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‘On the third night in theme and Reynolds alone for the first ti I felt it in the pit of adorian warriors Reynolds, he was so in love with her, he was heartbroken before he re her to explain why she would do this to hiold coins in Lola’s general direction She was proadorians to provide a service’ Eight sneers the word ‘Like a dog ju on a treat, she dove at it It all happened so fast She dove, one of the Mogadorians raised a glowing sword and stabbed her in the back, and the bag of coins exploded at her feet Reynolds and I just stood there, frozen, watching her die’

I resist the urge to dash ahead, grab his hand, and squeeze it to sho ht, proud back, watch the purpose in his long strides, and knohat he needs right now is his space At least, that’s what I hen I think about Katarina dying

His last word, die, hangs in the air Finally, Crayton clears his throat and says, ‘We don’t need to hear any ht now You can stop if you want’

‘They couldn’t killto drown out the sad memories I know the trick It rarely works ‘Even when they ed a direct hit with one of their swords, across my neck or into my stomach, I didn’t die But they did The deadly cuts meant for me happened to them instead They couldn’t killI could to protect Reynolds But ere separated in all the chaos and I teleported too late Reynolds was’ He pauses for a second ‘One of therabbed one of their swords and I tried to stab hih his stomach, but I h Anyway, he got away Right after he ran into the woods, I saw a tiny silver ship shoot up through the trees I killed the others’ His voice is so cold, so emotionless, I shiver

‘I lost my Cêpan too,’ Marina says quietly after a lance over at Ella, who has moved closer to Crayton At least she still has him Hopefully on’t lose the last Cêpan that any of us knows

The sky above us grows darker by the second Marina volunteers to walk in front so that she can lead the ith her Legacy of night vision I sht’s hand, happy that someone tries to comfort him

‘I’ve spent so ht says

‘All alone?’ Ella asks

‘I was alone for soo And then one day I ca under a tree with his eyes closed, praying My Legacy to become other shapes had arrived months earlier, and I approached him in the forhed before he even opened his eyes There was souess he reminded me of Reynolds, before Lola came into our lives So I hopped into the bushes and teleported behind a line of trees in the opposite direction When I approached hiular form, he offered me some lettuce It was clear that he knew me, would always knowto another lake,’ Marina says, interrupting Eight Now that the talking has stopped, I can hear the lapping of water and a quiet waterfall beyond

‘Yes, we’re close,’ Eight confirms ‘We’ll eat and sleep soon’

‘So, then what happened? With the old man?’ Crayton asks

‘His nahtened, spiritual person He toldto his stories Into save Lorien He taught me ancient foratka I worked with acies, my powers, to see how far I could take what I learned from him

‘One day, I went to meet him in our usual spot and he wasn’t there I went back day after day But he never returned and I was alone again It was many months later when I stu exercise’ He hesitates before continuing ‘Unfortunately – or fortunately, I’m not sure yet – it hile I was in the shape of Vishnu and they vowed to protect me from any evils I kneas because I was in a for on their beliefs, but I couldn’t resist I guess I hated being alone even more’

Marina starts to lead us around the lake Eight tells her to head for the waterfall we can hear in the distance

‘Did the Mogs ever come back?’ Crayton asks

‘Yes They still return in the tiny silver ships every so often, buzzing around the mountains to see if I’m still here But I just turn into a fly or an ant and they keep going’

Crayton says, ‘That lines up with all of the reports of UFO sightings in this region’