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Aaron, eyeing the others, stood near one of the palace guards Pure hatred dripped from his features "You useless, Unwanted piece of dirt," Aaron seethed "You ruined my life with this! When this battle is over, Justine will dispose of me, and it’s all your fault! Why couldn’t you leavesmall and shiny
Alex’s eyes widened "Aaron! Why--what--on’t you just believetion, a handful of scatterclips, anything! But his supplies were substantially depleted after the long day, and he had to dig deep to grasp hold of anything
As Mr Today hurriedly neutralized the blind spell on hi the e in order to reach the wide foyer where he could turn hi the cold floor, searching wildly for so his fingers on a freezebrush, Aaron pulled his arm back and shouted, "I hope you die a thousand deaths!" He threw thethe horridly fa the scatter clip, suddenly realized theof Lani’s note "No!" He pointed the freezebrush frantically at Aaron and uttered a curse, hitting his mark as the scatterclip whizzed toward hi to stop the scatterclip But it was too late The simple, innocent scatterclip, combined with the words to make it lethal, had found its mark in Alex’s chest
Silass wall and looked from one twin to the other, at first unsure which boy hich Mr Today pointed wildly at Aaron, frozen in place, and Si hiround Aaron screa Simber not to hurt him
Mr Today rushed to Alex’s side as the boy fell back, his eyes glazing over, a look of surprise turning to horror on his face He grasped the air wildly, unable to get hold of the clip that had iasped for air
"Don’t--kill--hied to rasp before he lost consciousness
Lani helped Samheed into the ot Saside others with various wounds Quickly Lani washed and bandaged her leg, and, despite the protector’s protest, she went back outside as the sun was setting, just as a large shadow passed overhead She looked up and saw Sier, and she wondered briefly what that was all about But she didn’t have time to think about it She scurried toward her co ten- the way
"Lani" It was Florence "I need you at the front line"
Lani glanced over at Arija, who nodded Lani followed Florence to the entrance just as a new line of squealing vehicles andwildly These soldiers had no guns Rather, their weapons were quite unrecognizable to anyone who had not grown up in a family that collected rusty scrap metal
The Arti a pile-up of hard-shelled, stiffened bodies such that the last vehicles couldn’t get through without driving over them, and even then most of the jalopies conked out
As darkness settled and the various jungle creatures that could see quite well in the dark carew Lani positioned herself behind a tree, finding it difficult to tell as friend and as foe
And then a ruovernors have arrived" Lani shivered The governors
Her led with the decision: Would she use lethal weapons? She had ultimately decided that she would not, with one exception And now, as she peered out into the darkness and confusion, that exception was slipping inside Arti a pistol in hand--the kind that only the governors owned The pistol, Lani kneas a hundred tiuns that sorown hu as she glued the star, which Sao She pressed the metal to her lips and whispered an incantation as her father slipped along the wall, darting between trees, his pistol gleaht
She followed hi to hide Lie in wait What a coward! She grew angrier and angrier as all the thoughts of the Purge flooded back to her How his shae her good-bye at the gate A coward, she thought, over and over again, until it beca me not to kill you See how it feels All she kneas that she would not give her father a chance like Samheed had done for his father She had learned her lessons well enough today
She crept closer and watched hi how stupid he ence and your strength won’t save you now, dear Father
Lani shifted to get a better view She couldn’t see what her father was doing As she ht on a tiny branch It snapped off Lani froze as Senior Governor Haluki turned sharply at the noise