I realize that Marina’s hand has begun to emanate a painful cold. Instead of jerking my hand away, I let my Lumen turn on. I push heat back at her.
“Without Sarah, I don’t care about what happens to me,” I continue. “I just want to destroy them, destroy Setrákus Ra, once and for all. That’s all that matters anymore.”
Marina nods. She doesn’t judge me for these words. I think she understands. She knows what it’s like to want to throw yourself forwards, maintain momentum to keep from breaking down.
“I only hope there’s something left of the people we were, something left of us to rebuild, when it’s all over,” Marina says quietly.
“I hope so too,” I admit.
“Good,” she replies. “Now, let’s get started.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
LEXA KEEPS THE FLIGHT BACK FROM NIAGARA Falls low and cautious. We don’t want to ping on any Mogadorian radar if they’re sending more ships into the area. I stand beside her in the cockpit, the waterfall battleground receding behind us.
Adam’s voice comes in clear and excited over the comm.
“I’ve got a lot of chatter from the warship in Chicago. They’re missing some Skimmers they sent to Niagara Falls. And that other ship from Toronto is on its way there; you’re getting out just ahead of it,” Adam reports. “The trueborn in command is worried that his Skimmers haven’t checked in. I assume that’s you guys’ doing, right?”
I chuckle. “Not us. The newbies.”
“Oh, good for them,” Adam replies, his surprise audible.
“Crushing a crew of Mogs is like initiation,” I say casually. Lexa glances up at this, a tight frown on her face. I look away from her.
“Probably helped that the vatborn had orders to take them alive,” Adam adds.
“Really?”
“Yeah. I guess the commander wanted to make a gift of them to Setrákus Ra.”
I roll my eyes. “Well, he screwed up.”
“Anyway,” Adam continues, “this commander, now he’s requesting permission to divert from his position in Chicago, especially since the bombardment orders haven’t come in like promised. He wants to lock down the Loralite stone at Niagara Falls in case more Garde teleport through.”
I grimace. That’s exactly what Ella was worried about.
“They won’t find anything,” I tell Adam. “We took care of the stone.”
Back at Niagara Falls, while Sam and Daniela helped the four new Garde onto the ship, I walked over to where Ella was having a weird little commune with the outcropping of cobalt-blue rock. She had her arms wrapped around the smooth stone, her cheek pressed against its side. It throbbed with Loric energy, and for a moment I was worried that she might be about to teleport away. Or do something even weirder.
“Ella, you ready to go . . . ?” I asked softly, not wanting to disturb her.
She didn’t respond right away. The Loralite stone flickered brightly for a moment, suddenly transparent, veins of electric energy visible inside. Then, a moment later, the stone faded, the cobalt blue seeped away and it looked dull, like any number of rocks jutting out around the falls. Ella turned around, frowned and dusted off her hands.
“Ready,” she said to me.
I didn’t move. Instead, I pointed at the stone. “What did you just do?”
“I turned it off,” she replied. “Don’t want anybody teleporting here if the Mogadorians know about it.”
I looked from the stone to Ella. “You can do that? Control them?”
“Didn’t know until I tried,” Ella replied, her eyes literally aglow. “Since the Sanctuary, since I . . . fell into the energy, I’ve felt connected.”
“Connected to what? Lorien?”
“That, yes. And Earth. Everything. It’s fading, though. Whatever Legacy did to me, I don’t think the effects are going to last.” Ella started walking towards the ship. “Come on. I need to go have a very unpleasant conversation with John.”
I nodded like I understood what Ella was talking about. I decided it was in all our best interests just to let Ella do her thing. She’d been through a lot, seen more than I could imagine. Let her handle the mystical. I’d handle the dirty work.
“Six, you there?”
Adam’s impatient voice comes over the radio. I’d spaced out, thinking about Ella and her effect on the Loralite. From her seat behind the controls, Lexa peers up at me with a raised eyebrow.
“Yeah, sorry, I’m here,” I reply. “What’s the response been from the Mogs? They going to move that warship?”
“They don’t know what the hell they’re doing. With Setrákus Ra out of commission, they’re all just yelling at each other. Some think Setrákus Ra would appreciate the commander’s decision to pursue Garde; others think he’s mad to question Beloved Leader’s orders to stay put. You really messed up their whole operation, Six.”
I’d be lying to myself if I didn’t feel a bit of pride at Adam’s words. Still, a nagging voice in the back of my mind knows that it wasn’t good enough. Eventually, Setrákus Ra will rise, and this temporary advantage will be gone.
“Their entire chain of command is starting to unravel,” Adam continues, energized. “I mean, there’s no page in the Great Book that tells the Mogs what to do if their immortal Leader suddenly vanishes. John and I think we should seriously be exploiting this before Setrákus Ra wakes up and reasserts control.”
“You have ideas?”
“I think so.” Adam pauses. “They might be a little dangerous, though.”
“What isn’t dangerous?” I reply.
When Adam’s off the comm, Lexa catches my eye. I can tell that she’s got something to say, so I linger in the cockpit.
“Those kids we picked up . . . ,” she says quietly.
“Yeah?”
“They seem ready to you?”
“Were the nine of us ready when we boarded this ship?” I reply.
Lexa gives me a look. I stare back, and she eventually turns to the front window, letting the matter drop. I leave her side and open the door to the passenger area, lean against the frame and observe our new arrivals.
There’s Fleur, her blond hair pulled back and damp with sweat and river water. I get why Nine was panting like a cartoon dog when he saw her in the video. She’s beautiful. Except now there are blaster burns up and down her arms, on her shoulders, the side of her neck—charred skin, blisters, bubbles of flesh. She shivers as Daniela carefully presses a cold compress to her wounds.
“You’re gonna be just fine,” Daniela says to her. “John can heal these burns right up. Good as new.”
Fleur nods, though the motion seems pretty uncomfortable. She has to grit her teeth to respond to Daniela in accented English. “You’ve— This has happened to you before, yes?”
Daniela blows one of her braids out of her face. “Actually, I’ve been pretty good about not getting shot so far. Only been doing this whole defend-the-planet shit since the invasion started, though. So I got time.”
“Oh,” Fleur replies, seeming almost disappointed. “I thought you were one of them. Or at least had, ah, been doing this for a while.”
Daniela beams at that but shakes her head. It’s crazy to me that Daniela is being seen as a veteran Garde. She survived New York City; that’s no small accomplishment. Doesn’t mean she isn’t green. Us original Garde had years to train for a battle like this. These new kids don’t have that luxury. They’re getting thrown right into the mix.
Daniela notices me watching her. She leaves Fleur with the cold compress and walks over to join me in the door of the cockpit.
“All good?” I ask her.
“They’ll live,” she replies. “The bug kid, he won’t let me look at him.”
She’s talking about Bertrand. Through the open door, I can see him lying on his side in the medical bay. He looks like a freaking teddy bear. He’s got blaster burns, same as Fleur, but most of them are on his back and butt.
“Why not?” I ask Daniela.
“Either he doesn’t want me to see his ass, or he’s embarrassed that he ran from the Mogs,” she replies.