Something in me snaps. I’ve never felt anger like this before and it’s almost comforting. The icy feeling of my healing Legacy spreads through me, but it’s different somehow; freezing and bitter and dead. I’m radiating cold. Near Five and me, the murky swamp water crackles as the surface turns instantly to ice. The plants within my radius begin to wither, drooping under the flash freeze.

“Ma-Marina? Stop . . .” Five, hugging himself to keep warm, takes a step away from me. His feet nearly go out from under him as he slips on the ice.

With this new Legacy coursing through me, I act on pure furious instinct. I jerk my hand upwards and the ice takes shape beneath Five, a jagged icicle forming from the ground and thrusting upwards. He’s not quick enough to get out of the way and the icicle stabs straight through his foot, pinning him to that spot. Five screams, but I don’t care.

Five pitches forward and grabs at his impaled foot, just as another icicle juts up from the ground. It strikes Five right in the face. If it was any larger, it would’ve probably killed him. Instead, it merely takes out one of his eyes.

Five falls to the frozen ground awkwardly, his foot still impaled. He clutches at his face, screaming. “Stop it! Please, stop it!”

He’s a monster and he deserves this. But no. I can’t do it. I’m not like him. I won’t kill one of my own people in cold blood, even after what he’s done.

“Marina!” Six shouts. “Come on!”

The Mogadorian ship has landed and its doors are opening. Over by the tree, its branches now sagging under the weight of fresh ice, Six has thrown Nine over her shoulder. She holds her hand out to me.

I take one last look at Five. He holds both his hands over his face, grasping at his ruined eye. He’s crying, the tears turning to frost on his cheeks.

“If I see you again, you traitorous bastard,” I yell, “I’ll take the other fucking eye!”

Five makes a weak gurgling sound. Pathetic.

I’m about to run to Six, but stop. At my feet, encased in a solid chunk of ice, is Eight’s body. As I realize what I’ve done, the air around me begins to warm up. I kneel down and press my hands to the sheet of melting ice that separates me from Eight. I want to take him with us, to keep him away from the Mogadorians and lay him to rest like he deserves, but there’s no time to wait for the ice to melt. Six is shouting at me and the Mogs are closing in.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, feeling numb all over.

I race over to Six and grab her outstretched hand. We turn invisible.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN