I do not own Lorien Legacies or any of the characters.
Found
I stand up, stretching as Marina walks over to wish the others a good morning. As they discus our next move, Marina has trouble taking her eyes off of Eight. After a bit, Eight picks up a stick, twirling it in his hand before six kicks it, flipping it into the air to herself then tossing it back. Eight makes a big show of dodging the stick and I see jealousy flash across Marina's face. Apparently, she thinks they're flirting.
"Do we have enough money to buy us all tickets?" Eight asks after a moment, pulling me back to reality.
"That shouldn't be a problem," Crayton says, patting his pocket.
"Great," Eight nods. "Then we head back to New Delhi and get on a plane and be in the United States in a day or so. Or, we could be in the state of New Mexico in just a few short hours."
"We can't all teleport," Six points out, dragging her toe through the dirt.
"Maybe we can," Eight grins, reaching his own foot over and turning the circle six dres into a smiley face. They grin at each other. "We just need to take a short walk and then it's a simple matter of a giant leap of faith."
"Sounds a lot faster than a plane," Ella speaks up. "And a whole lot cooler."
"How many can you teleport at once?" I speak up, deciding to be the one to ask for details, since no one else is going to. "Have you ever tried to find out?"
"Not really," Eight said. "But that's why it's a leap of faith."
"You've got our attention," Craytan says, lifting Marina's Chest up onto his shoulder. "You need to show us what you're talking about."
Eight holds up a hand, then pulls off his shirt and pants. "Not before my morning swim."
And with that, he turns, sprinting to the edge of the cliff and dive in. Marina runs after him and after a moment, dives in after him.
"Did he just..." Rookie trails off as Hawkeye nods.
"So much for public decency," I grumble.
"Well he has been living in the mountains most of his life," Hawkeye points out. He grins and opens his mouth but thinks better of it and closes it again.
Six does not.
"You're just mad that the girl you like is swimming around with a naked Eight, rather than you," Six grins.
Before I can respond, Six sprints to the edge and leaps off, landing between Eight and Marina. After a moment, she drags Eight under and they start to wrestle.
"We should probably head down," Hawkeye states.
I nod and we start to walk down a path off to one side. The night before, we had all gotten flown up by Telekinesis. This time, everyone with that power is distracted. We make our way to the shore just as Six and Eight walk out of the water, though Marina is nowhere to be seen. After a moment, Eight sits off to one side and Six walks over to me. Hawkeye and Rookie both go to relieve themselves in the trees and Ella starts to twirl Eight's walkinf stick like a batton, or bo staff while Crayton watches.
"You know, you're not very good at sticking up for yourself," Six says.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"I can only run interference so long," Six says. "If you're going to make a move, you need to do it soon."
"Oh," I sigh. "I'm not."
"And why the hell not?" Six demands.
"Because she'll get hurt," I say. "Just like everyone else. If she's with Eight, she's safe. Eight can protect her."
Six opens her mouth to respond just as Marina surfaces, grinning from ear to ear.
"There you are! Where'd you go?" Eight calls out.
"Come on Marina!" Six calls out, flashing me an exasperated look. "We gotta go!"
Marina holds up a slime-covered Chest, dirty water and slime pouring out all over her. We all stare at the chest in shock. Where the Hell did she find that? She floats it over to Eight who teleports to it, hugging it, then teleports back to the ground.
"I can't believe it," Eight breaths. "All this time it was right here?"
"It was in a Mog ship at the bottom of the lake," Marina says, climing out of the water.
Just as she gets on dry land, Eight appears in front of her, less than an inch away. Then, he picks her up, kissing her. I freeze. For half a second, my face contorts and I suck in a breath, feeling as though someone had punched me. Then, I force my face back to a neutral expression and turn, walking toward the trees. I can feel everyone except Marina and Eight's eyes on me, but then I disappear into the trees. Once I'm far enough to not be heard, I shout in rage, fist flashing up and shattering against a tree before my shin does the same thing out of frustration. Great. Now I've crippled myself.
"You're not too bright are you?" Six's voice asks from behind me.
"Don't start Six," I growl. "Just don't."
"I'm not here for that," Six says. "I'm sorry, though. I actually came to find you because we need to get going. Though, I'll have to get you back to our medic first now."
I sigh and nod and Six turns, walking away, carrying me with her Telekinesis, keeping me turned so nothing touches my broken hand or leg. Finally, we reach the beach and Six sets me down in front of Marina, who gasps in surprise before starting to heal me.
"What happened?" She asks.
"I tripped," I lie, quite obviously. "Leg got caught under a tree. Then I got smart and punched a tree out of frustration." Half true.
Marina doesn't believe me but she doesn't press. After a moment, I'm healed and Eight starts to lead us up a mountain. There's a blanket of snow on everything and the wind is strong but Six keeps those out of our way. We're still freezing though. Eight and Crayton begin to discuss Eight's visions of Setrákus Ra, the Mogadorian leader, and Eight tells us about his most recent, where he saw a friend of his in chains. Then, Six states that John, Number Four, sees Setrakus Ra as well. After a few more minutes of discussing the dreams and their meaning, our path ends at a cliff face. No way we're climbing that.
"Now what?" Six asks. "There's no way we can climb straight up to the peak. There don't seem to be many other options, though."
Eight points at a paoir of boulders and they separate, revealing a stairway leading into the mountain. I stare at it for a moment before reaching back and pulling my Tavor out of my pack, Hawkeye and Rookie getting their M4s out as well. There will be nowhere to run if we're attacked. And we're overdue for one, it feels like.
