The Fate of Ten

Adam throws up his hands. “You’re not listening to reason!”

I glance away from Adam, towards the landing strip cluttered with disabled Skimmers. Of course, my eyes find their way to Phiri Dun-Ra. Still gagged and tied to a wheel strut, she’s made an effort to sit up straighter, probably trying to listen in to our conversation. I can tell by the way that her face crinkles around the duct tape that she’s smiling at me. I remember what she said earlier this morning, when she was trying to convince me that Adam was secretly out to get us.

“You don’t think we can win, so you’re afraid to fight,” I say bluntly, regretting the words almost as soon as they’re out of my mouth.

Adam whips around to look at me, then follows my gaze to Phiri. He must make the connection between my statement and her earlier rant. He disgustedly shakes his head and walks a few steps away from me.

Marina nudges me, whispering, “Six . . .”

“I’m sorry, Adam,” I say quickly. “Seriously. That was a low blow.”

“No, you’re right, Six,” Adam replies dryly, shrugging. “I’m a coward because I don’t want to die today. I’m a coward because, as a boy, I watched from the deck of one of those warships as your home planet was obliterated. I’m a coward because I think we should find a better way. A smarter way.”

“All right, Adam,” I say, feeling a tightness in my chest at his casual mention of Lorien’s destruction. “We hear you.”

“It might not be smart,” Marina adds. “But it’s what’s right.”

Adam rounds on us, his tone acidic. “In that case, which one of you is going to do it?”

“Do what?” I ask.

“Kill Ella,” he replies. “We all heard what John said. Setrákus Ra has her bound with his own version of your old Loric charm. You can’t hurt him without first hurting her. I’ve never even met the girl and I can tell you right now, I’m not going to do it. So tell me, which one of you is going to kill your friend?”

“No one,” I say resolutely, locking eyes with Adam. “We’re going to figure out a way to stop Setrákus Ra without hurting her.”

Adam glances up at the sun, as if trying to figure out how much daylight we’ve got left.

“Great,” Adam says. “Fantastic. Our resources are some broken-down ships and whatever the hell we can find in the jungle. Tell me how the hell you’re going to stop Setrákus Ra in our situation, Six.”

“John said there’d be backup coming, the military—”

“He said he’d try,” Adam practically shouts at me. “Look, I trust John, but he’s thousands of miles away. Help is thousands of miles away. Right here? It’s just us. We’re it.”

“Help is right behind us,” Marina says. Her voice is still calm, but there’s a strain there. What Adam’s been saying has gotten under her skin. “The Sanctuary will give us a way to fight.”

Adam takes this in for a moment before rolling his eyes. “A miracle. That’s what the two of you are hoping for? A miracle! I get that you woke that thing in there up, and I know it let you talk to your . . . your friend one last time. But that’s all it’s going to do, okay? It is done helping us. Don’t believe me? Maybe we could ask some of the Loric how much that Entity helped during the last Mogadorian invasion. If they weren’t all dead.”

The air around me gets cold. At first, it feels pretty good in this overbearing jungle heat, until I realize that it’s Marina fuming in her own special way. She takes a step towards Adam, her fists clenched, the whole serene-sister-of-the-Sanctuary thing dropped in a hurry.

“Don’t talk about what you don’t know, you monster!” she yells, jabbing her finger in the air at him. An icicle shoots from Marina’s index finger and stabs into the dirt at Adam’s feet. Immediately, it begins to melt. Adam takes a surprised step back, staring at Marina.

“Enough,” I say, stepping in between the two of them. “This isn’t getting us anywhere.”

From the airstrip, Phiri Dun-Ra makes a series of muffled gagging noises. I realize that she’s laughing at us. I tune her out, turn around and take Marina by the shoulders. Her skin is cold to the touch.

“Much as I love the air conditioning right now, you need to walk away for a minute,” I tell her.

Marina gives me a look of disbelief, like she can’t believe I’m siding with Adam against her. I shake my head gently and raise my eyebrows, letting her know that’s not what this is. She sighs, pushes a hand through her hair and walks towards the Sanctuary.

I turn to glare at Adam. At first, he doesn’t look at me. He’s too busy watching the icicle Marina fired at him turn to water.

“Lucky she didn’t take your eye out,” I say, only half joking.

“I know,” he replies, finally looking up at me. “Six, look, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought up Lorien. That’s not—that’s not my place.”

“You bet your ass it isn’t,” I say, taking a step closer to him. “It’s all right, you’re freaking out a little, I’m gonna chalk it up to that. But yeah, don’t talk about our dead families and massacred planet again, okay? Because I seriously wanted to punch you in the face.”

Adam nods. “Understood.”

“I’m still not sure you do,” I reply, lowering my voice and getting even closer. “Let me make it perfectly clear for you, Adam. I’ve got no intention of dying out here today. You think I don’t get that the odds are against us? Dude, I don’t need that explained to me. But you didn’t magically fix one of those Skimmers while I wasn’t looking, did you?”