She told him about interacting with the machinery that drove the water pipes in the bunker, about making the pipes fill up and explode, about flooding the bunker and forcing the evacuation of everyone in it.
“At least you got us out of there,” she said.
“Where are we now?”
“I don’t know,” Six told him. “Another secret location. Could be anywhere. I was unconscious when they teleported us out. I guess you were, too.”
“They drugged you as well?”
Six didn’t answer for a moment. “Not exactly,” she said.
Something in her voice made Sam worried. He reached out, searching for Six’s hand. He found it and laced his fingers through hers. “What did they do to you?”
“Nothing,” said Six. She squeezed his hand. “I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine,” said Sam. “Did they hurt you?”
“It was that girl,” Six said. “Freakshow. She made me see some things I’ve spent a long time trying to forget.”
Sam forced himself to sit up, even though it made him feel sick to his stomach. Six helped him. He sat next to her and put an arm around her, pulling her close. He didn’t ask her to say anything else. He had a feeling he knew what Freakshow had made her see, what her darkest fear was. He sat beside her in the dark, just holding her. After a minute, Six leaned her head against him.
“We’ll get out of here,” Sam whispered. “It will be okay.”
“They have Max,” Six said. “And Lava.”
It took Sam a moment to remember who Lava was. Then it came to him. “What about Bats?” he asked, recalling the girl who had been helping them.
“I don’t think they got her,” Six said. “But I don’t know for sure. Everything happened really quickly. One minute we were frozen in the ice, and the next I was seeing . . .” Her words trailed off, and she breathed deeply. “I was somewhere else.” She sounded exhausted, worn out, almost defeated. It wasn’t a Six Sam was accustomed to hearing, and it both frightened him and made him very sad.
“Well, we’re together now,” he said. “And like I said, it will be okay.”
They sat together in silence for a while. Sam could feel Six breathing. The rise and fall of her chest was comforting. He closed his eyes and imagined that they were somewhere else. He tried to remember the last time they were relaxed and happy. Where had they been? His memories were still hazy, flitting around in his head like bats swooping through dusk. They circled around, revealing flashes of themselves as he tried to get them to come into focus, then darting off again before he could hold them in his mind. He recalled a beach, but not where it was. He saw the two of them holding hands as they walked along a street in a city he couldn’t name. He heard Six laugh, but didn’t remember the joke he’d told her to elicit the reaction.
He cleared his throat. “Magdalena says she put a parasite in me,” he said.
Six lifted her head and looked at him. “I know,” she said. “She says there’s one in me, too. And in Max. I was going to tell you, but then you disappeared.”
“I feel different,” Sam told her. “Like I’m not alone in here. And I can’t think clearly. Do you feel anything?”
“Sometimes,” Six answered. “Nothing horrible. Yet. But my Legacies aren’t working right. Or at all.”
Sam felt more afraid than he had in a very long time. “She says it will probably kill us if she removes it. And if she doesn’t, it will kill us getting out itself.”
“She says a lot of things. I also think she’s more than a little crazy.”
“What if it is true?” Sam said. “What if this—thing—really does what she seems to think it does? Absorbs our Legacies somehow? Transfers them to whoever she puts it into once it’s out of us?”
“I don’t see how that’s possible,” said Six. “Legacies aren’t things that live in a certain organ, or in our blood. They’re not things you can swap from person to person.”
“How do we know that?” Sam argued. “I mean, Nine can transfer his to other people. John can copy someone else’s Legacy. How does that work? They have to come from something. What if she’s figured it out? We don’t even know what these things inside us are. Parasites and other things transfer diseases. Why not Legacies?”
“They don’t work that way,” Six insisted.
“They haven’t worked that way. Maybe they do now. The black ooze drained Legacies, and Setrákus figured out ways to block them. Maybe Magdalena really did discover—or make—some creature that can do what she says they do. Like mosquitos that feed on Legacies and pass them on to the next person they bite. The rules about who gets Legacies have changed, Six. Maybe everything about them has.”
