‘Shoot,’ I whisper. ‘Everybody hide.’
We can see the beams from their flashlights scan the ground, and whenever one gets close to us, we shift our position around another stone just in time.
‘I know I heard something out here. Kids’ voices,’ the smaller of the two guards says.
‘Okay. Well, where are they?’ the other guard asks, looking around. There is a distinct note of disbelief in his voice.
Both men are silent for a moment. I peek around the stone to see the larger guard looking around, annoyed by the lack of evidence of intruders. Then something catches his eye, but I can’t see what it is. I’m worried. What could he have found? ‘Bill? Come over here and look at this. Where do you think these came from?’
‘Huh. Don’t know. They sure weren’t there earlier,’ the other says.
I nearly jump out of my skin when Eight materializes next to me. ‘They found our Chests,’ he whispers. ‘I’ll just toss the guards into the pasture, okay? We need to find the Loralite, so we can get the hell out of here, and that’s not going to happen until those guys leave. And I am not letting them leave with our Chests.’ His voice is grim.
I’m about to say no when my brain begins to buzz. After a brief echo of static I hear Ella’s voice in my head: I can distract them while you find the Loralite. I look over at her in shock, eyes wide.
Ella squeezes my hand and whispers, ‘I can distract them –’
‘I already heard you,’ I interrupt. ‘Ella, I heard you in my head!’
She smiles widely. ‘I thought it worked this time. Wow! I did it!’ she whispers excitedly.
‘Hey, you two, keep it down,’ Eight whispers. ‘Do we have a plan?’
‘I have an idea,’ Ella responds. Shrinking herself into a six year-old, she runs wide, out past the outer circle of the stones, then walks back towards the men. She puts on her best little girl voice as she calls out, ‘Daddy? Where are you?’
‘Hello?’ One of the guards calls back. ‘Who’s out there?’
Eight teleports away while I watch Ella. She is standing still, shielding her eyes from their flashlights. She’s quite the actress. She sounds legitimately lost and worried. ‘I’m looking for my daddy. Have you seen him?’
‘What in the world are you doing out here, little girl? Where are your parents? Do you know what time it is?’
As they approach her, Ella starts to sob, stopping the men in their tracks. ‘Now, now, just calm down, no need for tears,’ the larger one says in a soothing tone.
Ella turns up the waterworks and says, louder now, ‘Don’t touch me!’
‘Hey, hey, nobody’s touching you,’ the other says in alarm. They are looking at each other, both confused and at a loss as to what to do with her.
‘Psst, Marina,’ Eight whispers. He’s behind me with a Chest under each arm. ‘We have to find the Loralite. Now! She can’t hold their attention forever!’
We run into the center of Stonehenge. Eight and I start checking under every rock we can find, as quickly as we can. There are only a few left to check when we hear the men coming back towards us, Ella in tow, still sniffling.
‘Okay, I think it’s time for another distraction,’ Eight says, disappearing again. He reappears by the outer circle of stones, plants his hands on an upright slab, and pushes hard. All I can do is watch in horror, frozen to the spot. The huge stone wobbles and then slowly tips backwards, then the horizontal slab on top falls too, and that’s when Eight starts yelling, ‘Help! Help! The stones are falling over! Stonehenge is falling down!’ I will kill him. I clench my fists at my side, which is when I realize I still have a small rock in my hand. I lean down and carefully, pointlessly, return it to its spot.
The guards break into a sprint towards Eight’s voice, and when their flashlights catch the falling stones, they scream in panic. The smaller guard runs to get in between two vertical stones, but it’s too late. They connect and collectively tip to the right. The horizontal slab that was over them lands on the ground with a thud. My mouth falls open as the stones tip, one by one, going over like dominos.
‘Code Black! Code Black!’ the large guard screams into his walkie-talkie, then tosses it to the ground. He wraps his arms around one of the massive vertical stones remaining upright, trying with all his might to stop it from going over with the others. But it’s pointless. The massive stones keep falling.
Eight appears back by me and tips over two small stones, and suddenly a faint blue glow lights up his legs. ‘I found it! Over here!’ he whispers excitedly. I’m relieved to hear he’s found the Loralite, but I’m too focused on the demolition of Stonehenge to be excited. I can’t believe he did this. I’m furious. Ella runs past me as I dart under one of the few slabs still in place and use my telekinesis to slow down the boulders in motion.
The larger guard slams his back against a stone that’s next in line to tip, and the other guard joins him. I wrap my mind around their stone and hold it steady. When it’s hit with another falling boulder, I don’t let it tip. The guards slide away from the stone and fall to the grass, shocked by their sudden show of strength. Next I reverse the domino effect so the fallen boulders push each other back up, and I stabilize them in their original positions. Then, using what little strength I have left, I slowly lift the horizontal slabs off the ground and set them back on top of the boulders.
The guards watch all this, mouths agape, too stunned to respond to the crackling, concerned voices squawking from their walkie-talkies.
‘Marina,’ Ella whispers. ‘Hey. Marina, we need to go. Now. Come on.’
I walk backwards towards the center of the monument, relieved and able to leave, now that I’ve managed to put everything back together.
I stalk over to Eight and yank my Chest from him. Still furious and unable to look at him, I grab hold of his hand. Ella carries Eight’s Chest while clinging to his other hand. We stand, joined together, over the blue Loralite. The last thing I hear before the darkness comes is the larger guard – defeated and ready to be done with this particular adventure – responding into his retrieved walkie-talkie, ‘False alarm.’
24
I hide behind a row of lockers in a long dark hallway while I turn visible. The pain from using my Legacies is so intense I curl myself up into a ball, pressing the two batons into my ribs to get some relief. I push my sweaty head against the cool cement wall and try to catch my breath, hoping the pain will subside quickly. I’ve been going up and down hallways, but I worry I’m just running in circles. So far, I’ve found an empty hangar and a lot of electronically locked doors. I know from when Sam and John were caught by the police before that our telekinesis doesn’t work with electricity. I think about John and Sam, Marina and the others. I hope they’re okay; or, at least, in less pain than I am. I picture John and Sam waiting for me at our rendezvous point. We were supposed to meet there in a few days. What will they think when I’m not there? I am so frustrated – and scared – I feel breathless. I know this kind of thinking isn’t helpful, so I try to refocus my attention on how to get the hell out of here.
Almost on cue, an alarm sounds. The bleating overhead feels relentless as soon as it begins. I know what this means and I know I need to get it together. Fast. Everyone is looking for me. Armed soldiers zip down the long hallways in small open vehicles. Each time one passes, I’m tempted to pluck the men out, hop in, and take off. But I’m sure I wouldn’t get very far and I’d give up the one advantage I have right now. They don’t know where I am.