The Legacy Chronicles: Killing Giants

by Pittacus Lore

  “What’s happening in the room?” Ghost asked.

  Magdalena shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said. “I heard a lot of banging and figured you’d left. I was right.”

  “You didn’t even check on the others?” Ghost said.

  “Why should I?” said Magdalena. “The only one I need is right here.”

  She tapped Sam on the head, as if petting him. Sam, watching Ghost, saw her expression harden. If Magdalena noticed, she didn’t say anything. Rather, she said, “We might as well transport him out of here. Back to the lab. It’s about time I remove the parasite.”

  “What about Eleni and those . . . things?” said Ghost.

  Magdalena waved a hand. “That’s her problem,” she said. “She’s the one who wanted to make a big production. Now she’s got it. She doesn’t need me to help her control the grindles. She’s got the staff.”

  Grindles. Is that what she calls them? Sam thought. He hadn’t seen one yet, so he could only imagine what they looked like. He pictured mouths full of teeth. He wondered what the rest of them looked like. And what was this staff Magdalena was talking about?

  “All right,” Magdalena said. “Let’s get moving. Come over here and whoosh us back to the lab.”

  Ghost hesitated a moment, as if she might say something. Then she walked over to where Sam and Magdalena were standing. She reached out her hand to touch Sam’s shoulder.

  Sam jumped to his feet. The chair toppled backwards. Magdalena, startled, took a few steps back. Sam grabbed Ghost and, lifting her, ran to the edge of the roof. He hesitated only a moment, then jumped with Ghost in his arms.

  The night raced by them as they fell. Sam wrapped his arms around Ghost, holding tightly and thinking about their earlier conversation. What would she choose? He thought he knew—hoped he was right. But what if he wasn’t? What if she decided to just let them both fall? He prayed she wouldn’t, but even if she did, at least the Mogs wouldn’t have his Legacies.

  The ground was rushing up at them. Sam saw lights flashing blue and red. He saw tiny specks moving, then realized that they were people running. And he saw, finally, the grindles. They were monstrous, lumbering around in the street, smashing things with their claws.

  Then they were gone. Everything was gone, and he once again felt as if he’d left his body. Ghost had chosen.

  When he reappeared, the first thing he heard was someone yelling, “Jackpot!” This was followed by the ringing of a bell and the sound of coins falling into a metal tray. Then he realized that he was lying on the floor, still hugging Ghost, and that several people were bent over staring at them from their seats on stools that were pulled up in front of slot machines.

  “Must be part of that magic show,” a woman said, taking a sip from the drink in her hand and turning her attention back to the machine she was playing.

  Sam let go of Ghost, who sat up. “It was the first place I thought of,” Ghost said.

  Sam sat up too, then got to his feet and pulled Ghost up beside him. “I’m just glad you picked someplace,” he said.

  Ghost was looking at him intently. “How long have you been back to normal?”

  “Not long,” Sam said. “Nemo gave me a shot of something. I don’t know what it is, but it seems to have worked.”

  Ghost sighed. “I’ve got to go back to her,” she said. “Magdalena, I mean. Not Nemo.”

  “Why?” Sam asked.

  Ghost shrugged. “I just do,” she said. “That’s all. But you should go help Nemo and Max. They’re right down the street. I’d teleport you there, but I’ll be in enough trouble for losing you.”

  “You don’t have to go,” Sam said.

  But Ghost was already gone.

  “How does she do that?” the woman playing slots nearby asked. “Is there a trapdoor or something under there?”

  Sam ignored her, turning and making his way across the casino. The place was packed, and he wondered why everybody wasn’t in the streets, given the commotion going on outside the Saturn Hotel. When he neared the casino doors, however, he saw that there were police there, keeping people from leaving. Also, several casino employees were handing out vouchers for free game play and the buffet.

  “All-you-can-eat crab legs!” a smiling woman said, waving a piece of paper at Sam. “And a chocolate fountain?”

  Sam pressed by her and tried to leave, but a policeman stopped him. “You need to stay inside, sir,” he said. “There’s a downed power line, and it’s not safe to walk out there quite yet. But the crew is working on it, and it should be fixed shortly.”

