Page 39 of The Fall of Five (Lorien Legacies 4)

Nine claps his hands and points at Six. “I like the way this chick thinks. ”

“Oh, is it that easy?” Five asks, speaking up for the first time. “You make it sound like taking out the trash. ”

“I wish it were so simple,” I say. “But we don’t know where he is and, even if we could find him, that’s not going to be an easy fight. The last time we went up against him almost killed us. ”

“We could get him to come to us,” Nine suggests, glancing over at Five. “Maybe fire up some more crop circles. ”

“You can’t be serious,” Sam says. I noticed him shifting in his seat at the mention of Setrákus Ra.

“He’s not serious,” Five says, glaring in Nine’s direction. “He’s mocking me. ”

Nine shrugs and feigns a yawn. “Whatever. I really do think we should go fight something. ”

“That’s all you ever want to do,” Eight cuts in.

“Yeah, it’s my thing. ”

“For the first time ever, we’re together,” I say, keeping my voice measured. “We have the element of surprise on our side. We’ve got an opportunity to prepare and pick our next battle. Let’s not rush into anything. ”

“John’s right,” Marina says. “There’s still so much we don’t know about ourselves, our powers, our Chests. ”

“It’d be good to know exactly what we’re working with,” Eight says. “We did some training with Nine in the Lecture Hall the other day. It was helpful. Surprisingly so. ”

Nine grins. “Compliment taken, insult ignored. ”

“Yeah,” Sarah chimes in. “I think I speak for all of us humans when I say a little more combat training wouldn’t hurt. ”

“Learning what our Chests contain would help too,” I offer. “Maybe we could figure out which items are those Phoenix Stones that Malcolm was talking about. ”

“An inventory seems to be in order,” Malcolm says.

“Which means we need to make finding your Chest a top priority,” I say, looking over at Five.

“Absolutely,” Five replies, seeming about as certain as I’ve ever seen him. “I know exactly where to go. We can do that whenever you want. ”

“That might make a good first mission,” Eight says. “Especially if we could get it done under the Mog radar. ”

“I still think we should just blow up their freaking radar,” Nine grumbles.

“Soon, buddy,” I reply. “For now, we need to play it safe. Gather our strength. Malcolm, what about the Mogadorian guy? Adam?”

Malcolm shakes his head, his features sagging. “I’ve hooked up a tracker so we’ll be alerted if his cell phone turns on, but nothing yet. I fear the worst. ”

“Maybe he just ditched his phone,” suggests Sam, trying to cheer up his forlorn-looking dad.

“We got a bit off topic here, didn’t we?” Six puts in. “What about Ella’s nightmares?”

It’s Ella, who has been listening quietly, that responds. “I’ll tough them out. The next time that big freak gets into my head, I’m going to punch him in the balls. ”

“Whoa!”

“All right,” I say, grinning. “Meeting adjourned. ”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

LATER, THE FOUR OF US THAT STILL HAVE OUR Chests gather in the workshop with Malcolm. I’m happy to help out—I’m just not sure how much use I’ll be. Adelina wasn’t around enough to explain what any of the stuff in my Chest does.

From the Lecture Hall comes the muffled sound of Six training marksmanship with Sam, Sarah and Ella. I think Five is in there too, although he didn’t look too thrilled about the prospect of learning to shoot. Nine stares longingly at the door to the Lecture Hall. Sighing dramatically, he starts rummaging through his Chest.

“Check this out,” Nine says. He holds up a small purple stone and then places it on the back of his hand. The stone slides into his hand—through it. Nine turns his hand over just as the stone pops out in his palm. “Pretty cool, right?” he asks me, waggling his eyebrows.

“Uh, but what is it supposed to do?” Eight asks, looking up from his own Chest.

“I dunno. Impress girls?” Nine looks over at me. “Did it work?”

“Um . . . ” I hesitate, trying not to roll my eyes too hard. “Not really. But, I’ve seen guys teleport so I’m kind of hard to impress. ”

“Tough crowd. ”

“What does it feel like when it passes through your hand?” Malcolm asks. He holds a pen poised over a clipboard.

“Uh, kinda weird, I guess. My hand goes numb until the stone passes through. ” Nine shrugs, glancing around. “You guys want a try?”

“Yes, actually,” Malcolm says. When he puts the stone on his hand, nothing happens. “Hmm. I guess it’s Loric only. ”

Malcolm hands the stone back to Nine. Instead of putting it back into his Chest, Nine shoves the purple stone into his pocket. Maybe he’s going to go out and try to impress some ladies later.

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