“He—he gets down on his knees.” Her voice drops to a chilled whisper. “He holds one of my hands in both of his, and he asks me if I’ve read the letter.”

“What letter? Do you know what he’s talking about?”

Ella hunches the blanket tighter around her shoulders, not looking at me. “No.”

I can tell by the way she answers that Ella isn’t being totally honest. There’s something about this letter—whatever it might be—that’s shaken her up almost as much as these visions of Setrákus Ra. From her description, I don’t know if these dreams are like the ones I’ve had, like the one where Setrákus showed me Sam being tortured to try baiting me into fighting him, or if it’s like Six suggested and these nightmares are simply a result of all the really awful things Ella’s been through lately. I don’t want to press her any further; she already seems close to tears.

“I wish I could tell you I could make the dreams go away,” I begin, finding myself doing my best Henri impression, “but I can’t. I don’t know what causes them. I only know how painful they can be.”

Ella nods, looking disappointed. “Okay.”

“If you see him in a dream again, just remember he can’t hurt you. And when he tries to hold your hand, you punch him right in his ugly face.”

Ella cracks a smile. “I’ll try.”

I’m not sure if anything I said really helped Ella, but one detail from our conversation sticks with me. Whatever she hit Setrákus Ra with, I’m sure that it was the result of her developing a new Legacy. She charged up that projectile and, somehow, it hurt him, or at least distracted him enough that we were able to get our Legacies back. Now I just need to convince her to try doing it again, and hopefully figure out exactly what this new Legacy can do. If it worked once, maybe it will work again. If I’m going to put together a plan to finally kill Setrákus Ra, I’m going to need every weapon we have at my disposal.

I head down to the Lecture Hall, hoping to find something in my Chest or in Nine’s arsenal that might help draw out Ella’s Legacy. I remember when Henri used the warming stone on me to help me first gain control of my Lumen. I wonder if something like that would help Ella.

I’m deep in thought when I hear the muffled sound of gunshots.