Eleni practically threw her phone down on the bed. “What took you so long?”
“There was a lot to get ready for the—” Magdalena began, then looked at Sam. “For tonight.”
Eleni grunted impatiently. “Well, now you can play babysitter with this human. I need to see to the other one.”
“You left her alone?” Magdalena said.
“Did I have a choice?” Eleni snapped. “Besides, she’s weak from that thing you put into her. She can’t do anything. I’ll go get her and be back in ten minutes.” She left the room, slamming the door behind her.
“She’s so dramatic,” Magdalena said, sitting on the bed and looking at Sam. “She could have left you here by yourself for a few minutes. It’s not like you’d be able to use your powers or anything, right?”
Sam didn’t respond. Magdalena made a pouty face. “Don’t be mad at me,” she said. “I promise, I’ll take my little pet out of you soon enough.”
Hearing this, Sam felt fear stir inside of him. If he was right about how the parasite worked, taking it out meant that he would probably die. But if Magdalena was trying to provoke a response from him, he wasn’t going to give her one. Instead, he stared out the window.
Magdalena patted a small bag that she had carried in with her. “Anyway, Eleni should be happy. I brought her a surprise. If you swear not to spoil it, I’ll tell you what it is. Do you promise?”
Sam still didn’t respond. The Mog was irritating him. What he wanted to do was blast her across the room with his telekinesis. Instead, he could only try his best to ignore her. But she wasn’t going to make that easy. She stood up and walked into his line of vision, waving at him as if she had just spotted him and was delighted to see him there.
“I’ll tell you anyway,” she said as he turned his head and looked at the wall. “It’s a new batch of serum. I harvested one of the creatures.”
Sam couldn’t help himself. “Harvested it from who?” he said.
Magdalena clapped her hands. “Oh, you are interested!” she said. “Don’t worry. It was no one you know. At least I don’t think so. Just some human boy with a pyro Legacy. We have a lot of those, so he wasn’t anything special.”
“He was a person,” Sam snarled.
Magdalena rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well, and a hamburger is a cow before it’s a meal. I don’t see you getting all upset about that.”
“You killed someone,” Sam said. “For your experiment.”
Magdalena sighed. “You know, I haven’t brought this up before because I thought maybe we could be friends. But your people killed a whole lot of mine not that long ago. You might have killed a couple yourself, am I right?”
Sam shook his head. “You invaded our planet,” he said. “It was war.”
“This is why I hate discussing politics,” Magdalena replied. “Nobody ever wants to consider the other side. They say they do, but they really don’t.”
“You’re crazy,” Sam said.
“Or maybe I’m a genius,” Magdalena said. “See, there you go again, only seeing things your way.”
Before Sam could say anything else, the door opened again and Eleni stormed in, looking even angrier than she had when she’d left. “She’s gone,” she said.
“Who’s gone?” Magdalena said.
Eleni didn’t answer, but Sam knew exactly who she meant. Six had escaped. Magdalena too must have realized what Eleni was saying. “Well, she must be here somewhere.”
“Of course she’s here somewhere!” Eleni thundered. “And she’s probably contacted help.”
Magdalena looked at her watch. “The show starts in half an hour,” she said. “And she has no idea what we’re planning.”
“That’s more than enough time to cause trouble,” said Eleni.
“You worry too much,” Magdalena told her. “Like you said, she’s weakened. Her Legacies are all but gone.”
“And yet she still managed to escape,” said Eleni.
Sam laughed despite himself. Eleni walked over and slapped him hard across the face. Sam laughed again, knowing it would anger her. It did. Once more her hand crashed into his cheek with the force of a freight train. His head rocked to the side, and he tasted blood. He looked up at Eleni. Her face was a maelstrom of emotions, none of them pleasant.
“She’ll find you,” Sam said in a clear voice. “She’ll find you, and she’ll kill you.”
Eleni went to strike him again, but Magdalena caught her arm. “I have something for you,” she said. She held up a vial.
