Chapter Nine

Six

"But why?" Meredith asks. All of us, including the Chimæras, are in the living room talking about the news from the TV. Crayton has his hands on his mustache, stroking it gently in a thinking gesture. Malcolm, Sam, Cole and Marina are on the couch with Ella on Marina's lap. Meredith is up on her feet beside Nine, whose arms are crossed over his chest. John and I sit on the remaining chairs.

"Mogs can't colonize. Ever since the attack on Lorien, they've started having some sort of deficiency that attacks women. They can't reproduce babies that will become the soldiers Mogadore needs. Many of the soldiers that are hunting us down now are vat-born, and nearly all of them are born fully grown and ready for battle," Nine says, "I heard the Mogs' discussions when I was in the cave. My hearing extends all the way out past the force field if they're in near range. And besides, Mogadore is dying. They need another place to live. Lorien is just too small for their species, and it's as dead as their planet is anyways. They need a place as big as or bigger than Earth."

"Don't say that," Marina scolds Nine. He just shrugs. "Lorien is still alive, she's just asleep."

"So they're trying to kill off billions of people here on Earth?" Sam says, "We have to stop them!"

"But how?" Cole counters, "There are only seven of us Garde, a Cêpan, two humans and a handful of Chimæras against an entire demon planet and its army. We have no ship, no Loric Weapons besides the ones in our Chests and the ones Crayton has, plus there are more Chimæras to find. If they start spreading the poison throughout America, half of the United States will die within three to five months, and even more will pour in."

"We have to help the humans," Marina says.

"We can't just march in every hospital and do your healing-thing without tons of explanations," I say. Well, I don't want to crush Marina's dreams but she has to hear it. "The only way to help them now is to destroy the Mogs."

"I agree, but how? We have like only five months left to do everything; from finding the ship to searching for more Chimæras," John says.

"What about Loric Allies?" Malcolm asks.

"After what happened in Manhattan, I won't take any chances."

"We have to split up into three; a group for finding the Chimæras, another for searching the ship and another for secretly healing people. We're the only ones left to protect this world," Crayton concludes, ignoring our violent reactions. I guess everyone doesn't like the fact of splitting up. "Do you have any better ideas?" Crayton asks.

"What if the others got captured?" I say, "We're stronger together, and that's how it's going to stay, Crayton. We can't afford to lose another Garde."

"Besides, Crayton, the ship's coordinates have been revealed, but not at all exact," Malcolm says.

"What do you mean?"

"Yesterday evening, I was checking the transmitter when three locations appeared; Indiana, Texas and Georgia."

John says, "The ship can be anywhere in those places."

"That's one thing the transmitter does. It confuses its bearer. One of these locations is the place where the ship resides in. But it will only show its exact location if you pass the said place's borders. If you're in the right place and pass its borders, the transmission device will turn on and will show the ship's location."

"You see?" Crayton says, "We need to form groups to find everything in just a few months."

"No we don't" I say, "We can look for the ship plus the Chimæras at the same time. As for the people, Marina needs to heal from here to everywhere around her. She has to maximize her ability to heal not just what she touches, but everyone around her. That's the plan."

"Where we're going to is not affected, Six," Marina says sadly.

"Fine, then. Crayton, what exactly is your plan?"

"Simple. We divide ourselves into three, each search for a specific item and return to the ship's coordinates. But we should have means of communication. John already has one, and we only need two more. I'm still working on uploading the app into a compatible device. I'll be able to buy you a day to prepare. Tomorrow, we leave. End of discussion."

"But—"

"It isn't safe—"

"End of discussion," Crayton says with finality. The rest of us exit the living room and onto the space outside, where we train under the early morning sky. "He's gone out of his mind," Cole whispers, not enough for Sam and the others inside to hear, but enough for us Lorics. We all nod stiffly and instead of training, sit in a circle on the lawn. John sits beside me as usual, holding my hand in his. "There's nothing we can do. The sooner we get rid of the Mogs, the better," Nine says.

