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"I’m Marina This is Crayton and Ella She’s Number Ten"

Ella steps forward and shrinks to her seven-year-old body She extends her small hand towards Six, who has her mouth open, speechless

Crayton starts to explain Ella and the second ship to Six as I walk into the lake I feel its coolness for the first ti until the water is devoid of any light and my feet touch the muddy floor I circle the bottoe it fro with one arm, I start to ascend When the water turns blue, I see Héctor’s body and wrap my other arm around his waist

Ella and Crayton stand with Six on the shore I drop the Chest and slap my wet hands on Héctor’s shin, ar the icy feeling will arrive inonon Adelina, I touch Héctor’s face I run ray hair I even levitate hiain, but it’s true He’s gone

Chapter Thirty-Three

I’M HOVERING OVER GRASS I’M FLOATING OVER a river I feel wretched and stiff, and every tiliding up a rocky hill There’s a constant noise, and it takes me several minutes to realize it’s the sound of Bernie Kosar’s hooves I’h the mountains

"You awake?" Nine asks I raisebehind me, both of our Chests under his ar ht into the blue stuff That’s the last thing on Earth, or Lorien, or anywhere, you want to do" He sounds pissed, like I just tore him away from his own birthday party

"What about Setrákus Ra?" I ask

"Somewhere in the mountain, the coward I couldn’t find another way in And I looked"

I push myself up BK’s hide in a panic "Where’s Sa gone, or he’s hanging upside down staring at the wrong end of a knife"

I vomit Bernie Kosar quickly lowers himself so I can slide off his back, and then I voo away soon, that he’s gone through it several ti stone seeainst the force field’s effects, but I’ tortured to listen My sickness is froadorian force field I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forgive myself It’s my fault he went in there, and it’s my fault he was left behind I turned o back," I say "Sao back for me"

"Not a chance Not yet You’re too much of a mess and like you said before, we need numbers"

I pull myself to my feet but fall onto my hands and knees almost immediately "You don’t even knohere we are"

"We’re a couple of miles from your car," Nine says He must see the confusion on my face, because he smiles and pats Bernie Kosar’s back "Turns out I can talk to ani the way Let’s jet"

I’allops as fast as he can, his belly brushing the tops of shrubs and felled trees as he hurdles us over obstacles My body aches and I clutch his side as we zigzag up and down therivers The stars slowly reveal theh in the sky, and I know that one of theliht upon a hibernating planet

"So, what’s our nextthe shadows

I’ what Henri would say our next move would be I wonder what kind of look would be on his face Would he bea a s in the process, or would he be disappointed inon the leader when I had the chance, and for leaving Sam behind?

Visions of Sam locked behind one of those steel doors colide down BK’s neck I hate to think it, but I’d rather he die than be tortured for infor us in to the police, but I can only bla her when everyone toldmy heels into Bernie Kosar’s hide and he picks up the pace

Six is somewhere in Spain, hopefully with another o directly to her, but with my escape from a federal facility and my face still on the FBI’s Most Wanted List, I don’t see how it’s possible

We make it to the SUV, and I painfully dismount I unlock the back door and Nine quietly loads both Chests into the trunk Crawling across the backseat, disgusted withyou’d ask," Nine replies I hand hiine co is under lasses I hold them above my head, and I let the moon reflect in the lenses I suck in a deep breath and whisper, "We’ll see each other again soon, Saet much worse, it hits me almost harder than the blue force field "Oh shit! Six’s address for eto find each other now?"

Over his shoulder, Nine says, "Don’t worry, Four Things are happening for a reason If we’re supposed to meet up with Six or Five or whoever, ill And if Sam is supposed to still be a part of all this, he will be"

Bernie Kosar jule for-drawn sigh, in utter disbelief that after everything that’s gone wrong in the last forty-eight hours, I’ve also ed to lose the address Six had written down I look out theto see the wind is blowing to the north, and I wonder if itht direction as Six believes it’s done for her