Sorry for the late update. I'm on a very busy schedule and homework is piling up on my list. I had to stop writing first. I changed the name "Zakaria" to "Zakarius". Anyways...
Chapter Fifteen
John
"Six!" I yell, running towards the house. Six, at the sound of her name, appears at the door, her hair a rat's nest. She's wearing the same clothes I saw her in before she left, with her sunglasses hanging from the front of her t-shirt. "John," she says in a daze, as if she could not believe her eyes. With five long strides, I reach Six and wrap my arms tightly around her, not daring to let go. Not again. I breathe in the scent of her hair and feel her tears wet the side my neck at the show of affection and emotion. "I knew we never should have split up," Six says, not breaking away from me.
"Well, at least it's short lived," I say, and I feel her smile against my neck. I let go of her and cup her face in my hands, using my thumbs to wipe away her tears. I meet Six's lips with mine, the feeling of the warmth that spreads from there unimaginably perfect. "Nice to see you too, John," Malcolm says, and I can hear his fatherly smile in his voice. I pull away from Six and let my hands fall to my sides, keeping a hold on Six's hand. "Malcolm, as Sam's father, I will do everything it takes to get your son back. He's my best friend. I owe him that," I say solemnly. Malcolm's smile turns gloomy. I couldn't blame him; he just recently reunited with his son and now he thinks he'll lose him. I promise myself that I will get Sam back.
"Anyways," I say to break the silence, "Nine, Meredith and I have something to tell you. Follow me." With Six's hand still in mine, I tell the Chimæras to grab whatever bags they can and give a ride to Malcolm and Crayton since they can't run as fast as us. The Chimæras Six brought with her take the form of the others—wolves. Elizabeth, Bernie's girlfriend, looks skinnier and smaller than the rest, but is still as lethal looking. They grab whatever they can, and the stronger ones let Malcolm and Crayton ride on them. Together, we race through the woods as I explain everything, from Zakarius' story to the triangular clearing.
When we reach the tree line, the Chimæras walk in first, and I brace myself for that new feeling; the feeling of home.
That same energy fills me with life and glee that I have to stop myself from jumping up and down. Six, as she takes in the scene, has a glazed look in her eyes. So does Crayton. But when I look at Six, it's not as if she's cherishing her memories of Lorien. It's as if she's trying to remember something dear to her. Zakarius stands upon our arrival. Who are these? One of them is not Loric, he says, and when his eyes fall on Six's confused face, he bends down, as if he is bowing down to her. Six, disregarding this act of reverence, only snaps back to earth when I nudge her shoulder. "Zakarius," she says. Zakarius' head snaps up at the sound of his name, and says, Master's descendant! We can all go home!
"Not yet," Six says, and everyone's attention is on her. She ignores us though. How did she understand Zakarius? Is she developing the same Legacy Nine and I share? "We still have to find the others and the Chimæras for your army. Zakarius, we need to find your army immediately. Now that we found the ship, our destiny can no longer wait."
"Six…" Nine says in amusement, "how did you do that?"
"Do what?" Six asks, her eyes narrowed as if she did not notice anything at all. Nine looks from me to Six and back again. I simply shrug my shoulders at him when his eyes fall on me, telling the truth; I have no idea about this turn of events. "I mean…how did you communicate with Zakarius?"
"It's as simple as pie. I mean, I only hear him in my head—" Crayton cuts Six off. "Can you understand the rest of them?" he asks her, but Six shakes her head. She places a hand on Zakarius' shoulder and pats it gently. "I can only hear him. Anyways, how can we summon the others?"
I shake my head and shrug once again. But Six is right; we found the ship. We can't delay our return to Lorien. We've just waited too long. We've harbored too many fantasies and visions of home, and now that we're just a stone's throw away from our destiny, there's no stopping us.
Leave that to me, Zakarius says, and sucking in a lungful of air, he howls, loud enough for even us Lorics to cover our ears. Six seem unaffected, and instead studies the trees surrounding the clearing. She studies each one as Zakarius continues to howl, and one by one, Chimæras from where we came from enter the clearing. I don't know how he did that, and I don't intend to disturb Zakarius' ongoing howls. Bernie, sensing my thoughts, answers my question anyways, The alpha's call is always unavoidable. Only Chimæras would be able to hear and respond to his call.
