The Fate of Ten

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

HOW LONG AM I KNOCKED OUT FOR? IT CAN’T be more than a couple of minutes before I’m awakened by icy pinpricks along the side of my face. It’s Marina, pouring her healing Legacy into me. My head’s in her lap. I get a strange pulling sensation at my hairline as the tissue there regrows, the gash I took from falling bricks quickly healed up.

Marina’s got her non-healing hand clasped over my mouth, I guess in case I woke up screaming. I widen my eyes at her to show her that I’m with it and she takes her hand away. Her face is covered with chalky brown dust from the exploded temple. There are tear streaks running through the grime on Marina’s face.

“He destroyed it, Six,” she whispers raggedly. “He destroyed the whole thing.” I sit up and assess our situation. We’re still at the edge of the jungle, hidden behind the fallen tree trunk and now a whole bunch of dislodged chunks of limestone. There are gaps in the canopy above our heads from where the pieces of the Sanctuary came crashing down. Luckily, no one else appears injured, or else Marina already took care of them.

Marina stays next to me as I crawl forward to approach the others. Mark and Adam lie on their stomachs, side by side, just to the right of the fallen log. They’ve got their blasters pointed out and are using a block of stone for cover. I notice bloodstains on Mark’s shirt and remember that he took a piece of shrapnel to the chest right before I got knocked out.

I touch his shoulder. “You okay?”

He shoots a grateful look in Marina’s direction. “I’m good. Really don’t want to make a habit of that, though. You?”

“Same.”

Sarah is right up against the fallen log, peeking out from behind it. Phiri Dun-Ra is shoved in next to her. She wasn’t crushed by any of the debris that landed in our area, which just seems unfair. The Mogadorian is still unconscious or, more likely, playing possum. I make sure to check her bonds quickly before sliding in next to Sarah. She gives me a look—tight-lipped, squinty-eyed. It reminds me a lot of John’s brave face, actually. The one where he’s scared shitless but wants to keep fighting anyway.

“What’re we going to do, Six?” Sarah asks.

“Stay within arm’s length in case we need to go invisible,” I say, not just to Sarah but to everyone. “We’ve still got a plan.”

Mark snorts at that and his hands shake a little on his blaster’s grip. He’s got the detonator for our explosives in the dirt next to him.

“There’s no Sanctuary to protect,” Marina says forlornly.

“We can still take the Anubis,” I reply. “And there’s still Ella.”

“Man, I can’t see shit from back here,” Mark adds.

I turn invisible so that I can poke my head out from behind the log without running any risk of being seen. I get a way better view of the landscape than what Mark and Adam can see from their spots behind cover. The dust from the Anubis attack is still settling in the clearing; between that and the sunset, the entire area is cast in a gritty golden haze. Three thick plumes of black smoke curl into the air—booby-trapped Skimmers that had their bombs explode when the Anubis discharged its fury. However, even though some of them are flipped over or knocked into distant areas, I still see a bunch of the Skimmers that we set to blow.

So we might still be able to salvage one of our traps to fight off the Mogadorians. But the pit we spent so much effort digging is gone. Or, more accurately, it has gotten a whole lot bigger.

The land where the Sanctuary sat for centuries is now a smoking crater. It’s about sixty feet deep with stubborn chunks of the temple’s bricks still rooted in the ground and small fires from the Anubis’s cannon blast only now guttering out in the heat-baked dirt. That force field was in place precisely so something like this wouldn’t happen. We made it into the Sanctuary and this is the result. Total destruction.

Unless . . .

Still invisible, I climb up onto the log so I can get a better angle on the crater. Sarah flinches at the noise I make and brings her blaster up in my direction.

“Relax, it’s just me,” I whisper quickly. “I’m trying to get a look at something.”

“What do you see?” Marina asks.

I see a mellow blue glow that emanates from the very center of the crater. I see the stone lip of the well where we dropped our Inheritances, the place where the Entity emerged from.

