The Always War
Authors: Margaret Peterson Haddix
T
essa’s body reacted as quickly as her mind. Before she was even conscious of moving, she was already on her feet and running toward Gideon. Her legs tangled in the blanket, but she kept going, diving for Gideon. She knocked him sideways onto the floor of the plane, so if any of the enemy were already trying to shoot him, the bullets would just whiz harmlessly past. But this wasn’t enough. It wasn’t enough to tackle him, to hold him down, the mud from her ragged clothes rubbing off on his spotless white uniform. Guns could be reloaded, re-aimed, fired again and again and again.
Tessa rose up and slammed her hand against the control on the wall.
—from
The Always War
FOR AS LONG AS TESSA CAN REMEMBER,
her country has been at war. When local golden boy Gideon Thrall is awarded a medal for courage, it’s a rare bright spot for everyone in Tessa’s town—until Gideon refuses the award, claims he was a coward, and runs away. Tessa is bewildered, and can’t help but follow Gideon to find out the truth. But Tessa is in for more than she bargained for. Before she knows it, she has stowed away on a rogue airplane headed for enemy territory. But all that pales when she discovers a shocking truth that rocks the foundation of everything she’s ever believed—a truth that could change the world. Is Tessa brave enough to bring it into the light?
New York Times
bestselling author Margaret Peterson Haddix writes a thrilling novel about an all-too-recognizable future.
MARGARET PETERSON
HADDIX
is the author of many critically and popularly acclaimed books for children and teens, including
Claim to Fame, Palace of Mirrors, Uprising
, The Missing series, and the Shadow Children series. A graduate of Miami University (of Ohio), Margaret Peterson Haddix worked for several years as a reporter for the
Indianapolis News
. She also taught at the Danville (Illinois) Area Community College. She lives with her husband and two children in Columbus, Ohio.
Art direction by Krista Vossen
Jacket photo-illustration © 2011 by
Justin Metz
Simon & Schuster • New York
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A
LSO BY
M
ARGARET
P
ETERSON
H
ADDIX
Claim to Fame
Palace of Mirrors
Uprising
Double Identity
The House on the Gulf
Escape from Memory
Takeoffs and Landings
Turnabout
Just Ella
Leaving Fishers
Don’t You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey
T
HE
M
ISSING SERIES
Found
Sent
Sabotaged
Torn
T
HE
S
HADOW
C
HILDREN SERIES
Among the Hidden
Among the Impostors
Among the Betrayed
Among the Barons
Among the Brave
Among the Enemy
Among the Free
The Girl with 500 Middle Names
Because of Anya
Say What?
Dexter the Tough
Running Out of Time
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2011 by Margaret Peterson Haddix
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
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Book design by Krista Vossen
The text for this book is set in Palatino LT Std.
Manufactured in the United States of America
2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Haddix, Margaret Peterson.
The always war / Margaret Peterson Haddix.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: In a war-torn future United States, fifteen-year-old Tessa, her childhood friend Gideon, now a traumatized military hero, and Dek, a streetwise orphan, enter enemy territory and discover the shocking truth about a war that began more than seventy-five years earlier.
ISBN 978-1-4169-9526-5 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4424-3604-6 (eBook)
[1. War—Fiction. 2. Heroes—Fiction. 3. Computers—Fiction.
4. Post-traumatic stress disorder—Fiction. 5. Science fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.H1164Aiw 2011
[Fic]—dc22
2010033344
For Rich and Mark and Doug, in memory of
certain Iraq War debates
1