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“You guys okay?” Henri asks.
“Yes,” I say.
“Aside from the dagger in my arm, yes, I’m fine,” Six says.
I turn my lights on dimly and look at her arm. She wasn’t kidding. Where the biceps meets the shoulder a small dagger is sticking out. That was why I heard her gasp before she killed the scout. It had thrown a knife at her. Henri reaches up and pulls it free. She grunts.
“Thankfully it’s just a dagger,” she says, looking at me. “The soldiers will have swords that glow with different sorts of powers. ”
I mean to ask what kind of powers, but Henri interrupts.
“Take this,” he says, and holds the shotgun out for Mark to take. He accepts it in his free hand without protest, staring in awe at everything he is witnessing around him. I wonder how much Henri has told him. I wonder why Henri brought him along in the first place. I look back at Six. Henri presses a rag to her arm and she holds it in place. He steps over and lifts the Chest and sets it on the nearest table.
“Here, John,” he says.
Without explanation I help him unlock it. He throws the top open, reaches in, removes a flat rock every bit as dark as the aura surrounding the Mogadorians. Six seems to know what the rock is for. She takes her shirt off. Beneath it she is wearing a black and gray rubber suit very similar to the silver and blue suit I saw my father wear in my flashbacks. She takes a deep breath, offers Henri her arm. Henri thrusts the rock against the gash, and Six, with her teeth clenched tightly, grunts and writhes in pain. Sweat beads across her forehead, her face bright red under the strain, tendons standing out on her neck. Henri holds it there for nearly a full minute. He pulls the stone away and Six bends over at the waist, taking deep breaths to compose herself. I look at her arm. Aside from a bit of blood still glistening, the cut is completely healed, no scars, nothing aside from the small tear in the suit.
“What is that?” I ask, nodding to the rock.
“It’s a healing stone,” says Henri.
“Stuff like that really exists?”
“On Lorien it does, but the pain of healing is double that of the original pain caused by whatever has happened, and the stone only works when the injury was done with the intent to harm or kill. And the healing stone has to be used right away. ”
“Intent?” I ask. “So, the stone wouldn’t work if I tripped and cut my head by accident?”
“No,” Henri says. “That’s the whole point of Legacies. Defense and purity. ”
“Would it work on Mark or Sarah?”
“I have no idea,” Henri says. “And I hope we don’t have to find out. ”
Six catches her breath. She stands straight, feeling her arm. The red in her face begins to fade. Behind her, Bernie Kosar is running back and forth from the blocked door to the windows, which are placed too high off the ground for him to see out of, but he stands on his hind legs and tries anyway, growling at what he feels is out there. Maybe nothing, I think. Occasionally he bites at the air.
“Did you get my phone today when you were at the school?” I ask Henri.
“No,” he says. “I didn’t grab anything. ”
“It wasn’t there when I went back. ”
“Well, it wouldn’t work here anyway. They’ve done something to our house and the school. The power is off, and no signals penetrate whatever sort of shield they’ve set up. All the clocks have stopped. Even the air seems dead. ”
“We don’t have much time,” Six interrupts.
Henri nods. A slight grin appears while he looks at her, a look of pride, maybe even relief.
“I remember you,” he says.
“I remember you, too. ”
Henri reaches out his hand and Six shakes it. “It’s shit good to see you again. ”
“Damn good,” I correct him, but he ignores me.
“I’ve been looking for you guys for a while,” Six says.
“Where is Katarina?” Henri asks.
Six shakes her head. A mournful look crosses her face.
“She didn’t make it. She died three years ago. I’ve been looking for the others since, you guys included. ”
“I’m sorry,” Henri says.
Six nods. She looks across the room at Bernie Kosar, who has just begun to growl ferociously. He seems to have grown tall enough so that his head is able to peek out the bottom of the window. Henri picks the shotgun up off the floor and walks to within five feet of the window.
“John, turn your lights off,” he says. I comply. “Now, on my word, pull the blinds. ”
I walk to the side of the window and wrap the cord twice around my hand. I nod to Henri, and over his shoulder I see that Sarah has placed her palms against her ears in anticipation of the blast. He cocks the shotgun and aims it.
“It’s payback time,” he says, then, “Now!”
I pull the cord and the blind flies up. Henri fires the shotgun. The sound is deafening, echoing in my ears for seconds after. He cocks the gun again, keeps it aimed. I twist my body to look out. Two fallen scouts are lying in the grass, unmoving. One of them is reduced to ash with the same hollow thud as the one in the hallway. Henri shoots the other a second time and it does the same. Shadows seem to swarm around them.
