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We enter the docking bay. Lexa stands next to her ship, the Loric vessel sticking out like a sore thumb among all these Mogadorian Skimmers.
“Need a ride back down?” Lexa asks, seeming eager to get off the warship.
“That’s okay. I’ve got it.”
I pick up Ella around the waist, and we fly through the reopened docking bay blast doors, into the blue sky. My body aches from the exertion, but I’m not wasting even the seconds it would take for Lexa to power up the ship.
It’s a short journey back towards the falls and dormant Loralite stone. Down below, I catch glimpses of Skimmer wreckage, the result of our turning the Mogs’ own guns against them. I can also see the bulk of our Canadian friends, now securing a perimeter around the Loralite stone.
“You’re getting good at this,” Ella says as I set us down.
“Yeah, thanks.”
The nearby soldiers gape at us. Still not used to seeing people flying around, I guess. As we walk towards the Loralite stone, Ella turns to me.
“You’re going to go after Setrákus Ra soon, right?”
I nod.
“You’ll need my Dreynen,” she says.
“I know.”
“Honestly, I’m surprised you haven’t tried learning it already.”
I look up at the warship hovering above us. “I needed the other Legacies first. Needed to make sure I had the power to push through Setrákus Ra’s guards and get to him. Dreynen’s only got one use.” Like all the Legacies I’ve observed, I think I can feel the Dreynen lurking inside me. A negativity, a vacuum, a cold absence. In truth, I haven’t wanted to try it out. It feels wrong.
As if reading my mind, Ella gives me a grim look. “When I was prisoner on the Anubis, Setrákus Ra made me practice on Five. It wasn’t fun.”
“Practicing on Five. I should’ve thought of that,” I say, only half joking.
“Setrákus Ra can take away Legacies with a thought. I haven’t gotten to that level yet. I’m still stuck charging objects. Maybe you’ll learn it faster than me. . . .”
“That’s a stretch,” I say. “I haven’t even tried yet.”
Ella purses her lips. “Actually, that might be for the best. Make a Dreynen-charged weapon, like Pittacus Lore had. That way, even if he stops your Legacies first, you’ll still have that to fall back on.”
“Good idea,” I reply, subconsciously touching Five’s blade, which is sheathed and concealed on my forearm. “Thanks.”
From our left, one of the higher-ranking soldiers timidly approaches holding a satellite phone. I pause to acknowledge him, and Ella wanders on, heading for the Loralite stone.
“Your CO is on the line,” the soldier says, holding out the phone.
“I don’t have a CO,” I reply. The soldier only shrugs, like he’s just the messenger.
I take the phone from him, knowing that it’s going to be Lawson expecting a progress report. Before speaking with him, I watch Ella wrap her arms around the Loralite stone. It goes from dull, ordinary gray to a glowing azure in a matter of seconds. Some of the soldiers watching ooh and ahh. Ella rests her cheek against the stone, letting its restored energy pulse over her.
“This is John,” I say into the phone.
“What’s this I hear about you taking over a Mogadorian warship?” Lawson barks into the phone.
“I figured since I was already up there . . . ,” I reply.
Lawson sighs into my ear. “Well, I suppose that’s one less of the big bastards we have to take down. On the other hand, probably only pissed off Setrákus Ra even more. Feel like this cease-fire won’t last much longer, you keep taking his ships.”
“It won’t have to,” I say. “We got what you wanted. You get coordinating with the other armies. Tell them to go to the Loralite locations I showed you, and I’ll have my people deliver the cloaking devices.”
“I hope it’s enough,” Lawson grumbles tentatively. “Eggheads here haven’t made much progress. Then again, if all we need is you to bring down these warships . . . Hell, you know we’ve got ones hovering over Washington and Los Angeles still, right? Not to mention the big bitch herself in West Virginia.”
I peer up at the sky while Lawson speaks. Could I do it again? Take on another warship the way I’m feeling? I flex my hands, feeling the burning sensation in my fingers that I haven’t been able to shake. I asked Marina to use her healing Legacy on them, but she said she couldn’t sense anything wrong. The only explanation is that I pushed my powers too far, and this is my body showing it. Just like we can’t heal exhaustion, we can’t heal Legacy burnout.
