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"I don’t deserve that," I tell him "I’m a coward I’m cursed"

He notices my injuries and tears, and then sniffs Nine’s face before expanding into a horse

"Whoa!" Nine ju;ra," I whisper "He’s a good guy He’s Loric"

Nine quickly pets BK’sstone tostores with lightning and boorateful Six has returned that I stand, ignoring the re pain in my back The clouds shift and stretch in a way I’ve never seen before, though, and the sky feels suddenly evil This isn’t Six She’s not back to help

I watch the funnel cloud that I’ve only seen in my worst visions form

Bernie Kosar rears backward as a perfectly spherical spaceship, h the tornado’s eye The ship lands right in front of the round In the same way as I had seen in my visions, a door appears fro away The Mogadorian leader froasps "Setrákus Ra He’s here This is it"

I’m silent, frozen in fear "So that’s his name," I finally whisper

"That was his name For every day they tried to tortureto stab hilows in Nine’s hand Its ends expand with rotating blades "I’ to help me"

Setrákus Ra walks towards the cave’s entrance but stops before going in, onewind and torrential rain, he turns, lifting his gaze in our general direction Even frolow of the three pendants is une out of the trees with Bernie Kosar galloping behind, but it’s too late Setrákus Ra has disappeared into the cave and the sa blue force field that covered the prison cell doors appears over the entrance

"No!" Nine yells He slides to a stop and stabs the ground with his pipe

WithI hear Nine screa Setrákus Ra, saving Saht now When I hit the blue force field, everything goes black

Chapter Thirty-Two

THUNDER ROLLS, FOLLOWED BY BRILLIANT STREAKS of lightning, and in their glare I see the clouds expand and drop Rain falls in heavy sheets, and the arainstI can’t understand My wound in my stomach has almost healed, and I hear Ella yellto die, then I need to release Ella first One of us needs to live to tell the others I cautiously lift htning cracks in the distance Less than a second later, the bolt strikes the Mogadorian standing over me, and he turns to ash and is swept away in the wind

I climb to my feet and see that I’ve opened the beech tree’s trunk halfway I continue to separate the tree as I run towards it "Ella? Are you okay?"

She spills out of the trunk and falls intorabbing my Chest "Come on"

We turn to run, and see Crayton and Héctor co towards us Héctor’s been hurt, and his arm is over Crayton’s shoulders for support The wind and rain are raging Behind the up the shore after thee limb from a dead tree and hurl it hard at the closest pack of krauls It knocks down several, but they’re back up again in no tirenade that I intercept ht back into his stoadorians and krauls to the ground in soggy bits of ash I send tree after tree, rock after rock, knockingmore

"Help me!" Crayton yells

I rush to take Héctor from him He has a bite wound in his sto badly

"Co bullets froun’s eet to the dam!"

I openbolt snaps over us It spreads across the sky like the veins of the gods, leaving the distinct taste ofclap of thunder reverberates off the mountains The wind and rain cease, and the clouds rotate around and around in aat us froadorians are just as ain, and the dark clouds and the thunder and lightning co our way A perfect stor I’ve ever seen before All any of us can do is watch the thick clouds rolling towards us with a deep growl

"What’s happening?" I screaale force winds

"I don’t know!" Crayton replies "We’re going to need to find some cover!"

But he doesn’t move, and neither does anyone else Héctor seeotten all about the pain of his wounds as he watches, too

"Go!" Crayton finally yells, and then he spins around and fires on the Mogadorians to cover us as we run over a slight hill and then down into a valley I see the daht, which connects ter mountains It’s too far away to realistically believe we’ll reach it Héctor’s face has turned white and he’s fading fast, and I start looking for a place to rest so I can heal hi the worst, but he’s un over his shoulder and catches up to us

"We’re not going to make it to the dam!" He yells "Run to the lake!"