Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds Read online

  A third way out. A way to internalize the aspects, yet let them still live on? A way to be at peace with the voices, to give them an outlet other than to scream at me, ignored?

  “I am an expert,” Jenny said softly, “in them. In you. The sum expertise of a decade of living with them, and with this incredible, insane brain of yours.” She proffered the notepad again. “Let them live again.”

  I took it, hesitantly. “It won’t be the same.”

  “Make it the same.”

  “It won’t be real.”

  “Make it real.”

  She faded. Leaving the notepad in my hand, filled with notes. Stories, lives. I didn’t feel the sensation of ripping loss. The information was still there in my head. Her knowledge. My knowledge.

  I looked at the glowing computer monitor. This won’t work, I thought. This can’t work.

  … Can it?

  I sat with the notepad under my hand, but I didn’t need it. I just needed to know it was there. So I started typing.

  My name is Stephen Leeds, I wrote, and I am perfectly sane. My hallucinations, however, are all quite mad.

  I wrote for hours. Word after word after word. Somewhere near dawn, I saw a shadow reflected in the computer screen. When I turned, nobody was there, but when I looked back at the screen it was like I could see him behind me. I almost—but not quite—felt a hand rest on my shoulder. I didn’t look away from the computer, but reached up, and touched the hand with mine. The hand of a man weathered with age.

  Well done, Stephen, a familiar voice—not completely real—said in my mind. Well done! Why don’t you write about Ivy and J.C. going to Paris together? She’s always wanted to go. Something will go wrong, of course. A diamond heist perhaps? The Regent Diamond is there, on display at the Louvre. It’s said to be the clearest diamond in all the world.…

  I smiled. Sandra was wrong. It wasn’t about containing them. It was about letting them free.

  I hurriedly continued typing. My adventures are done. Finally, thankfully.

  But my hallucinations … well, they’re always getting into trouble.

  by Brandon Sanderson

  THE STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE

  The Way of Kings

  Words of Radiance

  Oathbringer

  THE MISTBORN SAGA THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY

  Mistborn

  The Well of Ascension

  The Hero of Ages

  THE WAX AND WAYNE SERIES

  The Alloy of Law

  Shadows of Self

  The Bands of Mourning

  Elantris

  Warbreaker

  Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection

  ALCATRAZ VS. THE EVIL LIBRARIANS

  Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians

  The Scrivener’s Bones

  The Knights of Crystallia

  The Shattered Lens

  The Dark Talent

  THE RECKONERS

  Steelheart

  Firefight

  Calamity

  Skyward

  The Rithmatist

  Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds

  About the Author

  Brandon Sanderson grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska. He lives in Utah with his wife and children and teaches creative writing at Brigham Young University. He is the author of such bestsellers as the Mistborn® trilogy and its sequels, The Alloy of Law, Shadows of Self, and The Bands of Mourning; the Stormlight Archive novels, The Way of Kings, Words of Radiance, and Oathbringer; and other novels, including The Rithmatist and Steelheart. In 2013, he won a Hugo Award for The Emperor’s Soul, a novella set in the world of his acclaimed first novel, Elantris. Additionally, he was chosen to complete Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time® sequence. For behind-the-scenes information on all his books, visit brandonsanderson.com, or sign up for email updates here.

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  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  Preface

  Acknowledgments

  Legion

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Legion: Skin Deep

  Part One

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Part Two

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Part Three

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Epilogue

  Lies of the Beholder

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Epilogue

  Also by Brandon Sanderson

  About the Author

  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in these novellas are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  LEGION: THE MANY LIVES OF STEPHEN LEEDS

  Copyright © 2018 by Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC

  “Legion” © 2012 by Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC

  First published in 2012 by Subterranean Press

  “Legion: Skin Deep” © 2014 by Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC

  First published in 2014 by Subterranean Press

  “Lies of the Beholder” © 2018 by Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC

  Brandon Sanderson® is a registered trademark of Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC

  All rights reserved.

  A Tor Book

  Published by Tom Doherty Associates

  175 Fifth Avenue

  New York, NY 10010

  www.tor-forge.com

  Tor® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.

  The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

  ISBN 978-1-250-29779-2 (hardcover)

  ISBN 978-1-250-31686-8 (international, sold outside the U.S., subject to rights availability)

  ISBN 978-1-250-20560-5 (signed edition)

  ISBN 978-1-250-29780-8 (ebook)

  eISBN 9781250297808

  Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at [email protected].

  First Edition: September 2018

 

 

 
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