**Hey, guys! Sorry for the longer wait; school has started up again and I have to balance between homework, sports, and writing. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this next chapter!
The Time for Ten - Chapter 3
Marina looks away and I give her a forcefield. I'm really pushing my energy, I can't last for too much longer. Suddenly the tree beside me comes crashing down, and I jump up. Behind the fallen tree is a guy and girl, both in their mid twenties, one with glowing hands and the other with fireballs.
"Hi Six, Seven, and Nine. We are Eleven and Twelve. Are we too late to join the party?" The guy says with a smirk.
Marina turns back toward the Mogs and the boy charges toward them. The girl runs to me and reaches into her backpack to grab out a healing stone.
"This may hurt a bit..." She says soothingly.
I grimace as the pain doubles, and by the time she's done healing I've broken into a sweat. Then I jump up to help fight and realize the fight is already over. Marina had froze one Mog which the new boy had pounded to shards. Nine had found two sharp metal pieces, which can substitute for daggers, and stabbed the other two Mogs in the back of their necks. They all crumble to ash simultaneously.
The new girl turns to me. "I'm Twelve, but I prefer Kal. That's my brother Eleven, but he goes by James. We aren't technically part of the ten Garde in prophecy, but we were here when Lorien was destroyed and vowed to help the ten when we knew where they were. Now we've found a few!" Kal finishes on a happy note.
"Wait, how did you find us?" I ask. "We have the tablet."
"By Number Ten, Ella! About two days ago, Ella called us via telepathy and told us you guys were leaving Florida," Kal explains.
"Two days ago we were in Chicago, and Ella was in a coma," I say confusedly.
Nine, Marina, and James walk up to us.
"So apparently we aren't the only Garde who made it to Earth," Nine says as he points toward James.
"Before we socialize, I think we should get out of here," Marina says and looks to the sky. A Mog ship is flying in, slowly but surely.
"Grab on to my hand, I can teleport," Kal tells us.
"Last time I group-teleported, I was stranded in the desert, dehydrated, and then was captured by the U.S.A. government," I say.
"I've been training with it for seven years, just trust me," she says in response.
I reluctantly grab her hand. James grabs her other, and Marina grabs his. Nine grabs mine, and a tingly feeling crawls up my spine. I sneak a quick glance in. Nine is hot, I think to myself, just his features are amazing. I need to stop. I can't deal with a relationship in a time like this. Maybe afterward... Then everything swirls into a black center-point, and afterward expands into a view of bright colors and flashing lights.
"Welcome to New York!" Kal says excitedly.
xxxxx
"Get out of the car," a Mog yells from the line.
We all slowly slide out and stand in a line, our hands in the air. I remember the other Chimaera in the trunk. If only I can unlock it.
"We are going to take you out one by one, until we end with Number Four here," the Mog starts while pointing at me. "Lets start with you, Adamus Sutekh."
Now looking at Adam, I see he is pale and sweating. I focus my attention on the trunk's lock mechanism. I knit my eyebrows but try to keep a straight face to not draw any attention. Finally I hear a click.
"Well, my son, it seems you've survived and found your way to the next number before us, yet again," the Mog says to Adam.
So that's Adam's dad... He's not too friendly, I think to myself. I turn my focus to the Chimaera. On the count of three, charge the army. Okay?
I hear many okays fill my mind in response.
"So you've survived the machine and the ravine-" the Mog starts.
"One." I say.
"But what about a canon? Can you survive that?"
"Two."
"I think it's about time to find out," Adam's father places the cannon head over Adam's heart.
"Three!" I yell out loud this time.
The six Chimaera burst out of the car trunk, all in different beast forms, and tackle the many Mogs. In the confusion, Adam's dad fires and hits Malcolm in the leg.
"Cover me!" I yell at Sam, who has picked up the Mog cannon.
I run over to Malcolm and feel the icy sensation return to my hands. The blast did a lot of damage, a huge hole through his calf. I look around as the wound starts to close up. Sam is shooting wildly at oncoming Mogs, but he will be overrun soon. Hurry up, I say to myself as the wound starts to finish closing. Once it's done, I race over next to Sam and grab two cannons, one for Malcolm and one for Sarah. I call their respective names and toss them the weapons, which they start to shoot with. There appears to be hundreds of warriors.
