Saga by Connor Kostick Read Free Book Online Page B

our release, the sudden disappearance of our rescuer. My priority was a dark, safe corner to lie in.
    On freshly purchased airboards, we hurried through the City, favoring shadows and dark streets. All of us felt the loss of our favorite boards, but none more so than me. The uphit from this lump of white plastic was only half that of my old, customized board. At Turner Square, we made an effort to slow down, to meander as though without a goal. Only when we were completely sure no police were in the vicinity did we ride up to the cover of the billboard and swerve into our den. Except that it felt no longer secure, no longer ours. The jungle on the walls had ceased to be a realm of freedom. The vines hemmed us in now, offering concealment to watching eyes.
    “What are you doing, Ghost?” asked Nathan.
    “Packing.”
    “Why?”
    “My skin is crawling. This place isn’t safe for us.”
    “I agree.” Athena had lost a contact in a struggle with cops at the mall, and she had on a pair of blue-framed glasses that were slightly too big, which she had to push back up her nose regularly.
    Milan blew out a long sigh. “What are we going to do now? I don’t suppose we can just carry on and hope this will all go away?”
    “No. The way I see it, we have two choices: Go underground, learn to live outside the system, the way that Ghost does. Or hand ourselves in.” Athena took a long look at each of us from over the top of her glasses. “And I’m going underground.”
    That was fine by me.
    “Where will we live? What will we do?” Carter was bewildered by the situation, a chubby lost boy. Whereas Milan looked older and tougher than two days ago, when we had last gathered here. Such innocents then.
    “We’ll live on our wits. We’ll do hoists and stuff. Go to parties and gigs, and the girls will love us.” Milan was tossing and catching a can of slogans, waving it around with enthusiasm.
    “Board pirates. Yeah, I can see it now. Nath, you got a new line of tags and board tattoos ahead of you. A pirate theme.”
    For a moment, a smile softened the frown of worry on Nathan’s face.
    “Anyway, what else is there? Work forty years in a factory in the hope of making orange before you retire? Come on, we were never going to do that.” Milan was getting quite excited now. His army vest didn’t cover much of his strong torso, and once again, I admired the perma-tats on his arms and pecs as he gestured.
    “I just wish we could turn back time, you know.” Carter was glum. “Stupid mall raids.”
    “What I don’t understand is where the cops came from. And the chopper with the HERF pulse bomb?” Nathan scowled.
    “It was going fine. But you had no warning, right, Athena?”
    “Right. Either green malls have some kind of permanent security that doesn’t show up on any schematic . . .”
    “Or they knew we were coming,” I completed the idea.
    Carter snorted. “Don’t be stupid. Even we didn’t know we were coming.”
    “One of us did.”
    “Jay?” Carter looked up, hurt. “No. Why would he?”
    I shrugged. Maybe I was being paranoid, but I couldn’t answer Carter’s question. What did Jay gain from getting us all busted? Nothing that I could see. But was it a coincidence that he seemed to have escaped arrest?
    “So, what’s the plan?” Milan looked at me. “You got a place we can go?”
    “Several. But first you all have to decide. I’m not taking anyone who is going to back out later. If you come with me now, you can’t go home again so long as the authorities are looking for us. If you come, there’s no turning back. That’s all over.”
    “I’m in.” Athena spoke softly but determinedly.
    “Me, too,” added Milan.
    “And me.” Nathan surprised me. Part of me was glad; life was pleasanter with a bit of kindness around you. But the thief in me was worried. Was he tough enough to live outside the system? Would he change his mind at some point and want to go back? I’d met his parents; they