Page 50 of The Fall of Five (Lorien Legacies 4)

I use my animal telepathy at a few other cages. I encourage a bored-looking seal to put on an impromptu show with a beach ball. I ask the monkeys to come right up and press their hands against the glass so that Sarah can give them little high fives. It’s good practice for a Legacy that I usually only use to communicate with BK.

The zoo starts closing around sunset. As Sarah and I wander towards the exit, she puts her head on my shoulder and sighs. I can tell there’s something on her mind.

“I need more days like this with you,” she says.

“I know. I want that too. Once we’ve defeated the Mogs, I promise, we’ll have all the time in the world. ”

Sarah gets a distant look on her face, almost as if she’s imagining that future and it doesn’t necessarily excite her. “What happens after, though? You go back to Lorien, right?”

“Hopefully. We still need to find a way back. And we need to hope Malcolm is right about these Phoenix things contained in our Chests, that we have enough of them and that they’re capable of restoring our planet. ”

“And you want me to come with you?”

“Of course,” I reply instantly. “I don’t want to go anywhere without you. ”

Sarah smiles at me with an edge of sadness that I didn’t expect. “You’re sweet, John, but I don’t mean this like our road-trip game with Six. I mean for real. Would we ever come back?” Sarah asks. “To Earth?”

“Yeah, of course,” I say, because I know that’s what I should say in this situation, even though I’m not sure it’s actually true. I look down at my feet. “I’m sure we’d come back. ”

“Seriously? Years in a spaceship, John. Don’t get me wrong, part of me really wants to go. It’s not every girl that has a boyfriend asking to take her to another galaxy. But I have a family here, John. I know they’re not, like, on the level of restoring an entire planet to its former glory, but they’re pretty important to me. ”

I’m frowning now, my good mood turning into something else. It’s a sad feeling; a lost feeling. “I don’t want to take you away from your family, Sarah. Returning to Lorien, it’s supposed to be a good thing, a triumphant thing. ” I hesitate, trying to find words to articulate what I’m feeling. “I’ve always thought of it as what happens at the end, you know? After all the fighting, we’d return there and find a way to start over. It’s like destiny, but it’s also never actually felt truly possible, if that makes sense. I’ve never stopped to think out the details. I guess maybe I should. ”

We stop walking and she reaches up to touch my face. “I don’t want to take you away from your destiny. Please don’t think I’m trying to do that. ”

“No, of course not. But I don’t want

to go back to Lorien without you. ”

“I’m not sure I’d want to stay on Earth without you,” she replies.

“So where does that leave us?”

“I don’t know what the future holds,” Sarah says. “But I love you, John. For now, that’s all that matters. We’ll figure the rest out when we get there. ”

“I love you too,” I reply, pulling her close and kissing her.

Just then my bracelet begins to tingle.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

“WHAT’S WRONG?” SARAH ASKS WHEN I SUDDENLY pull away from her.

“My bracelet’s warning me. Something’s up,” I reply, spinning around, trying to take in everything around us at once. “Something bad. ”

“This seriously can’t keep happening,” Sarah says with disbelief, referring to last night’s BK emergency.

“No, this is different. Worse. ”

Instinctively I touch my bracelet as it sends icicles up and down my arm. We’re on a pretty crowded street in downtown Chicago. I scan the faces around us; people walking home from work, couples heading out for dinner, humans all of them. Not a pale face with a penchant for dark clothing to be seen. Yet the bracelet has never steered me wrong in the past. There’s danger nearby.

“We should get back home,” Sarah says. “Warn the others. ”

I shake my head. “No. If they’re following us and we don’t flush them out, we could end up leading them to the others. ”

“Crap, you’re right. So what do we do?”

“We have to find them. ” I grab Sarah’s hand and walk a few steps down the block. The pins-and-needles sensation on my wrist begins to fade, which means the danger is in the other direction. I turn back around and head that way, although I don’t see anything out of the ordinary.

“John . . . ,” Sarah says warningly, clutching my hand in both of hers. She’s trying to hide the glow that my skin is suddenly giving off. My Lumen has triggered, both my hands lighting up, ready for a fight. I take a deep breath and calm myself, willing my hands to go back to normal. Luckily, no one around us seems to notice.

“Over here,” I say, and lead Sarah towards the mouth of a dark back alley. The bracelet is practically screaming at me now, my entire arm numb from the pins and needles. I slide up against the wall and poke my head around the corner of the alley.

There are three of them. Mogadorian scouts by the look of them. They’re not even making much effort to pass as human, their pale heads clean shaven but without tattoos, dressed in the dark trench coats that would spook just about anyone. Whatever they’re doing here, it’s pretty clear they aren’t expecting to be spotted. Two of them are keeping watch while the third runs his hands underneath a Dumpster. He yanks something free from beneath the metal, an envelope of some kind.

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