"I have movement over here!" Nine yells, averting my gaze from the animals. He hands me the phone hastily, and I see five blue dots in this exact location, meaning us, and three more on the way, followed by endless red ones. "Uhh…Six? You may want to hurry up, Mogs are getting closer!"
"I'm trying…" she whispers to herself, and after walking around the clearing, she claps her hands excitedly. "The trees! The trees are the answer!" I look at her with my mouth opened, not understanding a word she said. How can the trees be the answer? There are like millions of trees in this part of the entire continent. The last of the Chimæras enter the clearing, and soon, it was tight-packed with wolves. "Six, what do you mean?" I ask, weaving in and out of the wolf pack without stepping on their tails until I reach her. I grab hold of her shoulders and look deep into her eyes. She looks at me, the look on her face between frantic and excited—or probably both. "Look at the sides of the clearing, John. Three trees stand out on each side. They're about a few inches forward. Nine trees, nine Garde. Three are dead, and three have come to replace them; Sam, Malcolm and Crayton. We have to position ourselves on our own tree!"
I look around, trying to make sense of her words. She's right again; three abnormally tall and thick trees line the entire clearing, as if they grew that way. I step near the first tree on the right side and instantly, that three begins to emit a blue glow. "John, stay there!" Six says, telling Zakarius to usher the other Chimæras at the center. "Everybody! Find your respective place!" Six says, the sweat beading on her forehead. She looks like a mad teacher trying to calm some ADHD students down and place them at a single spot. I try to do my best not to make her mad, but odds are she already is.
"Meredith!" Six yells overhead, "Over here!" Meredith follows, her back rigid, and goosebumps forming on her arms. Six places her two trees away from me, and when Meredith stands in front of her tree, it glows, just like mine. The energy in the field is getting gradually stronger, as I can feel it in my entire being.
Nine's name is called. He walks casually beside Meredith, as he passes Six, he says, "Yes, Your Highness."
"Don't mock me," Six says threateningly, the glow in her eyes nearly as bright as our trees. "Zakarius! Tell your army to make a circle around me. Tell them to take whatever luggage they can, and keep it with them."
Yes, ma'am, Zakarius says, and with a bow, he obliges to Six's command. They each grab a bag with their mouths and sit in a protective circle around Six. "Now, we wait for—"
"Mogs! Mogs everywhere!" Cole yells, from the across the clearing. He stands still for a second and looks at the trees, our formation, everything with his mouth hanging open. Ella bumps into him, sweat on her forehead, her chest heaving, but she relaxes the minute she enters the field. Marina follows, and Sam as well. "Sam!" I yell, and I'm about to step away from my tree when Six yells, "Don't! You'll break the connection! Cole, stand beside John, now! Marina, beside Cole. And Ella, stay beside Nine. Just tell us about what happened on the way."
They walk with an amazed look on their faces. When they step in front of their trees, the clearing becomes nearly filled with bright light. I'm betting that the Mogs can see us right now, and will ambush us in twenty seconds.
"Crayton, Malcolm and Sam, the remaining three trees on my left," Six says, her voice strangled yet as excited as ever. I hold in a deep breath and as, one, two, three trees ignite with blue light, a radiation of Loric energy comes to life, from Six, who is in the middle of us all. The trees ablaze with light create energy of their own, beams of electricity stretching upwards until the meet at a point. The Loric energy keeps on radiating, filling us with new power after every surge. I hear Mog shouts and firing cannons, but somehow, they seem like they came from a million miles away. A strong gust of wind nearly pushes us towards the center, where Six is. "Hang on!" she says over the noise of swirling wind now threatening to deafen us. The last surge of energy comes, and stops once it encloses all of us in an electric force field. The trees show off their brightest light yet and the energy field contracts, closing in on us. With every breath that I take, my heart hammers more, more and more until my chest begins to ache out of near suffocation. The wind is now blocking all sounds, and with a threatening boom and a magnetic hum of electricity, everything is gone. As I'm sucked inside what I think is a black hole, I lose consciousness and only wake when my cheeks tingle from numbness on some ice-cold floor.