Six took both of his hands in hers. “The Mogs are obsessed with getting Legacies. I get it. So are some humans. And they’re going to try all kinds of insane things to try to get them. This is just another one of those things.”
“Yeah, but it’s working,” Sam said. “You said it yourself. Our Legacies are disappearing. They might even be gone. Have you tried to do anything recently? Anything?”
Six didn’t answer, which Sam knew was an answer in itself.
“There’s a reason they haven’t bothered to separate us,” Sam continued. “It’s because they’re not afraid of us anymore. They know we’re drained.” Another thought came to him. “Magdalena said something about Eleni needing you for some kind of plan. Do you have any idea what she was talking about?”
Six snorted. “No. But I suspect Eleni always has a plan. She’s basically a comic-book supervillain. Wants to destroy us, the world, whatever. She kept telling me how she was going to enjoy watching our time come to an end. I told her she needs a better scriptwriter.”
Sam laughed despite himself. “I’m sure she took that well.”
“Yeah, well, Mogs aren’t generally known for their sense of humor.”
They again settled into silence. Sam’s thoughts raced, jumping from one thing to another. It made him angry. He hated that whatever was in him had hijacked his brain. He hated that he couldn’t remember things.
“Did I really flood the place back there?” he asked Six.
“Big-time,” Six confirmed. “If that kid hadn’t frozen it, you probably would have turned the whole place into an aquarium.”
Sam laughed. “It would have made a great playground for Nemo.”
At the mention of Nemo, he got thoughtful again. He wondered where she was, and if she was okay. He wondered too if his message to Nine had gotten through. Not that it mattered now. They were in yet another place, and he had no idea where.
The light snapped on, making him blink. Eleni stood in the doorway. She pointed at Sam.
“You,” she said. “Come with me.”
“Why?” said Six.
Eleni ignored her. When Sam didn’t get up, she walked over and grabbed him by the arm, pulling him up. Six leaped up and pushed her away. Eleni came back, her arm cocked, and punched Six hard in the stomach. Six gasped and collapsed to her knees.
“Leave her alone!” Sam shouted, trying to get between them.
Six got up and rushed at the Mog. But Sam was between them, and he grabbed her, hugging her to him. “Don’t,” he whispered in her ear. “It won’t help.”
Behind him, Eleni laughed. Then she took Sam by the collar and pulled him away from Six. Sam continued to hold Six’s hand as long as he could. Then Eleni yanked him and their fingers parted. Sam saw the anger and frustration on Six’s face as he was taken from the room. Then the door was slammed shut.
“It seems Magdalena’s little pets are working,” Eleni said as she marched Sam down a hallway. “Perhaps too well. You’re both weakening quickly.”
Sam knew she wanted him to react, and so he didn’t. He wanted to remind Eleni that on a normal day Six would have beaten her easily. He would have as well. She had never encountered them at their strongest. And you’d better hope you never do, he thought.
He tried to pay attention to whe
re they were going, storing clues in his mind that might be helpful later. But his thoughts were still all over the place. Also, the hallway they were walking through was nondescript: dingy white walls, fluorescent lights overhead, closed doors with no markings. They could be anywhere.
Then one of the doors opened and a strange creature walked out. Humanoid in shape, its skin was blue and its face was covered in purple and gold markings. Spikes stuck out from its head, and around its neck was a frill. It was laughing, but when it saw Eleni, its expression changed to one of worry.
“Get back inside!” Eleni barked.
The creature retreated, but as Sam moved past the door he glanced inside and saw that the room was filled with similar-looking beings of different colors. He looked into the face of the one in the doorway and saw that one of its eyes was stippled with gold and green dots, while the other stared at him with a distinctly human look. Then the creature turned away and shut the door.
Eleni herded him along, saying nothing about what had just happened. Sam knew asking was probably useless, but he said, “What was that?”
