The Fate of Ten

The shooting didn’t come from the Anubis. It came from the jungle.

“Protect the Beloved Leader!” screams Phiri Dun-Ra as she sprints into view, spraying blaster fire. She leads a small contingent of Mog warriors. They must have gone into the jungle, found and freed the trueborn and come around behind us. Seeing reinforcements, the Mogs on the Anubis get bolder. All of a sudden, we’re caught in a cross fire. Sarah tries to shoot back, but the blaster fire is too intense. She hunkers down next to me.

“Six, what do we do?”

I poke my head out just in time to see Setrákus Ra reach the top of the crater. He’s got Adam’s sword again and is using it almost like a cane.

Marina is right in his path.

“Marina! Get out of there!” I scream. She can’t hear me. I see it all play out.

Marina thrusts her hands forward, expecting ice to jut out in Setrákus Ra’s direction. Nothing happens. Her Legacies are turned off. Setrákus Ra raises a hand in the air and, even though she struggles, Marina’s plucked up from the ground. He’s got her in his telekinesis.

“Oh God,” Sarah says. “Oh no.”

Setrákus Ra slams her down against the ground. Picks her up. Slams her down again. I watch as Marina’s body goes limp. Each time, he raises her almost twenty feet in the air, then sends her plummeting back down to the hard ground. Over and over.

It’s Mark who saves her. He darts around the smashed-up pipeline and shoots Setrákus Ra right in the side of the face, scorching the bloody hole where his ear used to be. The Mogadorian screams in rage and new pain, then returns fire by sending Marina’s body hurtling in Mark’s direction. They collide and both of them go crashing to the ground. Mark’s still moving, though. He gets his arms around Marina and tries to pick her up.

Even at this distance, she looks broken.

I haven’t felt a new scar burn into my ankle. Not yet. She’s still alive.

Adam runs over to Mark and together they grab Marina’s body. Dodging blaster fire, they retreat into the jungle.

Phiri Dun-Ra and the other Mogs have reached Setrákus Ra. They surround him on all sides, although he refuses any help, viciously caving in the skull of one Mog bold enough to touch him. They escort him up the ramp. He’s almost back into the Anubis.

“Damn it, no,” I hiss, forcing myself to stand up despite the searing pain across my back.

“Six!” Sarah grabs for me. “Stop! It’s over!”

I don’t accept that. We were so damn close. He can’t just keep getting away like this.

I can still kill him. We can still win.

I step out from cover and throw my hands into the air, making the wind kick up again. Bricks from the Sanctuary, twisted metal from the exploded Skimmers, sharp chunks of glass—all of it swirls together in a deadly funnel. Phiri and her Mogs shoot at me. I feel a blaster burn light up my thigh, another on my shoulder. It doesn’t stop me.

“This is suicide!” Sarah yells in my ear. She’s at my side, returning fire on the Mogs.

“Get back,” I tell her. “Run for the jungle.”

“I’m not leaving you!” she replies, again trying to grab me. I shrug her off.

Setrákus Ra reaches the top of the ramp. I scream and push forward with all my might, combining my weather Legacy with a wild burst of telekinesis, throwing everything my whipping winds have picked up at Setrákus Ra.

Two of the surviving Mogs get dusted immediately, smashed by my bombardment of debris. Phiri Dun-Ra shrinks back, shielding her face. But, in the doorway to the Anubis, Setrákus Ra stands tall. He turns towards me, stones and shrapnel bouncing off his armor, and pushes back. His own telekinesis slams up against mine.

Objects fly in every direction. From the corner of my eye, I see Sarah’s blaster get ripped right out of her hands. The dislodged windshield of a Skimmer slices into the ground next to me like a guillotine blade. I’m hit—over and over again—by things I can’t even identify. Still, I stand my ground, heels digging into the dirt. I keep pushing.

It happens.

A metal pole with a Loralite symbol carved into it, a piece of Setrákus Ra’s destroyed pipeline, flies through the air. The end is sharp. Serrated.

It plunges right into Setrákus Ra’s chest. I watch him double over, stumble back from the impact. I can see Phiri Dun-Ra scream.

The force from his telekinesis dies down. I feel him weaken.

I did it.

Tears stream down my cheeks.

I did it.

Phiri Dun-Ra and the others drag Setrákus Ra onto the Anubis. The door slams shut behind him. The ramp retracts.

I fall onto my knees. He’s dead. He has to be dead. It has to have been worth it.

Sarah wraps her arms around me.

“Get up, Six,” she says, her voice strained. She coughs, sucks in a breath. She’s hurt. We both are. “We have to go!”

I place my hand on top of Sarah’s and turn us invisible. This way, I don’t have to see the blood.

So much blood. Too much.

I hope it was worth it.

Chapter TWENTY-FOUR

I MADE A LOT OF PROMISES BACK IN THE Elders’ Chamber. I told those new Garde that I’d lead them, that we’d help them train, that together we could save their world. It was pretty amazing, seeing them all there. Yeah, some of them looked scared, a few of them completely confused, and a couple even appeared downright angry to be roped into this. But most of the others . . . they looked ready. Nervous, yeah, but ready and willing to step up and join the fight.