Adam runs over to me and we go back to back. "Is now a bad time to mention that we couldn't get One's chest open?" He asks me.
"But One is dead... Does that mean the stuff inside is okay?" I ask in response.
"It's what I figured. Watch your balance," He says and stomps the ground with his right foot. A miniature earthquake erupts around us and spreads out, somehow avoiding our people but knocking down many Mogs which I spray with fire.
"Eight's chest... We left it in the penthouse. We need to go get it! I ripped the lock off myself, that must mean any Garde can open the chest once the original Garde and Cepan are dead!" I say excitedly. A Mog fires his canon, my bracelet expands into a shield and takes the shock. "I'll send a couple Chimaera back, they can take care of it. Did you say you had named one?"
"Dust!" Adam shouts and a giant fire-breathing lizard comes running up to us.
Using my telepathy I call over BK. Go grab Eight's chest from the penthouse, I need it! I tell the two Chimaeras. If we aren't here, then keep heading toward West Virginia, got it? They respond with okay and turn into birds, then take off.
We still have five Chimaera fighting, and the Mog's numbers are decreasing rapidly. Only around one-hundred of them remain. "Get in the car!" I shout to Malcolm, Sam, and Sarah. They turn and race toward the car. Adam and I take a step forward and prepare to finish off this mini army. I turn myself into a human fireball and charge toward the Mogs, my shield open and dagger outstretched. Adam tries to keep up as much as he can. Suddenly the Mogs part and avoid me, but they don't attack. Most of them look toward where I was heading, and I hear Adam gasp from behind me. Now ahead of me is Adam's dad holding a wooden pole. Strapped to that pole is a lifeless girl, a little younger than me, with pale skin and long blond hair.
"One! John, that's One!" Adam screams happily.
Suddenly I see the importance of this situation, and I start to charge forward.
"Four, jump!" Adam screams. I do so and he yells in outrage. His right foot slams into the ground and a seismic wave ripples across the pavement, cracking it in the process. Almost all the Mogs fall over or burst into ash, leaving only about twenty. "You get the Mogs, I'll get One." Adam says as he appears beside me. "It's about time I show my father who's wrong." Then he takes off toward his dad.
I turn toward my right, I decide to rid of these Mogs first. I throw a massive fireball at the left side of the group, turning them all to ash. The right side starts to cower backward, while the ten or so behind me start to fire their cannons. My shield expands and I hold it behind me as I charge forward, a bowl of visible air forming around me. Not knowing what I'm doing, I stop and let the air bowl fly forward. It vaporizes half of the group, and blows the others to the ground. Naturally I start waving my hand in circles above my head, and a mini tornado begins to form. I use telekinesis to send the tornado flying at the last few Mogs, who get picked up into the air and then thrown to the ground, instantly turning to ash. I take the tornado again and fling it behind me, and it acts as a boomerang. It picks up many Mogs and then the tornado comes back, dropping the Mogs around me who instantly disintegrate, and if they don't I finish them off with my dagger. I do so until none are left, and then I turn toward Adam. He is pinned to the ground by his father, with One lying on the ground behind them. Adam's dad points a dagger to Adam's throat. He whispers something to Adam, and just as he is about to finish off his son, I spin the dagger around and shove it into his dad's heart, and I hold it there, watching the nasty Mog take in what's happening. He looks at me. "You will pay for this, Four. You haven't even a clue to what we have in store." He starts. "And for you, Adamus Sutekh, I never loved you. Since the point where you didn't show your enthusiasm or your strength, I knew you were a defec-"
He never gets to finish. Adam has grabbed the dagger and shoved it farther into his father's heart. "I never loved you either." Adam says strongly, and then kicks his father to the ground, where he slowly turns to ash. Adam stands there, looking confused to what he just did, and then kneels on the ground with his head in his hand.
"You did the right thing, Adam. Thank you." I say. That's when I notice the objects by One's body. Not only is there a sickle on the ground, but a small chest. They brought her chest! I think to myself. They probably hoped we would be forced to open it...
