Five's Betrayal by Pittacus Lore Read Free Book Online Page A

been waiting outside.
    “What’s up?”
    “Just trying to help out the scientists a little,” I say. “What are you doing here?” I ask.
    He pushes a carefully folded stack of black clothes into my hands.
    “I wanted to be the one to give you this,” he says.
    “What is it?” I ask.
    “Your ceremonial uniform,” he says. “What you’ll wear tonight when you ascend to your new position.” He nods at my jeans and T-shirt. “From now on you should start wearing a Mogadorian officer’s uniform. It’ll remind everyone who sees you of your position.”
    “There won’t be any need for that,” I say. “After tonight everyone will know me as their superior regardless of what I wear.”
    Ethan smirks a little and nods, but there’s a sadness in his expression I can’t place. Maybe it’s just because he doesn’t have his usual painted-on grin.
    “I wanted to apologize for the whole thing with Emma,” Ethan says slowly. “I know I should have done so earlier, but then everything got crazy. I never should have questioned whether or not you’re ready for this. Obviously you are.”
    “Thanks,” I say.
    He leans in close.
    “They never should have brought her here,” he whispers.
    “Well, at least she’s alive.”
    “Is that what they told you?” he asks, his eyebrows knit together.
    “Deltoch said she was sent to another base somewhere closer to Florida,” I say. My thoughts start to race. Ethan makes it sound like she’s not actually in Florida, so where would she be? I shouldn’t be concerned with Emma, but I am. And if the Mogs are lying to me about her, then . . .
    But Ethan smiles and reassures me.
    “I’m sure that’s where she is then,” he says. “I haven’t heard anything myself.”
    We start the long walk back to my side of the compound, and even though I try to forget about Emma, thoughts of her keep nagging at the back of my mind. I wonder if I should ask Deltoch about her. No, obviously I can’t. That would show weakness.
    But I forget about Emma when we enter the cavernous main hall and I see figures like I’ve never seen on the base before. Mog women, dressed in long gowns in deep purples and reds. Their heads and faces are heavily tattooed. Most of them have gleaming black braids or ponytails jutting out of their shaved heads. Unlike the soldiers I’m used to seeing, they’re thinner and more snakelike in their movements, long arms rippling at their sides as they walk.
    There are others who I’ve never seen before too. Only a few of them. Young-looking Mogs about my age if I had to guess. They’re dressed in expensive-looking uniforms that aren’t unlike those that the Mog commanders wear.
    “Trueborn Mogadorian children,” Ethan says, noticing where my eyes are. “And several women from high-ranking families. They’ve come to see you take your place among the officers.”
    I smile ear to ear. I can’t help it. It feels so incredible to have all of these people here for me. To cheer me on.
    I realize that Five is kind of a weird name for the newest Mog leader. It’s just so . . . Loric. I wonder if I should go back to one of the other names I used in the past. Bolt. Maybe Cody? I know Cody doesn’t sound very Mogadorian, but I was him for a long time. That’s who I was when Ethan first met me.
    As we round the corner to the hallway my study is on, a question comes to my mind that I’ve never thought to ask before.
    “How did you know I was Number Five?” I ask.
    “What do you mean?” Ethan’s eyebrows scrunch together.
    “When I found you in your study talking to Commander Deltoch—before I knew what was going on—you both referred to me as Number Five. But how did you know that’s who I was? There were only two dead, and the Mogs had only captured Six and Nine before.”
    Ethan looks at me as if this is the strangest question I could possibly ask.
    “When you first got to the beach house, you used to draw in the sand all of the time,” he says in