Page 39 of The Power of Six (Lorien Legacies 2)

I set Sam on Bernie Kosar’s back, but he pushes himself off. “I’m okay. I swear. ”

From the other side of the fence, Sam’s mom yells, “Sam!”

“I’ll be back, Mom! I love you!” And then he’s the first to run towards the Mogs. Six and I catch up easily, but she veers right to plunge her sword into an approaching Mog. Four more are thirty yards ahead of her; and with the large pendant bouncing around her neck, she charges, with Bernie Kosar at her heels.

Sam and I enter the muddy field, and two Mogs cut off our path. Over my shoulder I see two more separating and marching in our direction at strategic angles. The others have entered the forest at two different sections, and I can’t see who has the Chest. I pull the dagger out of my back pocket. The handle wraps around my hand.

I run ahead, and the two Mogs in front of me run, too, their swords bouncing and cutting into the empty field behind them. When we’re less than five yards apart I leap with my dagger above my head. As I start to fall, a huge tree zips underneath me, ramming both Mogs and killing them. Six. As I hit the ground again I turn to see her running towards Sam and the two Mogs who circle him.

The one on Sam’s left tackles him around the waist. Six tears the Mog off and throws him far into the field, where he immediately gets back on his feet and charges.

I sneak up behind the other Mog and hammer my dagger into the back of his neck, pulling it out at an angle that slices down through his shoulder blade. He falls to a pile of ash that blows onto my shoes.

Bernie Kosar pounces on the other Mog and quickly he has a tongue coated in thick ash.

“We have to get back to the car and get out of here,” Six says. “There must be more on their way—they were waiting for us. ”

“We have to get my Chest first,” I say.

“Then we’re going to have to split up,” Six says. With her soot-covered sword, she points at the two sections of forest the Mogs disappeared into. “Bernie Kosar, you’re with me. ” Bernie Kosar shrinks into a hawk, and he and Six head left.

Sam and I enter the forest in the other direction. Soon we hear twigs cracking, and we run in that direction. I speed ahead and hurdle a series of dead trees to see four Mogs trying to escape through a small clearing. In the moonlight, I still can’t see if any of them hold my Chest.

I slide down the hill on my side, crushing saplings, creating a small landslide of loose rock. I hear Sam crashing after me.

They’re halfway through the small clearing. It’s dense, with grass six feet tall, and I run through it at full speed. Sam yells for me to tell him what direction I’m headed in, but instead I keep running and aim my lit palm straight up into the sky as a beacon. “Okay! Got it!” he yells.

Finally, right before the clearing becomes forest again, I can almost reach one. I dive for his legs and slice through the bottom of his muddy khakis and sever his Achilles tendon, causing him to roar onto his back. I climb up his flailing body and stab him in the chest, killing him.

Sam trips over my legs and falls on his face. “You get it?”

“No. Come on!”

Using one hand as a flashlight and the other as a machete, I race through the forest with ease, not caring how close Sam stays behind me. In less than a minute, I see another Mog struggling over a fallen log. From twenty-five yards away, I lift the log high off the ground, tip it, and force the Mog to teeter and fall headfirst. I crash through weeds to find him motionless on his stomach. I can already tell he doesn’t have my Chest. I kill him with two stabs of my dagger.

“John?” Sam yells in the darkness. “Dude?”

I again shine my palm in the air, and I’m scanning the trees when Sam arrives.

“Tell me you got it?”

“Not yet,” I say.

“No Chest,” Sam mutters.

“I just hope Six had better luck. ” I reach behind me and pull the white tablet out to show Sam. “But I do have this. ”

He grabs it out of my hand. “From the well?”

“That’s not all we found. Wait until I tell you what else—” I suddenly recognize where we are. I stop walking. I even stop breathing.

Sam grabs my shoulder and says, “Whoa, dude. What’s going on? You feeling something? Like maybe somebody just opened your Chest?”

As far as I can tell, my Chest hasn’t been opened. The feeling brewing inside me is something entirely different. “We’re near Sarah’s house. ”

Chapter Twenty-Two

AFTER THE DOOR AT THE BOTTOM OF THE TOWER creaks open, I hear footsteps. I hear echoed breathing. Whoever it is, it’ll be impossible to hide a drugged Adelina, a cat, and a Chest stuffed with alien weapons and artifacts. I slowly set the branch back into the Chest and close the lid. Legacy creeps to the edge of the belfry floor and then sits and stares down into the darkness. We’re all silent, but then Adelina rolls out a long, droning snore.

The footsteps in the circular stairway speed up. I give Adelina a few shakes to wake her up. She falls onto her side.

What do I do? I mouth to Legacy. The cat jumps on top of the Chest and then jumps back off again only to purr around my feet. It isn’t an answer, but it does give me an idea. I lean down and set Legacy on top of the Chest and then scramble up into one of the two windows where the cool air penetrates my pajamas and instantly causes my teeth to chatter. The footsteps are getting closer.

With my mind, I raise the Chest high in the air, and Legacy’s claws scrape at the lid for a safe footing. I have to duck as I float the Chest up and over me and out the window. Immediately after I set the Chest quietly on the frosty lawn ten stories below, Legacy jumps off and runs into the darkness. I then float Adelina up and over me, her nightgown brushing the top of my head, and carefully I set her down next to the Chest.

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