Pittacus touches his throat, running a hand along the place where Setrákus Ra’s scar is located.

“I will be ready for him,” Pittacus says.

He wasn’t.

The vision ends and the darkness returns. There are starbursts of Loric energy all around me. Once again, I’m floating through the warm space that is Legacy.

“What now?” I ask. “Why did you show us that?”

So you would know, its voice replies gently. And so knowing, now you will meet.

“Who will meet?”

All.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-ONE

I WAKE UP IN A LIBRARY, FACEDOWN ON A SOFT carpet, surrounded on all sides by comfortable lounge chairs. “Waking up” probably isn’t the right term, actually. Everything has a fuzziness at the edges, even my own body. I can tell that I’m still in the dream state that Ella created, except I’m no longer in full-on spectator mode. I can move around and interact with the room, even though I don’t know what the hell I’m supposed to do next.

I stand up and look around. The lighting here is mellow and the walls are covered in old leather-bound books, all of the titles written down the spines in Loric. Normally this would be the kind of place I wouldn’t mind exploring, except that back in the real world there’s one nasty Mogasaur bearing down on me and my friends. Ella assured me that we’d be okay. That doesn’t mean I’m cool just sitting around some astral library waiting to see what will happen next.

“Man, somebody break out the violins for that crybaby Pittacus Lore.”

I turn around to find Nine standing in the middle of the room where there was nothing but empty space a moment ago. He nods at me.

“What’re you talking about?”

“You saw that too, right? The Setrákus Ra life story?”

I nod. “Yeah. I saw it too.”

Nine looks at me like I’m an idiot. “Dude should’ve killed Setrákus Ra when he had the chance instead of getting all mushy with it. Come on.”

“I don’t know,” I reply quietly. “It’s not easy holding someone else’s life in your hands. He couldn’t have known what would happen.”

Nine snorts. “Whatever. I was shouting at him to kill that chump, but he wouldn’t listen. Thanks for nothing, Pittacus.”