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CHAPTER 1

He began his new life standing up, surrounded by cold darkness and stale, dusty air

Metal ground againstshudder shook the floor beneath him He fell down at the sudden movement and shuffled backward on his hands and feet, drops of sweat beading on his forehead despite the cool air His back struck a hardit until he hit the corner of the rooainst his body, hoping his eyes would soon adjust to the darkness

With another jolt, the room jerked upward like an old lift in a mine shaft

Harsh sounds of chains and pulleys, like the workings of an ancient steel factory, echoed through the roohtless elevator swayed back and forth as it ascended, turning the boy’s stomach sour with nausea; a s him feel worse He wanted to cry, but no tears ca

My naht

That … that was the only thing he could remember about his life

He didn’t understand how this could be possible Histo calculate his surroundings and predicaes, memories and details of the world and hoorks He pictured snow on trees, running down a leaf-strewn road, eating a harassyin a lake, a busy city square with hundreds of people bustling about their business

And yet he didn’t knohere he caotten inside the dark lift, or who his parents were He didn’t even know his last naes of people flashed across his nition, their faces replaced with haunted smears of color He couldn’t think of one person he knew, or recall a single conversation

The roorew i of the chains that pulled hi tih it was impossible to know for sure because every second see his instincts, he knew he’d been h, he felt his fear whisked away like a swarht in the wind, replaced by an intense curiosity He wanted to knohere he was and as happening

With a groan and then a clonk, the rising rooe jolted Thomas from his huddled position and threw him across the hard floor As he scrambled to his feet, he felt the roo fell silent

A minute passed Two He looked in every direction but saw only darkness; he felt along the walls again, searching for a way out But there was nothing, only the cool h the air, like the haunted moan of death It faded, and silence returned He screamed, called for help, pounded on the walls with his fists

Nothing

Thoain, folded his ar shudder in his chest, as if his heart wanted to escape, to flee his body

"Someone … help … me!" he screamed; each word ripped his throat raw

A loud clank rang out above hiht line of light appeared across the ceiling of the roo sound revealed double sliding doors being forced open After so long in darkness, the light stabbed his eyes; he looked away, covering his face with both hands

He heard noises above--voices--and fear squeezed his chest

"Look at that shank"

"How old is he?"

"Looks like a klunk in a T-shirt"

"You’re the klunk, shuck-face"

"Dude, it smells like feet down there!"

"Hope you enjoyed the one-way trip, Greenie"

"Ain’t no ticket back, bro"

Thomas was hit with a wave of confusion, blistered with panic The voices were odd, tinged with echo; son--others felt familiar He willed his eyes to adjust as he squinted toward the light and those speaking At first he could see only shifting shadows, but they soon turned into the shapes of bodies--people bending over the hole in the ceiling, looking down at hi

And then, as if the lens of a camera had sharpened its focus, the faces cleared They were boys, all of the, so those faces puzzled hiers Kids So heart

So loop Thoht foot and clutched the rope as he was yanked toward the sky Hands reached down, lots of hands, grabbing hi hi ht A storut, twisted and pulled; he wanted to screarown silent, but soe of the dark box And Thoet the words

"Nice to meet ya, shank," the boy said "Welcome to the Glade"