A friend of mine set up a safe house for me. Way off the grid. A place where we can work on exposing those pale freaks to the world. If you can get in touch, I’ll find a way to send you the coordinates. We’re on to something big. Something international. I don’t even know what to do with it.
If you’re reading these, if you’re still in contact with John, now would be a really good time to show up. I need your help.
– Mark
Sarah turns to me, her eyes wide with sudden passion, face set determinedly – I’ve seen that look
before, know it well. It’s the look she gives me right before telling me she wants to do something
dangerous.
Without her even saying anything, I already know that Sarah wants to find Mark James.
The dashboard clock reads 7:45. We’ve got fifteen minutes until the bus leaves for Alabama.
I’ve got fifteen minutes left with Sarah Hart.
Fifteen minutes was about how long it took Adam to encrypt Sarah’s email against any Mogadorian
hackers. She got off a quick note to Mark, who replied almost immediately with an address for a
restaurant in Huntsville. He told Sarah he’d watch the place for the next few days and, if she really
was Sarah Hart, he’d pick her up there and spirit her off to his secret hideout. At least Mark’s being careful, I told myself. That gives me confidence that Sarah will be safe. After that brief
communication, Adam immediately wiped both email accounts from the internet.
Now, here we are.
We’re parked in front of the bus station in downtown Baltimore, the place bustling with activity
even at sunset. I’m behind the wheel, Sarah in the passenger seat next to me. We fit right in, just two teenagers sitting in a crappy car, in the middle of saying good-bye.
‘I keep waiting for the part where you try talking me out of going,’ Sarah says, her smile a little
sad. ‘You’ll say it’s too dangerous, we’ll argue, you’ll lose and I’ll end up going anyway.’
‘It is dangerous,’ I reply, turning so I can face Sarah. ‘And I don’t want you to go.’
‘That’s more like it.’
She takes my hand, lacing her fingers through mine. With my other hand, I run my fingers through
her hair, eventually letting them rest gently on the back of her neck. I pull her in a little closer.
‘But it’s no more dangerous than staying here with me,’ I finish.
‘That’s the overprotective John I know and love,’ she replies.
‘I’m not –’ I start to protest, but cut myself off when I see her teasing smile.
‘These good-byes never get any easier, do they?’
I shake my head. ‘No. They really don’t.’
We fall silent, holding tight to each other, watching the minutes on the dashboard clock slowly
blink away.
Back at the textile factory, we didn’t need to have a huge discussion about Sarah going to find Mark
James. Everyone seemed to agree that it was the right thing to do. If Mark really had managed to
acquire some crucial information on the Mogadorians, and if he was risking his life to help us, then
we needed to return the favor. But the rest of the Garde was still missing. And Adam’s plan to strike
the Mogadorian stronghold in D.C. seemed more and more like the smartest play, a necessary strike to
gather intelligence and show those bastards that we were still in this fight. There’s too much
happening for us to put all our resources into catching up with Mark.
Sarah made it easy by volunteering.
Of course, sending her off alone on a potentially dangerous mission involving an ex-boyfriend isn’t
exactly my favorite idea. But I can’t shake the feeling that the grim future I saw in Ella’s dream is
racing towards us. We need all the help we can get. If there’s even the tiniest possibility that sending Sarah to Alabama could help us win this war, it’s a chance we have to take, my own selfish feelings
be damned.
And anyway, she won’t be totally alone on the trip.
In the backseat, Bernie Kosar stands with his paws braced against the closed window, tail wagging
furiously as he watches all the people zipping in and out of the bus station. My old friend seemed
pretty wiped out after the battle in Chicago, but some of his energy came back when we got on the
road. Once, in Paradise, he’d been my protector. Now he will do the same for Sarah.
‘I don’t want you to think of me as your girlfriend right now,’ Sarah says out of the blue, totally
composed.
I lean back a bit, squinting at her. ‘That’s going to be hard for me.’
‘I want you to think of me as a soldier,’ she persists. ‘A soldier in this war who’s doing what
needs to be done. I don’t know exactly what I’ll find down south, but I have this weird feeling that I’ll be able to help you better from there. At the very least, when it comes to battles, I won’t be around to slow you down.’
‘You don’t slow me down,’ I insist, but Sarah waves this objection away.
‘It’s okay, John. I want to be with you. I want to see that you’re okay, I want to see you win. But not every soldier can be on the front lines, you know? Some do more good when they’re away from the
action.’
‘Sarah …’
‘I’ve got my phone,’ she continues, motioning to the hastily packed backpack at her feet. Inside it
she has a disposable cell phone that Malcolm bought, along with a few changes of clothes and a
handgun. ‘I’ll check in every eight hours. But if I don’t, you have to keep going, keep fighting.’
