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  It was no big surprise that getting closer to the creature wouldn’t make things any safer. I needed to be at the water’s edge, which meant being within range of its radioactive fire, its enormous feet, and its spiky, sixty-foot-long tail.

  “Poor little Alien Hunter,” it boomed, looking down at with me with a toothy display that might have been a sneer or a smile. “Not as high up on the food chain as you thought, are you?”

  “Last time I checked, Alpar Nokians were still way above monsters made out of nothing but brainless bugs,” I shouted back, dodging a swipe from its enormous hand.

  The Godzilla form roared and suddenly sprouted another head. Two of the black eyes moved into it. Then the heads turned to each other and began talking in booming monster voices.

  “What a horrible little boy, Colin.”

  “The product of poor parenting, if you ask me, Ellie.”

  “Yeah,” I yelled up at them, “my folks couldn’t hold a candle to you two. I mean, not everybody thinks to raise their child on a diet of insults, neglect, and, of course, that fundamental pillar of good child rearing: eating your young.”

  “Oh, it’s not just our young we eat,” boomed Number 7’s monster head.

  “No, no,” continued Number 8’s head. “We eat any young.”

  “Or, truth be told,” said Number 7, running a big forked tongue along his six-foot-high teeth, “even the not-so-young.”

  I could probably have come up with a good retort right then but my mind was elsewhere. Our little conversation had given me the chance I needed to apply some of my recent studies to Kildare’s formulas. I’d begun by visualizing a series of molecules, then I measured the proper proportions, oriented a series of catalysts, and, finally, isolated the very precise conditions required to initiate the reaction.

  And now it was time to stop visualizing and begin creating. I materialized a handful of the two principal reactants in Kildare’s formula—one came out as a yellow powder, the other a greenish liquid—and quickly cast them down into the wave that just then was breaking at my feet.

  What happened next wasn’t magic; it was pure, hard-core science. But the results were so dramatic that I imagine the world’s greatest magicians would have paid to see it themselves.

  A scream like a billion wailing mice went up, and the two-headed Godzilla in front of me began to sway back and forth. Its screams became louder as it lunged for me, but instead of a giant hand swiping at me, there was nothing there.

  Because the creature’s body was melting away. Dissolving into tiny black globs of decomposing alien, which were now beginning to rain down on the beach.

  “Get him! GET HIM!” the voices screeched, but its body was breaking down too quickly. “We are indestructible! This is IMPOSSIBLE!”

  I jumped back as the now limbless torso began pitching forward and landed in a heap at my feet. I held my ground and watched as the entire beach became covered in a black slick of alien protoplasm.

  You see, salt water plus 1.9 pounds of the compound created by Kildare’s formulas result in a self-sustaining reaction that produces a gas which basically interrupts the communications between all the “cells” in the bodies of Number 7 and Number 8’s species.

  In other words, I’d created a kind of nerve gas that destroyed the bonds between the tiny pieces of Number 7 and Number 8. They literally fell apart in front of my eyes.

  “That’s for Kildare, you scum,” I shouted.

  But I felt no joy from having destroyed my nemeses. Instead, as I wiped the oily stuff from my eyes and ran out into the polluted water, all I felt was loss and horror at what I’d done. I dove again and again into the waves—flailing around, searching frantically.

  This was not part of the plan. After all, it was his formula I’d followed. Kildare was supposed to be here.

  Kildare was supposed to live.

  Chapter 63

  EXHAUSTED AND EYES stinging from tears, salt water, and alien goo, I crawled back up the beach and buried my face in the crook of my arm. In the distance, I heard the approaching thump-thump-thump of a helicopter. I should have gotten up and left the scene. No sense in me trying to explain to the Japanese coast guard what had happened. The surfers could handle that.

  I thought I’d seen something in the chemical reaction, a way Kildare could have fortified his own cells to be resistant. But he’d clearly succumbed right along with his parents. There was no sign of him anywhere. He either hadn’t had time, or he hadn’t been willing, to save himself.

  The thought of Kildare’s loss being a noble sacrifice was too bitter a consolation to swallow. Of course, Number 7 and Number 8 had to be stopped. But how much hope and potential—and how good a friend—had I just destroyed?

  I’d never felt so weary and uncertain as I did right then. What was the point of ridding the world of bad aliens if it meant I was killing the good guys, too?

  “Gross, huh?”

  I recognized the reedy voice immediately.

  “Kildare!”

  “Sorry about that—” he said as I leaped to my feet and rubbed my teary eyes. “Took me a minute to recoalesce.”

  What I did next I know I probably shouldn’t have, but I couldn’t help it: I grabbed him in the best bear hug I could manage. And he hugged me back.

  “Kildare—”

  “I know, Daniel,” he said. We let go and awkwardly stepped away from each other. “You did it. I can’t thank you enough.”

  “I couldn’t have done it without you,” I said. “What you did was so brave—”

  He shook his head. “It had to be done. Just like now you have to take out Number 1.”

  “I’ve been thinking, Kildare. With your smarts and your abilities, what would you say about joining me? With your help, we could finish off the rest of the aliens on the List. I’ll introduce you to Dana, Willy, Joe, Emma, my parents, Pork Chop…. You could be part of our group. My family.”

  He was smiling sadly and shaking his head. “I can’t.”

  “What do you mean, you can’t? You need to finish school or something?” I laughed.

  “I resisted the reaction, but I… I can’t go on.”

  “What? You’re here. You’re alive. Your parents aren’t coming back.”

  “I’m too young to go on by myself, Daniel. My parents were still feeding me. It’s how we develop. Until we achieve full maturity, we can’t subsist on our own. We need mature colonies to sustain us.”

  “But there must be others besides your parents—”

  “The irony is that even though my parents hunted other species to extinction, we were the last three of our kind.”

  “But on your home planet, surely—”

  “My parents consumed them all. We were the last.”

  “But you came up with that formula. There must be something we can do with your chemistry and my powers that would work…”

  He shook his head. “Keep up the good work, Daniel. And please say good-bye to Professor Kuniyoshi for me. He was a good teacher.”

  “Kildare, this can’t be happening—”

  But it was too late. He was already starting to flicker in and out. “Kildare! You’re the only true friend I have—the only one who knows what it’s like to be alone. Tell me what to do!”

  “You know what to do, Daniel,” he said, starting to slump. “Finish what you started. Save this planet. You’re the Alien Hunter. And remember—you were my only true friend too.”

  Then he collapsed into a black slick at my feet.

  I don’t know how long I cried—my heart was breaking. I hadn’t lost someone I cared about in ages, and all the grief came flooding back fast and furious.

  But Kildare was right. I was the Alien Hunter. I had a job to do. A big one. I had to pull myself together.

  After a few deep breaths, I grabbed a handful of the blackened sand, stuck it into my pocket, and ran up to the dunes above the beach.

  Chapter 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.”

  Chapter 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.”

  Contents

  Front Cover Image

  Welcome

  Dedication

  Book One: Endangered Species

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Book Two: See You Later, Space Invader

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Book Three: Long Day’S Journey Into Night

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Epilogue

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  About the Authors

  Books by James Patterson

  Copyright

  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.

  Books by James Patterson

  for Readers of All Ages

  The Witch & Wizard Novels

  Witch & Wizard (with Gabrielle Charbonnet)

  The Gift (with Ned Rust)

  The Maximum Ride Novels

  The Angel Experiment

  School’s Out—Forever

  Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports

  The Final Warning

  MAX

  FANG

  ANGEL

  The Daniel X Novels

  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)

  Illustrated Novels

  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

  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.

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  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.

  ISBN: 978-0-316-13419-4