The Rise of Nine (Lorien Legacies) by Lore Pittacus

Author:Lore, Pittacus [Lore, Pittacus]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harper Collins, Inc.
Published: 2012-08-20T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINETEEN

I’M FACEDOWN IN SCORCHING HOT SAND. IT’S IN MY mouth, up my nose, I can barely breathe. I know I should get up, try to roll over, but my bones ache too much. I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to block the pain all over my body. I finally muster the strength to rise, but when I place my hands down to push myself up, the sand burns them. I let myself fall back.

“Marina?” I groan.

She doesn’t respond. I still can’t open my eyes, but I listen carefully for any signs of life. All I hear is the wind and sand whipping against my body.

I try to speak again but can only muster a whisper. “Marina? Somebody, help me. Eight? Ella? Anyone?” I’m so confused I even call out for Crayton. As I wait and hope for a response, I’m hit with the memory of Crayton’s dead body. I see it all happening again. Ella’s tears. The Mog attack. Hooking my hand inside Marina’s elbow and Eight saying, “Here we go.”

The sun is so hot above me my hair feels like a blanket of fire on my neck and shoulders. Finally, I manage to roll onto my back, and to lift my arm and shield my eyes from the blinding light. Slowly, blinking, I open them a bit at a time. I don’t see anyone. Just sand. I struggle to my feet and hear Eight’s voice echoing in my head: “I really hope this works. I’ve never tried to bring anyone else.”

Well, it looks like it didn’t work. Or, it worked, but not for me, for all of us together. Where did Ella and Marina end up? Are they together? Is Eight with them? Are we all in different corners of the world? Or am I the only one alone? My brain is frantically churning through all the different possibilities. If we’ve not only lost Crayton, but also been separated, torn apart, we are so much farther away from our goal. I feel sick with frustration and panic. All we’ve worked for, everything we sacrificed to go to India and find Eight—it might have been for worse than nothing.

I’m alone under a cloudless sky and a sweltering sun, with no idea of where I am or how in the world I’m going to find another living soul, Garde or not. I scan every direction, hoping to see Marina stumble over a dune with her hand waving above her head, Ella not far behind, or a laughing Eight, cartwheeling across the sandy expanse, but all I see is a desolate desert.

I think about what Eight told us about how this teleporting thing works. Wherever it is that I’ve landed, I know I’m near one of the blue Loralite stones. Even if I don’t have his teleporting Legacy, I’m hoping I could still use the Loralite in some way. I drop to my hands and knees and furiously start to dig. I have no way of knowing where the thing is, where to start looking, but I’m desperate.

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