The Legacy Chronicles_Up in Smoke

by Pittacus Lore

  “Magda is the maid,” Valentina said, nodding. “Follow me to the bedroom.”

  Valentina walked down the hallway, through an empty dining room and down another hallway. As they approached a door at the end of it, they heard the sound of someone yelling. Valentina paused, listening. Then, she pushed the door open. Again, Six and Sam waited outside, pressed against the wall, sneaking glances inside.

  The room was a disaster. Furniture was upended. Sheets and draperies, torn to ribbons, were scattered across the floor. The glass from a broken mirror glittered in the sunlight coming through the bare windows. On the walls, smears of food created the impression of hastily scrawled graffiti.

  In the center of it all stood Bray. He was barefoot, wearing only a dirty white undershirt and a pair of pajama bottoms. His hair was greasy and stood out in haphazard tufts, and his face was shadowed, with stubble. In one hand was a hypodermic needle, which he had plunged into the crook of his arm. On the floor around his feet lay half a dozen more.

  Then Six’s eye went to one corner of the room. There, huddled against the wall, her knees drawn up to her chest, was Edwige. Her eyes were closed, and she was silently mouthing something as if she was praying. Six wanted to run to her, but she stayed where she was.

  Bray looked up. He pulled the needle from his arm and grinned. “Valentina,” he said. “Are you the only one who hasn’t abandoned me?”

  “I brought you some soup,” Valentina said, keeping her voice calm. “I thought you might be hungry.”

  “I am,” Bray said. “So hungry. You can’t even imagine. I feel like I haven’t eaten in days. Weeks.” He held up the syringe. “It’s this,” he said. Then he laughed, a weirdly high giggle that filled the room. “It makes me so hungry. Maybe you should run, Valentina. Maybe I’m going to eat you up.”

  Valentina ignored him, setting the tray down on the bed, then picking up an overturned table and righting it. She transferred the tray to the table, then stood aside, her hands folded in front of her. Six, watching Edwige, waited for the girl to open her eyes and see them. But she didn’t. She remained where she was, seemingly frozen in place.

  “Come,” Valentina said to Bray. “Eat something. You’ll feel better.”

  Bray lumbered over to the table. Picking up the bowl of soup, he lifted it to his mouth and upended it, pouring in the soup. Most of it ran down his undershirt, staining it red. He slurped and gobbled at what was left, using his fingers to scoop the soup into his mouth.

  Valentina quietly moved toward Edwige. When she was close enough to touch her, she knelt and put a hand on the girl’s knee. Edwige gave a startled shriek and opened her eyes. The noise attracted Bray’s attention.

  “Don’t touch her!” he shouted. He threw the bowl to the floor, where it shattered.

  “I thought perhaps she could help me in the kitchen,” Valentina said.

  “Her?” Bray said, laughing. “Help? She can’t help. She’s useless.” He stomped through the pieces of broken bowl. “Useless! She can’t even fix what’s wrong in here.” He smacked his hand against the side of his head, then hit himself half a dozen more times.

  Edwige turned her head away, burying her face against her shoulder. Bray charged at her, stopping right in front of the girl. He bent down and laughed loudly. “Useless!” he screamed again. He lifted his hand to strike her.

  Six had had enough. She stepped into the room. She didn’t want to kill him in front of Edwige, but she wasn’t going to let him hurt her either.

  “Bray!” she shouted.

  Bray turned his head. For a moment, he just stared at her. Then he grinned. “You,” he said. He pointed at her with a thick, stubby finger. “You’re what I need to feel better.”

  He charged.

  Six prepared to meet him. Without her Legacies, she had only her strength, and although that was considerable, Bray seemed to be fueled by something other than normal human anger. When he plowed into her, he knocked her back and off balance. She regained her footing and hit him hard in the chest. He grunted, stumbled and swung at her. She ducked, and his hand went over her head, spinning him off balance. Six dealt him a kick to the side, and he flew backwards, landing on the floor.

  As he struggled to get to his feet, two figures appeared out of thin air. Ghost and Scotty materialized on either side of Bray. Seeing them, he grinned.

  “Take the healer,” he ordered.

