Hey guys! It's great to finally be back with an update!
Thanks to all my readers and reviewers. There were just six reviewers this time, so I can answer each review individually. (I've always wanted to do that)
scone104: No, it's Ella's real father, don't worry. Thanks so much!
thesecondgarde: Thank you so much. I love your stories too!
EpicLoric24: Thanks so much, that was actually one of the few chapters I had planned beforehand. I'm glad it worked out!
Guest: Thanks! I love your reviews, they keep me going.
Colemet Milinia: Thank you so much, you're too kind. You update soon too!
. . .Five: Thank you so much! I love all your stories, it's great that you liked mine too. Please keep reading and reviewing!
Okay, enough with the long Author's Note. Back to the story!

Marina

I wake up to the smell of burning.

'Fire!' I yelp, scrambling off the couch on which I was previously resting, and getting to my feet. I look wildly around me, trying to get a hold of my location, but before I can calm down enough to take it in, Six comes charging in through the door.

'Whoa!' she exclaims, startled. 'Calm down. What happened?'

'Fire!' I yell again, panicking completely now. 'We have to leave before this place burns down!'

Six stares at me, then bursts out laughing. 'This place isn't on fire, Marina.' she giggles. 'That's just Nine trying to cook.'

'Oh.' I say, feeling extremely stupid as Six tries to maintain a straight face, then bursts out laughing again. 'Right. Where am I?'

I'm standing in what's obviously the living room of a small house. The couch, covered with a dirty, fraying sheet, is the only piece of furniture in the room. The walls are choked with cobwebs and dust, and a small, dilapidated lawn is visible from the window. Through the door, I can hear Nine cursing as tries to put together something edible for us to eat.

Six shrugs. 'In an abandoned house somewhere in Pennsylvania. We didn't want to go to a hotel after last time. We're maybe a couple of hours away from New York.'

'How long was I out?' I ask, almost afraid to find out.

Six hesitates. 'For about five hours.' she finally admits. 'It's almost dark already.'

My cheeks burn with embarrassment. Once again, I had to rely on Six and Nine to haul me out of trouble. If I had gotten them captured once again, I'd never have forgiven myself. 'I'm sorry, Six.' I begin. 'I…..'

Six stares at me like I've gone mad. 'You're kidding, right?' she asks. 'You saved us from getting killed back at the cave with your quick thinking. You fainted from the effort of keeping us alive, and you're apologizing?

I blush. 'I, um… How did you even find me?' I ask, changing the subject.

'We stowed away in one of their jeeps.' Six explains. 'Nine and I have both spent a pretty unpleasant year each in that cave, so we knew it well enough not to get lost, but not so well that we knew where they'd take you. We spent some time searching, even got discovered once, but we got away before reinforcements arrived. And then…..'

'Then I got a new Legacy.' a voice sounds out from the doorway, finishing Six's sentence.

I look up to see Nine smirking at me, his neck bent to avoid bashing his head on the low frame. 'Glad you're awake, Marina.' he says, grinning. 'Neither of us can cook to save our life.'

'You got a new Legacy?' I repeat, ignoring his comment. He nods slowly.

'Six calls it Awareness.' he confirms. 'There's actually no other way to describe it. I just know what's happening in a five-mile radius around me. After that, it was pretty easy to find you, hovering that you were, above the cavern. Speaking of which…..' he disappears into the kitchen and emerges again moments later with a small chair. 'You have a lot of explaining to do.'

I glance at Six, who nods once at me, indicating that she's listening. I look away, take a deep breath, and begin.

I start with Nine's yell of warning at the hotel room, my confrontation with Setrakus Ra, my capture, and my being knocked out. I tell them about my vision of Eight, and describe that vast nothingness that I experienced. I mostly skim over the details of our conversation, leaving out our kiss and Eight's prediction of my death. I don't want to worry them until I figure out what it means.

I continue the story, telling them about my conversation with Five, and everything that I figured out from it. Nine's jaw tightens as I tell them about how I lost my temper with Five, then sags in amazement when he hears how Five helped me escape, and how I'm sure that Ella's been captured. I finally finish with Six and Nine finding me in the cavern, and glance at them, releasing a breath I didn't known I'd been holding, and trying to gauge their reaction.

Six and Nine are both good listeners. I half-expected Nine to make some idiotic comments halfway through the story, but they both listen to me in complete silence. After I'm done, they both exhale and glance anxiously at each other. No doubt they're debating the gentlest way to tell me I'm crazy.

'Wow.' Six says finally. She comes over and wraps her arms around me, pulling me into a hug. I hug her back uncertainly. 'You went through so much, and….. Wow.'

Over her shoulder, Nine grins at me. 'You rock, Marina.' he assures me. 'Sure, not as much as me, but….'

'Nine?' Six says, not bothering to extricate her head from my shoulder. 'Shut up.'

I laugh too, feeling a lot more relaxed now that I've told my friends everything. Sure, what I learnt back at the base was very bad news, but now that I'm back with Six and Nine, I feel like there's nothing we can't do.

Even the pain of Eight's death has faded a little. He will always be a part of me, but even though I can never move on from that, I feel the need to honour him by taking up the cause that he died for. And that keeps the sadness away, because I know that's not what he would have wanted.

