Legacy (Alliance Book 3) Read Online Free Page A

People just wake up. It wasn’t Stan’s fault, is what I am saying. And at least when he was asleep, it was easier for him than Drake, I promise you, and he was asleep for the worst of it.”
    Drake was leaning on the wall away from everybody, his eyes closed. Maybe Ella was right, and it wasn’t as bad as it looked for Brody after all. He nodded to her, and went back in.
    Laurel was still crying softly over Brody, “I don’t think he is asleep, Riley, if you want to talk to him,” and she ran out of the room. He crouched by his head, watching his face, noting a thin sheen of sweat on his forehead.
    “Anything I can do, Brody?”
    Head shaking. Not asleep then. Brody looked at him, and he could see the pain in his eyes, all dark, no color in them at all. And he knew he was holding it all in because of Laurel. That it would have been easier for him if he didn’t make him bring her here. He would have let himself scream if he needed to, and he looked like he needed to even now.
    “Stan is getting us a bottle of something that’ll make it easier. It’ll knock you out or at least take the edge off,” he whispered.
    Brody nodded to him softly, and reached for his hand, squeezing it hard, making his scars hurt.
    “Make sure she gets some of that, Riley, enough to not feel so bad. That’s why I didn’t want her here, not because I was angry at her. I wasn’t. I just didn’t want her here if something went wrong. Didn’t want her to feel worse that she does already. I am sorry I didn’t just tell you that. Frankly, I don’t know why the hell I didn’t,” and he let go of him.
    And when he got up, everybody was in the room again, Stan carrying a bottle of something over to Brody, but he shook his head at him, telling him to give it to Laurel first, and he did. Afterwards, everybody passed out on the floor, Drake hugging Ella, Laurel by Brody, Stan snoring softly in the corner.
    He slid against the back wall and wrapped his arms around his knees, watching them, hoping this doesn’t become a habit for them. Hoping that he never had to see the inside of this room again.

HISTORY LESSON
    Drake, May 28, 2236, Reston.
    I t only took Stan a few days to pull up everything he asked him for. He was really liking this strange man more and more. He hovered over him at the holo screens in the giant tower while the kids were shooting their guns or throwing knives, or whatever Brody was making them do. Brody was supposed to stay put for a week, or so Ella told him, but short of keeping him strapped in, there was no way he was doing that, and nobody had the heart to tie that boy down anymore.
    He remembered the pain he felt when Ella was cutting into him to get the tag out, and how it took everything he had for him not to scream then, and he knew it was worse for Brody after he woke up like that, but the kid just bloody took it somehow, not making a sound. There was something in both of these kids, Riley and him, that made them hide whatever pain they were in from everybody, even their friends, and he felt a danger in it.
    Stan was explaining what he was looking at now, speaking far too fast, as if he had a finite amount of time to get through it before he forgot what he was saying. He didn’t know when he decided that it was important for them to know enough about all the Zoriner-Alliance history, but he just knew that it was, especially for the girls. Knew they would need something more than just trying to save a few Zoriner kids from what Trina went through to be able to shoot at these people, people who looked like them.
    Stan was finally done. He smiled at him thinly, apologetically, as if any part of what he walked him through was his fault, and handed him the screen with the holo embedded into it, so he could explain to the rest of the group what he had just learned. He’ll have to do it tonight after supper, so they’d all have enough time to process it. They all seemed in a rush to go now, and it worried him. Ams and