“The Mogadorians. He’s showing me what happens after they come. He—he made me hold his hand and walk through it all.” Ella shudders and lunges away from the wall, into my arms. I feel like shuddering too. The thought of having to walk through that carnage hand in hand with Setrákus Ra is enough to get me rattled. I try to put on a strong face for Ella.

“Shh,” I whisper. “It’s okay now. It’s over.”

“It’s going to happen,” Ella cries. “We can’t stop him.”

“That’s not true,” I reply, squeezing her tight. I try to think of what John or Six might say in this situation. “The nightmares are lies, Ella.”

“How do you know?”

“Remember those cave paintings Eight showed us in India? The one of Eight dying? That was supposed to be a prophecy, but we broke it. There’s no set future, only the one we make.”

Ella lets go of me and takes a deep breath, pulling herself together.

“I just want the nightmares to stop,” Ella says. “I don’t know why it’s happening to me.”

“It’s Setrákus Ra trying to scare you,” I tell her. “He’s trying to scare you because he’s scared of us.”

I’m glad I was able to calm her down, to sound confident doing so, because I’m actually pretty freaked out. Sunlight is starting to peek through the curtains, and outside that window is a beautiful city full of innocent people that I just saw ravaged. That dream seemed so real, I can’t just shake it off. What if we aren’t able to stop what’s coming?

CHAPTER TWENTY

LATER THAT MORNING, I GATHER EVERYONE IN the living room for what I hope will be a strategy session. Some important things got brought up at dinner last night and it’s time we planned our next move. However, the first order of business for our tired group, many of whom were woken up by screaming a few hours ago, is this issue of Ella’s nightmares.

Malcolm strokes his beard thoughtfully. “Let’s assume that these nightmares are being caused by Setrákus Ra. I find it extremely troubling that he’s able to transmit them somehow, presumably through some form of Mogadorian telepathy, without knowing our exact location. In fact, you said you saw Chicago burning, correct?”

Ella nods, not looking eager to revisit her latest nightmare. Bernie Kosar, curled up at her feet, nuzzles against her.

“It was Chicago after a major battle,” Marina clarifies.

“Is he taunting us?” Six asks. “Or is it like some kind of prophecy?”

“I thought we were done with prophecies,” Eight says, rolling his eyes.

“Sometimes there’s a little bit of truth in the nightmares,” I say.

“Like when we had that vision about New Mexico,” Nine chimes in.