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"What the hell?" I ask, wondering how it's possible for the body to completely disintegrate like it just did.
"Don't look into their eyes!" she yells, ignoring my confusion.
I think of the writer of They Walk Among Us. I now understand what he went through when looking into their eyes. I wonder if he welcomed death when the time finally came, welcomed it just to be rid of the images that perpetually played in his mind. I can only imagine how intense they would have become had Six not broken the spell.
Two other scouts sweep towards us from the end of the hall. A shroud of darkness surrounds them, as though they consume everything around them and turn it into black. Six stands tall in front of me, firm, chin held high. She is two inches shorter than I am, but her presence makes her seem two inches taller. Sarah stands behind me. Both Mogadorians stop where the hallway intersects with another, their teeth bared in a sneer. My body is tense, muscles burning with exhaustion. They take deep, rasping breaths, which is what we heard outside the door, their breathing, not their walking. Watching us. And then a different noise fills the hallway, and the Mogadorians both turn their attention to it. A door being shaken as though somebody is trying to force it open. From out of nowhere there comes the sound of a gun blast, followed by the school door being kicked open. They both look surprised, and as they turn to flee, two more blasts boom through the hallway and both scouts are blown backwards. We hear the approaching sound of two sets of shoes and the click of a dog's toenails. Six tenses beside me, ready for whatever is coming our way. Henri! It was his truck's lights we saw enter the school grounds. He has a double-barreled shotgun I have never seen before. Bernie Kosar is at his side, and he comes sprinting towards me. I crouch down and lift him off the floor. He licks wildly at my face, and I'm so excited to see him that I almost forget to tell Six who the man with the shotgun is.
"It's Henri," I say. "My Cepan."
Henri comes walking down, vigilant, looking at the classroom doors as he passes them, and behind him, carrying the Loric Chest in his arms, is Mark. I have no idea why Henri has brought him along. There is a crazed look in Henri's eyes, one of exhaustion, full of fear and worry. I expect the worst after the way I left the house, some sort of scolding, perhaps a slap across the face, but he instead switches the shotgun to his left hand and hugs me as tightly as he can. I hug him back.
"I'm sorry, Henri. I didn't know this would happen."
"I know you didn't. I'm just happy you're okay." He says, "Come on, we have to get out of here. The whole damn school is surrounded."
Sarah leads us to the safest room she can think of, which is the home economics kitchen down the hall. We lock the door behind us. Six moves three refrigerators in front of it to keep anything from entering while Henri rushes to the windows and pulls the blinds down. Sarah walks straight into the kitchen we normally use, opens the drawer, and removes the biggest butcher's knife she can find. Mark watches her, and when he sees what she has done, he drops the Chest to the floor and grabs a knife of his own. He rifles through other drawers and removes a meat-tenderizer hammer and tucks it into the waistband of his pants.
"You guys okay?" Henri asks.
"Yes," I say.
"Aside from the dagger in my arm, yes, I'm fine," Six says.
I turn my lights on dimly and look at her arm. She wasn't kidding. Where the biceps meets the shoulder a small dagger is sticking out. That was why I heard her gasp before she killed the scout. It had thrown a knife at her. Henri reaches up and pulls it free. She grunts.
"Thankfully it's just a dagger," she says, looking at me. "The soldiers will have swords that glow with different sorts of powers."
I mean to ask what kind of powers, but Henri interrupts.
"Take this," he says, and holds the shotgun out for Mark to take. He accepts it in his free hand without protest, staring in awe at everything he is witnessing around him. I wonder how much Henri has told him. I wonder why Henri brought him along in the first place. I look back at Six. Henri presses a rag to her arm and she holds it in place. He steps over and lifts the Chest and sets it on the nearest table.
"Here, John," he says.
Without explanation I help him unlock it. He throws the top open, reaches in, removes a flat rock every bit as dark as the aura surrounding the Mogadorians. Six seems to know what the rock is for. She takes her shirt off. Beneath it she is wearing a black and gray rubber suit very similar to the silver and blue suit I saw my father wear in my flashbacks. She takes a deep breath, offers Henri her arm. Henri thrusts the rock against the gash, and Six, with her teeth clenched tightly, grunts and writhes in pain. Sweat beads across her forehead, her face bright red under the strain, tendons standing out on her neck. Henri holds it there for nearly a full minute. He pulls the stone away and Six bends over at the waist, taking deep breaths to compose herself. I look at her arm. Aside from a bit of blood still glistening, the cut is completely healed, no scars, nothing aside from the small tear in the suit.
"What is that?" I ask, nodding to the rock.
"It's a healing stone," says Henri.
"Stuff like that really exists?"
"On Lorien it does, but the pain of healing is double that of the original pain caused by whatever has happened, and the stone only works when the injury was done with the intent to harm or kill. And the healing stone has to be used right away."
"Intent?" I ask. "So, the stone wouldn't work if I tripped and cut my head by accident?"
"No," Henri says. "That's the whole point of Legacies. Defense and purity."
"Would it work on Mark or Sarah?"
"I have no idea," Henri says. "And I hope we don't have to find out."
Six catches her breath. She stands straight, feeling her arm. The red in her face begins to fade. Behind her, Bernie Kosar is ru
"Did you get my phone today when you were at the school?" I ask Henri.
"No," he says. "I didn't grab anything."
"It wasn't there when I went back."
"Well, it wouldn't work here anyway. They've done something to our house and the school. The power is off, and no signals penetrate whatever sort of shield they've set up. All the clocks have stopped. Even the air seems dead."
"We don't have much time," Six interrupts.
Henri nods. A slight grin appears while he looks at her, a look of pride, maybe even relief.
"I remember you," he says.
"I remember you, too."
Henri reaches out his hand and Six shakes it. "It's shit good to see you again."
"Damn good," I correct him, but he ignores me.
"I've been looking for you guys for a while," Six says.
"Where is Katarina?" Henri asks.
Six shakes her head. A mournful look crosses her face.
"She didn't make it. She died three years ago. I've been looking for the others since, you guys included."
"I'm sorry," Henri says.
Six nods. She looks across the room at Bernie Kosar, who has just begun to growl ferociously. He seems to have grown tall enough so that his head is able to peek out the bottom of the window. Henri picks the shotgun up off the floor and walks to within five feet of the window.
"John, turn your lights off," he says. I comply. "Now, on my word, pull the blinds."
I walk to the side of the window and wrap the cord twice around my hand. I nod to Henri, and over his shoulder I see that Sarah has placed her palms against her ears in anticipation of the blast. He cocks the shotgun and aims it.