“Would it be okay if I gave you a hug now?” Marina asks Lexa.

The pilot is taken by surprise, but she nods. Marina wraps her up in a big hug, burying her face in the woman’s shoulder. Lexa sees me watching and gives me a tight, almost embarrassed smile before closing her eyes and letting herself be squeezed. She sighs, and maybe I’m just imagining this, but some invisible weight seems to lift from Lexa’s shoulders. I don’t join in. The group-hug thing isn’t really for me.

“Thanks for coming,” I say after a moment. “Welcome to the Sanctuary.”

With that, I lead the two of them out from the ship. I take one last lingering look at the passenger area before tamping down that memory of fleeing Lorien. I’m not a child anymore. This invasion is going to play out differently.

Outside, Adam and Mark are in the middle of a discussion. Sarah stands a few feet away from them, closer to the ship, obviously waiting for us. She raises her eyebrows questioningly when she sees me and I let out a deep breath in response.

“Crazy who you run into in Mexico,” I say, trying to play off the shock and mixed feelings of encountering Lexa.

Together, we walk over to Mark and Adam. Mark, already sweating through his T-shirt, looks like he’s having trouble wrapping his mind around something.

“A hole,” he says flatly. “You’re going to kill Setrákus Ra with a hole in the ground.”

Adam sighs, pointing to the sections of the jungle where we’ve hidden Mog artillery. “You’re really stuck on the hole aspect of the plan. I told you, we’ve got guns, bombs—”

“But for Setrákus Ra, you’ve got a hole.”

“I realize it’s low-tech, but our options are seriously limited,” Adam replies. “And we aren’t trying to kill him. That’s not even a possibility considering any damage we do to him will be reflected onto Ella. We just want to slow him down and buy ourselves some time.”

“Time to do what?” Mark asks.

Adam glances at me. “To rescue Ella, steal the Anubis out from under Setrákus Ra’s nose or both.”

“Why don’t we just bail?” Mark asks, thumbing towards the newly arrived Loric ship. “I get that all these booby traps might’ve been a good idea when you were, like, stranded. But we can leave now.”

“That’s not an option,” Marina replies. “The Sanctuary must be defended at all costs.”

“At all costs?” Mark repeats, glancing back to the ship, then over to the temple. “What the hell is so special about this place?”