Eleni laughed. “Don’t worry,” she said. “You’ll find out soon enough.”
CHAPTER TEN
MAX
SHILO, UTAH
MAX WAS LISTENING TO THE MOGS TALK ABOUT what should be done with him.
“We should just leave him here,” said one, a male with a nasty scar that sliced across the left side of his face. “What use is he?”
“Magdalena said to make sure he was transferred,” argued the other, a girl.
The male Mog grunted. “I guess he’s another one of her pets. I don’t know what she sees in these humans. They should all be left here to drown, like rats.”
Max wanted to shout, “I can understand everything you’re saying!” But he kept quiet, seated in the small office where Magdalena had left him. The cheeseburger and fries he’d eaten hadn’t been drugged or poisoned after all, and he actually felt a lot better than he had earlier. Or he would have if the power hadn’t apparently gone out, leaving him sitting in a mostly dark room. The emergency lighting that had come on made the whole place glow a faint green.
He wondered what was going on. Clearly, something had happened. He’d expected Magdalena to come back for him, but she hadn’t. He’d only seen the two Mogs, and they hadn’t explained anything to him or discussed it with each other, apart from their comments about transferring him somewhere. Transfer him where? He had no idea.
Someone shouted from outside the room, and the two Mogs who had been talking about him left. He waited for them to come back. When they didn’t, he stood up and went to the door. He tried the handle. To his surprise, it turned. He realized then that the lock must have been controlled electronically, and with the power off, it was no longer closed. He pushed the door open and stepped outside.
There was nobody in the hallway. He heard voices somewhere farther away and decided it would probably be best if he went the other way. He retreated down the corridor, walking quickly. He didn’t know where he was going, but he was happy not to be locked in the office anymore.
The floor seemed to be deserted, which was weird. It was as if everybody had simply disappeared. And there was a lot of water. He recalled what the male Mog had said about leaving him there to drown. Something major had happened, and Max had no idea what it was. But if it could make the Mogs evacuate, it was probably not something he wanted to stick around for.
He needed to find Six and Sam, or at least Lava and Bats. Anyone, really. On his own, he had no idea what to do or where to go. But what if they had all left, too? Or worse, what if they had been captured?
He heard voices behind him, turned and saw the shadows of two figures standing outside the room he had recently vacated. It was the Mogs, probably coming back for him. Any moment they would realize that he wasn’t in there and come after him.
He ran.
He felt like he was always running, always trying to get away from someone. He wished he felt strong enough to stand and fight. He remembered how it had felt to knock Ghost and Seamus back with his telekinesis. It was both empowering and horrible. He hated hurting people, even ones who might want to hurt him. He especially hated having to hurt people who were supposed to be his friends.
He turned a corner and collided with someone coming the other way. He fell backwards and landed on his butt. He looked up and saw something falling towards him.
“Catch it!” a voice said.
Instinctively, Max lifted his hands. Something landed in them, and he closed his hands around it. It was smooth and cool to the touch.
“Nice one,” the voice said.
“Nemo?” asked Max.
His friend materialized out of the gloomy light. Max was so excited to see her that he almost dropped the thing in his hands, which he now realized was a jar. He looked at it, then almost dropped it again when he saw something scrabbling against the side.
“Careful!” Nemo said.
She reached down and took the jar from him, setting it on the floor. Then she offered him her hand and pulled him to his feet. She gave him a hug. It felt so good that Max almost cried. When Nemo let him go, he looked down.
“What is that thing?” Max asked, taking a step away from the jar by their feet.
Nemo bent and retrieved the jar. “I have no idea,” she said. “But whatever it is, it’s important, so I thought I should take one to show—someone.”
“What are you doing here? How did you get in?” Max asked her.
“Long story,” said Nemo. “I’ll tell you later. The big question is, do you know how to get out?”
Max shook his head. “I was hoping I’d find someone who did.”
“What about Sam and Six?”