  “That’s not true, dude,” a young man nearby said. “There are freaking monsters out there. We saw them. Here. Look.”

  He dragged Sam away from the doors and held out his phone. Sam looked at the photo. It was of Six. Behind her was one of the grindles.

  “We were right there, man. Right. There. Don’t believe what the cops are saying. They just don’t want anyone to know.”

  Sam wasn’t listening. He was staring at Six. She was all right. He had to get to her.

  He turned and ran back through the casino, looking for another exit. He found several, but all of them were blocked by guards and a phalanx of nervous-looking casino workers armed with buffet passes. Looking at them, Sam got an idea.

  He closed his eyes, focusing his concentration on the room full of slot machines. Their internal machinery whirred and clicked as levers were pulled and buttons were pressed. He reached out to the closest one, telling the gears to settle into a winning position. A moment later, the sound of a payoff alarm jangled and someone shouted in delight as tokens poured out.

  Sam kept going. Around the room, machines began to clatter and ring as everyone playing them became a winner. Sam opened his eyes and smiled at the sight of people greedily catching tokens in their hands and in the big plastic cups designed to hold the payouts. But their excitement quickly turned to chaos as the machines kept spitting out tokens and they began to fall to the floor, where other players knelt to scoop them up.

  “Hey!” a man shouted, shoving aside another man who was busily cramming tokens into his pockets. “Those are mine!”

  The men began to wrestle. Similar skirmishes erupted throughout the room as more and more of the little metal coins flew out. The police guarding the doors abandoned their posts to break up the worst of the fights.

  Sam took advantage of the disruption to run to one of the now-unguarded doors. He pushed it open and looked around. He was at the rear of the casino, in an alley built for delivery trucks and trash cans rather than the feet of tourists. There were no cops to stop him from leaving.

  He walked to the street. Looking to his right, he saw the towering form of the Saturn Hotel. Flashing lights surrounded it. Helicopters buzzed nearby. And in the middle of the lights he saw the forms of the grindles.

  He started running.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  MAX AND NEMO

  LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

  MAX STARED AT THE SPOT WHERE SAM HAD BEEN.

  The temperature in the room had dropped considerably thanks to Spike, and Max’s breath fogged the air. Beside him, Nemo continued to use her telekinesis to keep the door shut, while on the other side, Freakshow was working just as hard to open it.

  “Max!” Nemo said, trying to get his attention.

  “She took him,” Max said. “He’s gone.”

  Nemo glanced over. In the moment that her attention was diverted, her telekinesis faltered. The door burst open and Freakshow stood there, a triumphant grin on her face. Spike, beside her, shook his hands as if they were worn out from using his Legacy.

  “You could have just opened it,” Freakshow said.

  Max faced her, his hands balled at his sides. “Where did she take Sam?” he said, his voice tight with anger.

  “Don’t know and don’t care,” Freakshow said. “He’s not my problem now. You are.”

  Max raised his hands.

  “Look at you, getting all forceful,” Fr
eakshow said, laughing. “What’s your Legacy again? Oh, right. Translating. Not exactly a great offense.” She looked at Nemo. “And I don’t see any water here.”

  “I don’t need water to kick your ass,” Nemo said, holding her hands palms out and sending a telekinetic blast at the girl.

  Freakshow put her own hands up, blocking the attack. The girls were evenly matched, and neither was doing much in the way of hurting the other. Spike and Max were likewise cancelling one another out. The only difference was that Max and Nemo were trapped inside the room, and the only way out was through Freakshow and Spike.

  Max looked at Nemo. As much as it pained him to admit it, she was stronger than he was telekinetically. Also, she was faster. If one of them was going to have a better chance than the other of getting out and getting help, it was Nemo. He could help her, but it meant doing something he was afraid to do.

  He took a deep breath and charged at Freakshow. Thinking that neither of them would dare get within touching distance of her, this took her by surprise. Max tackled her, shoving her into Spike. The three of them went down to the floor.