"But to split up? No way," Meredith counters.

"I know it's hard for all of us," John says, "but I agree with Nine; there is nothing we can do. If we can manage to find the Chimæras and the ship, we'll be out in space in no time. As for the healing-of-the-people, I guess Six is right. Marina, you have to exercise your Legacy. It's the only way."

"Then what are we sitting here for? Let's get training!" Marina says, and we get to work.

Later that day, after eating lunch, we settle out in the lawn again, this time including Sam, Malcolm and Crayton. For an old man, Malcolm moves with agility, much like his son. I challenge Meredith after beating Cole up. Well, Crayton told me to do so, because Cole will be Marina's practice dummy for what I suggested earlier. Speaking of Marina, she's been struggling, trying to reach Cole, who is fifty meters away from where she is standing. They are supervised by Crayton. Marina lifts the circle of Healing Stones around her with her mind, and in an instant they get enveloped in the same silver light. Marina closes her eyes, and when she opens them, the soft brown that filled her pupils disappears, as it is covered completely with silvery white color. The light from the stones push outward and finally reaches Cole. Well, good for her.

Meredith is pretty easy to beat. She is less sure of her actions and takes a few seconds late to decide where to attack. What she's really good at is how to use her spear. When the training session shifted to with-weapons mode, Meredith showed her best. She nearly took me out with that double-ended spear of hers, but still, she lacks in strategy.

After the with-weapons mode, we challenge ourselves using our Legacies. Speaking of which, John hasn't told anyone about his new Legacy, and I leave it to him to tell the others what it is. Marina, who is tired from their Healing session, sits out while the rest of us step into the circles I drew in the ground. A new rule Crayton has made about this round is that we aren't allowed to step out of our circle.

In this round, John and I are paired. We wait for Crayton's go signal, and we start after he gives the word. With my mind, I force the ground to move and crack. Vines as thick as my own body grow from the cracks like giant tentacles. They wrap themselves around John's body, but his strength saves him. The vines rip apart loudly and shrink back to where they came from. Next, I am able to create a thunder storm without getting hit by John's Lumen in the form of lasers. Once I feel that the storm overhead is ready, a huge and powerful bolt of lightning touches the Earth—directly over John.

And it happened once again.

John catches the bolt of lightning and absorbs it. The lightning bolt then takes form of an electric light blue sphere in John's hands. I can hear the others fall silent. With shaking hands, John forces the energy outward, back towards me, and during that split second of time I saw his eyes; they were gray with a mixture of dark blue and were glowing faintly. That didn't break my focus though. I divert the lightning bolt down the crack on the ground. The Earth shakes slightly at the encounter, and becomes still. Training continued, but this time, John had an interview with Crayton.

After eating dinner Crayton divides us into three groups. "Sam, Ella, Cole, Marina and few Chimæras will be in charge of healing humans. But be careful. Be anonymous. Cole, after Marina heals everyone in a specific location, it is your job to convince them not to remember anything from the time they got infected.

"Nine, Meredith, John and some of the Chimæras will find the others. Six, Malcolm, the remainder of the Chimæras and I will search for the ship."

He hands the other two groups a phone each before I shout, "I can't be separated from John!"

"We have no choice. He's an Animal Telepath. He has to go with them," Crayton yells back.

"I don't want to leave Six either, Crayton! What about the others? Are they separated from their mates? No! So why us?" John says in defense. "This is exactly why we didn't want to split up in the first place!"

"We have no choice. It's now or never. We leave tomorrow, nothing said. Alright?" Crayton concludes. We don't answer. I can't be separated from John. I won't be able to live that way. I might as well die of worry on the search. But, like Crayton says, we have no choice. John and I will have to go in different directions. Far from each other. Without any idea what happened to the other.

"Fine," John and I whisper in unison, and we are the first to leave the discussion that night.