The chest still has a lock on it. I rip the lock off and open the chest this time, with ease, and I see that all of One's items are still inside.
Malcolm and Sam come running up. Sarah puts her arm around Adam and starts to comfort him.
"That object..." Malcolm starts, pointing to a white pyramid in One's chest. "That object is important. I faintly remember it. Pittacus mentioned it can change the outcome of this war."
"Well, go think it over while we clean up!" Sam says excitedly to his dad. Sam then walks over to One and starts to clean her up from her fall. "It looks like they were going to cut off her head." Sam says to me.
I'm not paying attention. I have picked up the white pyramid and a scene has instantly started to play in my head.
I'm in a meadow, tall grass up to my knees surrounds me as far as the eye can see. About twenty feet away is an old oak tree, and a person is standing under it. He turns around and reveals himself to be Pittacus Lore.
"Hello, Number Four. By now I know that at least you have found One's chest. I died a long time ago, in Malcolm Goode's bunker, but that doesn't matter. What does matter, though, is that you've found the object that can change the outcome of this war. What you are holding is a Lorien Life Crystal. Not many know about this substance, it is even more rare than Loralite. It has the ability to bring the dead back to life. It takes about one minute, and will unwrap itself to cover the whole person in the white crystal material. When it is finished, it will fold back up into this little triangle." Pittacus explains.
"How did you know I am Four, and how are you talking to me if you're dead?" I ask.
"Like I said, this is a Life Crystal. Not only can you bring back the dead, but you can also communicate with them. You just think of the person you want to talk to, and then hold the crystal. You will be teleported in your dream to here, but instead of me it will be the one you thought of." He explains.
"Did you know about the other Garde on Earth?"
"Of course I did, they came here with me. But my time is up, Number Four. Each of the ten Garde in prophecy is a reincarnation of a Lorien Elder. Ten is Loridas reborn. One of you is me, Pittacus Lore, reborn. Only that one person can land the fatal blow on Setråkus Ra and finish this war, with the help of Number Ten. Number Ten is the heir of Ra, and therefore the key to winning this war. That is why Setråkus wanted her. Save her, Number Four. Good luck, and I wish you well." Pittacus finishes and starts to fade away.
"But her legacy, what does it do?" I scream before he totally disappears.
"Assegai Manipulation... For good, not evil." Pittacus whispers before he is gone for good. Suddenly I'm back at the zoo parking lot with Adam and Sarah leaning over me with scared looks on their faces.
"Are you okay?" Sarah asks. "You fell over and started to have spasms while sweating buckets. Then you dropped this thing."
"I remember!" Malcolm shouts happily. "The pyramid-"
"Can revive the dead." I finish his statement as I place the crystal on One's stomach, who is now cut off of the pole and laid flat on the ground, thanks to Sam.
The white pyramid unfolds and starts to spread over One's body, just like Pittacus had said.
"What's going on?" Sarah asks worriedly.
I put my arm around her waist. "Don't worry, I'm reviving One." I respond calmly.
The crystal begins to refold until it is a pyramid again. I throw it back into the chest and then crouch beside One's still lifeless body. Adam joins me on the other side of her, and we wait. He places his hand on her heart, and suddenly he takes it back excitedly.
"Her heartbeat is back." He says with a smile.
Suddenly her eyes fly open and she slams one arm into me and the other into Adam. We fly back ten feet and land on our backs. We sit up to see One looking in my direction with fright in her eyes.
"Who are you?" She says confusedly, with a little nervousness behind it.
Suddenly my ankle begins to get cold, so cold it is becoming unbearable. I grab it and start crying out in agony, rolling back and forth across the ground. Sarah drops to my side and rolls up my pant leg once I calm down a bit. The scar of Number One's death is gone, now only Two, Three, and Eight's scars remain.
"Is that enough for you?" Adam says behind One's back.
She spins around. "Adam!" One says happily and hugs him.
I stand up and walk over to her, my hand outstretched. "Hello, One. I am Number Four."
**Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! The next chapter will have more of Six, Nine, and Mar. The idea for this chapter popped into my head and I had to write it down immediately, so it came out first! Anyway, please review and I hope you enjoyed!