[Lorien Legacies 03.0] The Rise of Nine

by Pittacus Lore

  Sarah stands, and I get a good look at her for the first time. Her face is covered in dirt and bruises, her blond hair limp on her shoulders, but she’s still beautiful. The bottom of her red sweater is torn and she’s not wearing any shoes. She’s swaying a bit herself. She stares at me, incredulous. ‘Look at yourself, Six. You’re hurt. You’re really hurt. Do you know what you’re even saying? It would be nuts for you to fight him alone. John will come; just wait for him. Please. He’ll come, and he’ll rescue us, and Sam. I know he will.’

  ‘Sam’s here? Are you sure? Have you actually seen him?’

  Sarah clenches her jaw. ‘They tossed him in here with me once. He was unconscious, all cut up and bruised. Like me.’ Then the energy drains out of her and her voice drops. ‘But I know I can’t believe anything I see or hear anymore.’

  Picturing a bloody Sam in this very cell makes my stomach twist with anger. What happened in that Mog cave? I punch the cement wall, surprised to see it chip away. My strength is returning. No pain. My Legacies are coming back. I look directly into Sarah’s eyes. ‘Sarah, did you turn John in that night at the playground? You need to tell me.’

  Without hesitation she answers. ‘Absolutely not. I love him. Yes, I was confused about, well, about everything and it was a lot to take in. But I would never betray any of you, especially John.’

  I see her tear-filled eyes, and know she’s telling the truth. ‘Even though he’s an alien, you still love him? You don’t care?’

  Sarah smiles. ‘I can’t explain it. I can’t explain how love feels to me, how it fills me up inside and keeps me going, but I know that it’s strong and beautiful and I know it’s how I feel about John. I love him, and I will always love him.’ Just saying the words aloud has her standing up straighter; she looks stronger and more determined.

  Her conviction moves me. I think about what happened between me and John, the kiss and everything. I don’t love John like Sarah does. She clearly believes John is the only one for her, in the entire universe.

  ‘I’ve been having these flashbacks, you know, about our trip to Earth. He and I were always fighting,’ I say, my voice soft.

  ‘You were?’ she asks, hungry for anything I can tell her.

  ‘Well, not really fighting so much as me pushing him around and taking his toys.’

  We laugh and she takes my hand. I’m sorry she’s here because of us. I’m not going to let her down. She has so much faith in what we do, who we are, I can see it on her face. ‘I’m going to get you out of here, okay? I’m going to get you back to John,’ I say.

  ‘I hope so,’ she says softly.

  ‘And we’ll find Sam and get him out here too; then we’ll meet up with Seven, Eight and Ten, find Five, and we’ll figure everything out as a team.’ Her hand in mine gives me even more strength, more certainty than ever.

  ‘Hang on. Number Ten? I thought there were just nine of you guys.’

  ‘There are a lot of things you don’t know, things we’ve learned recently,’ I say, touching the cut around my neck. It still hurts, but feels like it’s already starting to heal. I wonder vaguely if I’m gaining a new Legacy.

  Sarah hugs me, but our moment is brief. The door whips open, and a dozen Mog soldiers march into the room, cannons aimed at my chest.

  ‘Turn invisible,’ Sarah whispers under her breath. ‘Go.’

  I test my ribs and roll my neck. I feel better than I did five minutes ago. It has to be good enough. ‘No. I’m done running.’

  The red-haired woman I saw in the garden room limps into the cell. I look at her arm in the sling and the bandages over her cheek, and can’t help but wish I was the one who did all that to her. Anyone who would join up with the Mogs and torture kids in a secret bunker, deserves everything she got, and more. Does she know who the Mogs really are? What they intend to do? The woman purses her pale lips and stares at me. ‘So. You’re the one who will fight Setrákus Ra?’

  I step forward. ‘Yes. Who are you?’

  ‘Who am I?’ she asks, shocked that I would dare to ask such a thing. I guess she isn’t used to people questioning her right to be anywhere, asking her to explain who she is.

  ‘Yeah, you, asshole.’ Does she have me confused with someone who has any respect for her position? ‘I asked you a question. Who are you and why the hell would you be working with them? Do you know what the Mogadorians are going to do? What their plan is? They will destroy Earth, but only after they get what they want. And you are not only helping them, you are putting out the damn welcome mat! Did they tell you why they’re here? Did you even ask?’ I am furious and desperate; this woman has got to listen to me. She needs to understand what is at stake here.

