Author's Note: Hey guys! Once again, thanks a lot for all of the support you've given me! We've reached 20 chapters! Wow! Thanks for sticking with me, haha. Also, to Guest: Hi! Yes, I'm aware that they have super speed but I don't think they would use it in public.

So, here it is! Hope you enjoy and please follow, favorite, and review!

John

"Okay guys, what do you think we should do next?" Six asks us, a notepad in her hands. Today is planning day after all.

"I think we should just destroy bases and give those stupid Mogs their killing." Nine suggests from the corner of the room.

Six rolls her eyes at him. "We can't always just kill Mogs, Nine. We need to get Ella's Chest, train—we're getting a lot stronger now—and hone our Legacies, and we need to find out who Pittacus is."

I clear my throat, ready to make the announcement. I haven't had the time to tell them with everything that's been going on lately.

"Yeah, John?" Six asks.

"I'm Pittacus." I say.

This caused gasps around the room.

"Really John? That's amazing!" Sarah says, pecking me on the cheek and smiling at me sweetly.

Nine takes the news badly and stands up, "What?! No!"

I was about to tell him something when he cuts me off.

"You can't be Pittacus! I would have liked it more if Ella was Pittacus!"

That's when I lost it.

"What's your problem, man? Can't you see that it's a good thing that Pittacus isn't One, Two, or Three?!"

"Whatever, man! Why does it have to be you?"

We're both standing up now.

"Do you think it was up to me? Do you think it was up to any of us?!"

Nine sighs deeply and sits back down.

"Enough, both of you!" Six yells, "You're being so pointless! Nine, John being Pittacus is a good thing so stop whining! John, you should have known better than to argue with Nine!"

I grunt and sit back down.

"What made you think you were Pittacus, John?" Sarah asks.

I grab my Chest from the corner and press my hands on the lock.

I hear the familiar click and it opens. I grab the small circular object, open it, and hand the piece of paper to Six.

Six reads it and smiles. "Looks like it's official. The new Pittacus is Number Four!"

Everyone cheers. Well, almost everyone.

Nine grunts. "So do we attack a base or get Ella's Chest?"

Ella tugs at Six's arm. "Six, if you don't want to get my Chest first, that's fine with me."

Six puts her arm around her and smiles. "No, Ella. Getting your Chest is our main priority right now."

Ella smiles and heads back to sit with Marina.

"Okay, so. Ella's Chest is buried somewhere in North Carolina. It would take more than 15 hours to get to Charlotte from here. So you should all pack, we're leaving in an hour." Six announces.

I go to my room and dump my clothes inside my backpack. I was never a neat packer.

I sit on the bed after packing. Sarah comes in and sits down next to me nervously.

"John, I need to tell you something."

I look down at her. "Yeah, what is it?"

"I think we should break up." She says, biting her lip.

I immediately react. "What? Why?!"

She takes a deep breath before answering.

"You being Pittacus is a big thing, John. You're going to develop all your Legacies soon and I don't want to be in the way of that."

I take a deep breath and grab her shoulders.

"You have never been a burden to me, Sarah. I love you and you know that. Me being Pittacus doesn't change any of that."

She's crying now, tears sliding from her cheeks.

"No, John. This is different. I don't want to be a burden to you or to any of the Garde anymore."

"Sarah please—"

She shakes her head. "No, John. I'm going back to Paradise. You guys would be better off without me."

I'm practically crying now too. I can't lose Sarah. I love her too much.

We sit there for a while, both of us silently whimpering.

"Sarah, please, there has to be another way." I plead but she just shakes her head again.

"I don't want to be a burden anymore, John. All my life I've been a burden to my parents, to my friends, to you. I don't want to be a burden to the other Garde. I don't want to be a burden to Lorien. I know you think I'm wrong but I know I'm just holding you guys back. I'm not as valuable as Sam. I can barely hold a gun."

Now it's my turn to shake my head. Sarah is the only person that I've loved completely. She can't go.

"No, please! I can train you if that's what you want! Just… please don't go."

"No, John. Nothing can change my mind."

I'm sobbing now, tears overcoming me.

Sarah can't leave me. I love her too much.

"Come on John," she pleads. "You can always visit me when the war is over. We won't be completely apart. You have my cell phone number, right? We can call each other every night. I just don't want to be in the way of all of this. You understand, right?"

Slowly, I begin to nod. It's for the best, a part of me thinks.

"You promise we'll always be together?" I ask.

She nods and smiles confidently. "I promise."

I help her pack after that.

After that, I head to Six's room to tell her what happened and that we need to drop Sarah off at Paradise.

She looks at me with sad eyes. "Are you sure you're going to be okay, John?"

I nod. "It's for the best."

She nods again and asks, "So, the plan is, I'll charge up the Xitharis with Invisibility, you hotwire a car and drive to Paradise. Then you use the Xitharis to sneak in Sarah's house without getting caught by the officials, drop her off and meet us back at North Carolina, and then we get Ella's Chest?"

I nod again.

"So it's settled. I'll go tell the others." She says, clasping her hands together.

I grin and nod again before heading out of the room.

I pace around my room anxiously. I know what I did was right. But I'm worried about Sarah. What is she gets bullied? What if the government arrests her? Oh now that's a messed-up thought.

I sling my backpack that's full of new clothes—we had to buy some when the cabin collapsed bask in Oregon—over my shoulder and head out in the hallway that connects my room with the others'.

I knock on their doors. "Hey, guys, are you ready to leave or what?"

I hear a muffled reply that sounds like Marina's. "Just a minute. I'm helping Ella pack her things."

