Page 30 of The Fall of Five (Lorien Legacies 4)

Nine turns my hand over before letting me go, noticing the fresh pink scars on my wrists. “So they put you through it, huh?” he asks solemnly. By his tone it’s like he’s just realizing we have something in common. I guess I’ve joined the secret fraternity of Mogadorian torture victims.

I don’t know what to say. I just nod my head.

“You made it out,” Nine says, patting me hard on the shoulder. “Good for you, bro. ”

John starts to lead us by Nine, who’s basically been standing right in our way. He sort of reminds me of one of those big dogs that jump all over visitors as soon as they come in the door. When he finally steps aside, I notice the three other Garde that Six told us about—Seven, Eight and the younger Ten. They’re waiting where the living room starts, a little more patient than Nine, at least letting us get inside.

“If you’re wondering what the horrible smell is, it’s the vegetarian food Marina’s cooking for dinner,” says Nine.

“Hey,” the dark-haired Seven—Marina—replies good-naturedly. “It’ll be good, I promise. ”

“Dinner,” Nine snorts, “whatever. Who cares? We’ve got the whole team together! They’re pudgier and dorkier than expected, but I’m cool with it. Let’s go blow some shit up. ”

“You need to calm down, dude. We’ve been driving for like twelve hours,” Six tells Nine, shoving a bag of equipment into his chest. “Here. Make yourself useful. ”

Sarah quickly follows suit, tossing her bag to Nine. Before long, he’s shouldering pretty much all the stuff we carried up from the cars.

“Fine, I’ll put this stuff away,” Nine says as he agreeably lumbers off to put away our gear. “But then we’re gonna at least talk about kicking some ass. ”

I notice Five staring down Nine as he leaves the room. Then, he turns to John.

“We’re not really going to fight again right away, are we?”

John shakes his head. “Nine’s just excited. Getting together was a huge first step. Now we need to figure out what to do next. ”

“I see,” says Five, gazing down at his hands. “I guess I’ve never viewed violence as something to get excited about. ”

“We’re not all like Nine,” Marina says apologetically as she steps forward. She greets us warmly, even pulling Five into a hug, which I think both surprises him and loosens him up a bit. She definitely puts me more at ease after Nine’s brusque display.

Eight introduces himself next. I get a real easygoing vibe from him, a nice change of pace from the alpha-male routine Nine pulled as soon as we showed

up. Still, I can tell he’s just as excited as Nine was, he’s just more tactful.

“I’ve got so many questions for you. All of you,” Eight says. “Five, I’m dying to know where you’ve been, to hear about everything that’s happened to you. ”

“Uh,” grunts Five. “Okay. ”

“I’m sure you’ve overcome a lot to be here,” Eight continues encouragingly.

“The grunting is all John and I could get out of him in the car,” Sarah whispers to me.

I can understand feeling a bit overwhelmed in this situation; you meet the last living remnants of your people for the first time and it turns out they’ve already been hanging out a bunch. In a way, it’s nice to have Five with me, even though we’re not talking much either; it’s good to have someone equally awkward along in these social situations.

“You were living in Jamaica before, right?” Eight asks Five.

“That’s right,” Five replies. “For a little while, anyway. ”

Eight looks like he’s expecting Five to elaborate. When he doesn’t, John jumps in.

“It was a long ride back and I think everyone is a little tired. Maybe we can share stories at dinner,” John suggests.

Eight nods and doesn’t press Five for any more details. I get that John is trying to handle Five with kid gloves, letting him acclimate to the others at his own speed. I am a little surprised Five isn’t asking more questions about the others, but part of that seems to be a reluctance to answer any questions about his own past. Judging by the fact that he showed up without a Cêpan or a Chest, I’m sure it’s the kind of grim backstory all these Garde have.

With Eight done trying to wring information from Five, the last of the new Garde is able to step forward and introduce herself. Even though Six told me she’d be younger, I’m still surprised at how small Ella is in person. I can’t imagine this girl stepping up to oppose Setrákus Ra, much less somehow being the key to scaring him off, but that’s the way Six said it went. I’m impressed.

“I didn’t know there was supposed to be a tenth Garde,” says Five as he shakes Ella’s hand. It’s the closest thing he’s had to a question about the others since we walked in.

“There wasn’t. I was sort of an accident. ”

I notice John shoot Marina a curious look. Marina raises her eyebrows in response, mouthing, I’ll tell you later.

Five nods at Ella’s response, studying her for a moment longer before looking down at the floor.

“Huh,” Five says, searching for words. “I’ve kinda felt that way about myself, actually. Our numbers, our Inheritances, the whole mission to Earth. I mean—how much thought did the big Elders put into this whole thing? Do you think they just, like, drew our names out of a hat?”

Everyone is silent for a moment, staring at Five. It’s a pretty strange speech, especially when you consider this is the first time the remaining Garde have ever been united. It should be a celebratory time, but Five seems intent on bringing things down.

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