The Fate of Ten

“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.

“There’s gotta be something we can do, Ella. Just tell me how to help you.”

You can’t, her voice comes back, sad and resigned. Don’t worry about me. Do what you need to do.

Adam joins me as I run towards the edge of the jungle where the others have already hidden. Instead of immediately running to our hiding spot, he took a detour into the Skimmer we flew down here and collected the vicious Mogadorian sword that once belonged to his father. The sword looks heavy strapped across Adam’s back, but he keeps up with me.

“Almost forgot it,” he says, catching me looking at the sword.

“Isn’t there an expression about bringing a knife to a gunfight?” I ask.

He shrugs. “You never know when a big sharp thing might come in handy.”

We skid to a stop at the edge of the jungle, where the rest of our group is already hunkered down behind a fallen tree. Adam turns around and watches the sky, his mouth a tight line, arms crossed. Mark is holding the detonator control for our bombs that Adam showed him how to use earlier. With Mark acting as our demolitions expert, Marina is freed up to focus on telekinetically firing the blasters we’ve hidden throughout the jungle. Sarah stands next to them, a blaster held in one hand, her other hand pressed to her temple, pale and frowning.

“I don’t accept that,” Marina says as I slide in next to her. I realize that she’s having a conversation with Ella, too.

“Accept what?” Mark asks, confused. Sarah shushes him. Taking another look at her, I realize that Sarah is also tuned in to Ella’s telepathic channel. She knows death might be coming.