  Her face remains unchanged. ‘I know all I need to know. They are here because they’re looking for you and your friends. In exchange for our help, they will help us with matters that are vital to our security. And I’ll let you in on a little secret. I look forward to finding that Number Four again, and his freak alien friend. I have first shot at them, and I will take it, with pleasure.’

  Sarah and I exchange a glance. Alien friend? Who is she talking about? Has John met up with another Garde?

  ‘What things are the Mogadorians going to help you with?’ I ask.

  ‘Well, for starters,’ she says, motioning to the Mog’s cannon, ‘we get these. Thousands and thousands of alien weapons with capabilities impossible to create here on Earth, that none of our enemies have access to. With their technology, the Pentagon will be light years ahead of any other army on Earth. We will be invincible.’ I’m disgusted and I make sure it shows. ‘Setrákus Ra has also been supplying us with iridium, a chemical that’s incredibly rare on Earth, and we’ve made scientific breakthroughs with it that will make this country billions of dollars. Also, the United States government is very interested in finding other life-sustaining planets, and the Mogadorians have already shared information about that.’ When she stops talking, she rocks back on her feet, and crosses her arms over her chest defiantly.

  ‘Did they tell you what they do when they find other life-sustaining planets? I’ll tell you what they do. They destroy them,’ I shout in her face. ‘You picked the wrong side, this time. My friends and I are trying to stop them.’

  ‘That’s enough. Your presence is requested by Setrákus Ra. This way. Now.’ The woman moves aside to let me to pass.

  I know I could take this woman and every one of these soldiers. But that would just delay getting to what I really want – to defeat Setrákus Ra. ‘As tempting as it is to kill you all right now, I think I’ll save you for Number Four and his freak alien friend,’ I sneer. ‘If Ra wants to do this now, let’s go.’ I push past her and walk out of the cell.

  ‘Six!’ Sarah calls after me. ‘Please! Be careful!’

  I walk down the hall, my enemy flanking me. We walk down hallways, through several doors, and after a few minutes, I’m standing inside a huge room. It’s big enough for an army of tanks. It’s also big enough for an epic fight.

  The door slams and I hear it lock behind me. It’s so dark now that I can barely see two feet in front of me, never mind the other end of the room. I walk towards what I think is the center of the room, testing my telekinesis as I go by levitating off the ground. The pain I felt earlier is gone. When I think I’m in the middle of the room, I close my eyes and turn around, feeling the air with my mind. I sense there are about two dozen or so beings silently entering the room. I’m disappointed. I wanted this to be one on one.

  When I open my eyes, they’ve almost adjusted to the dark. I wish I had Marina’s Legacy to be able to see in the dark, but I can make out enough for now. There are Mog soldiers lined up against the back wall. They’re wearing ragged black cloaks and black boots, and whip their swords across their bodies. They’re bigger than most of the Mogadorians I’ve fought before, but I know I can kill them just the same. A door opens behind me, and another dozen soldiers enter.

  ‘Hey! What is this? Setrákus Ra!’ I yell
to the ceiling, turning around to make sure the Mogs can all see me and know they do not have some cowering human here. ‘I thought you wanted to fight me!’ A section of the wall explodes in the back of the room, and the Mogadorian leader appears. The three Loric pendants swing from his grotesque neck. I plan on taking all of them back. Setrákus Ra opens his arms and yells, ‘You must first earn the right!’ I guess this is the command to charge, because all at once, the soldiers let out a battle cry, and rush at me. I start at my right and begin to pick them off, one at a time.

  27.

  Wind, hot sand and punishing heat, along with a pounding headache, welcome me to our next teleporting destination. I try to shield my eyes from the blinding sun as I lie on my back, recovering. Welcome to New Mexico.

  ‘Oh, yeah,’ Eight groans, but he sounds satisfied. ‘We made it.’

  I smile but stay where I am to give the pain in my head time to lessen before I try to move.

  ‘Ella?’ I call out.

  ‘I’m right here, Marina,’ she calls over. ‘Look where we are! New Mexico!’

  ‘Finally. Can you try communicating with Six again?’

  ‘I already have. No luck yet.’

