grumpy old fool. At least we don’t have much contact with him these days. No, we’re all part of the military now. Have to follow the blasted chain of command.
    Renata couldn’t see a way out of her situation: She didn’twant to remain in Sakkara, and she didn’t want to go and live with her parents in their Trutopian community.
    When Ragnarök’s power-stripping machine had been used, Renata had been in her crystalline form. She’d remained frozen for ten years, until an accident during a test-run of Max Dalton’s machine had somehow freed her. She’d woken into a world where her younger brother and sister were now adults and had left home, her parents had joined the Trutopian organization and everyone else she’d known had long since forgotten her.
    Physically, Renata was still only fourteen years old, but she’d been born twenty-four years ago. That was the argument the Trutopians’ lawyer was using: from their point of view, Renata was still a minor. But General Piers wasn’t about to give up one of his three remaining superhumans, so the government’s lawyers were arguing that Renata’s chronological age was what mattered, not her physical age.
    They’re fighting over me like hungry dogs over a scrap of meat. The Trutopians want me because it’ll be great publicity to have a superhuman in their ranks, but General Piers would probably have me shot before he handed me over to Reginald Kinsella and his people.
    Impervia’s voice whispered through Renata’s headset. “Look alive. We’re on.”
    There was a shout from somewhere directly ahead and Renata broke into a run, with Butler close behind her.
    She crashed out through the edge of the clearing and ran straight toward the startled guards.
    One of them turned and ran—Butler racing after him—but the other whipped a small handgun from his holster and aimed it at Renata, shouting,
“¡Alto o disparo!”
    Renata had grown up speaking Spanish as well as English, and knew what that meant: “Stop or I’ll shoot!”
    “Tire al suelo su arma!”
she shouted. “Drop the gun! Now!”
Oh hell, he’s going to fire.
    Renata turned her hands and forearms solid and raised them in front of her face just as the man pulled the trigger. The bullet struck her crystalline arms and ricocheted into the jungle.
    The man didn’t have time to get off a second shot: Renata was on him, swinging her fists. A powerful punch to the left