I notice that Lexa’s been awfully quiet during this discussion. Her eyes are locked on the Sanctuary, her face blank, sort of like how Marina looks when she goes into one of her reverent trances. Lexa must sense me watching her, because she abruptly shakes her head and meets my gaze.

“This place . . .” She searches for the right words. “There’s something special about it.”

“It’s a Loric place,” Marina replies. “The Loric place now, actually. The source of our Legacies resides inside.”

“We just sealed the entrance or I’d give you the tour,” I put in. “Could’ve introduced you to the creature living in there. Pretty nice for an Entity made out of pure Loric energy.”

Lexa flashes me a quick smirk before replying. “I can feel it . . . whatever’s in there. I can feel it in my bones. I understand why you’d want to protect this place.”

“Thank you,” Marina replies.

“That said . . .” And now Lexa glances in my direction. “Keep in mind that my ship—our ship—is ready. If you need it. It has outrun their warships before.”

I nod subtly and exchange a quick look with Adam. Marina might not want to admit we need one, but we’ve got an exit strategy all the same, and it’s now a lot better than running into the jungle.

“Man, so whatever’s inside there, it’s like in charge of the Legacies?” Mark asks, looking at the Sanctuary with his hands on his hips.

“We think so,” I reply.

“So, that’s what decided that nerdy Sam Goode should get superpowers and that I . . .” Mark trails off, grimacing. “Shit. I should’ve been nicer in high school.”

I try not to laugh. John must have filled Sarah and Mark in on humans getting Legacies thanks to our messing around in the Sanctuary. I don’t know how the Entity decided who would get Legacies, but I wouldn’t really expect a guy like Mark to make the cut, even if he’s been risking his ass for us over the last couple of months. Sarah, on the other hand . . .

“What about you?” I say, facing her.

Sarah shrugs and looks down at her hands, like she’s expecting rays of light to shoot out of them at any moment.

“Nothing yet,” she says, frowning. “Still just a regular old human.”

Sarah tries to play this off, but I can tell it’s bothering her. After all she’s done for us, for John in particular, it does strike me as a major oversight on the Entity’s part to pass her over when choosing which humans receive Legacies.

“The way John told it, Sam only discovered he had Legacies when a piken was bearing down on them,” I say. “Maybe you just haven’t been in a situation where they’ve developed.”