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‘Ella?’ I call out

‘I’ht here, Marina,’ she calls over ‘Look where we are! New Mexico!’

‘Finally Can you try coain?’

‘I already have No luck yet’

I slowly stand up Eight is on his hands and knees at the botto seems to have affected him more severely than it did the last couple of times Ella has her hand on the back of his neck The two Chests sit nearby I rotate 360 degrees and all I see in every direction is sand, sand and o?’

Ella and Eight climb up the dune and stand next to me After aearlier about dying in a desert withThe faint outlines of mountains ripple in the afternoon haze

‘That’s where we’re going, then,’ Eight says ‘We can cover the distance in short hops oncecomes back For noalk’

We pick up the Chests and head north ‘Ella,’ I say, ‘you need to keep trying Six If you can’t reach her, maybe you can try Four, or even try one of the others, Five or Nine’ We’ve lost soout that will save us soht up on the screen in thewheel He looks around at the endless desert surrounding us The car’s GPS has picked up an underground tunnel nearby; noe just need to find the entrance When I press the green triangle on the tablet, it shoe’re only a mile or two from the ship I push the blue circle and shout, ‘Nine! They’re here!’

‘Who’s here?’ Nine asks, scanning the horizon ‘The other three blue dots They’re here in New Mexico!’ Nine rips the tablet out of my hands and lets out a loud hoot ‘Holy shit, bro This is really all about to go down’ He looks at inning of the end’ Asa chance to do e need to do, it’s dawning on ht of our lives

‘This right here, this is e rise to the occasion,’ Nine says ‘You will fight harder than you ever have, Four You’re going to be a beast Andto rip Setrákus Ra’s head off, wrap it up and send it back to Mogadore with a giant red bow on it And then Lorien is going to rise fro with eht he has been carrying around with him

Bernie Kosar barks from the backseat and Nine turns around to look at hi to kick soine what it will feel like toI haven’t letI look out over the horizon My ood And that’s when I hear a girl’s faint voice echo in nal at first, but it becomes clearer

Four? Number Four? Can you hear me?

‘Yes, yes! I can hear you!’ I yell out loud, whipping my head back and forth ‘Who is that? Where are you?’

Nine looks at ht here’

‘Not you I heard a girl Did you hear her? A girl was just talking to me’

Number Four? It’s Number Ten Can you hearto anyone Maybe I’ll never figure this out without Crayton

‘There it is again,’ I say excitedly Nine is looking at me like I’ve co else! Did you hear her? She said she’s Number Ten! I think she’s in my head somehow’

‘Number Ten! The baby fro at me! Talk back to her, dumbass!’

That’s easy for hi it’s a new Legacy kicking in – for both of us! – it takes training to kno to acy hen, and how, you want it to I know I don’t haveit out I take a deep breath and block out the noise in my head and around ht before I heard the voice a few minutes before I feel calm, open, and somehowconnected

I can hear you, I try saying in ain Number Ten?

Nuh out loud and look at Nine, victorious

‘Tell her we’re about to ride into town and save the day,’ Nine says ‘Tell her we’ll swing by and pick her up on our way to Lorien, wherever she is’

Where are you? I hear her ask I’ht in the desert, in New Mexico We’re trying to find and rescue Nu?’ Nine yells I know it’sable to hear our conversation, but I can’t talk to hi Ten’s voice, on responding to her