I hop down from the tree trunk and turn visible again. I want Marina to see the hope in my face because it’s very real.

“The well is still there,” I tell her. “He didn’t or maybe couldn’t blow it up. The Entity is fine.”

“Really?” Marina replies, wiping her hands across her face.

“Seriously,” I say. “We’ve still got an extraterrestrial god to protect.”

“Thing should be protecting us,” grumbles Mark.

“What if he wasn’t trying to blow it up, though?” Sarah wonders. “What if the whole point is to, like, get at it? What if he had to clear the temple away?”

“Shit,” I reply, because that theory makes a lot of sense.

“They’re coming down,” Adam hisses in warning.

The Anubis slowly moves closer to the ground. Even with the temple destroyed, the massive warship is still too big to land in the clearing. All the same, the warship hovers so that it’s centered right over the crater. Gears clank as two wide metal gangways extend from the sides of the Anubis, a couple of sliding doors opening at their tops. From there, ranks of Mogadorians begin exiting the ship. They look to be the usual breed of vatborn warriors, all of them dressed in black body armor and toting blasters. The Mogs exit the ship with speedy efficiency and begin securing the area. We’re outnumbered at least ten to one and it won’t be long until they either discover our position or find the bombs we’ve attached to the Skimmers.

“We have to attack now!” I whisper harshly to the others. I reach over and pull Adam close. “We’ll go invisible and flank them. You guys detonate the bombs and get them distracted. Marina, are any of the guns we set up still in position?”

Marina narrows her eyes in concentration, then nods once. “Some. I’ll make it work.”

Mark sets aside his blaster and picks up the detonator, arming our explosives. Three-quarters of the bulbs don’t light up at all, indicating that we lost those bombs in the Anubis attack.

“Ready,” Mark says.

“Remember, if it goes bad, run for Lexa’s ship,” I remind them.

Adam, peeking out from behind the log, snaps his fingers at us. “There,” he says grimly. “There they both are.”

Setrákus Ra steps into view at the top of the ramp. He’s as intimidating as I remember—nearly eight feet tall, pale, that thick purple scar on his neck visible even at this distance. He’s clad in some kind of garish Mogadorian armor made of the same obsidian alloy as his minions’, except his juts up into clusters of spikes along the shoulders and attaches to a fur-trimmed leather cape that runs all the way to the ground. He looks every bit the vain intergalactic warlord and he seems to relish it.

He holds hands with Ella, her small fingers clasped gently by his armored ones. Marina gasps when she sees her. I’m not sure I would even recognize Ella if she hadn’t been screaming in my head just a few minutes ago. She looks smaller and thinner and paler, like the life has been sucked out of her. No, that’s not quite right. She doesn’t necessarily look sickly or diseased, I realize.

She looks Mogadorian.

Ella’s eyes are empty and her head hangs so that her chin is pressed against her chest. She doesn’t look even remotely aware of her surroundings. Her movements are robotic and dazed. She follows Setrákus Ra onto the ramp with total compliance. The Mogs sweeping the area stop what they’re doing to watch their ruler and his heir descend from the Anubis, all of them doing this lame fist-on-chest salute.

Setrákus Ra stops about halfway down the ramp. His eyes sweep across the jungle, searching for us.

“I know you’re out there!” Setrákus Ra bellows, his voice carrying through the hushed jungled. “I’m glad! I want you to see what happens next!” Setrákus Ra shouts over his shoulder, into the Anubis. “Lower it!”

In response to his command, a trapdoor opens on the warship’s underbelly. Slowly, a large piece of machinery telescopes out from the Anubis. It’s like a length of pipe with support struts and scaffolding built around it. The pipe’s sides are covered with complicated circuits and gauges. There’s more than just Mogadorian tech to Setrákus Ra’s steadily lowering device, though. Engraved into the metal sides between all the electronics are strange glyphs that remind me of the symbols scarred into our ankles. Also, and I can’t be one hundred percent sure about this, but it looks like those engravings are done in Loralite. Whatever this device is, it looks to be as much a Loric-Mogadorian hybrid as Setrákus Ra.