  I slowly stand up. Eight is on his hands and knees at the bottom of the sand dune, dry heaving. The teleporting seems to have affected him more severely than it did the last couple of times. Ella has her hand on the back of his neck. The two Chests sit nearby. I rotate 360 degrees and all I see in every direction is sand, sand and more sand. And the occasional cactus. ‘Which way should we go?’

  Ella and Eight climb up the dune and stand next to me. After a minute, Ella points north and says, ‘Look! Six said something earlier about dying in a desert with mountains.’

  Squinting, I see where she’s pointing. The faint outlines of mountains ripple in the afternoon haze.

  ‘That’s where we’re going, then,’ Eight says. ‘We can cover the distance in short hops once my teleporting comes back. For now, we walk.’

  We pick up the Chests and head north. ‘Ella,’ I say, ‘you need to keep trying Six. If you can’t reach her, maybe you can try Four, or even try one of the others, Five or Nine.’ We’ve lost so much time just getting here. Maybe Ella can find something out that will save us some time now.

  Nine examines the map he’s brought up on the screen in the middle of the steering wheel. He looks around at the endless desert surrounding us. The car’s GPS has picked up an underground tunnel nearby; now we just need to find the entrance. When I press the green triangle on the tablet, it shows we’re only a mile or two from the ship. I push the blue circle and shout, ‘Nine! They’re here!’

  ‘Who’s here?’ Nine asks, scanning the horizon. ‘The other three blue dots. They’re here in New Mexico!’ Nine rips the tablet out of my hands and lets out a loud hoot. ‘Holy shit, bro. This is really all about to go down.’ He looks at me, his eyes shining.

  ‘I think this is it. The beginning of the end.’ As much as I’m looking forward to finally getting a chance to do what we need to do, it’s dawning on me that this is going to be the fight of our lives.

  ‘This right here, this is when we rise to the occasion,’ Nine says. ‘You will fight harder than you ever have, Four. You’re going to be a beast. And me? I’m going to rip Setrákus Ra’s head off, wrap it up and send it back to Mogadore with a giant red bow on it. And then Lorien is going to rise from the ashes.’ His voice is shaking with emotion, with all the pent-up anger and fight he has been carrying around with him.

  Bernie Kosar barks from the backseat and Nine turns around to look at him with a smile. ‘You, too, BK . You, my friend, are going to kick some major ass.’

  I imagine what it will feel like to meet up with all the Garde members, something I haven’t let myself do for so long. I look out over the horizon. My mind is clear and open to all possibilities. It feels good. And that’s when I hear a girl’s faint voice echo in my head. It’s soft and broken like a bad radio signal at first, but it becomes clearer.

  Four? Number Four? Can you hear me?

  ‘Yes, yes! I can hear you!’ I yell out loud, whipping my head back and forth. ‘Who is that? Where are you?’

  Nine looks at me, confused. ‘Um, dude. I hope you can hear me. I’m right here.’

  ‘Not you. I heard a girl. Did you hear her? A girl was just talking to me.’

  Number Four? It’s Number Ten. Can you hear me? This may be hopeless, I don’t know if I’m talking to anyone. Maybe I’ll never figure this out without Crayton.

  ‘There it is again,’ I say excitedly. Nine is looking at me like I’ve completely lost my mind. ‘Nine! She just said something else! Did you hear her? She said she’s Number Ten! I think she’s in my head somehow.’

  ‘Number Ten! The baby from the second ship! Well, don’t just sit there staring at me! Talk back to her, dumbass!’

  That’s easy for him to say. She didn’t know if it was working. I’m guessing it’s a new Legacy kicking in – for both of us! – it takes training to know how to make a Legacy work when, and how, you want it to. I know I don’t have much time to waste figuring it out. I take a deep breath and block out the noise in my head and around me, and focus. I try to re-create the feeling I had right before I heard the voice a few minutes before. I feel calm, open, and somehow . . . connected.

  I can hear you, I try saying in my head. Nothing. I wait a moment and try again. Number Ten?

  Number Four! You can hear me?

  ‘She heard me!’ I laugh out loud and look at Nine, victorious.

  ‘Tell her we’re about to ride into town and save the day,’ Nine says. ‘Tell her we’ll swing by and pick her up on our way to Lorien, wherever she is.’

  Where are you? I hear her ask. I’m with Seven and Eight in the desert, in New Mexico. We’re trying to find and rescue Number Six.

