The Legacy Chronicles_Up in Smoke

by Pittacus Lore

  The cockroaches were now covering the torsos of the two men and starting to crawl over their faces. The men saw the boy pulling Sam away, but when they opened their mouths to shout, the bugs scurried inside. The men choked, trying to spit out the roaches, and Sam heard the insects’ bodies crunching between their teeth.

  The boy yanked hard on Sam’s arm, and they ran, roaches slipping from Sam’s clothes and skin. They headed for the far end of the deck, where another door awaited them. The boy pulled it open, practically pushing Sam through, and followed behind him. They were at the top of a flight of stairs.

  “Hurry,” the boy said. “I can only control the bugs for so long when I’m out of visual contact.”

  “Seamus,” Sam said, the name coming back to him. “You’re Seamus McKenna.”

  The boy didn’t answer.

  “I know your dad,” Sam said as they descended into the ship.

  “We can talk about that later,” Seamus said. “Right now, we’ve got to get to the others.”

  “Others?” Sam said. “What others?”

  Again, Seamus didn’t answer. He just kept moving, taking Sam down corridors and more stairs, going deeper into the ship. They passed through another doorway and were in a room filled with machinery. The engine room. Sam reached out, trying to connect with the throbbing, noisy heart of the ship. Normally, it would have been easy. But he still felt nothing.

  “Through here,” Seamus said, opening yet another door.

  Sam followed behind. This time they were in a room. And they were not alone. A dozen other teenagers were there, all of them staring at Sam.

  “Hi,” he said, waving awkwardly.

  Seamus turned to him. “Did they switch you off?” he asked. “I’m guessing they did, or you wouldn’t have needed rescuing.”

  “Yeah,” Sam said. “They did.”

  “Great,” said a girl standing nearby. “Now they know about us, and what did we get out of it?”

  “All they know is that I helped him escape,” Seamus said. “They don’t know anything else.”

  The girl snorted. “It won’t take them long to figure it out,” she said. “Not with half of us missing at roll call tonight.”

  “We could show up,” another girl said. “It’s not too late.”

  “Yeah, it is, Alice,” the first girl said. “The war is on.”

  “War?” Sam said. “Does someone want to tell me what’s going on?”

  “We mutinied,” Seamus said. “And like Svetlana said, that means war when Dennings figures out what’s happening.”

  Sam was beginning to put the pieces together. The kids Dennings had taken in had turned against him. At least some of them. He looked around the room. “You’re half of the total number?” he asked.

  “More or less,” Seamus said.

  “And the others?” said Sam. “They’re loyal to Dennings?”

  “Or afraid of him,” said Svetlana.

  “Or both,” said Seamus.

  Sam nodded. “I get it,” he said.

  “When we heard you were here, we thought it might be our best chance,” Seamus explained.

  “Except you’re broken,” said Svetlana. “So we’re on our own.”

  Sam ignored the insult. He could tell that underneath the brash exterior, the girl was probably terrified. There were a dozen of them against at least that many others. Sam could feel the nervous energy in the room. Svetlana was obviously one of the leaders. If she panicked, they would all start to panic. He had to get them pulled back together.

  “My Legacies might not be working at the moment,” he said. “But I have something just as good, and that’s experience. I’ve walked out of a Mog prison after they tortured me. I’ve fought alongside the original Garde. It takes a lot more than someone like Dennings, or Cutter, or Bray to make me afraid. Besides, our side has captured Drac. Also, I was able to send a message to my friends telling them where we are.” He hoped talking about them all as if they were on the same team would make them feel better.

  “Do you know for sure that they got this message?” Svetlana asked him.

  “No,” Sam said, deciding that being truthful was better than giving them hope and then disappointing them if Six hadn’t received his email. “But I think they did. And that means they’ll be coming.”

  Murmurs passed through the room, and he saw several faces light up with relief. He was winning them over.

  “Let’s start by figuring out what we’ve got to work with,” he said. “Svetlana, what do you do?”