“I don’t like the look of that,” I say quietly.

“Nope,” Sarah replies.

“We should blow it up,” Mark suggests.

“Whatever he intends to use that for, we can’t let it happen,” Marina agrees.

“All right. So we destroy his toy, rescue Ella and then either take the Anubis or hightail it back to Lexa,” I say.

“You make it sound so easy,” Adam replies.

Even though he can’t see us, Setrákus Ra is still on his rant. “For centuries I’ve worked to harness the power of Lorien, to utilize it in ways more efficient than nature intended. Now, finally . . .”

Blah, blah, blah. Quickly, I gauge the distance between Ella and the nearest wired-to-explode Skimmer. Pretty far. I don’t think she’ll be in the blast radius. As Setrákus Ra drones on, I glance at the others.

“I’ve heard enough. What about the rest of you?”

Everyone nods. They’re ready.

“Get low,” I say, remembering how Mark got struck by shrapnel just a few minutes ago.

Everyone takes cover. This is it.

“Hit it,” I say to Mark.

Fingers flying across the controller, Mark flips the detonation switches.

True, some of the Skimmers we wired to explode became disconnected from their fuses when the Anubis bombed the Sanctuary. And true, others already exploded during that impact. So we don’t get the widespread destruction that we would’ve if our neatly arranged Skimmer-bombs had all detonated at once as planned.

But it’s still pretty freaking effective.

The Mogs are too busy respectfully listening to Setrákus Ra’s latest pompous douchebag speech to see it coming. Five Skimmers scattered around the crater explode in blossoms of white-hot fire. I can feel the heat from here and have to shield my eyes. At least thirty Mogs are dusted immediately, their bodies completely engulfed in the flames. More perish when the Skimmers’ parts go flying in every direction. I watch one warrior get lopped in half vertically by a cartwheeling windshield and another crushed beneath a flaming seating column.

The best part is the panic. The Mogs don’t know what just hit them and so they start firing towards the exploded ships, not certain where the real threat is actually hiding. At least a few go down as a result of friendly fire. And then Marina and I use our telekinesis to fire off some of the blasters we hid in the jungle, confusing them even more.

A twisted wheel strut smashes down on the ramp right in front of Setrákus Ra and Ella. Maybe it was a little reckless of us to blow those ships—I think Setrákus Ra had to deflect that wheel with his telekinesis to keep it from hitting him and Ella. However, it’s good to know that he doesn’t want to see Ella hurt any more than we do.

I grin. Setrákus Ra actually looks surprised by our counterattack. His speech ruined, the Mog leader hurriedly walks the rest of the way down the ramp, dragging Ella along with him.

“Find them!” he screams as he starts down the rocky incline of the crater, heading for the Loric well. “Kill them!”

“Let’s do this!” I yell, not loud enough to give away our position thanks to the crackling fires coming from the husks of the Skimmers, but loud enough to fire up my allies. It’s do-or-die time.

I grab Adam’s hand and we go invisible. I take the lead, bringing us in a wide arc around the Mogs that will eventually get us close to the crater and Setrákus Ra’s device. Marina keeps up the distracting blaster fire, using guns hidden in different locations to keep the Mogs guessing. I memorized the locations where we hid our extra blasters, so I’m able to avoid the cross fire.

At least, I’m able to avoid it for about the first twenty yards. Then, dumb luck strikes. One of the Mogs, his back on fire from the Skimmer explosions, stumbles towards us, firing wildly. I dive out of the way and so does Adam.

But we dive in separate directions.

Just like that, Adam pops back into the visible world.

“Shit,” he says, bringing his own blaster up and gunning down the nearest Mog.

“There!” shouts one of the other warriors.

So much for doing this guerrilla-style.

