Daniel X: Game Over (23 page)
64
BACK AT THE Fujiya Hotel, the gang—Mom, Dad, Pork Chop, Dana, Emma, Willy, Joe, and the Murkamis—did their best to comfort me, and they did manage to lift my spirits a degree or two. I attribute most of it to watching Joe chow down on the eleven-course meal he’d ordered from room service. Let’s just say it’s a good thing I didn’t have trouble diverting funds from GC’s corporate holdings into my credit card account, or I’d have been faced with doing a couple years’ worth of dishes when the room bill came due.
My family had put up holograms of my friends and Alpar Nokian relatives, including my grandmother, Blaleen; Chordata the elephant; Uncle Kraffleprog; and my cousin Lylah. But, unlike the Gathering Day party, the mood was respectfully subdued.
Dana was the first one to take me aside. She led me out to the balcony.
“Promise me Number 1’s not out there this time,” I said.
“I can’t speak for your imagination, but we just did a sweep of the hotel grounds. It’s safe.”
It was a beautiful day up in the mountains. The cherry trees were still blooming, and the breeze carried the scent of the proud cedars that dominated the craggy terrain.
“You going to be okay, Daniel?” asked Dana, sliding the door closed behind us.
I nodded and rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand, vainly hoping to forestall tears.
“It’s tough losing friends, isn’t it?”
I nodded again and sucked in a big lungful of cool mountain air.
“You’re too young to have been through so much,” she said, taking my hand.
“Yeah,” I agreed, still blotting my eyes and trying to smile. “Definitely stops being character building after a while.”
“You have so much strength, Daniel. Nothing will ever stop the pain of a loss like that, but you
will
keep getting stronger. And you
will
keep saving lives—good lives of good people, like Kildare. You know that, don’t you?”
I shrugged.
“Remember, we’re still just teenagers. We have most of our lives ahead of us. And that’s a lot.”
The door slid open behind me, and Dana let go of my hand.
“Come on inside, you two,” said Mom. “The Murkamis are leaving, and we need to say good-bye.”
65
THEY SAY AFTER a great tragedy, the only thing to do…
I woke up in the middle of the night and pulled out my List computer. I went right to the top—to Number 1’s entry: The Prayer.
Oh, how I was going to take him down. Oh, how I was going to make him pay for everything he’d done to me. I was done losing friends. I was done losing family. I was done waking up in the middle of the night worrying about my life and the lives of the people and creatures I loved.
They said I wasn’t ready for Number 7 and Number 8, and they were wrong. I’d taken them both out at once. And now I was going to show that evil space bug just how strong he’d made me. I was going to cut the head off his precious List, and I was going to live like a normal person.
A normal person with a regular life, with regular concerns, and with no more pits in my stomach about not having avenged the lives of my parents and my friends.
Something touched my shoulder, and I wheeled around, dropping the computer to the floor and instantly creating an Opus 24/24.
“It’s okay, Daniel. It’s me.”
Dad.
“You’ve come a long, long way, Daniel. And I was wrong to doubt you were ready for Number 7 and Number 8.”
“Glad you’re able to let go of that one, sensei,” I said bitterly, still primed for a fight, I guess.
He winced but nodded. “I had that coming,” he admitted. “But please don’t entirely discount my advice from now on. I was wrong, but my concern wasn’t unwarranted.”
I wrinkled my mouth and nodded. “What did you want to tell me?”
“I want to tell you not to go after Number 1—not yet.”
“Why doesn’t this surprise me?”
“No question, you’ve suffered a lot, Daniel. And now to have lost Kildare…”
“Yeah!” I blurted, stung even by the mention of my dead friend’s name. “I’m getting much more experience losing than I am hunting. Maybe they should call me the Alien Loser instead, huh?”
Dad shook his head. “Let me ask just one thing of you, Daniel.”
“Sure,” I said. I knew I was being a jerk. I softened my
voice and looked him in the eye for the first time. “Name it, Dad.”
“You know what it’s like to lose a best friend. Promise me you’ll at least try to understand what it would be like to lose… a son.”
Book Two: See You Later, Space Invader
Book Three: Long Day’S Journey Into Night
JAMES PATTERSON was selected by kids across America as the Children’s Choice Book Awards Author of the Year in 2010. He is the internationally bestselling author of the highly praised Maximum Ride novels, the Witch & Wizard series, the Daniel X series,
Med Head,
and the detective series featuring Alex Cross. His books have sold more than 230 million copies worldwide, making him one of the bestselling authors of all time. He lives in Florida.
NED RUST lives in Croton, New York, with his family. He has also collaborated with James Patterson on
Daniel X: Watch the Skies
and
Witch & Wizard: The Gift
.
for Readers of All Ages
Witch & Wizard
(with Gabrielle Charbonnet)
The Gift
(with Ned Rust)
The Angel Experiment
School’s Out—Forever
Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports
The Final Warning
MAX
FANG
ANGEL
The Dangerous Days of Daniel X
(with Michael Ledwidge)
Watch the Skies
(with Ned Rust)
Demons & Druids
(with Adam Sadler)
Daniel X: Game Over
(with Ned Rust)
Daniel X: Alien Hunter
(graphic novel; with Leopoldo Gout)
Daniel X: The Manga, Vol. 1
(with SeungHui Kye)
Maximum Ride: The Manga, Vol. 1
(with NaRae Lee)
Maximum Ride: The Manga, Vol. 2
(with NaRae Lee)
Maximum Ride: The Manga, Vol. 3
(with NaRae Lee)
Maximum Ride: The Manga, Vol. 4
(with NaRae Lee)
For previews of upcoming books in these series and other information, visit
www.WitchAndWizard.com
,
www.MaximumRide.com
, and
www.Daniel-X.com
.
For more information about the author, visit
www.JamesPatterson.com
.
*
This dialogue was translated from Kornish, a dialect most often used by certain clans of deep-space Outer Ones.
Copyright © 2011 by James Patterson
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Little, Brown and Company
Hachette Book Group
237 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Visit our website at
www.HachetteBookGroup.com
.
Little, Brown and Company is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
The Little, Brown name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
First eBook Edition: September 2011
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. In the event a real name is used, it is used fictitiously.