“What is it?” Eleni asked.
“Serum,” said Magdalena. “A new batch.”
The hint of a smile appeared on Eleni’s face. “And it’s ready?”
Magdalena nodded.
“Give it to me,” Eleni said. “Now.”
“Before the show has started?” Magdalena asked.
“What better time is there?” said Eleni.
As Eleni rolled up one sleeve, Magdalena retrieved a syringe from the bag on the bed. She uncapped it, inserted the needle into the vial of serum and drew some out. Eleni presented her arm, and Magdalena deftly slid the needle into a vein. As she depressed the plunger on the syringe, Eleni closed her eyes.
“It burns,” she said dreamily. “I can feel it.”
Sam watched with interest to see what would happen. He thought about the last time he’d seen someone attempt to create Legacies artificially. It was when the drug lord Bray had done it. That had ended with his gruesome death. Was Eleni about to suffer the same fate?
He watched for signs that she was reacting badly to the serum. But none came. Instead, she took several deep breaths and opened her eyes. “Something has changed,” she said. “What was the power of the person this came from?”
“Fire manipulation,” Magdalena said. “But that doesn’t necessarily mean—”
Eleni raised her hands, and Magdalena stopped talking. Eleni focused on the space between her palms. A moment later, a spark crackled and disappeared. Eleni tried again, and this time a small ball of flame formed. It remained intact, no larger than a gumball. Eleni grinned, and it flickered out.
“It works,” Magdalena said breathlessly.
Eleni conjured the fire again. This time, the ball grew in size and strength. The Mog moved it back and forth between her palms, like a child playing with a ball. “It doesn’t burn my skin,” she said. “I feel its warmth, but I am not hurt.”
“Careful,” Magdalena said. “You don’t want to set off the sprinklers, or start a fire.”
“Not yet, anyway,” said Eleni, making the fireball wink out, and they both laughed. Then Eleni looked at Sam and smirked. “Now I am like you,” she said. “Or like you once were.”
“We’ll see,” Sam said.
“Yes,” said Eleni. “We will. Speaking of seeing, I believe it’s almost time.” She picked up a remote that was sitting on a nearby table and used it to turn on the television. On the screen, a male news reporter was standing outside the entrance to the Saturn Hotel, where a limousine was disgorging its passengers, a trio of gorgeous young women all dressed in glamorous outfits. Sam recognized the three immediately. They were sisters from a popular reality television series.
The girls, seeing a camera, immediately gravitated to it, flashing dazzling smiles and posing. The reporter, fawning, said, “We’re here at the stunning Saturn Hotel for the grand opening of Cirque des Étoiles’s latest extravaganza. Ladies, are you looking forward to the show?”
They nodded and beamed. One of the them said, “I adore the circus.”
“Except for clowns,” another of them added. “There are no clowns in this one, are there?”
The reporter laughed as if she’d said the funniest thing he’d ever heard. “I don’t think there are clowns,” he said. “But I hear the show is chock-full of surprises. And it’s starting in just a little while, so you’d better get inside.”
The sisters walked off, and the reporter turned to the at-home audience. “We can�
��t take you inside tonight’s premiere,” he said, frowning sadly. “No cameras allowed. The only way you’re going to see what takes place inside the Saturn Hotel arena is if you’ve got one of these.” He held up a metallic silver ticket and waved it around. “Which I do! So I’m going to head inside and I’ll report back later tonight. This is Trek Masters for KVAS, and I’ll talk at you later.”
“He’s wrong about one thing,” Eleni said. “You don’t need a ticket to see the show. At least not if you’re in one of the VIP suites.” She changed the channel, and the picture on the TV switched to a scene of an arena, presumably the one attached to the Saturn Hotel. A stage was set up in the center, with seats all around it. A dark blue curtain patterned with stars and planets surrounded the stage, hiding it from view.
“Is everything in place?” Eleni asked Magdalena.