Besides, like he said, I will see him again before the war is over. And even though that's probably because I'll be dead, I can't help the warmth that creeps up my body, all the way from my toes, making my head feel fuzzy.

The smell of burning suddenly grows stronger, and Nine curses. 'Oh, hell!' he exclaims. I forgot to turn off the gas.'

Six sits down next to me and laughs as Nine sprints to the kitchen, clipping his head against the frame of the door on his way out.

'Now that he's gone,' she says, 'You can tell me what you left out.'

'What do you mean?' I ask.

Six rolls her eyes. 'Oh, come on.' she says. 'It was obvious that you were hiding something when you got to your conversation with Eight. The only reason Nine didn't notice was because he's such an insensitive jerk.' She spits the insult out.

'Hey!' Nine complains from the kitchen. 'I heard that!'

'Fine.' I whisper, reminding myself that Nine has advanced hearing. 'You really want to know?' My feeling of safety suddenly vanishes, leaving a sudden surge of frustration. 'Eight told me that I'm going to die.'

Six

I listen in silence as Marina relates her entire conversation with Eight to me. I grin a little when she tells me about their kiss, but when she gets to the part about Eight's prediction of her death, I become serious again.

'He didn't directly say that I was going to die.' she finishes, wringing her hands with frustration. 'But that's what was implied. What other answer is there?'

I frown a little when she's done, wracking my brain furiously, searching for an answer. The truth is, I can't see a flaw in Marina's judgement. But I have to find one. I can't let my best friend die. I'm not going to let Marina die.

Marina

I carefully watch Six, waiting for an answer to my question. She seems outwardly calm, but I know her well enough to see that inwardly, she's reeling.

Despite that, despite feeling bad for making Six feel upset, I feel a lot better now that I've told her everything. Not just because I feel lighter now that I'm not carrying that secret around with me, but because I know that now Six will do everything in her power to keep me safe.

And her power is considerable.

'I don't know, Marina.' Six says, finally looking up at me. Anyone else looking at her now would notice that she still has the same expression as before, but I see the gleam in her eyes that tells me she's found a loophole in my judgement. 'Back in India, we saw the picture in the cave that showed Eight getting stabbed in Dulce, and we thought he was going to die there. But it never showed him die. And he didn't, that time. You saved him.'

'How does that change anything?' I ask, but suddenly, I'm feeling hopeful. I think I know what she's implying.

'Eight didn't directly predict your death.' she says. 'So, all I'm saying is, don't jump to conclusions.'

'Thanks, Six.' I tell her. She looks at me, and her usually hard gaze softens.

'Anytime, Marina.' she replies.

Six

'Marina?' I say, turning to my best friend. There's something I have to know.

'Yeah.' she replies, looking away from the window and towards me. 'What's bothering you?'

'When Eight told you that you were going to die, that you would be with him before the war got over…' I hesitate, hoping she won't get offended. 'Did you feel relieved?'

She frowns, confused. 'What do you mean?' she asks.

'When Katarina died,' I say, 'I felt more helpless and alone than I'd ever been in my life. I hadn't got any Legacies yet, and the only thing that was stopping the Mogs from killing me was the charm. And sometimes….. Sometimes, I wished that it didn't. That I could just go where Katarina and my parents were. That all that running and hiding could be over and I could have some peace. You….. You've had it even worse than me. So did you feel that way when Eight died?'

She shakes her head, smiling. To my utter relief, she doesn't seem offended. 'I felt glad that I would be with Eight if I died. But I don't want to die. I want to live for as long as I can, so that I can honour Eight and Hector and Adelina. Not just by winning the war, but also by doing everything they secretly wanted to do. Fulfilling several lifetimes worth of dreams.'

I pause to consider this statement, and understand the magnitude of what she's saying. It's a beautiful concept, and suddenly I find myself wanting to do the same for Katarina. 'That's…. deep.' I say.

Marina smiles gratefully at me. 'Thanks.' She says. 'I…..'

Nine barrels into the room, this time remembering to duck as he enters. He pauses when he sees are expressions, momentarily forgetting why he came. 'What are you talking about?' he asks.

'Eight.' I say, before Marina can answer.

Nine snorts. 'If she was telling you about their date in Chicago, it can wait until we're on the road.'

I round on Marina before she has a chance to protest. 'You went on a date?' I ask incredulously.

'It wasn't a date!' she protests, but her cheeks are red and I can see that she's struggling to keep a smile off her face.

Nine clears his throat impatiently. 'Can we have the girl-talk later?' he complains. 'We need to go. Now.'

'This conversation is not over.' I promise Marina, turning reluctantly to face Nine. His face is dead-serious, which is unlike him, and I instantly feel the humour drying up.

'What happened?' I ask anxiously.

'My internal radar just about screamed.' Nine says, tapping his head to indicate his Legacy. His face is still serious, but a hint of worry finally shows itself in his eyes. 'Johnny boy is in trouble.'

Whew! Finally! That chapter was extremely hard for me to write. I find fillers and small-talk so difficult (dramatic dialogues, action-packed battles, and cliffhangers, by contrast, come almost naturally).
As you may have figured out, this chapter was the calm before the storm. For a while, over the next few chapters, all hell is going to break loose and stay loose.
Also, I'm going to be posting another small one-shot before the day is over. Please check that out too.
Thanks so much for reading. Now please review!