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“We’re going to steal his ship right out from under him. We’re going to rescue you.” I say these things out loud, steel in my voice, knowing that Ella can hear me.
I’m sorry. That won’t happen, Ella says telepathically. I can tell by the way her eyes well up with tears that Marina can hear her, too. Sarah covers her mouth and swallows hard, looking at me questioningly.
“Bullshit,” I say.
“Don’t you dare give up hope,” Marina practically yells into the empty space in front of her. “Ella? Do you hear me?”
Ella doesn’t respond. I can still feel her there, almost like a tickle in the back of my mind. I know she’s listening in. She just isn’t answering us anymore.
“I don’t care what she says or how many Mogs we have to go through,” I say, addressing Marina now. “If we do one thing today, we’re getting Ella away from Setrákus Ra. Get hold of her and get her back to Lexa’s ship.”
“Agreed,” Marina says.
“Maybe that’ll work,” Sarah adds, that look of shock gone from her face, replaced by a thoughtful look. Like Marina and me, she isn’t backing down from the threat of death. “I mean, wasn’t there something with your guys’ old Loric charm that broke it when you got together?”
“Yeah,” I reply. “So?”
“So, maybe Setrákus Ra’s messed-up version works in the opposite way,” Sarah explains. “Maybe that’s why he’s been taking Ella with him everywhere he goes. He’s got to keep her close for it to work.”
“Makes sense to me,” Mark says, shrugging. “Not that I’m, like, an authority on this shit.”
It’s definitely a possibility worth testing out, especially since we planned to rescue Ella anyway.
I turn to Adam. The plan was for the two of us to go invisible and board the Anubis while the others provided the distraction. “What do you think? Go for the warship or go for Ella?”
“Your call,” he replies.
“You might have to get right under his nose to get to Ella,” Sarah says.
“Which means he could turn off your invisibility,” Marina adds.
“Shit,” I say, mind racing. “All right. Maybe we can get them separated when we spring our traps. If we see an opportunity, let’s go for Ella. Otherwise, we stick to the plan and take the Anubis.” I point south. “There’s some old stonework that way. If you head south from there, that’s where Lexa hid our ship. If things get bad out here, if the Mogs figure out your position, I want you three to make a break for it.”
“And leave you behind?” Marina asks.
“We’ll be invisible, at least,” I reply, looking between her and Sarah. “Just stay alive. That’s what’s important now.”
Sarah nods grimly and Marina turns away, looking towards the Sanctuary. Even after Ella’s warning, I doubt she has any intention of retreating.
Before I can say anything else, Adam grabs my arm and points towards the landing strip.
“Damn it! Six, we forgot about our friend.”
I look to where Adam points and see Phiri Dun-Ra squirming wildly against her bonds. In our rush to get into position, I completely forgot about our Mogadorian prisoner. Even though she’s hooded, Phiri Dun-Ra must have heard the commotion and knows we’re distracted. She’s going nuts on her restraints, doing anything she can to get loose. We tied her to that wheel strut pretty tightly, so I don’t think she’s going to break free. All the same, it’s probably not a good idea to leave her out there when the Anubis shows up.
“Setrákus Ra will know something’s up if he sees her,” Adam says, reading my mind.
Mark lifts up his blaster and looks down the sights, the barrel aimed in Phiri Dun-Ra’s direction. “Want me to take her out? I think I can make the shot.”
Marina puts a hand on his blaster and makes him lower it. “If we wanted to execute her, Mark, don’t you think we would’ve done it already?”
Adam gives me a look, like maybe it’s not a bad idea to finally put Phiri Dun-Ra out of our misery. He’s wanted to kill her all day, though. And I can understand why.
“Should’ve stuck her in the pit,” Sarah says regretfully.
“We have to get her out of sight,” I say.
I reach out with my telekinesis and undo Phiri Dun-Ra’s bonds. It takes me a few seconds—like Marina firing off the hidden blasters, such a precise task is not easy to accomplish at this distance. Phiri Dun-Ra must think she’s done this on her own. She rips off her hood and gag, then springs to her feet, stumbling, surprised to have the ropes suddenly give way. The trueborn rubs her wrists for a moment, looks around and then takes off running towards the jungle opposite of us. She’s headed right towards where we’ve hidden some of the Mog blasters.
“Six?” Marina asks, a note of warning in her voice. “Do you know what you’re doing?”
