The Rise of Nine sequel/Book 4 in Lorien Legacies series
Four:
We all settle into the Humvee that we picked up from the wreckage. Wreckage we caused. As I glance around me, I'm struck with amazement that we're all together except Five. And from the looks of the others, they are also amazed. The realization that there will be no more running, no more moving, makes me grin as I pet a wounded Bernie Kosar. Marina smiles at me and reaches over to him, healing his right leg before I stop her. I want to test my new Legacy that developed, to make sure I wasn't imagining things back at the Base. So I grab his left leg and will him to heal, and to my shock and happiness, his leg straightens out and he relaxes next to me. I hoot, yelling, "Take that Nine, I just got a new Legacy!" He just stares at me and says, "You still lost to me on that rooftop, and I don't plan on letting that slip from your memory." I groan inwardly, imagining the reaction from the others, especially Six, as they hear about my beat down and delusional mutterings of being Pittacus Lore.
At the thought of Six, I look at a sleeping Sarah on my right. As elated as I was to have her back with me, I can't help but think how much danger I've just put her in. And, how I will have to leave her eventually to go to Lorien. I remember what Henri told me when he was alive and we were settled in Paradise: "don't get too attached to Sarah because you will have to go back to Lorien and repopulate our planet with another Garde." I think back to my flashbacks of me and Six stealing each other's toys on the ship and playing with one another, and I can't stop myself from comparing my settled life in Paradise with Sarah versus my life on the run with Six. With Sarah, I had the chance to feel like a regular human and go to a regular school. But with Six, I had a genuine connection to my planet and my people that only another Garde member could provide. Damn, my life is confusing.
I look outside and see the desert roll by and ask the group, "Where would you guys like to settle down? Anywhere that we haven't left a trace already would be fine." Nine is the first to pipe up, "I say we go to my safe house in Chicago because I've got a training facility and rooms and it's as good as any hiding place we can have right now. Then we will rip Setràkus Ra's throat out and take back our goddamn ships!" Ahh, that's the Nine I know. Eight says, "Isn't Chicago a crowded city with lots of Mogs?" Nine replies, "Exactly, now let's go." With that, we have a target to go to and a place to train and locate Five.