The Fate of Ten

With them both on the ground, I’ve got no choice but to step forward and put myself between them and Setrákus Ra. As I draw close, Setrákus Ra picks up Adam’s sword, swinging it in a lazy arc at his side. He smiles at me.

“Hello, Six,” he says, and cuts the air in front of him with the blade. “Are you ready for this all to be over?”

I don’t respond. Talking just gives him an advantage, lets him get in our heads. Instead, I yell over my shoulder to Marina.

“Fall back!” I tell her. “Get back far enough to heal him!”

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Marina holding Adam. He’s knocked out, and I’m not even sure Marina wants to heal him after the stunt he just pulled. She definitely doesn’t want to leave me behind, or retreat while Setrákus Ra’s machine is still running.

“Go! I’ve got this!” I insist, staring down Setrákus Ra, dancing on the balls of my feet. I just have to stall him, stay alive, until—until what? How are we getting out of this one?

Ella was right. Staying meant death.

Setrákus Ra’s smile doesn’t fade. He knows we’re up against the wall. He lunges at me, slashing towards my midsection. I leap back and feel the tip of the blade pass right in front of my abdomen. The rocky ground beneath my feet shifts and I almost stumble over.

Behind me, Marina’s managed to drag Adam to where the crater starts going uphill. She stops there and shouts. “Ella! What—!”

Both Setrákus Ra and I turn towards the well, where Ella has climbed up onto the stone rim. She’s just inches from the raging wave of Loric energy. Her hair flies out in every direction, almost like a halo. Electric sparks pop all around her, and the dark blood on her neck turns a shade of purple in the vivid blue light. The skin on her face and hands ripples like she’s in a wind tunnel, and small debris buffets her. She ignores it all.

Immediately, Setrákus Ra forgets all about me. He takes a halting step towards Ella. “Get down from there!” he bellows. “What are you . . . ?!”

Ella turns in our direction, her eyes on Setrákus Ra. They aren’t spaced out anymore. For a moment, I can see the old Ella in there. The shy girl we first met in Spain who blossomed into a brave fighter. Her voice is small, yet somehow amplified by the torrent of energy behind her.

“You don’t get to win, Grandfather,” she says. “Good-bye.”

And then Ella falls backwards into the Loric energy.

Setrákus Ra screams and races forward, but he’s too late. There’s an almost blinding flash of light. Ella’s body, basically a silhouette at this point, hovers in midair, caught between the Loric well and Setrákus Ra’s machine. For a moment, her body twists and contorts, arching painfully. Then, a surge of energy flows up from the well, too much for Setrákus Ra’s machine to handle. The circuits on its side explode in showers of sparks and the Loralite carvings melt in a searing burst of white-hot heat. Meanwhile, Ella’s body seems to disintegrate—I can still see it there, caught up in the energy, but I can also see through it, like every particle in her body has come apart at once.

A moment later, Ella’s body is spit out of the energy flow. She’s thrown like a smoking rag doll to the side of the crater. Then, the glow from the Loric energy dissipates and retreats back underground, while Setrákus Ra’s pipeline makes a metallic creaking noise and falls apart, twisted hunks of metal burying the Loric well.

Setrákus Ra stares at his ruined machine in disbelief. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen the old bastard at a complete loss.

Marina’s in motion immediately. She leaves Adam’s body behind and dives towards Ella. Her Legacies are still turned off, so when Marina presses her hands to Ella’s body, I know nothing will happen. She’s too late, anyway.

I don’t need to see the tears streaming down Marina’s cheeks to know. Ella is dead.

Setrákus Ra stares at the body of his granddaughter, a desolate expression on his face. While he does that, I pick up the biggest chunk of rock I can find.

And then I crack it across the back of Setrákus Ra’s head.

A cut opens. He bleeds. The Mogadorian charm is broken.

My attack brings him back to himself. Setrákus Ra roars, spins to face me and lifts the giant sword over his head.

He’s about to bring it down on me when his eyes—normally empty black pits—fill with the blue glow of Loric energy. The sword falls from his grasp and Setrákus Ra, the leader of the Mogadorians, killer of my people, destroyer of worlds—faints right at my feet.

I’m stunned. I turn to look for Marina, but find her passed out too. What the hell is going on?

Ella. The glow of Loric energy emanates from her. It spills out of her eyes, mouth, ears—everywhere, just like when the Entity briefly animated Eight’s corpse.

From one of her fingertips, a beam of Loric energy shoots towards me. It hits me right in the forehead. I sink down to my knees, feeling myself drift towards unconsciousness. I stare at Ella . . . or whatever she is now. There are other bursts of Loric energy zipping away from her body, flying away from her like shooting starts, out of the crater and off to . . . where? I don’t know. I don’t know what’s happening with her, the Entity or any of it.

I just know that this is my chance.

“Not now!” I scream, fighting against the gentle sleep the Loric energy is trying to force upon me. “Ella! Lorien! Stop! I—I can kill him!”