Seeing Adam in danger, Bernie Kosar is the first one to launch into battle. One second he’s a toucan, innocently flying towards the nearest group of Mogadorians, and a blink of an eye later he’s in the shape of a muscular lion, slashing and snapping his way through our enemies. A lot of the Mogs are still scrambling from the explosions and haven’t even seen Adam yet, so Bernie Kosar easily gets the drop on them. He’s faster and more ferocious than the last time I saw him fight, angrier maybe, and I remember that he nearly died back in Chicago. Whenever the Mogs do manage to draw a bead on him, Bernie Kosar shape-shifts into a smaller form—a bug or a bird—making himself an impossible target. Then, when he’s in a better position to kill, Bernie Kosar turns back into his predator form. The transitions are so smooth, it’s almost beautiful.

Our pet Chimæra has gotten really good at killing Mogs. And so have we.

A pair of Mogs to the left have managed to regroup enough to target Adam. They’re easily picked off by blaster fire from our group’s actual position. That must be Sarah and Mark, and they don’t stop shooting when those first two Mogs are dusted. There are a lot of warriors caught out on the scorched earth of what used to be their runway. It’s all empty space and no cover. I see Sarah put down two warriors in quick succession.

Marina runs out of the jungle to Adam’s side and then they’re charging straight into the fray. Some of the Mogs are trying to retreat and regroup, but others see them coming. They square up and take aim. Pretty soon the air is buzzing with blaster fire in all directions. The odds are something like twenty to one.

Not bad.

Adam takes the lead, bounding forward with big strides, his every footfall sending shock waves rippling under the Mogadorians’ feet. When the ground quakes it makes it nearly impossible for the Mogs to properly aim. Some of them go toppling into each other, blaster fire zigzagging in every direction but straight. One particular seismic blast results in a loud rending noise as two sections of ground split apart, half a dozen Mogs plummeting into a deep crevasse.

I guess we got our pit trap after all.

Marina takes it a bit slower, but she’s no less deadly. She heads towards the Mogs with both of her hands open and cupped at her sides. Spiked chunks of solid ice form above her hands and, when they grow to the size of baseballs, Marina sends them telekinetically sailing towards the Mogs. Screaming and off balance from one of Adam’s tremors, one Mog comes charging at Marina with a dagger. She barely looks at him as she raises her hand in a stop gesture and flash-freezes his face. Marina cuts a frozen swath through the Mogs, making a beeline towards the crater and Setrákus Ra.

Across the battlefield, Setrákus Ra has made it to the bottom of the crater and the Loric well. Ella stands nearby, listless and zombielike, her head lolling from side to side. She looks on as Setrákus Ra guides by hand the ominous device that’s attached to the Anubis. He positions the cylinder so it’s just a few feet above the well. Then, Setrákus Ra steps back and raises his hands like a conductor, telekinetically maneuvering the complicated switches and dials embedded in the sides of the tube. With a hum I can hear all the way back here, the thing begins to power on. That can’t be good.

“We have to stop him!” Marina yells.

I know her words are intended for me, but I don’t reply. Still invisible, I don’t want to give away my position. I wish I could use my weather Legacy and drop some lightning on Setrákus Ra. The Anubis is blocking too much of the sky. Instead, I pick up a dropped Mog blaster.

Lately, I’ve spent so much time maneuvering groups of invisible people through bayous and jungles that I’d almost forgotten how freeing it is to be alone and invisible. Freeing and deadly. I glide easily through the ranks of the Mogadorians. It’s almost like a dance, except they don’t know we’re partnered up. As I go, I raise my invisible blaster and pull the trigger, close range, head shots only. All while moving closer to the crater and Setrákus Ra. The only thing that could give away my position is the brief flash of light from my blaster’s muzzle, and that’s usually quickly obscured by the exploding ash particles of Mog faces.

I’ve wiped out more than ten Mogs in no time at all. I take a moment to glance back towards the jungle to make sure Sarah and Mark are hanging in there. Sure enough, they’re still shooting away. Bernie Kosar stayed back that way too, keeping any Mogs from getting too close to the humans’ position. I realize Bernie Kosar is probably under strict orders from John to keep Sarah safe. That’s good.

