The Darkest Legacy (The Darkest Minds, #4)

by Alexandra Bracken

there are times you have to listen to your gut and tell common courtesy to fuck right off.

He’s Lee—he’s funny and nice and he dresses like a walking hug.”

“I’m going to remind you that heroes frequently die, but the morally mediocre people almost always live to see another day. Don’t do anything that’s going to piss me off.”

The cruelest truth about life is that it just goes on—the sun rises, gravity keeps your feet on the ground, flowers open their faces to greet the sky. Your world could be dissolving with grief or pain or anger, but the sky would still give you the most breathtaking sunrise of violet warming to shell pink.

“I’ve got to say, the flag is a nice touch.” I nodded toward the American flag posted at the edge of the porch, an exclamation mark of bold red, white, and blue in an otherwise pastel street. “You can almost believe he didn’t try to destroy the country.”

When the familiar voice came over the speakers, I thought my exhausted mind had spun it out of thin air. “—out there, if you’re listening, turn yourself in. Please, Suzume. Turn yourself in.” “Who’s this chump?” Priyanka asked as Roman pulled into an empty rest station parking lot. He turned the engine off, but none of us moved. “You’re a delegate in the Virginia state House, are you not?” I closed my eyes. Of course. Of course he’d gone on Truth Talk Radio. “I am. I’ve had thoughts about resigning, but staying and fighting for the American way is the only thing I can think to do to counteract the evil Suzume has injected into our fragile world.” “Okay, no, seriously, who is this asshole?” I cracked an eye open. Priyanka looked ready to jump through the sound system and strangle someone. Roman had gone stiff, his hands still gripping the wheel. An orange glow from the rest station’s lights filtered through the windshield. “My father,” I said dryly. “Can’t you tell by the love and warmth in his voice?”

Priyanka looked at me. “I’m going to need a meat cleaver and your home address.”

My heart is a wheel. It breaks all the damn time, but, most days, it just rolls on.”

“All right, Chubs, come out with it,” Liam said. “The last time you were this quiet, it was because you’d burned your tongue so badly on soup that you physically couldn’t speak.”

“Moore’s making it sound like you burned a sweet little red schoolhouse to the ground.” Priyanka rolled her eyes. “We would have burned it down, but there was too much concrete.”

“That fucking drive through no-man’s-land, Oklahoma, was the icing on a seven-layer shit cake.”

“Hi to you, too,” I said, then nodded at the bag she’d set down. “What’s in there?” “The last of my patience and a few assault rifles.”

“Vida made my ears wilt.”

“Don’t forget to send Chubs the all-clear.” “I won’t,” I said. “Drive safe.” “I prefer to drive like a motherfucker,” she said with a wink.