“The charm is broken, though. I tested it before we came here,” I tell them, remembering with no small amount of satisfaction how it felt to crack Setrákus Ra’s head with a rock.

Marina pinches the bridge of her nose. It’s a lot to take in, going from fighting Setrákus Ra to seeing him as a normal Loric to this.

“Is he . . . ? Could he be killing us right now?”

“No, he went down to whatever Ella did, too. We should make a plan, though, because I’ve got a feeling once this little trip down memory lane is over, we’re going to be right back in the shit.”

Adam frowns, looking embarrassed. “I’m in a bad way. I think he broke my whole face.”

“I’ll heal you,” Marina says curtly. “I was about to do it anyway.”

“Good, good,” I say. “And then you guys can help me kill Setrákus Ra.”

Adam and Marina both stare at me.

“What?” I ask. “You think we’re ever going to get a better shot at him? We’ve got his troops on the run, he’s hurt, it’s three-on-one . . .”

“We don’t have our Legacies,” Marina says. “He drained them. I’m going to have to drag Adam out of the crater just to heal him.”

Adam nods, studying me. I can tell he’s not sure if I’m being crazy or if he thinks it’s a good plan. Either way, I don’t miss the admiration in that look. “It won’t be three-on-one right away, Six. It’ll be one-on-one.”

“I don’t care. I’m not wasting this chance,” I tell them. I look around at our surroundings, wishing that I could figure out a way out of here. “As soon as this is finally over, I’m going to end him.”

Marina forgets about her anger with Adam long enough to exchange a quick look with him. I guess I might sound a little crazy. At this point, we’ve entirely stopped walking down the hallway to have this discussion. Katarina, or whoever or whatever has taken her form, notices our delay and stops, clearing her throat impatiently.

“We don’t have much time,” she says in that same stern tone she used to take when I really annoyed her. “Let’s go.”

We start walking again. Marina gets close to me, leaning her shoulder into mine.

“Let’s just be careful, okay, Six?” she says quietly. “The Sanctuary, maybe Ella . . . We’ve already lost a lot today.”

I nod, not replying. Marina was the one who wanted to stay behind and protect the Sanctuary from Setrákus Ra in the first place. But now that we have a real chance to kill him, she’s getting gun-shy.

Eventually, the hallway opens up onto a domed room with a large circular table that grows right out of the floor. Katarina steps aside to let us enter and when I turn around to check on her, she’s disappeared.

The room is an exact replica of the Elders’ Chamber from the vision we all shared. The only difference is the glowing map that’s drawn across the ceiling. Instead of Lorien, it depicts Earth. There are glowing dots on the map in places like Nevada, Stonehenge and India—the locations of the Loralite stones. The gallery is currently empty, but one of the nine seats around the table is already filled.

Lexa looks majorly uncomfortable sitting in one of the high-backed chairs. She drums her hands on the table, the woman obviously not sure what she’s supposed to be doing. She looks relieved when we enter the room.

“I don’t think I’m supposed to be here,” Lexa says, rising to greet us.

“I’ve got the same feeling,” Adam replies, staring at the huge Loric symbol in the table’s center.

“I’m not Garde. I’d never even seen one of these meetings until that vision thing. You guys saw that too, right?”

We all nod.

“If you’re here, it’s for a reason,” Marina says.

Lexa looks towards me. “I heard the explosions from the jungle. How’s the fighting going?”

Adam touches a hand to his face where Setrákus Ra struck him, then wanders off towards one of the empty seats. I try to figure out the best way to tell Lexa about our current situation.

“We’re surviving,” I say eventually. “We pushed the Mogs back and I think we’ve got a real chance to get Setrákus Ra. If we ever get out of here.”

Lexa nods approvingly. “Hell yeah,” she says. “I’m keeping the engines warm, though. In case you need to bail.”

“We very well might,” Marina says, giving me a look.

“You were the one that wanted to stay and fight in the first place, Marina. Now we’ve got to finish it.”

“But don’t you get it, Six? The knowledge—it’s what we needed. We know what Setrákus Ra is after and we know how to stop him. We broke the charm. Ella wrecked his machine so he can’t mine any more of the Entity. Just being here—” Marina gestures around the room. “This is a victory. Adam’s hurt, Ella is . . . we don’t know, and I’m sure Sarah, Mark and Bernie Kosar won’t be able to cover us forever. Maybe retreating is the smart move. Ella did tell us we should run, after all. Run or . . .”

“Oh, now you want to listen to her,” I reply, shaking my head. “Look, I don’t know what you took away from that vision, but if I learned one thing it’s that Pittacus Lore should’ve manned up and killed Setrákus Ra when he had the chance.”

“Boom. See, Johnny? Six agrees with me.”