**I feel terrible for not writing this story for so long. It's been over two months since the last update… No, I really don't want to quit this story, but I did and still do need some time off to, you know, rejuvenate my senses for what's going on. I hope you guys understand… This isn't what I meant for when I said quality over quantity, this is just me being a lazy-ass.

The Time for Ten - Chapter 20

Six

"What the hell do you want?" I ask Setråkus as he strolls around the room.

The room. I've been here before; this is where we found Eight's body in the freezer while he was still dead.

"Don't worry, I don't want to fight," Setråkus says, his voice deep like the sound of the wind in this cave.

"Well I do."

"You don't matter, it's Four I, never mind. Look at this screen here."

Setråkus motions toward the wall on his right and a video feed of some highway in a warm place appears. Palm trees line the road as well as sand on the left and grassy swamplands on the right. This spot is near the Everglades.

"Why are you showing me a highway?" I ask.

Setråkus continues to stare at the video, and when I look back I see Marina. She's in a blue jeep alongside Five, alive again. Just as I'd thought, Marina's group left to revive the traitor. Then I realize something. Where are Eight, Two, Kal and James? Only Marina, Five and some scruffy-looking young lady.

Setråkus sees the confusion on my face, and begins to explain. "Marina has joined the side of the Mogadorians."

"That's a lie. She would never join you filthy scumbags."

Setråkus' eyes darken even more than they already were, almost to pitch black. "Are you sure, Six?"

"Positive."

"Then why are they doing this?"

We both look back to the screen to see Five and Marina working together to kidnap the girl driving them, and then Five takes the driver's seat. Marina sticks out her fist and Five bumps it with his own, and then they laugh. Laugh. Marina is with a traitor to our dying race, and she are laughing.

"This isn't right… You're tricking me," I say.

"This isn't a trick, Six. What you are seeing is happening, real-time."

"Where are they, then?"

"Miami, Florida. Five is looking for his old acquaintance."

"Yeah, that's not happening. How do I leave?" I ask impatiently.

"You're awake!" Ella yells happily. "We thought you were going to die."

I laugh. "If I'm going to die, it's going to be in a fight. Where exactly are we?"

"Oh, about that, we've split up again," Ella says.

"What? Why on Lorien would you do that?" I ask.

"Well, you, me, Sam and Hayley are heading toward Miami because we found out that's where Marina is," Ella explains.

"How did you figure that out?" I ask, knowing I found out about Marina thanks to Setråkus.

"She spoke to me through Telepathy. I'm getting better at it!" Ella says.

I force a smile. "That's great, but what about the others?"

Sam turns around from the passenger's seat. "They are all heading to California to reconnect with John and Nine."

The four of us sit in silence for a long time. Bernie Kosar snuggles up onto Ella's lap while holding his head out the window. Flatlands with the occasional bare tree fly by, with birds flying aimlessly above us. The temperature is mildly hot, around seventy degrees.

"Wait," I say with sudden realization, "why isn't Hayley flying us all?"

"I burnt a lot of energy carrying the lot of you away to Virginia. At least we have a shorter drive than the others, am I right?" Hayley responds.

Nobody answers, and Hayley slumps back in the driver's seat, her eyes set on the horizon.

"How much longer till Miami?" I ask after another five minutes of silence.

"The GPS says two hours," Hayley responds.

I slouch farther in my chair and close my eyes. May as well take another nap.

xxxxx

I wake up inside the jeep Marina and Five had stolen. The lady is squirming around in the backseat, finally having woken up. I open the passenger door and step outside into the warm air. There is only light on in the whole neighborhood. It's in the building two doors down. I hear muffled shouts and a large thud, as if a human slammed into the wall.

I race toward the house and fly through the door. The sounds are now louder and are coming from upstairs. I skip two steps at a time as I run into the nearest bedroom to see ice being flung at a wooden Five.

"Stop it!" I yell and walk in the middle of the room, but the fight continues as if they can't hear me. "Hey, Mar! Stop fighting!"

Then I hear short sobs coming from around the corner. I head over to check out the scene, knowing trying to stop that fighting is useless, and I find a girl with (need to check book) hair with her head in her hands.