How much more fighting can I do before I need a serious rest? A rest. That’s funny. As if there’s time for that with warships still hovering over twenty-odd cities, simply waiting for Setrákus Ra to finish his sick experiments, finish getting stronger, before finally attacking. There’s no time to rest. So the question becomes, how far can I push myself—how much damage can I do—before I finally collapse?
Guess I’ll find out.
“I’ll see what I can do. In the meantime, make sure your people are ready to launch the attack as soon as possible.”
Before Lawson can respond, I hang up.
Finished with the Loralite stone, Ella walks back over to me. I toss her the satellite phone, and she catches it with two hands.
“Tell the others they should coordinate with Lawson on delivering the cloaking devices,” I say. “We’ll meet in West Virginia. Bring the warship. We’ll take down the Anubis and finish off Setrákus Ra.”
“Um, okay,” Ella says, and raises an eyebrow. “What are you going to do?”
I gaze in the direction of our stolen warship, still visible on the horizon.
“I’m going for a repeat performance.”
Ella’s eyes widen. “Another warship?”
“I’m just getting warmed up.”
“Wait, John—”
Before Ella can try to talk me out of it, I’m back in the air, streaking away from Niagara Falls. This is how it has to be. I need to keep going. No matter how tired I feel, I need to keep fighting.
The sun is already getting low in the sky. It took the better part of the day to get up here, to take that warship, to organize everyone. Too slow. Pushing myself to fly faster, an odd sensation that’s a bit like diving upwards into a pool, I decide that I’ll head for DC. I’m not a GPS, I don’t know exactly where I’m going but I figure that if I head southeast I’ll start to see landmarks and cities that I recognize and, eventually, my target.
I tell myself that I’ll be faster this way, more efficient, and that it’s ultimately safer for the others. Even so, I think, I should’ve at least brought Bernie Kosar along. He and Dust watching my back was invaluable, and he would’ve fit right into the pocket of my vest until I needed him.
Oh, damn it. My vest.
I look down at myself and cringe. I’m an idiot. I took some major volleys of blaster fire during my assault on that warship. The cloaking device I had strapped to my chest along with the battery pack that provided its jui
ce are both completely fried. I’m flying around with two useless pieces of plastic strapped to my body.
With a disgusted shake of my head, I unclip the vest and let it fall to the ground below.
I can’t go back to Niagara Falls. Ella will have definitely told the others by now, and they’ll try to talk me out of going off on my own. Part of me knows this is a crazy idea that wouldn’t stand up to Six and Marina getting in my face. No, can’t go back there.
I’ll have to make a stop at Patience Creek. I’ve got a better chance of not facing any lectures there.
Luckily, I’m not too far from Lake Erie, and once I get close it’s not all that hard for me to retrace the flight path that Lexa took earlier today. After only a few swoops in wrong directions—and one stretch where I found myself stuck in a bank of clouds unable to navigate—I see the faux bed-and-breakfast on the lakeshore. Even with the wrong turns, the trip was still quicker than in our ship. And I’ve only just begun pushing this flight Legacy.
My plan is to fly in through the cavern a few miles south of the complex, shoot through the tunnel and enter directly into the underground garage, where I know the cloaking devices are kept. In and out. Except when I glide by the main cottage, something doesn’t look quite right.
The sun is just beginning to set, causing the trees to cast long shadows across the grounds. I know for a fact that Lawson had a few soldiers hidden out here, acting as sentries. Maybe the weird lighting is messing with my vision, but I swear I don’t see them.
I fly lower and notice something else. There’s a black government SUV parked in the gravel driveway right in front of the house. That’s unusual. This place has been kept such a secret because everyone uses the cavern entrance. None of Lawson’s people would be dumb enough to park a blatant government vehicle right in front of this top secret location.
But then I remember, I loaned one of those cars to someone else. For a personal matter.
Mark James.
I come in for a landing a few yards from Patience Creek’s porch. To my left, the tire swing attached to an old maple tree sways gently back and forth. Everything seems quiet and normal, but I’m getting a weird sense that I’m being watched.