  Scotty went towards Edwige, reaching out to grab her. Before he could, Valentina’s hand came up. In it was her gun. She fired. A red stain appeared on Scotty’s shirt, and his mouth opened in surprise as he crumpled to the floor.

  “No!” Ghost shouted. She pointed her hands at Valentina, and the gun flew out of Valentina’s hand and clattered onto the floor as she herself was slammed into the wall and knocked out. Then Ghost whirled and glared at Six, her eyes filled with hatred. At the same time, she took something from her pocket and handed it to Bray. It was a syringe.

  “Good girl,” Bray said. “Now get out of here. Take Scotty. I’ll handle this.”

  “I have one more thing to take care of first,” Ghost said.

  Six felt a surge of power. Sam, who had come into the room, shouted as he was swept back through the door, which slammed shut. Six heard him pounding on it, but Ghost was using telekinesis to keep it bolted shut, and whatever the door was made of, it was withstanding Sam’s assault. Dennings had been telling the truth. The girl’s Legacies were very strong.

  Now, Ghost turned her attention to Six. Six braced herself, instinctively calling up her own Legacies. Then she remembered she was without them, and the next moment she was lifted up in the air. Her head drew close to the ceiling. Below her, Ghost looked up with an expression of satisfaction.

  “Aren’t you going to fight back?” she said.

  Six tried. She willed her Legacies to return. She attempted to muster even an ounce of power. Nothing happened. And with the others unable to help her, she was on her own. It was not a good feeling.

  As Six waited to see what Ghost would do, Bray uncapped the syringe the teleporter had brought for him and plunged it into his arm. Then he yanked out the needle and tossed it aside.

  “Leave,” he said to Ghost. “I’ll finish this.”

  Ghost frowned. She obviously wanted to argue. Instead, she continued to hold Six up as she went over to Scotty’s prone body and placed her hand on it. She gave Six one last look, then vanished. Six, no longer held up by telekinesis, fell to the floor. Snarling, Bray started towards her. She leaped to her feet and once again prepared to meet him.

  But after a few feet, Bray stopped. His face contorted, and he clapped his hands over his ears. One eye began to twitch, opening and closing rapidly. Bray’s mouth twisted into a rictus of pain. His tongue lolled, dripping drool down his chest.

  Slowly, he began to spin in a wobbly circle, his feet stomping on the trash that littered the floor. A moan escaped his lips, growing into a howl as he thrashed his head from side to side. The veins in his neck swelled, pulsating. When he turned back to face Six again, his skin was mottled, flowers of black and blue blooming across it. Six had never seen anything like this.

  Bray staggered forward a step, reaching for her. His fingers twisted, turning in on themselves until the nails cut into his palms. Blood began to flow, dripping down his wrists. And still he howled, an unearthly sound of pain that had no words.

  Behind Six, Sam finally got the door open and ran inside. Valentina too was stirring.

  Edwige whimpered.

  “Get her out of here,” Six said.

  Sam and Valentina pulled the frightened girl to her feet. Six stood between them and Bray as they hustled her out of the room. Then Sam came back to stand beside Six.

  Bray began to claw at his face, his nails tearing at the skin. It was terrible to watch, and Six wondered if they should let him rip himself apart or put an end to it. Before she had to make the decision, Bray gasped. He made a choking sound, and his head flew back. Black bile e
rupted from him, splashing the ceiling and the wall behind him as it arced through the air. Then he collapsed onto the floor. He didn’t move.

  Sam and Six waited a minute before checking for a pulse. There was none. Satisfied that the man was dead, they went out into the hall, where Valentina waited with Edwige. “Take her to the car,” Six told Valentina. “Sam and I will finish up here.”

  Valentina nodded. Holding Edwige’s hands, she led the girl away. Six shucked off the backpack she was wearing and opened it, taking out one of the bombs Lexa had packed for her. She tossed it into the bedroom, where it rolled to a stop beside Bray’s lifeless body. Then she and Sam went through the other rooms of the mansion, leaving a device in each one. Then they went through the secret passageway that Ignacio had told them about and descended into Wonderland’s lower depths.

