The Search for Sam Read Online Free PDF

figure that out, because right now death doesn’t even feel like the worst-case
     scenario. Passing my father’s test and being “allowed” to remain in this place, having
     to indefinitely maintain the pretense of being a loyal Mogadorian, feels like the
     grimmest fate of all.
    “That was hard to watch.” One appears, standing in the doorway.
    I sigh, grateful for her presence.
    “Didn’t realize you were there.”
    She ambles towards me and sits at the foot of the bed. “I hung back. Tried to stay
     out of your line of sight. Figured you needed to focus.” She gives me an affectionate
     look. “Performance of a lifetime, huh?”
    “You said it.”
    She looks guilty, worried for my safety. “You sure I’m worth it?”
    I manage to fake a confident smile. “Definitely.”
    My bedroom door opens and my sister Kelly swings in.
    Surprised, I hop off the bed.
    “So you’re back,” she says bluntly, sizing me up.
    “Yeah,” I say. I’m not sure if I should rush up and embrace her.
    I decide to wait and follow her lead.
    “Well, that’s good, I guess.” She fiddles with the doorknob hesitantly.
    “You weren’t at dinner.” Over dinner my father explained that Ivan had been promoted
     to a new position somewhere in the Southwest—news that filled me with such relief
     I had to cover my mouth so the General wouldn’t see how happy I was—but I hadn’t been
     given a reason for Kelly’s absence.
    “Ran late. I’m doing an afterschool program at the Nursery now.” The Nursery is what
     some of us call the piken pens in the underground complex. Pikens are bred in the
     labs down there and conditioned for combat. “I think I’m going to be a trainer when
     I graduate. They say I have what it takes.”
    “Oh,” I reply. “That’s great.”
    I can’t believe how dumb I sound, how tentative. Back in the hornets’ nest of Ashwood,
     and I’m scared of my own kid sister. It’s pathetic.
    “Whatever,” she says. “So listen. Congratulations on surviving and stuff, and for
     coming back here. But, you know, having you dead was embarrassing enough. Now I have
     to explain to my friends that my loser brother is back. You’re basically ruining my
     life.”
    I’m stunned by her callousness, but I understand. In Mogadorian society, dying in
     combat is not afforded the prestige it is among most human cultures. And failing in combat and surviving is hardly better than being a traitor. My mother’s relief
     at my survival won’t be shared by my sister … or anyone else at Ashwood.
    “I’m just telling you this so when I ignore you in front of the others, you don’t
     freak out, okay?”
    “Fair enough,” I say.
    “Okay,” she says.
    She leaves, without a good night, much less that hug.
    I shoot One a despairing look.
    She quickly covers her expression of pity with one of her best, most sarcastic grins.
     “Welcome home, Adamus,” she says.

CHAPTER 7
    A kid a little older than me named Serkova comes to get me in the morning. According
     to the General, he’s a promising young surveyor in the Media Surveillance division.
     My father assigned him to bring me up to speed and put me to work.
    We ride the elevator down to the underground complex together. He gives me a sidelong
     glance. “Heard you bit it in Kenya.”
    “Yeah,” I concede, feigning sheepishness.
    “And now you’re angling for a position as a surveyor?”
    “That’s the idea,” I say.
    He snorts. Serkova has a generic trueborn face, but there is something gross and oddly
     piggish about his nose that’s even grosser when he snorts.
    “I didn’t know we were in the business of giving failed soldiers second chances.”
     He turns his stare on me. “Guess there’s an exception for the General’s son.”
    The elevator doors open and we stride into the hub at the center of the underground
     complex. The domed ceiling and orb-like fluorescent light fixture give it the feel
     of a massive—and massively