The Fall of Five

20

Later that morning, I gather everyone in the living room for what I hope will be a strategy session. Some important things got brought up at dinner last night and it’s time we planned our next move. However, the first order of business for our tired group, many of whom were woken up by screaming a few hours ago, is this issue of Ella’s nightmares.

Malcolm strokes his beard thoughtfully. “Let’s assume that these nightmares are being caused by Setrákus Ra. I find it extremely troubling that he’s able to transmit them somehow, presumably through some form of Mogadorian telepathy, without knowing our exact location. In fact, you said you saw Chicago burning, correct?”

Ella nods, not looking eager to revisit her latest nightmare. Bernie Kosar, curled up at her feet, nuzzles against her.

“It was Chicago after a major battle,” Marina clarifies.

“Is he taunting us?” Six asks. “Or is it like some kind of prophecy?”

“I thought we were done with prophecies,” Eight says, rolling his eyes.

“Sometimes there’s a little bit of truth in the nightmares,” I say.

“Like when we had that vision about New Mexico,” Nine chimes in.

“Yeah, but other times, it’s like he’s just trying to screw with us.”

“The content doesn’t worry me so much as the fact that Setrákus Ra is able to transmit them at all,” says Malcolm, deep lines forming in his face as he thinks this through. “Do you think it’s possible he’s tracking us through the dreams?”

“If he could do that, wouldn’t we already be fighting off Mogs?” Eight replies. “Why even bother drawing John and Nine off to New Mexico?”

I nod in agreement, thinking back to the visions Nine and I shared. “Even though the nightmares can be creepily specific, I don’t think he knows where we are. It’s more like he’s trying to make us slip up.”

“The question, then, is how do we stop the nightmares?” Malcolm asks.

“I’ve got a solution,” Six says, and everyone looks in her direction. She takes a considering sip from a mug of coffee. “Let’s go kill Setrákus Ra.”

Nine claps his hands and points at Six. “I like the way this chick thinks.”

“Oh, is it that easy?” Five asks, speaking up for the first time. “You make it sound like taking out the trash.”

“I wish it were so simple,” I say. “But we don’t know where he is and, even if we could find him, that’s not going to be an easy fight. The last time we went up against him almost killed us.”

“We could get him to come to us,” Nine suggests, glancing over at Five. “Maybe fire up some more crop circles.”

“You can’t be serious,” Sam says. I noticed him shifting in his seat at the mention of Setrákus Ra.

“He’s not serious,” Five says, glaring in Nine’s direction. “He’s mocking me.”

Nine shrugs and feigns a yawn. “Whatever. I really do think we should go fight something.”

“That’s all you ever want to do,” Eight cuts in.

“Yeah, it’s my thing.”

“For the first time ever, we’re together,” I say, keeping my voice measured. “We have the element of surprise on our side. We’ve got an opportunity to prepare and pick our next battle. Let’s not rush into anything.”

“John’s right,” Marina says. “There’s still so much we don’t know about ourselves, our powers, our Chests.”

“It’d be good to know exactly what we’re working with,” Eight says. “We did some training with Nine in the Lecture Hall the other day. It was helpful. Surprisingly so.”

Nine grins. “Compliment taken, insult ignored.”

“Yeah,” Sarah chimes in. “I think I speak for all of us humans when I say a little more combat training wouldn’t hurt.”

“Learning what our Chests contain would help too,” I offer. “Maybe we could figure out which items are those Phoenix Stones that Malcolm was talking about.”

“An inventory seems to be in order,” Malcolm says.

“Which means we need to make finding your Chest a top priority,” I say, looking over at Five.

“Absolutely,” Five replies, seeming about as certain as I’ve ever seen him. “I know exactly where to go. We can do that whenever you want.”

“That might make a good first mission,” Eight says. “Especially if we could get it done under the Mog radar.”

“I still think we should just blow up their freaking radar,” Nine grumbles.

“Soon, buddy,” I reply. “For now, we need to play it safe. Gather our strength. Malcolm, what about the Mogadorian guy? Adam?”

Malcolm shakes his head, his features sagging. “I’ve hooked up a tracker so we’ll be alerted if his cell phone turns on, but nothing yet. I fear the worst.”

“Maybe he just ditched his phone,” suggests Sam, trying to cheer up his forlorn- looking dad.

“We got a bit off topic here, didn’t we?” Six puts in. “What about Ella’s nightmares?”

It’s Ella, who has been listening quietly, that responds. “I’ll tough them out. The next time that big freak gets into my head, I’m going to punch him in the balls.”

“Whoa!”

“All right,” I say, grinning. “Meeting adjourned.”