  There they found the laboratory and operating room. They were empty now, but evidence of what had taken place there remained: medical instruments scattered around, bloodstains on the concrete floors, vials of various-colored substances spilled on the countertops.

  “Looks like Bray turned this place upside down, too,” Sam remarked. “Should we take any of this back to analyze?”

  “No,” Six said, tossing the last of the incendiary devices into the room. “It all goes. Come on. Time to get out of here.”

  Back upstairs, they walked through the kitchen and out of the house. Valentina and Edwige were waiting in the Fiat. Edwige was sitting silently in the passenger seat, staring dully out the window at nothing. She barely reacted when Sam and Six got into the car.

  “He did something to her,” Valentina said. “Something bad.”

  Six leaned forward and looked closely at Edwige’s neck. There was a scar at the base of her skull. The wound was only recently healed. She looked over at Sam and saw that he was staring at it, too. “Let’s get out of here,” she said to Valentina.

  As they approached the guardhouse once more, Six was relieved to see that the guards had abandoned their posts and the gates were open. Once they were through the gate and driving down the road, Six turned to Sam. “Blow it up,” she said.

  Sam took out the controller Lexa had given him. He pressed the button. A moment later, the forest behind them erupted with a roar. Looking through the rear window of the Fiat, Six saw Wonderland turn into a cloud of fire and ash. She saw the two guards throw themselves to the ground. Smoke billowed into the sky, thick and black, as the bombs consumed the mansion and all its secrets.

  Valentina kept driving. Six turned back around and once more placed her hand on Edwige’s neck. “It’s over now,” she told the girl. “It’s all over.”

  Edwige slept the entire flight back to California. Once there, she was taken to the HGA infirmary. Six and Sam went directly to Nine’s office, where they found Nine with McKenna.

  “Cutter was able to provide us with the locations of the other camps where Bray and Dennings were holding kids with Legacies,” McKenna informed them. “We’ve shut them all down and taken the kids into our custody.”

  “How many?” Sam asked.

  “Seventy-two kids.”

  “And by we, I assume you mean you and Walker,” said Six.

  McKenna nodded. “Walker’s division has also taken responsibility for everything we retrieved from the ship and from the other camps.”

  “You mean the black ooze and the serum Drac was working on?” Six said. “Why aren’t we taking the lead on this?”

  “I’ve been given other directives,” McKenna said. “Walker’s team is better equipped to deal with that technology.”

  Six looked at Nine. “And you’re okay with this?”

  Nine shrugged. “I’ve got enough to worry about running this place,” he said. “Especially with a bunch of new kids coming in.”

  “Am I the only one who isn’t okay with it?” Six said. “Sam?”

  Sam looked uncomfortable. “I’d like to know more about what exactly Walker is doing and what’s she’s planning to do with everything we’ve recovered,” he admitted.

  “I’m not entirely sure,” said McKenna. “As I told you before, we work independently until—”

  “Can we have a meeting with her?” Six interrupted.

  “I don’t see what that would—” McKenna began.

  “You said if I didn’t want to be involved anymore, you would be behind me,” Six said, speaking to Sam. “One hundred percent. Remember?”

  Sam nodded. “I remember.”

  “Well, I don’t,” said Six. “Want to be involved anymore.”

  “What?” said McKenna. “Why? This mission was a success.”

  Everyone looked at Six, waiting for an answer.

  “Was it?” she said. “A dead kid and a dead agent, another kid still missing and dangerously pissed off at us, our Legacies gone, and now we find out we’re actually working for some group no one wants to give us any real information about and who has taken the technology our mission brought back. Doesn’t sound so successful. Not to me, anyway.”

  “Your Legacies will come back,” Nine said. “And—”

  “Save the speeches for your new students,” Six said. “I’m out.”

  She walked to the office door, opened it and left. As she strode down the hallway, Sam ran and caught up with her. “You’re bluffing, right?” he said. “To get McKenna to give us more information.”

  Six shook her head. “I don’t trust him,” Six said. “And I really don’t trust Walker. How can we work with them?”

  Sam didn’t argue. He walked beside her as they left the building. The SUV they’d come from the airport in was still sitting there. Six was contemplating the pros and cons of borrowing it and driving away when she heard a voice say, “Going somewhere?”

