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I want to scream. Before I can, Ella turns her head and locks eyes with me.
“John,” she says, her voice totally calm despite the gruesome surgery being performed on her. “Get up. We don’t have much time.”
CHAPTER
FIVE
“WE CAN DO THIS, BUT FIRST YOU NEED TO understand how Phiri Dun-Ra thinks,” Adam whispers.
“You are the expert on Mog psychology,” I reply, watching as Adam uses a broken branch to draw a square in the dirt. “Enlighten us.”
The three of us crouch next to our lifeless Skimmer on the dirt strip the Mogs were using as a runway. It’s dark now, but the Mogs had plenty of handheld electric lanterns on hand to illuminate their round-the-clock attempts to break into the Sanctuary. I guess Phiri didn’t have the foresight to steal all the batteries, so at least we’ve got light. There are also some huge floodlights positioned around the temple’s perimeter, but we’ve left those off. No need to make spying on us any easier for her.
The jungle around us seems louder now that the sun’s gone down, the chirping of tropical birds replaced by the shrill buzzing of billions of mosquitos. I slap the back of my neck as one of them tries to bite me.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that she’s out there right now, watching us,” Adam says. “Every Mog warrior of her class is trained in surveillance.”
“Yeah, we know,” I reply, glancing out into the darkness. “You guys have been stalking us all our lives, remember?”
Adam continues, ignoring me. “She’s probably capable of going at least three days with no sleep. And she won’t remain in one place, she’ll stay mobile. There won’t be a campsite to find or anything like that. If we go in there after her, she’ll move, stay ahead of us. She’s got a lot of jungle to hide in. That said, it’ll be her instinct to stay close. She’ll want to keep tabs on us.”
Marina frowns at Adam, watching as he draws some squiggly lines in the dirt around his square. I realize that he’s drawing Sanctuary and the surrounding jungle.
“So we have to draw her out,” Marina says.
“You know a good way to do that?” I ask Adam.
“We give her something no Mog can resist,” Adam replies, and he draws an “M” in the western part of the jungle. Then, he gives Marina a pointed look. “A vulnerable Garde.”
Immediately, I feel the air around us get a little colder. Marina leans forward, getting close to Adam, her eyes narrowed threateningly.
“Do I seem vulnerable to you, Adam?”
“Of course not. We just want you to appear that way.”
“A trap,” I say, trying to mediate. “Marina, chill out.”
Marina gives me a look, but I feel her icy aura dissipate.
“So,” Adam continues, “first, we split up.”
“Split up?” Marina repeats. “You’re kidding.”
“That’s always the worst idea,” I say.
“We can just go out there and hunt her down,” Marina says. “Six can make us invisible. She won’t have a chance.”
“That could take all night,” Adam says. “Maybe longer.”
“And it’s not exactly easy moving through a dark-ass jungle,” I remind Marina, thinking back to our journey through the Everglades.
“We split up because it’s a dumb move,” Adam explains. “We make it look like we’re trying to find her, like we’re trying to cover more ground. Phiri Dun-Ra will see it as an opportunity . . .”
Adam draws three lines moving away from the temple, fanning out into the jungle.
“Six, you’ll go east, I’ll go south and, Marina, you’ll go west.” Adam looks at me. “When you get two hundred paces into the jungle, Six, you turn invisible. She won’t be watching you at that point.”
“What makes you think she won’t attack me?” I ask. “I can be vulnerable.”
Marina snorts.
Adam shakes his head. “She’ll go after our healer first. I know it.”
“Because it’s what you would do?” Marina asks.
Adam meets her eyes. “Yeah.”
Marina and I exchange a look. At least Adam’s being straight up about how he’d hunt us down. I’m glad he’s on our side.
“I guess it makes sense,” Marina says, examining the drawings in the dirt. Suddenly, she looks back up at Adam. “Wait. You’re saying the Mogs know I’m a healer?”
“Of course,” he replies. “Any Legacies they’ve observed in the field have become part of your dossiers. And all Mogs study those. It’s like their second-favorite leisure activity after the Great Book.”
“Fun,” I say.
Marina considers this. “They wouldn’t know about my night vision. It’s not something they could observe.”
Adam looks up from his battle plan. “You have night vision?”
Marina nods. “If you’re right and Phiri does attack me, I might actually see her coming first.”
“Huh,” Adam replies. “Well, that’s a bonus.”
“So what do I do after I turn invisible?” I ask.
“You find me, we go invisible, and then we double back and follow Marina. Back her up for when Phiri Dun-Ra attacks.”
“And if she attacks me before you guys get there?” Marina asks.
Adam smirks. “I guess try not to kill her until you’ve gotten back the conduits.”
“Do you think she’s going to just hand them over?” Marina asks, cocking her head at Adam.
“Hopefully, she’s carrying them on her,” he replies.
“And if she’s not?”
“I . . .” Adam looks fro
m Marina to me, trying to gauge our reactions. “There are ways to make people talk. Even Mogadorians.”
“We don’t torture,” Marina says emphatically. Even after everything she’s been through, even after losing Eight—she’s still the moral compass. She looks over at me for support. “Right, Six?”
“We’ll figure it out,” I reply, not wanting to take a position at the moment. “First things first. Let’s get the bitch.”
The three of us make a big show of separating, each of us carrying one of the electric lanterns into the forbidding jungle. As I duck through the thick vines and clawlike branches in the dense brush, I focus my hearing as much as possible. I’m hoping maybe I’ll stumble upon Phiri, shorten this whole plan Adam hatched, but no such luck. I’m only successful in amplifying the ceaseless sounds of the jungle. On my left, something dark and furry shrieks out a warning as I move through its territory. There’s so much movement and noise out here—Adam was right, it’d be next to impossible to track Phiri Dun-Ra.
I push aside a branch with more force than necessary. It snaps back and slaps my shoulder. I grit my teeth and wonder if I could just call a hurricane down on this whole stupid jungle and pick up Phiri Dun-Ra.
One Mog. We’re out here chasing one stupid Mog. This must be exactly what Phiri Dun-Ra wanted, to take us out of the game while who the hell knows what happens back in New York. A full-scale invasion could be under way. I imagine John and Nine trying to fight off hordes of Mogadorians, Sam running for his life, the entire world engulfed in flames.
Yeah. We need to hurry this up.
Before splitting up and heading into the jungle, we turned on the large halogen work lights around the Sanctuary’s perimeter so we’d be able to find our way back. Once I’ve gone far enough that I can barely see the lights through the trees, I turn invisible. Just in case Phiri Dun-Ra is watching me instead of Marina, I use my telekinesis to float my lantern ahead of me. I wait a few seconds to see if any shadowy forms detach from the surrounding jungle to pursue my ghostly lantern and, when none do, I hook the lantern to a low-hanging branch and leave it behind.
I’m comfortable with my own invisibility, having developed a good sense of spatial awareness after years of practice. Still, it isn’t easy navigating without my light. At least I’ve got some experience from back in Florida. I take it slow, glancing often at muddy ground in front of me, ducking low to go under branches. At one point, I have to carefully step over a striped rattlesnake, the thing not even shifting as I pass by.