  “Run!” Max shouted as Freakshow grabbed his wrist.

  Immediately, Max saw himself on the street in New Orleans. Ghost lay on the ground nearby, bleeding. A little way off, a man had his arm around Nemo’s neck. In his other hand was a gun.

  “Help Ghost!” Nemo yelled.

  Max stepped towards his friend.

  “Do it and I’ll kill her!” the man holding Nemo said.

  Max looked at Ghost. Her chest was rising and falling irregularly. He knew she was dying.

  “Do it, Max!” Nemo said.

  Max looked from one friend to the other. If he helped Ghost, Nemo would die. If he did nothing, Ghost would die and the man might kill Nemo anyway. He felt powerless, hopeless, useless. He didn’t even know how to use his Legacies to help.

  Ghost turned her head, looking at him with eyes that were quickly dimming. “Max,” she whispered. “Help me.” She lifted her hand, holding it out to him.

  Max cried out in frustration and rage. He took a step forward. There was a shot. He started to turn his head, but then the vision vanished. He was lying on the floor in the hotel, looking up at the ceiling. Beside him, Freakshow was standing up.

  “Knock it off,” she said to him.

  Behind her, Spike was rubbing his face.

  “Why didn’t you stop her?” Freakshow said accusingly.

  “She caught me by surprise,” Spike said. He looked at his fingers. Blood covered the tips, and more dribbled from his split lip. “And she kicked me in the mouth jumping over us. Should we go after her?”

  Freakshow took a phone from her pocket. “Nah,” she said. “I’ll text Seamus and Boomer. Let them take care of her. It’s not like she can do much of anything. Her Legacy is useless here. We’ll wait here for Magdalena. That was the plan. Then Ghost can teleport us all out of this place.”

  “I wish we could see what’s going on out there,” Spike said. “How’d we get stuck with babysitting anyway?”

  “Just tie him up,” Freakshow said. She looked down at Max. “And don’t even think of trying to be a big hero again. Whatever it was you saw, I’ll make you see it over and over until your mind can’t take it anymore and it breaks.”

  Spike bent down and roughly pulled Max to his feet. Pushing him over to a chair, he forced him into it. “Stay there,” he warned, then went and took the belt from a bathrobe hanging on the back of the door. He used it to tie Max’s hands behind his back.

  “I don’t get it,” Max said. “What do you guys think the Mogs are going to give you for being their sidekicks?”

  “I’m nobody’s sidekick,” Freakshow said.

  Max snorted. “Whatever you say, sidekick.”

  Freakshow stormed over, holding out her hands. “Sounds like you want to be back in nightmare land,” she said. “What’s your worst fear, anyway? Finding yourself in your underwear in front of the whole school?”

  “What’s yours?” Max shot back. “Everyone finding out that without your Legacy you’re a scared little bully who’s pretty much afraid of everything?”

  Freakshow’s face turned red, and she started to come towards Max. Spike grabbed her arm. “Let it go,” he said.

  Freakshow shook Spike’s hand off. She pointed a finger at Max. “Once they tell me they don’t need you anymore, you’re dead. That is, if the operation to get that thing crawling around in your head out doesn’t kill you first.” She laughed meanly.

  Max didn’t say anything. He didn’t want to give away the fact that the parasite was dead and couldn’t hurt him anymore. But Spike was looking at him with a peculiar expression. Max caught his eye for a moment, then looked down.

  “How come you’re not sick?” Spike said. “Like Sam is. If you’ve got a parasite in you, you should be all messed up, and you’re not.”

  Max shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe I don’t really have one in me. Maybe Magdalena just wanted me to think I did.”

  Spike shook his head. “Uh-uh,” he said. “She made a big deal about it. You’ve got one, all right.”

  “Then maybe it’s not working,” Max said. “I don’t know.”

  He hoped Spike would let it go. He didn’t.

  “Or maybe someone figured out a way to stop it,” Spike said.

  He was looking around on the floor. Now he bent down and picked something up. It was a hypodermic needle.

  “What’s that?” Freakshow said.