  ‘What’s she saying?’ Nine yells. I know it’s making him crazy not being able to hear our conversation, but I can’t talk to him now. I need to concentrate on hearing Ten’s voice, on responding to her.

  What do you mean? Where is Six? We’re in New Mexico too. I’m with Nine and we’re in the desert looking for an underground base.

  I look out at the mountains. ‘We have to find that tunnel, fast,’ I say to Nine.

  ‘Did she say where they are?’

  ‘She just said she’s here, in the desert, with Seven and Eight and they’re trying to rescue Six. That must be who we saw show up on the map earlier. I know I shouldn’t worry – if anyone can take care of herself, it’s Six. But still – I’m worried.’

  ‘She’s got to be inside Dulce. Let’s go find her.’ Nine’s fingers speed over the screen. The map changes color and looks to be scanning the area, finally zooming in on the trunk of a five-pronged cactus about a quarter mile away from where we are. Below it, I can see the outline of an underground tunnel. ‘Ha! Nice try, you sneaky government bastards. Tell Number Ten to get her butt over here!’

  Can you tell me where you are, Ten? We found a tunnel to get inside the base where we think Six is being held. We’re in a brown car, pulling off on a side road.

  After a pause, she says, We can teleport to you. How do I find you?

  ‘They don’t know how to find us,’ I report to Nine.

  ‘Maybe we can send up a signal somehow? Damn it! We should have brought that rocket launcher!’ He hits the steering wheel with the palm of his hand and stares out the window, shaking his head.

  ‘We don’t need a rocket launcher,’ I realize, jumping out of the car. I aim my palms into the blue sky and light my Lumen, swaying the beams back and forth.

  Look for the beams of light in the sky, I instruct Ten. I don’t hear anything for a minute. I hope we haven’t lost our connection.

  We see them! Ten finally says.

  ‘They’re on their way,’ I yell into the car, keeping my Lumen in the air. I want to give them as much time as possible to see exactly where we are. ‘We just need to sit tight.’

&nb
sp; ‘I’ll try,’ Nine says, studying the screen on the steering wheel again, but already starting to twitch. ‘Man, I can’t believe we found them!’

  I finally turn off my Lumen and climb back in the car. I almost can’t believe this moment has come, that we’re about to fulfill the destiny the Elders laid out for us. We’re coming together to defeat the Mogadorians and resurrect Lorien from its hibernation.

  Suddenly, we hear the unmistakable noise of a helicopter.

  ‘Um, Johnny?’ Nine says. ‘They’re not getting here by helicopter by any chance, are they?’

  ‘Shit,’ I say. Bernie Kosar jumps into my lap, putting his front paws on the door to look out the window. The three of us watch several helicopters climb into the sky from the hazy horizon. The cluster of choppers moves together and stops to hover directly above us. I use my mind to focus on the one out front and send it spiraling off back where it came from. Then I bring it down, hard enough that it won’t go up again anytime soon.

  ‘It must be the Feds. They’re getting on my nerves almost as much as the Mogadorians. They must have been looking for us and saw your lights!’ Nine yells. The gun turret in the hood of the car pops up. Nine aims, then shoots warning shots to the right of the remaining choppers, then the left. As soon as he stops shooting they lower down, hovering just above us. I’m about to get rid of another one with my telekinesis when Nine lets out a yelp.

  ‘Check out the road,’ he says. I look to my left and see an enormous dust cloud rising from a long line of black vehicles. Bernie Kosar barks and scratches at the door. I open it and he changes into an enormous hawk and ascends into the sky. I run around to the trunk of our car and open it with a pound of my fist. I unzip one of the duffels and pull out four automatic rifles, dropping two next to Nine’s door. Gunshots are already firing from the faraway vehicles, and I scramble on top of the car and take aim while Nine continues to unleash a barrage at the incoming helicopters. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Bernie Kosar swoop into the side of a helicopter. He’s got one of the pilots with his talons. He yanks and pulls at him, using his powerful beak to rip out the safety belt holding him in the seat. When the pilot is free BK drops him onto the sand below. His helicopter falls and bursts into flames on impact. The caravan of black cars swerves around the wreckage and I hold down the triggers of my two guns, taking out the front tires of the first two cars. It doesn’t stop the convoy, but at least it slows them down.