Legend / Prodigy

Product description In this new paperback bind-up of Legend and Prodigy, discover the first two books in Marie Lu's hit New York Times bestselling series He is a legend. She is a prodigy. Together, they are their country's last chance. June is a member of the Republic's elite, being groomed for the highest military circles. Day is the country's most wanted criminal, wreaking havoc on the Republic's streets. Brought together by devastating circumstances, Day and June are the only hope for a country on the brink of ruin. Will they use their power to destroy one another . . . or to save a nation? About the Author Marie Lu is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Young Elites series, as well as the blockbuster bestselling Legend series. She graduated from the University of Southern California and jumped into the video game industry as an artist. Now a full-time writer, she spends her spare time reading, drawing, playing games, and getting stuck in traffic. She lives in Los Angeles with her illustrator-author husband, Primo Gallanosa, and their dogs. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA REPUBLIC OF AMERICA POPULATION: 20,174,282 PART ONE THE BOY WHO WALKS IN THE LIGHT MY MOTHER THINKS I’M DEAD. Obviously I’m not dead, but it’s safer for her to think so. At least twice a month, I see my Wanted poster flashed on the JumboTrons scattered throughout downtown Los Angeles. It looks out of place up there. Most of the pictures on the screens are of happy things: smiling children standing under a bright blue sky, tourists posing before the Golden Gate Ruins, Republic commercials in neon colors. There’s also anti-Colonies propaganda. “The Colonies want our land,” the ads declare. “They want what they don’t have. Don’t let them conquer your homes! Support the cause!” Then there’s my criminal report. It lights up the JumboTrons in all its multicolored glory: WANTED BY THE REPUBLIC FILE NO: 462178-3233 “DAY” ------------------------------------- WANTED FOR ASSAULT, ARSON, THEFT, DESTRUCTION OF MILITARY PROPERTY, AND HINDERING THE WAR EFFORT 200,000 REPUBLIC NOTES FOR INFORMATION LEADING TO ARREST They always have a different photo running alongside the report. One time it was a boy with glasses and a head full of thick copper curls. Another time it was a boy with black eyes and no hair at all. Sometimes I’m black, sometimes white, sometimes olive or brown or yellow or red or whatever else they can think of. In other words, the Republic has no idea what I look like. They don’t seem to know much of anything about me, except that I’m young and that when they run my fingerprints they don’t find a match in their databases. That’s why they hate me, why I’m not the most dangerous criminal in the country, but the most wanted. I make them look bad. It’s early evening, but it’s already pitch-black outside, and the JumboTrons’ reflections are visible in the street’s puddles. I sit on a crumbling window ledge three stories up, hidden from view behind rusted steel beams. This used to be an apartment complex, but it’s fallen into disrepair. Broken lanterns and glass shards litter the floor of this room, and paint is peeling from every wall. In one corner, an old portrait of the Elector Primo lies faceup on the ground. I wonder who used to live here—no one’s cracked enough to let their portrait of the Elector sit discarded on the floor like that. My hair, as usual, is tucked inside an old newsboy cap. My eyes are fixed on the small one-story house across the road. My hands fiddle with the pendant tied around my neck. Tess leans against the room’s other window, watching me closely. I’m restless tonight and, as always, she can sense it. The plague has hit the Lake sector hard. In the glow of the JumboTrons, Tess and I can see the soldiers at the end of the street as they inspect each home, their black capes shiny and worn loose in the heat. Each of them wears a gas mask. Sometimes when they emerge, they mark