The Mogs are already beginning to thin out. Some are actually retreating towards the Anubis, while others have formed a loose perimeter around the crater to protect their Beloved Leader. Setrákus Ra doesn’t seem at all concerned with any of this. He’s completely focused on operating that machine of his.

As I fight my way towards the crater, the tube begins to emit a whooshing sound. I can feel the atmosphere around us change—loose rocks are lifted up from the ground, and I feel a vague sense of gravity pulling me towards the crater. Fully powered on, Setrákus Ra’s device is starting to suck up the surroundings. I see Ella, still standing idly in the crater, still telepathically silent, her hair whipping towards the cylinder. The well itself begins to crumble, its bricks lifted loose and briefly hoisted towards the sucking machine before they’re deflected by a force field that’s probably similar to what protects the Anubis. This device of Setrákus Ra’s isn’t interested in the ground and debris; it filters them away, creating a mini tornado of dirt and brick.

And then it happens. With an ear-piercing shriek like a thousand tea kettles exploding, the cobalt-blue Loric energy shoots up from the ground and is sucked into the cylinder. The entire area is cast in a flickering blue glow that causes even some of the Mogs to look around in wonderment. It’s unnatural, the way the energy ripples up from the ground, at first wild and uncontained, but quickly caught and channeled through what I realize is a pipeline, transferring the Loric energy into the Anubis. I found the Entity’s glow comforting and serene back in the Sanctuary, but now—the air crackles with electricity, the flashes hurt my eyes and the noise . . .

It’s like the energy itself is screaming. It’s in pain.

“Yes! Yes!” Setrákus Ra bellows with delight, like some kind of mad scientist, his hands raised in rapture towards the energy funnel.

Marina loses it. Caution goes out the window as she sprints towards the crater. Two thick and sharpened icicles manifest over her hands like swords and she uses them to impale three Mogs on her way, spinning through the ranks of the ones guarding the crater. Then, she’s sliding down the rocky incline, towards Setrákus Ra and Ella. She’s going to take him on by herself. I did that once—it didn’t work out so well.

I sprint to catch up. There are other Mogs along the edge of the crater besides the ones Marina just punched through and they’ve all turned to take aim on her. She’s distracted, an easy target. But to me, still invisible, it’s the Mogs that are easy targets. I run behind them in an arc around the crater’s edge, dusting each of them as quickly as I can. Before I can kill him, one of them manages to squeeze off a shot that sizzles into the back of Marina’s leg. I don’t even think she notices.

In fact, Marina doesn’t even notice Setrákus Ra. Or doesn’t care. She attacks the pipeline directly, bombarding it with spiked orbs of ice. When those are either swallowed by the swirling dust and brick or deflected by the machine’s force field, Marina charges forward. She’s going to take the thing apart by hand if she has to.

Setrákus Ra catches her by the throat. He moves faster than a creature his size has any right to. As I sprint down the side of the crater, still invisible, Setrákus Ra lifts Marina by the neck so that her feet are dangling off the ground. She tries to kick at him, but he holds her out at a safe distance.

“Hello, girl,” Setrákus Ra says, his tone happy and victorious. “Come to watch the show?”

Marina claws at his fingers. She obviously can’t breathe. I’m not sure I’m going to make it in time.

From behind him, a wave of rocks and dirt hits Setrákus Ra in the back of the legs. He’s surprised and bowled over, losing his grip on Marina as he falls forward and instinctively braces himself with his hands. Marina manages to roll away as Setrákus Ra’s lower legs are buried by the rockslide. Ella lurches forward, like her own legs were hit, but she doesn’t cry out and her vacant expression doesn’t change.

It’s Adam that made the save, skidding his way into the crater from the opposite direction as me. There are blaster burns on his shoulders and a long cut on the side of his face from where some Mog scored a hit with its dagger, but he still looks ready to fight.