Magdalena took out her phone and tapped on it. “Everything’s ready,” she confirmed. “The trucks are in position.”
“And the cargo?”
Magdalena grinned. “Hungry,” she said.
“I’m going down there now,” Eleni said. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a silver foil ticket like the one the reporter had shown. “I want to be there in person when those stupid women see what’s coming for them.”
She exited the room, leaving the television on. Magdalena sat down on the bed and continued to text on her phone as Sam watched the feed from inside the hotel’s arena. Questions swirled around in his head, and when he couldn’t stand hearing them buzzing in his brain any longer he said, “What is it you’re doing?”
“Finally,” Magdalena said, putting her phone down. “I can’t believe you waited so long to ask.”
She walked over to the desk and picked something up. Coming back over to Sam, she held a brochure out so that he could see it. “‘Cirque des Étoiles presents the Battle for Earth,’” he read. “‘A celebration of human triumph.’ That’s the show they’re doing. I get it. But what does that have to do with you?”
“Everything,” Magdalena said. “How do you think it feels seeing the worst moment in your people’s history turned into a spectacle to entertain audiences? Especially so soon after it occurred.”
Sam looked at the arena filled with people. “It’s no different than having a parade,” he said. “Like the Fourth of July.”
“It’s very different,” Magdalena said. “But since you’re on the so-called winning side, I don’t imagine you can really understand.”
“So much for wanting to be friends,” Sam said.
“I didn’t say I blame you,” Magdalena told him. “I understand it was a war. And in every war there’s a winner and loser. I also know what part you and your friends played in that fight. Everybody does, of course.” She paused and looked at the TV. “But maybe the war isn’t quite over yet.”
“What do you mean?” Sam asked. “What’s this about?”
“Haven’t you wondered why you’re here?” Magdalena said, indicating the hotel room. “And not somewhere more, you know, not here?”
Sam of course had been wondering that very thing, so didn’t bother answering.
“This is what it’s all been leading up to,” Magdalena said.
This Sam didn’t understand. “All what?”
“Everything,” said Magdalena. “The drugs. The experiments. The camps for the runaway kids. All of it.” She waited for a reaction, then said, “You still don’t get it, do you?”
“Maybe your parasite ate the part of my brain that figures out riddles,” Sam said.
Magdalena rolled her eyes like a bored teenager. “It’s all part of ‘the plan,’” she said, making air quotes around the final two words. “First, we got humans hooked on that drug that makes them think they have Legacies. Honestly, that was mostly just for fun, but it had the added bonus of making people suspicious of Legacies themselves, and particularly of the people who have them. You know, because people started hurting themselves trying to be like you. That’s bad PR. Then we figured out how to make a serum to actually give us Legacies. I think it’s obvious why we would do that. And tonight, well, tonight we’re going to remind humans why it is they should fear us.”
“How?” said Sam.
In the arena, the lights went dark. The crowd murmured excitedly.
“Shh,” Magdalena said. “It’s beginning.”
All Sam could do was watch and listen. After a moment, the curtain surrounding the arena stage fell. The audience gasped as a giant spaceship was revealed, suspended in the air and all lit up with blue and purple lights. Fog swirled around it, and projections of comets flew by, making it look as if the ship was flying through space.
“They came from the darkest reaches of the universe,” a woman’s voice intoned. “Looking for revenge.”
Ominous music filled the air, throbbing with bass that sounded like engines pulsing. The spaceship moved, turning from side to side on hidden hydraulics.
“Our planet had no warning of what was about to befall us,” the voice continued. “They arrived in darkness.”
Magdalena sighed. “That’s a little dramatic,” she said. “Space is dark, after all.”
The spaceship descended to the stage. Then it split open, the two halves pulling apart. A dozen costumed characters emerged, their faces painted in reds and yellows, their bodies covered in what looked like iridescent scales.
“Well, that’s just insulting,” Magdalena said. “They made us look like devils.”