I do. Before Phiri Dun-Ra can make it far, I use the ropes we’d tied her up with to telekinetically lasso her feet. She falls forward hard, pretty much landing on her face. Then, I drag her towards us, dust and dirt scrabbled up as she claws at the ground and tries to escape. Her frustrated screams are loud enough to scare up some birds from the nearby trees.
“We need to shut her up,” Adam says.
“Marina, reel her in,” I reply.
As Marina takes over the telekinesis, I focus on the clouds rolling in on the evening sky. I don’t want to create a full-fledged storm—not with the Anubis and Setrákus Ra so close. Luckily, I don’t need one. There’s a dark cloud up there with just enough charge to generate a small lightning bolt. I send this arcing down into Phiri Dun-Ra, zapping her good. I guess there’s a chance this could kill her, but I don’t really have time to worry about that. The Mog spasms as the electricity shoots through her, then stops struggling against Marina’s telekinesis. She doesn’t disintegrate, so I guess she’s still alive.
When Marina’s dragged Phiri Dun-Ra over to the tree line, Adam grabs her under the arms and pulls her the rest of the way. He shoves her behind the log we’re hiding behind and begins retying her wrists and ankles.
“So, you guys are taking prisoners now?” Mark asks.
“She might come in handy,” I reply, shrugging.
“We can’t keep dragging her around,” Adam says as he finishes tightening the knots.
“We’ll leave her here. She mentioned loving the jungle, right?” I say, with a smile on my face. We’ve got bigger things to worry about than the fate of Phiri Dun-Ra.
“Let’s not jinx our chance at survival by making lots of plans,” Mark says.
Before anyone can reply, the jungle around us gets strangely quiet. I’d gotten so used to the incessant squawking of tropical birds that it’s absolutely jarring when it’s gone. Even the bug noises taper off. Across the clearing that the Mogs made around the Sanctuary, to the north, a whole flock of birds flies out from the trees and scatters.
The Anubis is here.
I hold out my hands and arms. “Grab on,” I tell everyone. “I’ll keep us all invisible until we’re ready to attack.”
Marina takes one of my hands and Sarah takes the other. Mark, detonator at the ready, gets hold of my shoulder. Adam is last. He gives me a nod, probably remembering when I told him how strange it was to hold hands with a Mogadorian. Until this is over, the two of us will be attached at the hip. I nod back, over it, and he squeezes in next to Marina, his hand on my upper arm. Only Bernie Kosar doesn’t get close to me. Instead, our Chimæra transforms into a toucan and flies into a nearby tree.
It’s sort of funny, the five of us crowded together like this. It almost looks like we’re posing for a picture.
I turn us invisible just as the Anubis glides into view. The warship is bigger than I even imagined. The whole ship is made from overlapping panels of a metallic gray alloy that almost look like scales. It’s shaped like one of those Egyptian bugs—a scarab—except with a whole ton of guns, the massive cannon jutting off the front of its hull particularly catching my eye.
“God,”
Sarah whispers.
“Holy shit,” Mark says, a little louder. His hand tightens on my shoulder. As the Anubis lumbers closer, the entire clearing and the Sanctuary itself are stuck in its shadow.
“Easy now,” I say, trying to keep from freaking out myself. “Stay still and stay close. They can’t see us.”
The enormous ship comes to a stop so that it’s hovering above the Mog encampment. Even considering the large swath of jungle the Mogs cleared, the warship is so big that it won’t have room to land.
Adam must realize that the Anubis hovering above the battlefield kind of screws up our plans. “We’re going to need to find a way up there.”
“If he lands any ground troops, we can pick them off and fly their own Skimmers back up there,” I reply. It’s exactly the tactic John and the absent U.S. military want to employ against the Mog warships, so who better than us to be the guinea pigs.
“What’s he doing?” Sarah wonders. “What are they waiting for?”
Ella stopped telepathically broadcasting to us a few minutes ago, and now I’m wondering if it’s just my imagination that I can still feel her presence lingering in the back of my mind. If she’s still there, though, if she can hear me, we could definitely use the help.
“Ella?” I ask, feeling stupid saying her name out loud like this. “Can you hear me? What’s going on up there?”
There’s no response.
“Marina? Sarah? Is she . . . ?”
“Nothing, Six,” Sarah answers, one disembodied voice talking about another.
“I think she’s gone,” Marina adds.
