Beat the Odds
By Megan Atwood
()
About this ebook
The rules: Be the first to complete ten tasks assigned by the Benefactor. Do not ask questions. Do not tell anyone what you're doing. Do not fail.
The consequences: Unknown
Ana has three choices: One, stay with her abusive foster parents and watch her little sister, Izzy, get hurt. Two, expose their abuse and risk being separated from Izzy. Or three, join the Contest, win the prize money, and escape together. No matter what Ana chooses, the odds are against her.
But the Contest may turn out to be the most dangerous option of all.
Megan Atwood
Megan Atwood is a writer and professor with over 45 books published. She lives in New Jersey where she wrangles cats, dreams up ridiculous stories, and thinks of ways to make kids laugh all day.
Read more from Megan Atwood
The Terror of Black Eagle Tavern Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Mothman in the Moonlight Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Terror of Black Eagle Tavern Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5How to Face Paint Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5How to Make Balloon Animals Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Haunting of Apartment 101 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Haunting of Apartment 101 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Raise the Stakes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Watchers of Whitmore Way Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Bridge of Death Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Mayhem on Mohawk Avenue Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOlive Finds Treasure (of the Most Precious Kind) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOlive Becomes Famous (and Hopes She Can Become Un-Famous) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Portal Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLeaping at Shadows Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Cursed Ballet Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTwin Dangers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRevenge of the Kraken Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTwin Dangers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStolen Luck Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMolly Meets Trouble (Whose Real Name Is Jenna) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Last Desserts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMolly Discovers Magic (Then Wants to Un-discover It) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTurn the Tables Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Greenbrier Ghost: A Ghost Convicts Her Killer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOlive Spins a Tale (and It's a Doozy!) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBreak the Code Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAttack of the Deadly Diapers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Beat the Odds
Related ebooks
Beat the Odds Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCoffee Stains Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Other Mothers' Club: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSuch Good People Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Crying for Argentina Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLosing Grace Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHouse of Cleaving Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Blind Faith Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Crushing Season Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thinner Than Thou Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Lioness Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUniversal Love: Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cowboy’s Baby Agreement: Wells Brothers, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeceptions: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Her Perfect Game Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPsychic Science Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Vote For Death: An Urban Gothic Horror Tale Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAdmission: Willow Darby Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFleeing Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAftershock Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDaredevils: Hughes Investigations, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDaredevils Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSolitary Cowboy: Friendly Valley Romance, #5 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHomicide for the Holidays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Chosen: Battlegrounds Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Date With Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bad Blood: Does Your Family Fight Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEmotion: Forced Pair: Fifth And Dent, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFly Paper Soup: David Winter Mysteries, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe SEAL's Secret Daughter Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
YA Action & Adventure For You
Restore Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crooked Kingdom: A Sequel to Six of Crows Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Giver Quartet Omnibus Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chain of Gold Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wee Free Men Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lady Midnight Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daughter of the Siren Queen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Six of Crows Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Bone Witch Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cellar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daughter of the Pirate King Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Renegades Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Toll Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dark Artifices, the Complete Collection: Lady Midnight; Lord of Shadows; Queen of Air and Darkness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rule of Wolves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sabriel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chain of Thorns Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Messenger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Supernova Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Door in the Dark Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dry Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sorcery of Thorns Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5King of Scars Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Stars and Teeth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Is Where It Ends Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Island of the Blue Dolphins: A Newbery Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Son Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crown of Feathers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hero and the Crown Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Beat the Odds
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Beat the Odds - Megan Atwood
CHAPTER 1
In here,
Ana whispered to her little sister. She opened her closet and pushed Izzy through to a clothes nest she’d made in the back. Izzy covered herself in clothes like usual and Ana watched her big eyes disappear under a sweater. She moved out of the closet, closed it, and hooked her backpack straps around both door handles.
Her foster dad stormed into the room, red faced. The smell of alcohol swirled around him. Scotch. Philip Davenport drank only the best. She had to stop herself from wrinkling her nose when his breath hit it.
Ana pretended to be looking for something on her desk.
Where is she?
Philip could make Ana’s huge bedroom feel as small as Izzy’s hiding spot. Already she’d begun shaking, and she had to stop that too. He fed on weakness.
How should I know?
she snapped. It’s not my fault your house is big enough to hide an army.
She and Izzy had been here for almost a year. Put into a seemingly perfect home in the rich part of Minneapolis. The Rivera sisters went to the best schools, had the best clothes. And Ana knew she had to get them out of here.
She wet the bed again. She’s eight years old. She needs to learn a lesson!
Anger coursed through Ana’s veins. With each punishment,
Izzy’s bed-wetting got worse. As if Philip thought hitting Izzy would solve the problem.
Ana knew she should keep quiet, but she couldn’t help herself.
Maybe if you didn’t bully her, she wouldn’t have those problems. Did you ever think of that? That you’re the reason she’s so scared?
Ana could feel the anger radiate off him. He’d gone quiet—way more terrifying than when he was yelling. She knew what came next.
*****
Ana couldn’t find a comfortable position to sit or lie down. So she stood in front of her desk as she booted up her laptop. Her back stung and ached. She could feel the welts through her shirt. It didn’t matter though. What mattered was that the camera had been recording.
Anybody looking at her desk would only see a laptop, a printer, a few school notebooks, and some pens and pencils in a holder. But one of those pens was actually a camera.
For the past couple of months, Ana had been swiping Yvette Davenport’s credit card to order gadgets online—a lock-picking set, a Swiss army knife, even some pepper spray. One good thing about Ana’s foster mother: she never paid attention to her credit card charges.
The pen was Ana’s latest buy. She’d also bought a similar pen that made audio recordings. She’d stashed the audio pen in Izzy’s room and kept the camera here.
The pen’s camera had ten hours of battery life and streamed all its footage to a website. The website Ana was pulling up on her laptop now.
She loved this system. If anyone checked her browser history—or monitored her computer activity in some more high-tech way—this would show up as a website about sloths. The company that made these pens thought of everything. Including control-freak foster parents.
Ana opened the video the pen had recorded. It didn’t take long to edit it down to the events of the last few minutes. Proof. She finally had proof. A thrill shot through her even as the marks on her back burned.
She could expose Philip Davenport for who he really was. Not a respected lawyer at a top firm. Not a person who gave back to the community, donated to charities, served on boards.
A monster.
She popped a jump drive into her laptop, transferred the evidence onto it, and deleted the original recording from the website. Ana knew her foster dad often checked her computer when she went out. There wasn’t much chance he’d find this cleverly disguised website, but Ana was hedging her bets.
The footage would be safer on her secret jump drive.
She put the jump drive into her backpack—the backpack Philip had gotten from one of his clients, Huffmann Industries. She felt like a walking advertisement, carrying the thing around. But she’d refused the fancy brand-name backpack her foster mother, Yvette, had wanted to buy her. So she had to use this instead. At least it wasn’t sequined or made of eel skin. Ana’s foster mother had very expensive, very