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Both of us fall silent, sitting next to each other on one of the infirmary’s stiff cots. Marina leans against me and holds my hand. Both of us stare down at the speckled-tile floor.
After a little while, Marina begins to speak softly. “After Eight was killed, I was so angry. It wasn’t just the way it happened. It wasn’t just that I was falling in love with him. It was . . . we’ve all lost people before, you know? But with Eight, he was—he was the first person I imagined a future with. Does that make sense? Growing up in the monastery, with Adelina avoiding my training, denying the war—it was like knowing a disaster was coming and taking no precautions. Like doom was always right around the corner, just a few more scars to go before they’d come for me. I prayed with the sisters, heard them talk about heaven like the humans believe, but I never dared imagine myself in that world. I never imagined an after . . . an after anything. Not until I met Eight. I could imagine what might happen next when I was with him. And the present, that got better, too. When Five killed him, all that got taken away. I felt . . . I still feel . . . cheated, I guess. Robbed.”
I nod along with Marina’s words. “I met Sarah right after the third scar, when I was next. Marked for death. It should’ve been the worst time of my life, but somehow, meeting her, she made it all better. My Cêpan, Henri, he thought I was nuts. I think he understood eventually, though. She gave me something to fight for. Kinda like what you said, it felt like there was finally something beyond just surviving for the sake of more surviving. And now . . .”
“And now,” Marina repeats, her voice sad and thoughtful. “Now what do we do?”
“Nothing left to do but finish this,” I say, feeling my muscles tighten at the words. Marina doesn’t loosen her grip on my hand.
“At the Sanctuary, before Setrákus Ra destroyed it, the Loric Entity let me speak with Eight,” Marina says. I give her a stunned look. I didn’t know something like that was even possible. She smiles sadly in response. “It was so brief, just a few seconds. But it was really him, John. It gave me faith that there could be something more. It isn’t all darkness and death.”
I turn away from her. I know she’s trying to give me hope. I’m just not ready for that yet. The only thing I want is revenge.
“Afterwards, I felt such a sense of peace. My anger was gone.” Marina chuckles harshly, as if remembering what happened a few minutes ago, how she nearly took Five’s remaining eye out. “Obviously, it didn’t last. I’ve tried—I’ve always tried—to live honorably, righteously, the way the Elders would want. In the face of everything that’s happened, I’ve tried to hold on to myself. Yet all it takes is seeing Five in the hallway to bring out the worst in me, to make the rage come back.”
“Maybe that’s not your worst self,” I tell Marina. “Maybe that’s just who we need to be right now.”
“And who will we be after, John?”
“After doesn’t matter anymore,” I tell her. “We’ve already lost so much. If we don’t win, if we don’t stop Setrákus Ra, then what was it all for?”
I realize that Marina’s hand has begun to emanate a painful cold. Instead of jerking my hand away, I let my Lumen turn on. I push heat back at her.
“Without Sarah, I don’t care about what happens to me,” I continue. “I just want to destroy them, destroy Setrákus Ra, once and for all. That’s all that matters anymore.”
Marina nods. She doesn’t judge me for these words. I think she understands. She knows what it’s like to want to throw yourself forwards, maintain momentum to keep from breaking down.
“I only hope there’s something left of the people we were, something left of us to rebuild, when it’s all over,” Marina says quietly.
“I hope so too,” I admit.
“Good,” she replies. “Now, let’s get started.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
LEXA KEEPS THE FLIGHT BACK FROM NIAGARA Falls low and cautious. We don’t want to ping on any Mogadorian radar if they’re sending more ships into the area. I stand beside her in the cockpit, the waterfall battleground receding behind us.
Adam’s voice comes in clear and excited over the comm.
“I’ve got a lot of chatter from the warship in Chicago. They’re missing some Skimmers they sent to Niagara Falls. And that other ship from Toronto is on its way there; you’re getting out just ahead of it,” Adam reports. “The trueborn in command is worried that his Skimmers haven’t checked in. I assume that’s you guys’ doing, right?”
I chuckle. “Not us. The newbies.”
“Oh, good for them,” Adam replies, his surprise audible.
“Crushing a crew of Mogs is like initiation,” I say casually. Lexa glances up at this, a tight frown on her face. I look away from her.
