I turn us invisible just as the Anubis glides into view. The warship is bigger than I even imagined. The whole ship is made from overlapping panels of a metallic gray alloy that almost look like scales. It’s shaped like one of those Egyptian bugs—a scarab—except with a whole ton of guns, the massive cannon jutting off the front of its hull particularly catching my eye.

“God,” Sarah whispers.

“Holy shit,” Mark says, a little louder. His hand tightens on my shoulder. As the Anubis lumbers closer, the entire clearing and the Sanctuary itself are stuck in its shadow.

“Easy now,” I say, trying to keep from freaking out myself. “Stay still and stay close. They can’t see us.”

The enormous ship comes to a stop so that it’s hovering above the Mog encampment. Even considering the large swath of jungle the Mogs cleared, the warship is so big that it won’t have room to land.

Adam must realize that the Anubis hovering above the battlefield kind of screws up our plans. “We’re going to need to find a way up there.”

“If he lands any ground troops, we can pick them off and fly their own Skimmers back up there,” I reply. It’s exactly the tactic John and the absent U.S. military want to employ against the Mog warships, so who better than us to be the guinea pigs.

“What’s he doing?” Sarah wonders. “What are they waiting for?”

Ella stopped telepathically broadcasting to us a few minutes ago, and now I’m wondering if it’s just my imagination that I can still feel her presence lingering in the back of my mind. If she’s still there, though, if she can hear me, we could definitely use the help.

“Ella?” I ask, feeling stupid saying her name out loud like this. “Can you hear me? What’s going on up there?”

There’s no response.

“Marina? Sarah? Is she . . . ?”

“Nothing, Six,” Sarah answers, one disembodied voice talking about another.

“I think she’s gone,” Marina adds.

But then it happens. A whisper in the back of my mind. Ella’s voice, forlorn and hopeless.

You should’ve run.

In the air above us, a humming sound begins to emanate from the Anubis. It’s noticeable because of how amazingly silent the warship is otherwise. It starts low but builds up quickly. Pretty soon, my teeth are vibrating because of it. I scan the underbelly of the warship, expecting to see Setrákus Ra’s soldiers descending in Skimmers, but the skies are clear.

“What the hell is that?” I ask, hoping Adam will answer.

“It’s . . . it’s powering up,” Adam replies. His voice is shaky and I feel his hand get looser on my arm, like he’s stunned and forgetting that he needs to hold on to me to remain invisible.

“Powering up what?” I ask.

“The main weapon,” he answers. “The cannon.”