“What do you want from me?” I shout, frustrated tears filling my eyes.
“You already know that,” he replies. “I showed you what’s to come. Just as I once showed Pittacus Lore.”
Setrákus Ra hits a few buttons on the control panel in front of him, and the ship begins to move. Gradually, the Earth, seeming both impossibly far and also like it’s so close I could reach out and grab it, drifts across my view. We aren’t moving toward it; we’re turning in place.
“You are aboard the Anubis,” Setrákus Ra intones, a note of pride in his gravelly voice. “The flagship of the Mogadorian fleet.”
When the ship completes its turn, I gasp. I reach out and press my hand against the glass for support, knees suddenly weak.
Outside, in orbit around the Earth, is the Mogadorian fleet. Hundreds of ships—most of them long and silver, about the size of small airplanes, just like the ones the Garde have described fighting before. But among them are at least twenty enormous warships that dwarf the rest—looming and menacing, mounted cannons jutting off their angular frames, aimed right at the unsuspecting planet below.
“No,” I whisper. “This can’t be happening.”
Setrákus Ra walks toward me, and I’m too shocked by the hopeless sight before me to even move. Gently, he drapes his hand on my shoulder. I can feel the coldness of his pale fingers through my gown.
“The time has come,” he says, gazing at the fleet with me. “The Great Expansion has come to Earth, at last. We will celebrate Mogadorian progress together, granddaughter.”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
AUTHOR PHOTO © HOWARD HUANG
PITTACUS LORE is Lorien’s ruling Elder. He has been on Earth preparing for the war that will decide Earth’s fate. His whereabouts are unknown.
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BOOKS BY PITTACUS LORE
NOVELS
I AM NUMBER FOUR
THE POWER OF SIX
THE RISE OF NINE
THE REVENGE OF SEVEN
NOVELLAS
I AM NUMBER FOUR: THE LOST FILES #1: SIX’S LEGACY
I AM NUMBER FOUR: THE LOST FILES #2: NINE’S LEGACY
I AM NUMBER FOUR: THE LOST FILES #3: THE FALLEN LEGACIES
I AM NUMBER FOUR: THE LOST FILES #4: THE SEARCH FOR SAM
I AM NUMBER FOUR: THE LOST FILES #5: THE LAST DAYS OF LORIEN
I AM NUMBER FOUR: THE LOST FILES #6: THE FORGOTTEN ONES
I AM NUMBER FOUR: THE LOST FILES #7: FIVE’S LEGACY
I AM NUMBER FOUR: THE LOST FILES #8: RETURN TO PARADISE
I AM NUMBER FOUR: THE LOST FILES #9: FIVE’S BETRAYAL
NOVELLAS COLLECTIONS
I AM NUMBER FOUR: THE LOST FILES: THE LEGACIES (CONTAINS NOVELLAS #1–#3)
I AM NUMBER FOUR: THE LOST FILES: SECRET HISTORIES (CONTAINS NOVELLAS #4–#6)
I AM NUMBER FOUR: THE LOST FILES: HIDDEN ENEMY (CONTAINS NOVELLAS #7–#9)
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2014 by Pittacus Lore
I AM NUMBER FOUR: THE LOST FILES: FIVE’S BETRAYAL. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition © 2014
ISBN: 978-0-06-228767-0
EPub Edition MAY 2014 ISBN 9780062287670
10987654321
FIRST EDITION
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