I do not own Lorien Legacies or any of the characters.
Tracking
I lean back against the side of the boat, Tavor in my lap, sword beside me, and my eyes watching Dale, as his remained on the floor, glancing up at me every so often. At first during the tip, he had been making no effort to hide his staring at Marina and Six. Once he found my rifle to his eye, that stopped, and his eyes hadn't left the boat since, except to glance at me in case I was distracted. Nine is on bucket duty, using it to scoop water out of the boat's foot wells so we don't sink. The boat isn't far from it, either. It's duct taped and shoe-laced together, literally, and the engine is nearly overheated just moving slowly. Marina is standing beside Six as Six steers. Dale gives them directions every so often, since that was the entire reason we brought him.
Last night, we rented a "shack" from the Trapper's bartender. It was one of the poorly built piles of wood we had passed with a ratty old mattress on the ground, a hotplate, and a rusted out sink that wasn't even connected to anything. Since we didn't trust Dale to run off at the first chance, we took turns watching him. Nine went first while the rest of us tried to rest, Six and Marina on the mattress and me next to the door with my rifle in case the Mogadorians had somehow tracked us. At some point, Marina had said she could feel Eight's presence calling to her.
Today, she seems to still feel it. She's staring straight ahead, silent and ignoring anything else. Even when Six tried to ask her if she was okay, Marina hadn't responded. I'm starting to get worried, but I keep silent.
I realize I've been staring at her and turn to Dale, seeing him doing the same. I take the handle of my rifle and Dale's eyes drop to the floor again.
"How much further?" I ask.
"Not much," Dale says, looking up at me. "Bout an hour."
"If you're anything less than truthful, I'll shoot your knees and let you walk back," I growl.
"Cut the engine," Marina suddenly hisses.
Six complies and I step forward, rifle ready. We wait. Sure enough, a second engine begins to grow louder in the distance, doing considerably less sputtering and hiccuping than Dale's. I raise the rifle as Six turns to Dale.
"Are there any other dirt bag swamp people out here?" she asks.
"Sometimes," Dale says, though he doesn't sound sure. "Now, wait a minute, are we in danger? Because I didn't sign up for that."
"You didn't sign up for anything," Nine reminds him.
Finally, the motor falls silent just barely around the next corner. A pontoon boat comes bobbing around the corner, manned by a trio of Mogadorians. For a moment, we're silent. No one moves, even the Mogadorians.
"Friends of yours?" Dale asks, voice slurred from the flask he's been sipping at all morning.
Just like that, everyone moves. two Mogadorians reach for their blasters and one dives for the engine. Six uses Telekinesis to send the front of their boat into the air and the Mogadorian going for the engine falls overboard. The other two stumble but don't fall. At almost the same time as Six hits the boat with Telekinesis, Marina plunges her hand into the water and a sheet of ice shoots out from her hand, freezing a trail to the Mogadorian's boat and then trapping it at an incline. Nine jumps out of the boat, sprinting to the Mogadorian's boat and leaping onto it, grabbing a Mogadorian by the throat. the incline and Nine's momentum send both staggering toward the back of the boat and the other Mogadorian raises his rifle.
I fire and the Mogadorian who had managed to get his rifle explodes into ash. Nine snaps his catch's neck and the Mogadorian who fell overboard tries to climb onto Marina's ice. Bad move. An icicle instantly impales him, killing him. I smirk just as theirs a splash behind me and I turn, seeing Dale swimming away.
"Want him back?" I ask.
"No," Marina says. "We're close enough now. And besides..."
"Holy shit," Nine breathes, eyes staring at the sky.
"I think we can follow that," Marina finishes, also looking up.
Six and I look up and my arms fall to my sides, almost dropping my rifle. Above us is a ship. Not like the one that the Mogadorians had chased me in a few days ago. This one is the size of an aircraft carrier. probably bigger. It has dozens of massive cannons along its belly and it blocks out the sun for several moments before it passes us, completely ignoring me standing seemingly alone in the rickety pontoon boat. Once it's gone, Marina, Six, and Nine reappear and we stare at the thing through the canopy of trees a moment longer.
"Well," I sigh. "Not going to do anything useful standing here. Let's go raid a Mogadorian warship."
"Do you know what this means?" Six asks, turning on me.
"That the Mogadorians are here and we need to stop them before any more ships like that show up?" I ask.
Six stares at me before grinning.
"Marina, why don't you take over," Six says and Marina nods.
Then, she steps up to the wheel and starts out. Six turns to me, grinning.
"You've been awful...forward, lately," Six grins.
"You want to know what I've learned?" I ask.
"Sure," Six nods.
"You can try to run and hide from pain. You can take every opportunity to try and make sure it won't find you. You can take any precaution you want. And in the end, you'll waste every second you have. I might not have many seconds left to waste. I'm not as...durable, as all of you. I'm much easier to break." I say, then sigh. "I thought that by staying away as much as possible, I could protect her from my curse. That she could be happy. But Eight still died. Marina may be alive, but Eight's not. And she's suffering. A lot. Even if she won't show it. I tried to protect her by staying away, and she was hurt anyway. So this time, I'm not going to run from my curse. I understand that I can't. And I can't simply leave because the last time someone tried to leave they died."
"James, war has casualties," Six says. "Bad things happen. You can't keep blaming a curse for bad things happening to you."
"So, you're telling me to just go ahead and make a move?" I ask. "That even though people are going to die, I should take the risk? Is that what you told Sam when he asked you out?"
Six looked taken aback for a moment before her face fell. An image of the John Hancock Center burning enters my mind.
"It'll take more than that to kill Sam," I say and Six looks up at me. "After all, he was with two ex Marines, Sarah, and they had that armory. I know they all made it out safe. Besides, John probably woke up while we were out. Even if not at first, then...when that scar..."
Six's eyes widen and she nods slowly before sighing.
"You're right," she mumbles. "I used the wars have casualties line to turn Sam down. But...if he's gone..."
"It's not so easy to figure out your emotions is it?" I ask, smirking. "Much less keep them in check. I'm going to protect Marina, no matter what it takes. I'm not going to let her be hurt. Even if that means I have to follow Eight."
"She'd never forgive you if you died now," Six says.
"And if I let her die, I'll kill myself," I say flatly. "I can't blame my curse for everything. But my curse isn't a figment of my imagination. And I won't let it take Marina from me."
Just as I say this, Marina kills the engine and then forms an ice pathway to shore. We all climb out and make our way through the bushes to the edge of a clearing. Inside is a hanger. And over our heads, is the gigantic warship.
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