I can tell Lexa doesn’t mean just today, she means all our time on Earth, surviving against the Mogadorians. I watch her out of the corner of my eye. I recognize in Lexa a similar quality to one I’ve always strived for myself. She’s a survivor. I wonder if she’s what I’ll become if this war goes on for long; a person who avoids making connections because she’s already experienced too much pain. Maybe I’m already a little too much like that.
“Yeah,” I reply awkwardly. “Thanks.”
Lexa seems satisfied with this short exchange. She probably gets me in the same way I get her and understands I don’t want some big mushy moment. With one hand, she gestures towards the western expanse of jungle.
“When we were landing, I spotted a small clearing about a mile off. I’m going to move our ship over there, away from the Sanctuary. I’ll drive it under the canopy, so they won’t be able to see it.”
“Good thinking,” I reply. “Don’t want to give away to Setrákus Ra that we’re here.”
“Yeah. There’s a good chance he’ll think you retreated.”
“Element of surprise is pretty much the only thing we’ve got going for us.”
“Sometimes that’s all it takes,” Lexa replies, and then leaves me, striding off towards her ship. Our ship, she called it.
I watch her go. There’s still that little voice shouting in the back of my mind, louder now, but still unintelligible. I don’t know what it’s trying to tell me.
“Six? Do you hear that?”
It’s Marina, walking up next to me with one hand pressed to her temple like something is giving her a migraine.
“Hear what?” I ask her.
“It’s like—it’s like a voice.” She swallows. “Oh God, maybe I’m losing my mind.”
And that’s when I realize what’s nagging at me isn’t the voice of my conscience or some other mental warning system gone haywire. It’s literally a voice in my head. One that doesn’t belong there and is desperately trying to be heard.
“You’re not crazy. I hear it, too.”
I focus on the shrill buzzing and, at that moment, it becomes perfectly clear, if still distant, like it’s coming through a tunnel.
Six! Marina! Six! Marina! Can you hear me?
Marina and I lock eyes. That little telepathic voice belongs to Ella. John mentioned that her Legacies had gotten stronger, but her telepathy must be seriously juiced up if she’s able to broadcast to both me and Marina like this. With every second that passes, her voice becomes clearer in my head.
That can only mean she’s getting closer.
“Ella!” I say these words out loud, not really used to communicating telepathically. “Where are you? What’s happ—?”
She cuts me off with a telepathic shout. What are you guys doing there? I told John! He was supposed to warn you.
“He did warn us,” Marina says. “We’re here to try to help you. And to protect the Sanctuary.”
NO! No no no. Ella sounds a little deranged and definitely panicked. He was supposed to warn you.
“Warn us about what?” I ask.
Warn you to run! Ella screams. You have to run!
RUN OR YOU DIE!
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
MARINA AND I STARE AT EACH OTHER, BOTH OF us frozen.
That’s the thing about death prophecies delivered over telepathic group chat. It’s not exactly clear who they apply to. Is Ella talking about me? Marina? Both of us? Everyone here?
Hell, I don’t believe the future is set in stone. I don’t believe in fate. We’re not running now. Not without first trying to execute our plan. After a moment of uncertainty, I see a flare of determination light in Marina’s eyes.
“I’m not running,” she says.
“Me neither,” I reply, already regretting these last few seconds we spent standing still. “Go! Get the others into position!”
Marina runs towards Sarah and the others. I bolt in the opposite direction, across the landing strip, trying to chase down Lexa. She hears the commotion and turns around at the top of the ramp, an eyebrow raised at me.
“He’s early,” I tell her.
“Shit.”
“Fly low so they won’t see you. I’m not sure how close they are.”
CLOSE! Ella screams in my brain. I flinch at the loudness.
“You know I’ve got some weapons on this thing, right?” Lexa asks, pointing her thumb towards her ship. “I can help fight them off.”
“No. It’s our only escape plan. We can’t risk the ship getting damaged.”
“You got it, Six,” Lexa replies. “I’ll get it hidden and be right back.”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “Don’t come back. We can’t risk our pilot getting clipped either. Get the ship parked and hidden, then wait. If things go bad here, I want you to be ready to get us the hell out. We might need to run.”
“All right,” Lexa says, keeping her cool. She points into the jungle to the south, where broken stone pieces of an ancient causeway are still visible. “I’ll be a mile in that way, Six. A straight line from here. Mark’s got a radio for the cockpit if you need to get in touch.”
“Got it.”
“Good luck,” Lexa replies. What she really means is survive.
Lexa gets our ship in the air and flies it low enough that the tops of the trees brush against its underbelly. As soon as she’s out of sight, I glance first towards the horizon—no Anubis yet—and then run towards the jungle on the eastern side of the Sanctuary. It’s where the others have gathered, a good place to hide out—there’s plenty of dense foliage and an overturned log we can use for cover. From there, we can see both the front of the temple and the side door. It’s the perfect place to trigger our traps. We’ll also be able to see the Anubis coming in when it does, which can’t be long now.
“Ella?” It feels weird to be speaking her name out loud, but I can’t get down this whole talking-inside-my-head thing. I wonder if Marina is still looped into the telepathic conversation. “What the hell? You told John sunset!”
Setrákus Ra didn’t stop for reinforcements. He’s too . . . excited to get here.
Well, that’s good news at least. Setrákus Ra didn’t replenish his troops after leaving New York. That means we won’t have to deal with so many. Even so, I’m still more than a little freaked out by Ella’s first dire announcement.
“What did you mean before? Who’s going to die?”
I . . . I don’t know. It was a vision. Not entirely clear. But I saw blood. So much blood. And I’m not worth it, Six! You could leave now, escape and . . .
I sense that Ella is holding something back, not being totally honest about what she knows. John told me that her Legacies were amped up, but that her clairvoyance wasn’t foolproof. I’m not about to change our plan based on her vision of a future that we might still be able to change.
“We’re staying,” I say firmly, hoping she can detect the resoluteness in my mind. “We’re getting you off that ship. Do you hear me?”
Yes.
“We could use your help. How close are you? What do you see?”
Five minutes, Six. We’re five minutes out.
Five minutes. Holy shit.
“What’s he sending against us?”
He’s coming down personally. One hundred warriors, ready to go. And I’ll be there. I won’t be able to help you, Six. I can’t . . . my body doesn’t work anymore.
One hundred. That’s a lot. We can handle them, though. At least if we catch a good chunk of them when we blow up the Skimmers.