Sam watched as the performers moved through a complicated choreography that involved tumbling and leaping. The movements were jerky, violent, primitive. They were accompanied by flashes of red and yellow lights and the sound of beating drums.
“They did not come alone,” the narrator’s voice said.
“Okay,” Magdalena said. “Pay attention. This is the good part.”
“They brought with them monsters,” said the voice. “Creatures made to hunt and kill.”
The spaceship transformed again, this time breaking into pieces as something else rose from beneath the stage. It was an egg, massive and pulsing with greenish-yellow light. The performers representing the Mogs swirled around it, almost as if they were worshipping it. They held out their hands to it. Then cracks appeared in the surface and the light inside shot out in thin beams.
Sam looked over at Magdalena. Her face was bathed in the glow from the television. Her eyes were wide, and a smile played at the corners of her mouth. She held her hands clasped in front of her as she stared at the screen. For some reason, Sam found himself frightened.
The egg broke open, revealing a huge creature inside of it. Easily twenty feet tall, it resembled a prehistoric lizard, with a spiked tail and armored hide. Its eyes glowed with yellow light. When it opened its mouth, it revealed wickedly pointed teeth.
“It’s like a piken,” Sam said, an involuntary shudder rippling through him.
“Only bigger,” Magdalena said. “Faster. And meaner.”
The creature opened its mouth and let out a ferocious screech. That was when Sam noticed something peculiar. The actors were all looking at one another and backing away. Some pointed at the beast standing on the stage, then turned and fled.
“What’s going on?” Sam said. “Why would they be afraid? They’re acting like it’s—”
Magdalena turned to him, grinning. “Real,” she said.
CHAPTER FOUR
SIX
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
“WHAT THE HELL?”
Six stood beneath the massive stage, looking up through the opening the performers used to make their way on and off. Now many of them were pushing their way inside. From the arena came the sounds of people screaming.
After phoning Lexa, she had looked for Sam, but found no clues to his whereabouts, so since her Legacies were still not working and she was feeling worse and worse, Six had decided to wait for Nine to arrive with backup. In the meantime, she had used her resemblance to the understudy for the show to
look around. She knew there was some reason the Mogs had brought her and Sam to the hotel instead of to some more secure location, and she had a feeling it had something to do with the show that was being put on. Once inside the floors that housed the Cirque des Étoiles performers, it had been easy enough to remain out of sight for a couple of hours. Nearly everyone was dressed in strange costumes, and she was one of the least interesting people walking around. Several times she had been pegged as Camilla’s understudy, but she had always made an excuse that she was needed somewhere else, and had managed to avoid participating in the show.
“Get out of the way!” a woman screamed as she pushed past Six, nearly knocking her down in her rush.
Six glanced at the monitors that showed what was happening onstage and in the arena. She’d seen the giant egg crack open to reveal a monster. Almost immediately, a stagehand next to her had said, “That’s not what’s supposed to be inside there.”
Six’s mind raced as she evaluated the situation. She knew the thing terrorizing the arena was something the Mogs were responsible for. What it was, exactly, she didn’t have a clue. That didn’t really matter, though. It had to be stopped.
But how? She had no Legacies to use against it. No weapons apart from her makeshift knife.
And yet she was still probably the only person in the place qualified to try.
“You!”
Six turned. That assistant, Allison, was standing behind her with a clipboard in one hand.
“You are not Camilla’s understudy,” she said firmly.
“I’m not sure that’s important at the moment,” Six said as a roar pierced the air.
“That costume is Cirque property.”
“Again, maybe not the real issue here,” said Six. “What are you doing about that?” She pointed to the stage.
“Not my problem,” Allison said. “Security can handle it.”
Six stared at her. The woman’s presence of mind was impressive, but she didn’t seem to understand that what was going on above them was more than a technical glitch. But then she realized that Allison had completely shut down. She was staring at the monitor with a blank-eyed expression. The clipboard in her hand trembled.
The Legacy Chronicles: Killing Giants Page 3