I end up coming down in the crater right next to Ella. That’s when it happens—pop—just like that, I’m visible again, and not of my own choosing. Setrákus Ra must be using his Legacy-canceling ability. Marina is on her knees a few yards from him, holding her throat and coughing. Meanwhile, the Mog leader is having a hell of a time dislodging himself from the landslide. At least Adam got him buried above the knees before our Legacies were turned off.

I take the opportunity to grab Ella by her shoulders. Up close, she’s even further gone than I expected. Her cheeks are hollow, her face gaunt, and there are dark black veins running beneath her skin like spiderwebs. Her eyes are glazed over and she doesn’t react at all when I shake her. The light from the Loric energy—still being sucked up through the pipeline—is reflected in her eyes. She’s staring at it.

“Ella! Come on! We’re getting you out of here!”

There’s no visible reaction, but her voice finally returns to my mind.

Six. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?

She’s lost it. Screw it—I’m going to drag her out of here just like we planned.

“Six!” Marina shouts, her voice raw. “We have to turn it off!”

I glance at the machine, then up at the Anubis. There’s no telling what Setrákus Ra is going to do with the Loric energy he’s capturing, but it obviously can’t be good. I wonder if he’ll be able to permanently take away our Legacies if he sucks up enough of the Entity’s power.

“Do you know how to stop it?” I ask Ella, again getting right in her expressionless face.

This answer takes a moment. Yes.

“How? Tell us how!”

She doesn’t respond.

With an indignant snarl, Setrákus Ra pulls one of his legs free of the rock slide. As he does, Adam reaches him. Stripped of his Legacy just like us, the younger Mogadorian has his father’s sword drawn. The blade is almost too big for him and his arms shake when he holds it. Even so, he puts the tip of the blade right up against Setrákus Ra’s throat.

“Stop,” Adam commands. “Your time is over, old man. Turn off your machine or I’ll kill you.”

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 inches 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.

Setrákus Ra stares at his ruined machine in disbelief. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen the old bastard at a complete loss.

Marina’s in motion immediately. She leaves Adam’s body behind and dives towards Ella. Her Legacies are still turned off, so when Marina presses her hands to Ella’s body, I know nothing will happen. She’s too late, anyway.

I don’t need to see the tears streaming down Marina’s cheeks to know. Ella is dead.

Setrákus Ra stares at the body of his granddaughter, a desolate expression on his face. While he does that, I pick up the biggest chunk of rock I can find.

And then I crack it across the back of Setrákus Ra’s head.

A cut opens. He bleeds. The Mogadorian charm is broken.

My attack brings him back to himself. Setrákus Ra roars, spins to face me and lifts the giant sword over his head.

He’s about to bring it down on me when his eyes—normally empty black pits—fill with the blue glow of Loric energy. The sword falls from his grasp and Setrákus Ra, the leader of the Mogadorians, killer of my people, destroyer of worlds—faints right at my feet.

I’m stunned. I turn to look for Marina, but find her passed out too. What the hell is going on?

Ella. The glow of Loric energy emanates from her. It spills out of her eyes, mouth, ears—everywhere, just like when the Entity briefly animated Eight’s corpse.

From one of her fingertips, a beam of Loric energy shoots towards me. It hits me right in the forehead. I sink down to my knees, feeling myself drift towards unconsciousness. I stare at Ella . . . or whatever she is now. There are other bursts of Loric energy zipping away from her body, flying away from her like shooting starts, out of the crater and off to . . . where? I don’t know. I don’t know what’s happening with her, the Entity or any of it.

I just know that this is my chance.

“Not now!” I scream, fighting against the gentle sleep the Loric energy is trying to force upon me. “Ella! Lorien! Stop! I—I can kill him!”

But then I’m out. I’m pulled into the same artificial slumber as Setrákus Ra and Marina.

What I see next, what we all see, is where it all started.