She suddenly looks up, her eyes wide. She holds her hands in front of her face. "Who's there?"

"It's okay, I'm not here to hurt you," I answer calmly as I take a step forward.

"Stop moving, I can sense you're here. You're another one of them, aren't you? Another monster."

"I don't know what you're talking about… Here, let me help you out-" I say and try to take another step forward.

"Stop it!" the girl screams and I back into the doorway just as Marina passes through it.

A cold tingle rushes up my spine, and then everything becomes brighter than anything I've ever seen, even John's lumen, but I know I am now on the ground.

"You…" the girl starts as she points to me on the ground.

I don't remember being this far into the room.

"You're one of those monsters, too. And there's another one in this room! But it's invisible… I can sense it."

A realization hits me, this girl's name is Emma. Wait, how do I know that? She never told me…

"Just please, go away!" Emma yells at me.

I look behind me to see I am not even near the doorway. Something is wrong. I look down at my body and see that it is not mine, but Marina's.

I jump to my feet and scream in terror. I'm in Marina's body.

xxxxx

John

The sound from the hall wasn't as bad as we expected, just a fire in the staff kitchen. Of course, the fire was started by Nine trying to be cool around all the ladies, none of which are actually interested. We sit down with Allison after the incident to get the scoop.

As Nine sat down to talk to Allison, one of the concierge agents, he forget he had put a bowl of soup in the microwave. Little did anyone know, soup can be highly flammable, and it caught on fire.

Nine always finds a way to ruin a situation.

"How the hell do you even manage that?" Jackie asks him furiously in her office later that day. "It's only been one day and you've already set the damn place on fire? No wonder you guys have had a hard time surviving."

I jump forward and grab Jackie by her shirt's collar. "Never talk about our race like that," I spit in her face.

She shoves me back into my seat. "I'll do what I want, thank you very much," she says, but her eyes quickly lighten. "I'm sorry, I'm just a little angry at the burnt section of our headquarters."

"We don't have time to worry about burnt granite-tops, we have an army of vicious blood-thirsty aliens on our tails," Nine counteracts.

"As much as you probably hate the sound of this, we need to get on the move again," Jackie starts. "Where are your friends?"

"Well, when we last left them, they were plotting to break into a Mog base and take back Five, dead or alive," I say.

"Do you have any means of communication?"

"Well, sometimes I can get through to Ella telepathically."

"Try it now!"

I look at my kneecaps and focus my brain on Ella. A faint buzzing sound erupts from my left ear, letting me know I've found her.

'Ella! Ella? Where are you?' I ask through my head.

'John! We are in driving to Florida… I'm not sure where we are exactly. It's nighttime, and Six is going crazy. She passed out earlier and now is mumbling in her sleep about Marina, Five and some girl named Emma. Oh, and Eight, Marina, Two, James and Cal teleported away with Five's body during a fight at a motel. We think they went to England for the second life crystal, but we aren't too sure. We need you back here, fast. I'm afraid for Six, I think she's going insane.' Ella explains.

'Eight did what?! Alright, we are on our way.'

I look back up to Nine and Jackie and explain the situation, even with my pounding headache. I've been getting them a lot more recently.

"Dude, this shit is getting intense. I hope it's the final stretch," Nine says.

"Till Setråkus dies, or us?"

Nine gives me an incredulous look, and then quickly returns to his blabber-like self. "Whatever, man. Let's just get going. I feel like it's about time the Garde come together and stick together."

A tingling in my head appears, and I realize it's Ella trying to call me in. John? John! Finally, it's hard to call you in. I forgot to mention something! Three, One and Adam are coming to find you in California! We figured we should have larger groups than just two all spread around the world.

Thank you, Ella. We were just about to leave, too. I guess I'll try to call one of them in with telepathy and ask where they are?

Sounds good! But, um, where should we all meet afterward? Like, after you connect with those three and we find Five and Marina.

What about Eight, Two, Kal and James? I ask.

We will have to wait for them, only time will get them back.

I sigh and lean back in my chair. Alright, we'll meet you in New Orleans then?

Awesome! See you there!

Sometimes I wonder how Ella can be so happy in situations like these.

**I hope you guys enjoyed, and please review!