  “Looks like somebody got injected with something,” Spike said. He waved the syringe back and forth. “Any idea what was in this?” he asked Max.

  Max thought about denying knowing anything. But he knew they wouldn’t believe him anyway, so he took another tack. “It’s supposed to be something to slow it down,” he said. “Until we can get him back to HGA.”

  “Did they give it to you too?” Spike asked.

  Max nodded.

  “Well, it seems to be working,” Spike said. “So it will probably work on Sam, too.” He looked at Freakshow. “We need to let Magdalena know. If Sam is back to normal, he’s dangerous.”

  “And if they got it into Six, she’s even more of a problem,” Freakshow added, taking out her phone and texting furiously.

  Max looked at the floor. He’d tried to help, but now things were even worse. He hoped Nemo was having better luck.

  Nemo ran down the corridor of the hotel. She was almost to the elevators, when she realized that she had no idea where she was going. She stopped and looked behind her. Spike and Freakshow weren’t following her. This was more a worry than it was a relief. It meant that they didn’t think they needed to.

  She almost went back. Leaving Max alone with the two of them didn’t sit right with her. But she needed to get help. As much as she hated to admit it, her and Max’s Legacies were no match for Spike’s. And even though Freakshow’s Legacy wasn’t something that could flat-out hurt them, it was even more terrifying. She knew the girl had used it on Max, and it killed her to think of what he might have seen, might even be seeing right now. He’d put himself at great risk creating an opportunity for Nemo to get away. She was determined not to waste it.

  She took her phone out. Now she regretted not sending Nine a text letting him know what she and Max were doing. But she would fix that now. When she saw that she had one from him, her heart leaped.

  I HAVE 6. ON OUR WAY. WHERE R U?

  Even though she was worried, she laughed at his use of textspeak. She started to reply, when the elevator doors dinged. She looked up just in time to see Seamus and Boomer coming out.

  “Going somewhere?” Seamus asked.

  Nemo turned and ran. Her phone slipped from her hand and fell to the carpet, where she accidentally kicked it and sent it sliding even farther out of reach. There was no time to bend and retrieve it, so she left it behind, cursing her clumsiness as she tried to outrun the two boys, who were hot on her heels. She swore as she
saw Seamus pause to pick her phone up and slip it into his pocket.

  She had no idea where to go, and so she just ran, turning when she came to a corner and continuing down another hallway. When she spied a red sign at the end saying EMERGENCY EXIT, she doubled her efforts. Reaching the door, she glanced at the warning there saying ALARM WILL SOUND and hit the push bar hard. True to the sign’s word, a loud buzzing sound began ringing.

  Behind the door was a set of stairs going both up and down. Nemo considered going down, then decided that was the way Seamus and Boomer would expect her to go, and so she chose to go up. She hoped that maybe she could open the door on the next floor and retrace her steps back to the elevators.

  When she reached the next landing, however, she discovered that it was a dead end. The door in front of her said ROOF ACCESS ONLY. She was about to turn around, when she heard footsteps coming behind her.

  She opened the door. A cool breeze hit her in the face as she stepped out onto the roof of the Saturn Hotel. She paused, trying to figure out where she could go, but the sound of the boys’ voices behind her forced her forward. She ran blindly, heading for the center of the roof, where she saw a huge statue of the planet Saturn rising up into the night sky. She hoped she could find someplace there to hide.

  Seamus and Boomer were not far behind.

  “There she is!” Boomer called.

  Nemo reached the base of the statue, where she discovered a ladder set into one side. She put her hand on it and started to climb. As she did, Magdalena appeared from around the other side. When she saw Nemo, she clapped her hands.

  “Oh! I love surprises!” she said.

  Nemo ignored her and climbed. Magdalena didn’t have any Legacies, and right now she was the least of Nemo’s worries. She kept going, reaching the top of the platform, where she paused and looked down. Seamus and Boomer were standing beside Magdalena, looking up at her.

  “There’s nothing to turn into a bomb,” Boomer said, sounding irritated.

  “We don’t need one of your bombs,” Seamus said. “I’ll just call some of my friends.”