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Setrákus Ra’s face actually lights up, even though there’s a sword pressed right against that purple scar of his. He laughs. “Adamus Sutekh,” he exclaims. “I was hoping we’d have a chance to meet.”
“Shut up,” Adam warns. “Do what I said.”
“Turn off the machine?” Setrákus Ra smiles. He finishes standing up. Adam has to stretch to keep the blade close to his throat. “But it’s my greatest achievement. I’ve tapped into Lorien itself and bent it to my will. No longer shall we be bound by the arbitrary chains of fate. We can forge our own Legacies. You of all people should appreciate that.”
“Stop talking.”
“You shouldn’t be threatening me, boy. You should be thanking me,” Setrákus Ra continues, brushing dirt off his armored legs. “That Legacy you used to such great effect was given to you as a result of my research, you understand? The machine Dr. Anu plugged you into was powered by pure Loralite, the leftovers of what I mined on Lorien so long ago. With the body of a Garde that carried a lingering spark of Lorien herself, well . . . the transfer was made possible. You are the glorious result of my science, Adamus Sutekh. Of my control over Lorien. And today, you can help me to pave the way for others like you.”
“No,” Adam says, his voice nearly inaudible above the roaring energy being pumped upwards into the Anubis.
“No what?” Setrákus Ra asks. “What did you think, boy? That your Legacies came from somewhere else? That this mindless flow of nature chose you? It was science, Adamus. Science, me and your father. We chose you.”
“My father is dead!” Adam shouts, jabbing the sword harder into Setrákus Ra’s neck. Next to me, Ella gasps. A bead of blood forms on her throat.
“Adam! Be careful!” I yell, taking a step towards him. Marina is on her feet too, glancing uncertainly between the energy pipeline and the two Mogadorians. They ignore us both.
“Hmm,” Setrákus Ra replies. “I hadn’t heard—”
“I killed him,” Adam continues, yelling. “With this sword! Like I’ll kill you!”
For a moment, Setrákus Ra seems genuinely taken aback. Then, he reaches up and takes hold of Adam’s blade.
“You know what will happen if you try,” Setrákus Ra says, and in demonstration he grips the blade tightly. I spin around to see Ella’s body clench from the pain as a large gash opens up across her palm, blood dribbling into the dirt. She staggers forward a few steps towards the well, holding herself.
“I don’t care. All my life, I was trained to kill them,” Adam says through gritted teeth.
“And you could never do it, could you?” Setrákus Ra replies, laughing at Adam’s bluff. “I read your father’s reports, boy. I know all about you.”
Still holding the sword in one hand, Setrákus Ra steps closer to Adam, towering over the younger Mog. Adam’s whole body shakes, but I’m not sure if it’s in rage or fear. I inch closer to them, even though I don’t know what to do. If Adam swings that sword, will I stop him? Marina draws closer too, her eyes wide. Behind me, I hear Ella’s feet shuffling. In her trance state, she’s stumbled closer to the Loric well and the surging pillar of energy.
“Ella!” I hiss. “Stay put!”
“I never wanted to kill for you because I never believed your bullshit!” Adam cries out. “But if doing this means ending you—” Adam’s eyes dart briefly towards Ella. I see it happen—his eyes go steely with resolve. He’s not bluffing, not anymore. “I can live with it,” he says, coldly. “I can live with it if you die, too.”
It all happens so fast. Adam thrusts the blade through Setrákus Ra’s grip, the edge slicing harmlessly across his palm, the point aimed for his throat. Setrákus Ra looks surprised, but he reacts quickly—he’s fast, faster than Adam expected. Setrákus Ra ducks to the left, the blade grinding against the side of his neck, not doing any damage. At least not to him.
I whip my head around to see the cut form on the side of Ella’s neck. Blood spills down her shoulder and her body heaves, but she doesn’t cry out. In fact, she doesn’t even seem to notice. She’s totally focused on the energy current, her small feet pigeon-toed as they shuffle a little closer.
Before Adam can bring his sword around for another strike, Setrákus Ra smashes his fist into Adam’s face. Setrákus Ra is wearing armored gloves and I can hear bones in Adam’s face crunch from the impact. He drops the sword and staggers backwards. Setrákus Ra is about to hit him again when Marina charges in and tackles him out of the way.
With them both on the ground, I’ve got no choice but to step forward and put myself between them and Setrákus Ra. As I draw close, Setrákus Ra picks up Adam’s sword, swinging it in a lazy arc at his side. He smiles at me.
“Hello, Six,” he says, and cuts the air in front of him with the blade. “Are you ready for this all to be over?”
I don’t respond. Talking just gives him an advantage, lets him get in our heads. Instead, I yell over my shoulder to Marina.
“Fall back!” I tell her. “Get back far enough to heal him!”
Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Marina holding Adam. He’s knocked out, and I’m not even sure Marina wants to heal him after the stunt he just pulled. She definitely doesn’t want to leave me behind, or retreat while Setrákus Ra’s machine is still running.
“Go! I’ve got this!” I insist, staring down Setrákus Ra, dancing on the balls of my feet. I just have to stall him, stay alive, until—until what? How are we getting out of this one?
Ella was right. Staying meant death.
Setrákus Ra’s smile doesn’t fade. He knows we’re up against the wall. He lunges at me, slashing towards my midsection. I leap back and feel the tip of the blade pass right in front of my abdomen. The rocky ground beneath my feet shifts and I almost stumble over.
Behind me, Marina’s managed to drag Adam to where the crater starts going uphill. She stops there and shouts. “Ella! What—!”
Both Setrákus Ra and I turn towards the well, where Ella has climbed up onto the stone rim. She’s just inc
hes from the raging wave of Loric energy. Her hair flies out in every direction, almost like a halo. Electric sparks pop all around her, and the dark blood on her neck turns a shade of purple in the vivid blue light. The skin on her face and hands ripples like she’s in a wind tunnel, and small debris buffets her. She ignores it all.
Immediately, Setrákus Ra forgets all about me. He takes a halting step towards Ella. “Get down from there!” he bellows. “What are you . . . ?!”
Ella turns in our direction, her eyes on Setrákus Ra. They aren’t spaced out anymore. For a moment, I can see the old Ella in there. The shy girl we first met in Spain who blossomed into a brave fighter. Her voice is small, yet somehow amplified by the torrent of energy behind her.
“You don’t get to win, Grandfather,” she says. “Good-bye.”
And then Ella falls backwards into the Loric energy.
Setrákus Ra screams and races forward, but he’s too late. There’s an almost blinding flash of light. Ella’s body, basically a silhouette at this point, hovers in midair, caught between the Loric well and Setrákus Ra’s machine. For a moment, her body twists and contorts, arching painfully. Then, a surge of energy flows up from the well, too much for Setrákus Ra’s machine to handle. The circuits on its side explode in showers of sparks and the Loralite carvings melt in a searing burst of white-hot heat. Meanwhile, Ella’s body seems to disintegrate—I can still see it there, caught up in the energy, but I can also see through it, like every particle in her body has come apart at once.
A moment later, Ella’s body is spit out of the energy flow. She’s thrown like a smoking rag doll to the side of the crater. Then, the glow from the Loric energy dissipates and retreats back underground, while Setrákus Ra’s pipeline makes a metallic creaking noise and falls apart, twisted hunks of metal burying the Loric well.
