“Hell yeah, you,” Nine replies. “You’re gonna use your telepathic mojo to pinpoint Six’s location when she’s invisible. Then, you and Sarah light her up.”

“Um, I’m not sure if I can do that.”

“You located her in a big-ass base in New Mexico. This is just one room.” Nine shakes Ella’s shoulder encouragingly. “Just try for me, all right?”

“What am I going to be doing?” I ask.

Nine’s got that proud look on his face—I think I heard John refer to it as “shit-eating”—that he gets when he thinks he’s come up with something really juicy. He grabs my hand and the little hairs on my arm stand up, an electric shock shooting through me. “You, Marina, are my real secret weapon.”

“Are both sides ready?” Malcolm shouts from the Lectern.

The two teams stand about ten yards away from each other, close to the halfway point of the Lecture Hall. I glance around. Everyone on my side looks determined. Sam has already started sweating a bit, constantly adjusting his grip on his blaster. Across from me, Sarah shoots me an innocent smile as she brandishes her own blaster. My heart actually flutters in response, but I try to keep a serious face.

“Ready!” I shout to Malcolm.

“Let’s kick some ass!” Nine shouts.

Malcolm hits a few buttons on the Lectern. The room hums to life around us. Sections of the floor begin to rise, creating blocks of cover for people to hide behind. A pair of medicine balls on chains swing loose from the ceiling. Nozzles protrude from the walls, emitting bursts of smoke.

“Begin!” Malcolm yells.

For a moment, no one makes a move. Then, suddenly, my bracelet tingles to life. My red shield deploys just in time to block a burst of blaster fire. I look across the gym to see Sarah grinning at me, the muzzle of her blaster smoking.

“Sorry, baby!” she yells, before diving behind a piece of cover.

On one side of me, I see Six disappear into the thin air. On the other side, Sam falls back towards our flag. Everyone is moving and suddenly it’s just like a real battle. Chaos.

And there’s Nine. Coming right for me.

He’s so fast that I barely have time to fire up my Lumen and toss a small fireball his way. He leaps over it and crashes down on top of me. I fall backwards, my shield between the two of us as he pins me to the ground. Nine pounds down on the shield with all his might. Dents forms in the red material, but the shield holds. Frustrated, Nine leaps off me, and my shield immediately retracts into my bracelet. I get back to my feet as quickly as I can, but even blocked by my shield, Nine’s tackle knocked the wind out of me. I’m slower than I should be.