  Svetlana’s mouth quirked in a cocky grin. “I make bombs out of things,” she said.

  “Useful,” Sam said. “Great. And you?” he asked, pointing at a boy.

  The boy disappeared, then came back. “Invisibility,” he said.

  Sam continued around the room, asking each person what their Legacy was and making mental notes about how each could be used in a battle. When he was done taking inventory, he turned to Seamus. “What about the other side?” he said. “What Legacies are we up against?”

  Seamus thought for a moment. “Gawain manipulates electricity,” he said, thinking.

  “Parvati duplicates objects,” said Svetlana.

  “Scotty teleports,” Alice said.

  “Him I’ve met,” said Sam.

  Seamus and the others listed another nine or ten kids and their Legacies. By the time they were done, Sam had a pretty good picture of the fight they were in for.

  “The real danger is the guys without Legacies, though,” Seamus said. “They’ll kill us without even thinking about it. To them, we’re freaks. Not even human.”

  Sam thought about the pair who had hunted Nemo, Rena and the others. The ones who had killed James Kirk. They had acted as if the kids were animals, trophies that they could kill for sport. What kind of people did something like that? Were the men (he had seen no women on the boat other than the girls with Legacies) working for Dennings the same? Or did they just do what they were told as long as they were paid?

  Either way, they were the enemy, and Sam had learned the hard way that you usually didn’t have time to try to change someone’s mind when their primary interest was bringing you down. He wondered if these kids understood that.

  He motioned to Seamus and Svetlana. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

  The three of them stepped away from the group.

  “Dennings has been making you guys fight each other, right?”

  Svetlana’s face hardened, and she nodded curtly.

  “Are the people in this room the ones who usually won, or the ones who usually lost?” Sam asked.

  “I always won,” Svetlana said. She hesitated. “The others . . .” She shrugged.

  “The others—the ones still siding with Dennings—aren’t the nicest kids,” Seamus said.

  “Cowards,” Svetlana said sharply. “Cheaters. They think he will make them rich. He promises them the world. But he lies.”

  “The kids here, they want to get out,” Seamus said. “They’ll fight.”

  Sam nodded. “I’m sure they will,” he said. “But Dennings and his crew will fight dirty. We need to be ready for that. You two are the ones who got everyone together, right?”

  Seamus shrugged, while Svetlana nodded. For a moment, Sam felt as if he was looking at younger versions of himself and Six, and he wondered again if Six was okay. But he had to push the thought away and concentrate on what lay ahead.

  “I need you two to be the generals here,” he said. “The rest are going to follow your leads. And I need you to follow my lead. Okay?”

  Seamus and Svetlana exchanged a look, came to an unspoken agreement and nodded.

  “Good,” said Sam. “Now, let’s talk about logistics. This is a big ship. We need to figure out what our endgame is and how we’re going to achieve it. At the moment, we can’t get off this ship. That means we either need to take out Dennings and his side or contain them.”

  “I thought you said help was coming,” Svetlan
a reminded him.

  “It is,” Sam said. “They are. But until they get here, we have to act as if we’re on our own. So, what’s the situation?”

  “This lower deck is a series of interconnected rooms,” Seamus said. They all lead into and out of each other. There are six sets of stairs going up to the next deck—two in the engine room, then two more at each end of the ship. If we secure the doors at the top of those stairs, nobody can come down.”

  “Or go up,” Svetlana said.

  “We’ve already been through this,” Seamus said. “It’s the most effective way to—”

  Svetlana cut him off. “To trap us inside.” She turned to Sam. “Please explain to bug boy here that sealing ourselves inside this giant tin can is not the best idea.”

  “She’s right,” Sam said.

  Svetlana shot Seamus a smug look.

  “But narrowing the potential field of battle is a good tactic when we’re outnumbered,” he continued. “What I suggest is sealing off one end of the ship. That forces them to come at us from one direction. It also allows us an escape route if we need one. We should also have some people on the upper decks. What’s the name of the guy who goes invisible?”

  “Walter,” Seamus said.