"Okay. I'll wait down the lobby."

I take the elevator downwards. There wasn't anyone there except a burly man in a black trench coat and hat. He's pale—too pale to be human. His eyes are as dark as night and his expression tells me he's been waiting for me.

I know who he is. What he is.

He slowly makes his way towards me, his right hand clutching something from his pocket. A blaster.

He points it directly at me and shoots. I deflect it with my telekinesis and fire it at him instead. He stumbles backwards but is alive.

I seize the moment of shock and hurl him away with telekinesis. He stumbles and crashes forwards a tree just outside of the hotel.

Dark blood gurgles out of his mouth but he's still lunging for me. A strong one but just as stupid as the others of his kind.

I give him an uppercut to the jaw and he goes flying backwards before turning to ash immediately.

I run inside the hotel and press the elevator button to go up. Many more Mogadorians could be arriving right at this very second and there's not a moment to lose.

The elevator door slides open and I jump inside, pressing the button for the 4th floor.

How did they find us? I think, waiting anxiously as the ride makes its way upwards.

Could they have bugged our rides?

I shake the thought away and dash outside, knocking madly at the Garde's doors.

"Come on guys, we need to go! They're here!"

Six runs outside, clutching a handgun. The others soon follow and Malcolm drives us to the nearest airport.

The others somehow got the guns and knives through security check and we board the plane in less than an hour.

I breathe a huge sigh of relief as I take a window seat next to Sarah. BK is in my pocket as a dragonfly and I can hear his tiny movements inside.

I take a seat and push my backpack down the seat, slumping down and waiting for the plane to takeoff.

"What happened?" Sarah asks, the look of worry evident in her eyes.

"I don't know! I was in the lobby waiting for you guys to finish packing when suddenly this Mog came towards me and pointed his stupid blaster. Next thing I knew, I was punching him in the face and running back to the hotel." I explain, frantic.

"Are you okay? Was he alone?"

I nod vigorously. "I'm okay and I think he's alone but I know for sure that more are heading for the hotel right now."

She nods.

I turn to the window and wait as the captain announces, "Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. The plane will takeoff in five minutes. Please buckle your seatbelts and turn off your gadgets."

I do so and grab a magazine from the little rack nearby.

"I'm scared, John." Sarah says after a while.

"Don't be. It's going to be fine. I'm going to get you home safe and sound and your life would be back to normal, okay?"

"But I don't want it to be."

"Sarah, doing this was your decision."

"I know that. And I know that this is the best for all of us but I'm really worried. What if my parents hate me when I get back? What if everyone at school thinks I date an extremely dangerous terrorist?"

I shake my head gently, taking her hand. "Don't worry about them. Your parents would be happy that you're back. I'm sure they miss you a lot. And don't worry about those friends of yours. If they're your real friends, they'd stick with you no matter what. And you can always call me if there are any problems, right?"

She nods slowly, biting her lip. "Right. Thanks, John. I love you."

I smile at her. "I love you too."

…

I don't know how long I slept but by the time I open my eyes, the airplane is slowly descending.

Sarah is grabbing her bag from the compartment and I grab my backpack too.

Wiping the sleep from my eyes, I ask her, "How long did I sleep?"

"Ten hours. Did you get any sleep last night?"

I shake my head, searching my memory. "No, I don't think so. I was worried Mogs might catch up to us."

She chuckles and helps me stand as the plane skids to a stop on the runway.

The door opens and the flight attendants say something but I'm too groggy to understand.

I trudge forwards, almost falling flat on my face.

The scenery was amazing. The sun was just setting down and the trees are all aligned in place. The sky was a mixture of pinks and yellows as flocks of birds fly by.

We take three cabs to get to a hotel. In one cab, there's me, Sarah, Nine, and Five. In the second one, there's Six, Marina, Eight, and Ella. The last one has Adam, Malcolm, Sam, and some of the Chimæra, who have now transformed to dogs and cats.

A couple of minutes later, we arrived at a hotel in Charlotte. It looks decent enough, with white walls and brown roofs.

Nine walks in the lobby and orders five rooms for us.

I'm sharing a room with Sarah, Eight is with Marina and Ella, Nine is with Five, Six is with Sam, and Adam and Malcolm are in the last room. I know Malcolm doesn't want to be away from his son but no way is Six sharing a room with a Mogadorian. Even if he's dedicated to help us in winning this war, we still can't erase the memory of what his people did to ours.

I unlock the room with a key to open it. It's pretty big with one queen-sized bed sitting on the middle. A red plush couch is beside it, in front of a 32" flat-screen TV.

Sarah dumps our bags on the couch and pushes her shoes out before stepping in the shower.

I crash on the bed and flip the TV open. I scroll through the channels and settle on a news-reporting one.

So far, there isn't any news of what we did back at West Virginia—which is strange. Is the government helping the Mogadorians to remain oblivious?

I think they are, John. BK's soothing voice pops in my head, he's at my feet, looking up at me calmly, wagging his tail back and forth. He transformed into his beagle form without me noticing.

I don't know, buddy. But if they are, then that's an even bigger problem for us.

I know you can beat them, John. The Garde are getting stronger as each day passes.

I nod at him and smile gently.

Sarah comes out of the shower, her golden hair drenched and hanging loose around her shoulders.

I trudge towards the bed and collapse in the soft blankets.

"Aren't you going to shower?" Sarah asks, plugging a hairdryer to the wall.

I groan.

She chuckles. "Okay. But don't blame me if I go running off in the middle of the night because you stink."

Moments later, she prop herself in the bed and both of us drift away to sleep, cherishing our last night together.