“I don’t know where they are,” Max said. “We got separated. Then I got caught.”
Nemo sighed. “I lost Nine, too,” she said. “Looks like the buddy system didn’t work for either of us.”
“Hey, we found each other,” Max said.
Nemo grinned. “Yeah,” she said. Then she added, “I saw Ghost, too. Tried to get her to come with me. She wouldn’t. And she said something big was going to happen soon.”
“Magdalena said something like that, too,” Max said. “One of the Mogs,” he added, not knowing if Nemo would know who he meant.
“A lot of weird stuff has happened in the last few days,” said Nemo. “Are you okay?”
Max shrugged. “Like you said, a lot of weird stuff has happened.”
“You can tell me all about it when we’re out of here,” Nemo said. “Right now, we need to find ourselves an exit.”
“Lava said there’s only one way out,” Max told her.
“Lava?”
“A guy I met here,” Max explained. “He and this girl named Bats were helping us. Before I got caught by Freakshow.”
“Freakshow’s here?” Nemo said. “Great. Who else?”
Max told her about the others.
“I’d like to get my hands on Seamus,” Nemo said angrily. “I can’t believe he turned traitor.”
“There’s something else,” Max told her. “That explosive device he supposedly brought from the Academy?”
“What about it?” Nemo said warily.
“It’s not a bomb,” Max said. “It’s an egg. Well, there’s an egg in it.”
“What kind of egg?”
“I don’t know. Magdalena didn’t say. Just that that’s what was in it.”
“What the hell is that Mog up to?” Nemo muttered. “Freaky bugs in jars. A mystery egg. The thing in the lake.”
“What thing in the lake?” Max asked.
“That’s part of the long story,” Nemo replied. “Nine and I got attacked by an octopus or something. Only it wasn’t a real animal. Not biological,” Nine said.
“So, like a mechanical squid?” said Max.
“It didn’t feel mechanical,” Nemo said, thinking about the tentacles that had wrapped around her arm. “Felt p
retty real to me.”
“Did it . . . get Nine?” Max asked.
“He was still fighting it when I had to get inside,” Nemo said. “I don’t know. I waited for him, but the air lock started to fill up with water again and I had to shut it.”
She sounded angry, and also ashamed. Max understood that feeling all too well. “It’s not your fault,” he assured her. “And it’s Nine. I bet he’s fine. He’s just been . . . held up for some reason.”
Nemo nodded, but Max knew she probably still felt bad. He decided to try to distract her by being brave himself. “We could go look,” he said. “For the egg thing, I mean.”
“Where?” Nemo said. “They probably took it to wherever they took everything else.”
“Maybe,” Max agreed. “But it can’t hurt to look, right? Then we can try to get out of here. You’ve already got that thing in the jar. Maybe if we find the egg, we can take both of them back to the Academy and they can figure out what they are. It might help.” He didn’t know how, exactly, but it sounded good. He tried not to think about the part where, even if they found the egg, they still had to somehow get out of the bunker without being caught. And he especially tried not to think about the part where all of this seemed completely impossible.
“You’re right,” Nemo said. “Let’s do it.”
They made their way back to the laboratories. The Mogs seemed to have gone, and the rooms they looked into were deserted. They searched each one for anything useful, but came up empty-handed. Almost everything had been taken, and what had been left behind was useless.
“Well, it was worth looking,” Nemo said as she and Max stood in the middle of the last room.
“I guess,” Max said, disappointed.
He was about to suggest that they start looking for a way out when there were noises from the hallway. Then he heard Mogs talking in their language.
“Hide!” he said to Nemo.
They found spots behind large pieces of equipment and hunkered down. Moments later, the Mogs entered the room.
“We have everything,” one said.
“We still haven’t found the human boy,” another replied. “And there are the beasts in the cages below. Eleni said to destroy them, since there’s nowhere to house them safely in the other location.”
The Legacy Chronicles: Raising Monsters Page 10