We all head up the stairs, me at the front with Marina and Eight, and Hawkeye in the back with Rookie and Six. I instantly feel trapped. Finally, we enter into a large rock cavern and spread out, Hawkeye and Rookie staying by the door. On the other side of the cavern are two verticle lines five feet apart with a small blue triangle between them and three curved lines horizontally above it.
"Is that supposed to be a door?" Six asks.
"It's not supposed to be a door, it is a door," Eight says. It's a door to the far cor ers of the Earth.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask.
"At best, I can teleport two hundred feet," Eight explains. "Maybe two fifty. But my accuracy suffers. I once tried to teleport to the top of a tree a couple hundred feet away and ended up between a mountain lion and her cubs. My teleportation legacy is great, and has been immeasurably useful, but it's not exactly long range. But from inside this cave, I can teleport around the world."
"How?" Crayton asks.
"The best I can tell, this was a Loric place once, maybe a Loric headquarters. I was lucky enough to find it, and luckier still to figure out what I can do here. But I'm definitely not the first Loric here."
As soon as the words are out of his mouth, Hawkeye and Six are headed back down the stairs, Six going with them.
"Are you nuts!?" I demand, Eight looking taken aback. "Are mentally insane? Mogadorians are hunting Lorics! And you think it's a good idea to lead a group of them to a known Loric hideout, WITH ONLY ONE EXIT!?"
"Two exits," Eight corrects.
"You don't even know that you can teleport us all!" I snap. "For all you know, you might only be able to teleport one at a time!"
"Then I'll be back," Eight shrugs.
"What if they attack while you're gone?" I ask. "We'll die, Eight! If we stay here and there's an attack and we have to wait for you, we all die!"
"You're right," Eight sighs. "I'm sorry."
"Let's just get inside so we can get out of here," Marina speaks up.
Eight turns to the door, holding his pendant up to the triangle. After a moment, the lines around it deepen and extend toward each other. Once they meet and form the outline of a doorway, the right side separates and swings open, a blue glow reaching us from inside. Hawkeye, Six, and Rookie return and none look pleased.
"It's quiet outside," Rookie says. "No animal."
"We need to make this quick," I growl. Go get ready to get out of here. We'll cover your backs. Call us when you're ready to get out."
Eight nods and they all head through the door and up a second staircase. My team and I take up positions in the door and the cavern before it, usuing boulders around the outside of the room as cover. It's silent. I glance to Hawkeye who looks less than pleased with the way things stand. We're trapped with no sure escape plan. I'm not thrilled either. We sit in silence, weapons aimed at the doorway. The tension is so thick it's suffocating. Sweat starts to form on my forehead and temples. I try to calm myself, tell myself we're wrong. At that moment, the wall off to the left explodes, fire shooting past and up the stairs. Ella screams from inside. I scream where I am. My left hand is burned from the explosion and a Mogadorian blaster had managed to score a hit on my shoulder.
I hear someone shouting my name. Then, Eight appears beside me. I grab him and pull him down just as several shots fly past.
"Thanks," Eight says.
"Get Hwkeye and Rookie upstairs!" I shout over the sounds of my team and the Mogadorians shooting at each other. "I'll follow!"
Eight nods, teleporting to them before returning to me. Before I can react, it feels like my stomach is in my feet. For a moment, Rookie's hand is on my arm. Then, I'm falling. I land hard beside Ella just as the ceiling collapses above us. The debris stops, flying away from us and Marina sprints forward, beginning to heal me.
"They found us," I groan. "And teleporting several people is not going to end well."
Just as I'm finished healing, Hawkeye and Rookie begin shooting down the stairs. After less than a minute, they run down them. I jump up, following, and when I catch up in the main room, they're in a massive firefight. I sprint out the door, rolling under a barrage of fire from both sides, stopping behind a boulder. I lean out, spraying bullets at the hole. Ash blew in as Hawkeye and Rookie joined me in flooding the hole with bullets. After several minutes, the Mogadorians flee. We finally return to the room upstairs.
As we arrive, Crayton begins back toward the others with the chests. At that moment, one of the walls explodes inward and Mogadorians begin to fire through the hole. Eight uses his Telekinesis to deflect the debris and blaster fire while Hawkeye, Rookie and I blast the Mogadorians. Six steals a Mogadorian blaster and begins firing out through the hole. After a moment, another explosion shakes the room before a flaming Mogadorian ship crashes into the mountain next to the hole. A Mogadorian in the cockpit begins to try to escape but before he can, Marina slams two boulders together with the Mogadorian between them. Then, a rocket enters the cave, exploding against the wall next to Crayton. He lands in a heap next to a glowing stone the size of a basketball and the Chests skid across the ground. Even as Ella and Marina race toward him, I can already tell it's too late.
By now, most of the cave is gone, leaving us exposed. There's no way Eight will be making multiple trips for us. We don't have time. Six and Eight race over to Ella and Marina and me and my team take cover along the remains of the wall, keeping the Mogadorians from getting to us. But there are a lot. A full company, if not more. They slowly make their way closer, taking cover and rushing in buddy pairs the same way we were taught to.
"We can't hold them!" Hawkeye shouts to the others.
"Get over here!" Eight shouts.
Hawkeye and Rookie sprint over just as a rocket sails overhead, blasting an entire wall out. From our walk up, I remember there being a two thousand foot drop on the other side. I look up as two Mogadorian ships streak toward us. I open fire, my bullets bouncing off with a musical ring. Six throws me the Mogadorian blaster and I drop my rifle, which gets a rock jammed in the barrel, though the rifle itself is useless anyway in this situation. I fire up at the ships again and the blasts begin to punch through the ships. A moment later, both explode into flaming debris and rain down on the Mogadorians. Then, I sprint to the others. Just as I arrive, six grabs my hand and everything goes black, my stomach lurching again.
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