“Probably helped that the vatborn had orders to take them alive,” Adam adds.
“Really?”
“Yeah. I guess the commander wanted to make a gift of them to Setrákus Ra.”
I roll my eyes. “Well, he screwed up.”
“Anyway,” Adam continues, “this commander, now he’s requesting permission to divert from his position in Chicago, especially since the bombardment orders haven’t come in like promised. He wants to lock down the Loralite stone at Niagara Falls in case more Garde teleport through.”
I grimace. That’s exactly what Ella was worried about.
“They won’t find anything,” I tell Adam. “We took care of the stone.”
Back at Niagara Falls, while Sam and Daniela helped the four new Garde onto the ship, I walked over to where Ella was having a weird little commune with the outcropping of cobalt-blue rock. She had her arms wrapped around the smooth stone, her cheek pressed against its side. It throbbed with Loric energy, and for a moment I was worried that she might be about to teleport away. Or do something even weirder.
“Ella, you ready to go . . . ?” I asked softly, not wanting to disturb her.
She didn’t respond right away. The Loralite stone flickered brightly for a moment, suddenly transparent, veins of electric energy visible inside. Then, a moment later, the stone faded, the cobalt blue seeped away and it looked dull, like any number of rocks jutting out around the falls. Ella turned around, frowned and dusted off her hands.
“Ready,” she said to me.
I didn’t move. Instead, I pointed at the stone. “What did you just do?”
“I turned it off,” she replied. “Don’t want anybody teleporting here if the Mogadorians know about it.”
I looked from the stone to Ella. “You can do that? Control them?”
“Didn’t know until I tried,” Ella replied, her eyes literally aglow. “Since the Sanctuary, since I . . . fell into the energy, I’ve felt connected.”
“Connected to what? Lorien?”
“That, yes. And Earth. Everything. It’s fading, though. Whatever Legacy did to me, I don’t think the effects are going to last.” Ella started walking towards the ship. “Come on. I need to go have a very unpleasant conversation with John.”
I nodded like I understood what Ella was talking about. I decided it was in all our best interests just to let Ella do her thing. She’d been through a lot, seen more than I could imagine. Let her handle the mystical. I’d handle the dirty work.
“Six, you there?”
Adam’s impatient voice comes over the radio. I’d spaced out, thinking about Ella and her effect on the Loralite. From her seat behind the controls, Lexa peers up at me with a raised eyebrow.
“Yeah, sorry, I’m here,” I reply. “What’s the response been from the Mogs? They going to move that warship?”
“They don’t know what the hell they’re doing. With Setrákus Ra out of commission, they’re all just yelling at each other. Some think Setrákus Ra would appreciate the commander’s decision to pursue Garde; others think he’s mad to question Beloved Leader’s orders to stay put. You really messed up their whole operation, Six.”
I’d be lying to myself if I didn’t feel a bit of pride at Adam’s words. Still,
a nagging voice in the back of my mind knows that it wasn’t good enough. Eventually, Setrákus Ra will rise, and this temporary advantage will be gone.
“Their entire chain of command is starting to unravel,” Adam continues, energized. “I mean, there’s no page in the Great Book that tells the Mogs what to do if their immortal Leader suddenly vanishes. John and I think we should seriously be exploiting this before Setrákus Ra wakes up and reasserts control.”
“You have ideas?”
“I think so.” Adam pauses. “They might be a little dangerous, though.”
“What isn’t dangerous?” I reply.
When Adam’s off the comm, Lexa catches my eye. I can tell that she’s got something to say, so I linger in the cockpit.
“Those kids we picked up . . . ,” she says quietly.
“Yeah?”
“They seem ready to you?”
“Were the nine of us ready when we boarded this ship?” I reply.
Lexa gives me a look. I stare back, and she eventually turns to the front window, letting the matter drop. I leave her side and open the door to the passenger area, lean against the frame and observe our new arrivals.
There’s Fleur, her blond hair pulled back and damp with sweat and river water. I get why Nine was panting like a cartoon dog when he saw her in the video. She’s beautiful. Except now there are blaster burns up and down her arms, on her shoulders, the side of her neck—charred skin, blisters, bubbles of flesh. She shivers as Daniela carefully presses a cold compress to her wounds.