  “He’s an obvious pick,” said Sam. “And who is the best at offensive attacks?”

  Seamus cocked his head at Svetlana. “She is,” he said. “She can turn almost anything into a bomb.”

  “Okay,” Sam said. “Then Svetlana, Walter and I go topside. The rest of you will stay down here. We need to seal those doors any way we can.”

  “Alice can manipulate fire,” Seamus said. “She can weld them shut.”

  “Good thinking,” said Sam. “You’re in charge of making that happen. Svetlana, you get Walter and come with me.”

  Svetlana left, walking towards Walter. Seamus stayed by Sam. “What if something happens to you?” he asked.

  “It won’t,” said Sam. “But if it does, you and Svetlana keep everyone safe until help gets here.”

  A worried look passed over Seamus’s face but quickly disappeared. Then he said, “You mentioned my father before.”

  “He’s who I’m working with,” Sam said. “I recognized you from the picture on his desk.”

  “Is he coming?”

  “I don’t know,” Sam answered. “He could be. I know he’s been looking hard for you and can’t wait to see you.”

  Seamus turned away, staring at the group of kids behind them. Sam sensed that there was something he wanted to say.

  “It’s going to be okay,” he said, trying to reassure the boy.

  Seamus looked back at him. “How well do you know my father?”

  “Not very,” Sam admitted. “We’ve only been working with him for a little while. But he seems like a great guy.”

  “There’s something you need to know about him,” Seamus said.

  Before he could continue, the sound of shots being fired echoed from somewhere on the ship. A moment later, a girl appeared in the room as if she had walked right through the wall. She was holding a hand over her upper arm, and blood was on her fingers.

  “Ghost!” Sam exclaimed.

  Ghost looked at him. “They’re coming,” she said.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  SIX

  SOMEWHERE AROUND GUADALUPE ISLAND, MEXICO

  AS THE ZODIAC SKIMMED OVER THE OCEAN, SIX looked up at the sky. Clouds covered the moon and obscured the stars. She had no idea how Stubby knew which direction to go in, but he piloted the inflatable without hesitation. To the starboard side, the outline of the island of Guadalupe was a solid patch of black against the clouds, dotted with occasional twinkles of light. The air was warm, and inside her wet suit Six was sweating.

  Beside her, Nemo sat quietly. Six looked over at her. “You okay?”

  Nemo nodded. “My stomach is a little queasy,” she said. “I’ll be fine.”

  The Zodiac rounded the northernmost point of the island, and farther out to sea, Six saw more lights.

  “There she is,” Stubby shouted over the noise of the motor. He steered the inflatable in a direct line to intercept the ship.

  As the lights grew closer, Six’s desire to be on board grew stronger. Sam was on that boat. At least, she hoped he was. And whoever else is there had better pray that he’s all right, she thought.

  Not long after, Stubby cut the motor. The Zodiac floated on the ocean, rising and falling with the swells. The ship was now visible as a huge shadow against the sky. Lights filled some of the windows and highlighted parts of the decks, but the ship itself was eerily silent.

  “I don’t want to bring her any closer than this,” Stubby told them. He was looking through binoculars. “I don’t see any guards, but you never know. And the sound could give us away.”

  “Isn’t it strange that there’s nobody on deck?” Six asked.

  “Yes,” Stubby said. “Then again, maybe they’re all below, watching one of those fights they put on.”

  Or maybe something is wrong, Six thought. Because she didn’t want to worry Nemo, she kept that to herself, but she looked over at Nine and caught his eye. He nodded, indicating he understood her concern and shared it.

  “All right,” Nine said. “Here’s the plan. Compass reading on the ship is seventy-four degrees, so set your wrist gauge for that. They’re illuminated, but the light isn’t enough for anyone to see through the water. Keep your directional arrow between the notched marks on the dial, and you’ll be fine. Once we reach the ship, we’ll use what I’ve got in my bag to scale the side.” He pointed to Nemo. “If anything happens to me and Six, or if we tell you to, you get yourself over the side and back here. Got it?”