  She turned around. Nemo was standing on the steps, hands on her hips. “Ghost is still missing, right? You going to go look for her?”

  Six sighed. “It’s complicated,” she said.

  Nemo walked down the steps and came to stand in front of Six. “Know what it looks like?” she said. “Looks like you’re running away.”

  “Like I said, it’s complicated.”

  Nemo cocked her head and folded her arms over her chest. “Physics is complicated,” she said. “Helping your friends, that’s not. We’re friends, right?”

  “Of course,” Six said.

  “Well, I need your help finding my other friend,” Nemo said.

  “You mean your friend who tried to kill me?” said Six.

  Nemo shrugged. “We all have bad days,” she said. “Besides, she’s been brainwashed or whatever. I know the real Ghost is still in there. So, are you going to help or not?”

  Six looked at Sam, who was standing a little way off, watching the exchange. “I think the student has become the teacher,” he said.

  Six groaned. “All right,” she said. “But we do this my way. Got it?”

  “Is there any other way?” Nemo said.

  “Get in,” Six said. She opened the door of the SUV and climbed into the driver’s seat. Sam got in on the passenger side, while Nemo settled into the back. Six started the engine.

  “I don’t suppose you have any idea where we’re going,” Sam said.

  “You heard the girl,” Six said as she drove towards the front gate. “To find Ghost.”

  “I got that part,” Sam said. “I’m just wondering about, you know, the next part. Like, where she might be. How we’ll find her. What we’ll do if we do find her.”

  “When we find her,” Nemo said.

  “When we find her,” Six agreed. “You worry too much,” she added to Sam.

  “Someone has to,” Sam said under his breath.

  Six looked in the rearview mirror. Nemo was looking back at her. Six winked. Nemo grinned.

  “I still think you’re bluffing,” Sam said as the HGA building disappeared behind them.

  Six didn’t say anything. We’ll see, she thought as they approached the gates and they started to swing open. We’
ll see.

  EXCERPT FROM GENERATION ONE

  THE WAR MAY BE OVER—BUT FOR THE NEXT GENERATION, THE BATTLE HAS JUST BEGUN!

  DON’T MISS THIS NEW SERIES SET IN

  THE WORLD OF I AM NUMBER FOUR.

  CHAPTER ONE

  KOPANO OKEKE

  LAGOS, NIGERIA

  THE WEEK BEFORE THE INVASION, KOPANO’S father, Udo, sold their TV. Despite his mother’s fervent prayers for his father to find a new job, Udo was unemployed, and they were three months behind on rent. Kopano didn’t mind. He knew a new TV would manifest soon. Football season was coming and his father wouldn’t miss it.

  When the alien warships appeared, Kopano’s whole family crowded into his uncle’s apartment down the hall. Kopano’s first reaction was to grin at his two younger brothers.

  “Don’t be stupid,” Kopano declared. “This is some bad American movie.”

  “It’s on every channel!” Obi shouted at him.

  “Be quiet, all of you,” Kopano’s father snapped.

  They watched footage of a middle-aged man, an alien supposedly, giving a speech in front of the United Nations building in New York.

  “See?” Kopano said. “I told you. That’s an actor. What’s his name?”

  “Shh,” his brothers complained in unison.

  Soon, the scene descended into chaos. New York was under attack by pale humanoid creatures that bled black and turned to ash when they were killed. Then some teenagers wielding powers that looked like special effects showed up and began to fight the aliens. These teenagers were only a little older than Kopano and, despite the madness their arrival had created, Kopano found himself rooting them on. In the coming days, Kopano would learn the names of the two sides. The Loric versus the Mogadorians. John Smith and Setrákus Ra. There was no question who the good guys were.

  “Amazing!” Kopano said.

  Not everyone shared Kopano’s enthusiasm. His mother knelt down and began to pray, feverishly muttering about Judgment Day until Kopano’s father gently escorted her from the room.

  His youngest brother, Dubem, was frightened and clung to Kopano’s leg, so Kopano picked the boy up and held him. Kopano was short and stout like his father, but well muscled where his father was paunchy. He patted Dubem’s back. “Nothing to worry about, Dubem. This is all far, far away.”