Marina’s in motion immediately. She leaves Adam’s body behind and dives towards Ella. Her Legacies are still turned off, so when Marina presses her hands to Ella’s body, I know nothing will happen. She’s too late, anyway.

I don’t need to see the tears streaming down Marina’s cheeks to know. Ella is dead.

Setrákus Ra stares at the body of his granddaughter, a desolate expression on his face. While he does that, I pick up the biggest chunk of rock I can find.

And then I crack it across the back of Setrákus Ra’s head.

A cut opens. He bleeds. The Mogadorian charm is broken.

My attack brings him back to himself. Setrákus Ra roars, spins to face me and lifts the giant sword over his head.

He’s about to bring it down on me when his eyes—normally empty black pits—fill with the blue glow of Loric energy. The sword falls from his grasp and Setrákus Ra, the leader of the Mogadorians, killer of my people, destroyer of worlds—faints right at my feet.

I’m stunned. I turn to look for Marina, but find her passed out too. What the hell is going on?

Ella. The glow of Loric energy emanates from her. It spills out of her eyes, mouth, ears—everywhere, just like when the Entity briefly animated Eight’s corpse.

From one of her fingertips, a beam of Loric energy shoots towards me. It hits me right in the forehead. I sink down to my knees, feeling myself drift towards unconsciousness. I stare at Ella . . . or whatever she is now. There are other bursts of Loric energy zipping away from her body, flying away from her like shooting starts, out of the crater and off to . . . where? I don’t know. I don’t know what’s happening with her, the Entity or any of it.

I just know that this is my chance.

“Not now!” I scream, fighting against the gentle sleep the Loric energy is trying to force upon me. “Ella! Lorien! Stop! I—I can kill him!”

But then I’m out. I’m pulled into the same artificial slumber as Setrákus Ra and Marina.

What I see next, what we all see, is where it all started.

CHAPTER

NINETEEN

SO THIS IS WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE DEAD.

I float above my body and hardly recognize myself. My grandfather—he’d started to turn me into a monster like himself. The broken girl down there, all pale and washed out, I can hardly believe that’s me. Or was me. Marina puts her hands on my body, tries to bring me back even though her Legacies are turned off. It’s sad to see her distraught like this.