  “Got it,” Nemo said.

  As Six and Nine slid into their scuba gear, Nemo donned a weight belt and put on her fins. When they were all suited up, they slipped over the side of the Zodiac and bobbed in the water.

  “McKenna is on his way to Ensenada,” Nine reminded Stubby. “He’s arranged for backup there and will contact your ship as soon as he arrives. He knows we can’t wait for him to get here, so he’ll be the cleanup crew if necessary. We need to get Sam out of there before Bray decides to cut him open.”

  “I’ll be waiting right here for you when you need a ride home,” Stubby said. “Good luck.”

  Nine turned to Six and Nemo. “We’ll descend to thirty feet,” he said. “Go nice and slow.”

  “You just worry about keeping the sharks away,” Six said, raising her inflator hose and letting the air out of her BC, the inflatable vest that was keeping her afloat.

  She sank beneath the surface. With her only light the faint glow coming from her dive computer, it was almost totally dark. She looked for Nine’s and Nemo’s lights, found them, and concentrated on clearing her ears as they sank together into the ocean. When they were at thirty feet, she added some air to her BC so that she stopped sinking and hovered in the water, kicking her fins gently as she made her body horizontal.

  She looked at her compass, oriented herself, and started swimming towards the ship. Nemo was between her and Nine. As they moved silently through the water, Six saw shadows—big ones—pass below them. Then they sank out of sight. Great whites. Had Nine called them, or had he sent them away? She felt oddly strengthened by their presence, as if the sharks were escorting them to the ship.

  For a long time, there was nothing ahead of them but night. Then a dark spot appeared in the gloom, and Six realized that they had reached the ship. They swam some more, and the hull appeared in front of them, a solid wall of steel. When they were close enough to touch it, Nine gave them the signal to ascend to the surface. They went slowly, adjusting to the change in pressure, and a few minutes later were once again on the surface. This time, they floated next to the massive ship. They were at the aft end.

  As they floated, they heard noises coming from inside the ship, muffled bangs and cracks.

  “That doesn’t sound normal,” Six said.

&nb
sp; “No, it doesn’t,” said Nine as he opened the sack he had brought with him. “We’d better hurry.”

  He handed Six and Nemo four objects each. Two of them looked like clogs that had been cut short, so that they covered just the toes of the foot. The other two were circular, with one flat side and a pocket on the reverse side that they could slip their hand into.

  “Take off your fins and slip the ends of your feet into these,” Nine said, showing them how to put the shoe-like devices over their dive boots. “The tips have heavy-duty magnets in them. Then put your hands inside the other two.”

  Six and Nemo followed his example, handing him their fins, which he put into the bag.

  “Now, you basically climb up the side like a spider,” Nine said.

  “What about our tanks and BCs?” Six asked.

  “And my weight belt?” Nemo added.

  “We’ll leave them here, tethered to another magnetic clip,” Nine said. “Whether they’ll be here when we come back, or if we can get to them, is another matter. But this is where they’ll be. Oh, and one more thing.” He reached out and placed his palm on Nemo’s forehead.

  “What the hell?” Nemo exclaimed. “Your hand is hot.”

  Nine pulled his hand away, and Nemo rubbed her forehead. “What did you do?”

  “Transferred one of my Legacies to you,” Nine said. “Now you can talk to animals.”

  “Why’d you do that?”

  “In case you have to go into the water without me,” said Nine. “But don’t get too excited. It’s not permanent.”

  “What if I have to go into the water without you?” Six asked.

  “You’re still out of order, remember?” Nine said. “So just swim fast. You guys ready?”

  The girls slipped out of their gear. Then they began climbing.

  “The trick is to not look down,” Nine said as they slowly made their way up the side of the ship.

  It took about ten minutes to reach the top. There, they pulled themselves over a railing and found themselves on an empty deck. They hid the climbing equipment behind a barrel, then looked around.

  “Where is everybody?” Nemo said. “I thought this place would be crawling with people.”