Read Eight's Origin (Lorien Legacies: The Lost Files Bonus) for Free Online

Because of the Charm, I did not become just another scar on the ankles of the rest of the Garde. So they killed Reynolds instead.
    After Reynolds was killed, I stayed up here in the mountains by myself. I didn't know where else to go. For a while, I thought I might die up here, alone, forgotten by the others.
    Then, one day, I woke up from a long sleep to see a small black rabbit sitting right next to me. He was just staring at me.
    "Hey, Rabbit," I said. They were the first words I'd spoken aloud in ages. The rabbit tilted his head but didn't run away, even when I sat up.
    '"Boo!" I said. He still wasn't scared. It almost seemed like he felt sorry for me—like he didn't want me to be alone.
    We just looked at each other for a while. It made me feel good to have company, and then I pretended he was a real person who could understand me and told him first one joke and then another. It was obvious from the way his nose twitched that I was really cracking him up. For a few minutes, I felt like my old self.
    And then I was a black rabbit too. I didn't even notice it happen at first—I just knew that the world seemed different. Everything was bigger but also easier to understand. Smells and sounds took on their own form and shape; paths appeared where they hadn't been before. My memories gave way to instincts.
    The rabbit and I began chasing each other through the bushes, jumping over rocks, darting behind trees. Just having some good, old-fashioned rabbit-style fun.
    Then I heard a noise behind me. It was nothing—just a rock falling—but before I knew it, I'd been frightened back into my own body. The other rabbit was gone.
    I never saw him again, but he'd reminded me that I had a job to do, that I had to stop feeling sorry for myself and start having some fun again. He'd also showed me my newest Legacy—the power to change shape.
    I wonder if I would have been able to save Reynolds if I'd had this shape-changing Legacy when Lola betrayed us. Late at night, when I can't sleep and Reynolds's final
    moments are flashing through my mind, I imagine how I might have done it. I picture myself turning into a lion and ripping the Mogadorians to shreds. Or becoming a dragon and breathing flames and destruction down on them.
    But these are still only fantasies. Because even now, even though I've had this Legacy for a while and have been practicing as often as I can, I can't become a dragon or a lion. And I don't know what good the ability to become a bunny is going to do against an alien army.
    I've tried—have spent hours in my cave making myself angry, trying to summon a lion's fierceness and strength and pride. It never works. I can only become a small black rabbit.
    * * *
    This morning I wake up and crawl out from under the outcropping of rocks where I have made my home and look up at the sky. Just like always. I know that I can't stay here forever, but I also know that I'm not ready to leave yet. I stretch and yawn and try to be grateful that I'm still alive.
    It's not until I take on my rabbit form to go forage for food that I realize something's different. I can smell it: There's someone nearby. I am not alone on this mountain anymore.
    I should be frightened, but I'm not. Not yet, anyway. I'm mostly curious.
    Without thinking about the danger, I bound through dirt and grass and rocks toward this smell that I don't understand but that I know is out there.
    When a hawk swoops down at me from the sky, my heart begins to pound and I move faster, leaping into a thick green bush where I will be safe from his predatory eye. The hawk screeches in frustration at losing sight of his tasty meal and soars back into the sky. He'll have to find his lunch somewhere else. I hear you can get a mean samosa not too far away.
    I wait a few moments, cautiously sniffing the air, before I creep out again and continue on my path.
    I finally find what I've been seeking near the lake. A man sitting against the rocks with his eyes closed. He's wearing