The Rise of the Altereds by Marisa Noelle

Author:Marisa Noelle [Noelle, Marisa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Young Adult Fiction, Apocalyptic & Post-Apocalyptic, Social Themes, Values & Virtues, Dystopian, Science Fiction, Sci-Fi, Thriller
ISBN: 9781527270916
Google: O_H9zQEACAAJ
Amazon: B08J41GCR8
Goodreads: 55850947
Publisher: Marisa Blagden
Published: 2020-12-02T13:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

I have to reach Matt and Hal. I have to warn them about Carmen. Running back down the street with Einstein on my heels, I’m momentarily derailed when I stumble into Jacob and Adam in the middle of the street. Jacob is teaching him Tai Chi, right there in the middle of everything. Adam has his eyes half closed against the sun, trance-like, focused on the task at hand. They seem so still, so at peace amongst the flurry of surrounding activity. I feel a pang of envy as I wish I could soothe my own anxieties so easily.

With my boots slushing in the melting snow, I continue down the street. I find the real estate office next to the diner. Koko has taken it over and turned it into her office. Three heads, poured over maps and plans and in deep discussion, swivel in my direction when I throw open the door.

Matt rises. “What is it?”

I bend over, panting, catching my breath, unable to talk. “It’s Carmen,” I gasp. “I think she’s in league with Earl.”

Koko’s hand flies to her mouth. Matt gestures for me to join them at the table. Hal closes the door gently behind me. I relay the conversation I had with her, how I acquired her ability and the threat she issued to Einstein.

Hal grabs the rest of the team from the diner next door, cutting their lunch break short.

“I don’t know what she has planned, if she has anything planned,” I say to my team when everyone is present, all except Paige who is still resting at the guesthouse. “She might just be here as a spy and is reporting back to Earl. But the one thing that scares me,” I pause, looking my friends in the eyes, “is that he has anticipated our every move. Earl seems to know where we are going to be before we do.” I let that sink in. It’s what I’ve suspected throughout the entire journey, becoming clear when I saw how uniformly the bridge was destroyed.

Sawyer has brought a basket of fries with him. He sticks one in the air as one might hold up a hand in class. “But he might have planted other altereds with other groups of survivors, covering all bases.”

“True,” Matt says. “But I wonder how many groups of survivors there are? I wonder if there are any more?”

“And,” I add, “he had to know that Koko and these survivors were here. It’s almost as if he engineered there to be a survivor population.”

Erica sits on one of the desks, her ankles crossed, her back ramrod straight. “He’s not God, he can’t control everything. He’s not all seeing.” Her wings flutter out and turn an acid green.

“Exactly. He’s just an egotistical scientist with an inflated opinion of himself and a few tricks up his sleeve,” Sean says, reaching out a finger to touch one of Erica’s wings. The green deepens to a spruce pine.

“Yeah, but,” Kyle says, swinging his legs from where he is propped on a desk next to Erica.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.