I get what she’s trying to do. Sarah doesn’t want me rushing off to Alabama if she misses one of her
check-in phone calls. She wants my head in the game. Maybe she can sense it, too – that we’re
nearing the end of this fight, or at least crossing a point of no return.
Sarah looks into my eyes. ‘This is bigger than us, John.’
‘Bigger than us,’ I repeat, knowing it’s the truth yet wanting to fight against it. I don’t want to lose her, and I don’t want to say good-bye. But I have to.
I look down at our interlinked hands and remember how simple things were, at least for a little
while, back when I first moved to Paradise.
‘You know, the first time my telekinesis started working was during that Thanksgiving at your
house.’
‘You never told me that,’ Sarah replies, an eyebrow raised, not sure why I’m suddenly getting
sentimental. ‘Did my mom’s cooking inspire you?’
I chuckle. ‘I don’t know. Maybe. That was the same night Henri had his run-in with the original
They Walk Among Us crew, along with the Mogadorians who were using them. Afterward, he wanted
to leave Paradise, and I refused. Actually, I didn’t just refuse, I used my telekinesis to pin him to the ceiling.’
‘Sounds like you,’ Sarah says, shaking her head and smiling. ‘Stubborn.’
‘I told him I couldn’t go back to living on the run. Not after Paradise. And you.’
‘Oh, John …’ Sarah puts her forehead against my chest.
‘I used to think this war wasn’t worth fighting if I couldn’t be by your side,’ I tell her, gently lifting her chin. ‘But now, after everything that’s happened, after everything I’ve seen – I realize that I’m
fighting for the future. Our future.’
The dashboard clock looms impossibly large in the corner of my eye. Only five minutes left. I focus
on Sarah, wishing I had a Legacy where I could freeze time, or store this moment up. Tears slip down
Sarah’s cheeks and I wipe them away with my thumbs. She puts her hand over mine, squeezing hard,
and I can tell she’s trying to steel herself. She takes a deep, shuddering breath and fights back more tears.
‘I have to go, John.’
‘I trust you,’ I whisper urgently. ‘I don’t just mean to find Mark. If things get bad, I trust you to stay alive. I trust you to come back to me in one piece.’
Sarah grabs the front of my shirt, pulls me in. I feel a few of her tears against my cheek. I try to let everything go – my missing friends, the war, her leaving me – and just live for a while in her kiss. I wish I could go back to Paradise with her, not as it is now, but the way it was months ago – sneakily
making out in my temporary bedroom while Henri was grocery shopping, stealing looks during class,
the easy, normal life. But that’s over. We’re not kids anymore. We’re fighters – soldiers – and we
have to act the part.
Sarah pulls away from me and, in one fluid motion, not wanting to drag this painful moment out any
longer, she opens the door and hops out of the van. She shoulders her backpack and whistles. ‘Come
on, Bernie Kosar!’
BK clambers into the front seat, head cocked at me, as if wondering why I’m not getting out of the
van, too. I scratch him behind his good ear and he lets out a little whine.
Keep her safe, I tell him telepathically.
Bernie Kosar puts both his front paws on my leg and sloppily licks the side of my face. Sarah
laughs.
‘So many good-bye kisses,’ she says as BK jumps down from the van. Sarah clips on his leash.
‘This isn’t good-bye,’ I say. ‘Not really.’
‘You’re right,’ Sarah replies, her smile getting shaky, a note of uncertainty creeping into her voice.
‘I’ll see you soon, John Smith. Stay safe.’
‘See you soon. I love you, Sarah Hart.’
‘I love you, too.’
Sarah turns away, hurrying towards the sliding doors of the bus station, Bernie Kosar trotting along
at her heels. She looks back at me only once, right before she disappears through the doors, and I
wave. Then, she’s gone – into the bus station and eventually off to some secret location in Alabama,
searching for a way to help us win this war.
I have to stop myself from running after her, so I clutch the steering wheel until my knuckles are
white. Too white – my Lumen kicks in unexpectedly, my hands glowing. I haven’t lost control of that
since … well, since back in Paradise. I take a deep breath and calm myself down, glancing around,
making sure no one outside the bus station noticed. I turn the key in the ignition, feel the van rumble to life and pull away from the bus station.
I miss her. I already miss her.
I head back towards one of Baltimore’s rougher neighborhoods, where Sam, Malcolm and Adam
are waiting for me, planning an assault. I know where I’m going and what I’m doing, but I still feel
adrift. I remember my brief scuffle with Adam in the destroyed John Hancock penthouse, how I
almost fell out the window. That feeling of emptiness behind me, of teetering right next to the edge,
that’s how I feel now.
But then I imagine Sarah’s hands pulling me away from that empty space. I imagine what it will be
like when we meet again, what it will be like with Setrákus Ra vanquished and the Mogadorians
beaten back into the cold emptiness of space. I imagine the future and I smile grimly. There’s only one way to make that happen.
It’s time to fight.