Magdalena turned to him, grinning. “Real,” she said.

CHAPTER FOUR

SIX

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

“WHAT THE HELL?”

Six stood beneath the massive stage, looking up through the opening the performers used to make their way on and off. Now many of them were pushing their way inside. From the arena came the sounds of people screaming.

After phoning Lexa, she had looked for Sam, but found no clues to his whereabouts, so since her Legacies were still not working and she was feeling worse and worse, Six had decided to wait for Nine to arrive with backup. In the meantime, she had used her resemblance to the understudy for the show to look around. She knew there was some reason the Mogs had brought her and Sam to the hotel instead of to some more secure location, and she had a feeling it had something to do with the show that was being put on. Once inside the floors that housed the Cirque des Étoiles performers, it had been easy enough to remain out of sight for a couple of hours. Nearly everyone was dressed in strange costumes, and she was one of the least interesting people walking around. Several times she had been pegged as Camilla’s understudy, but she had always made an excuse that she was needed somewhere else, and had managed to avoid participating in the show.

“Get out of the way!” a woman screamed as she pushed past Six, nearly knocking her down in her rush.

Six glanced at the monitors that showed what was happening onstage and in the arena. She’d seen the giant egg crack open to reveal a monster. Almost immediately, a stagehand next to her had said, “That’s not what’s supposed to be inside there.”

Six’s mind raced as she evaluated the situation. She knew the thing terrorizing the arena was something the Mogs were responsible for. What it was, exactly, she didn’t have a clue. That didn’t really matter, though. It had to be stopped.

But how? She had no Legacies to use against it. No weapons apart from her makeshift knife.

And yet she was still probably the only person in the place qualified to try.

“You!”

Six turned. That assistant, Allison, was standing behind her with a clipboard in one hand.

“You are not Camilla’s understudy,” she said firmly.

“I’m not sure that’s important at the moment,” Six said as a roar pierced the air.

“That costume is Cirque property.”

“Again, maybe not the real issue here,” said Six. “What are you doing about that?” She pointed to the stage.

“Not my problem,” Allison said. “Security can handle it.”

Six stared at her. The woman’s presence of mind was impressive, but she didn’t seem to understand that what was going on above them was more than a technical glitch. But then she realized that Allison had completely shut down. She was staring at the monitor with a blank-eyed expression. The clipboard in her hand trembled.

“Stay here,” Six said. “Don’t move. I’ll be back.”