“Looking at Instagram,” he said. “Just kidding. I’m letting Lexa know that she needs to start doing damage control. We can’t have anyone knowing that a bunch of monsters are trying to destroy Las Vegas. And we don’t want a mass panic about the Mogadorians.”

“It’s going to be kind of hard to cover this up,” Six said as they reached the lobby. She pointed outside. “Those monsters aren’t exactly tiny.”

Nine looked. Three creatures were out there. A throng of people had gathered around, and lights from police cruisers flashed red and blue.

“Shit,” Six said. “There’s a news van.”

They walked towards the doors and went outside. Six expected to find people in a panic, but was surprised to discover that many of them were actually doing things like taking video of the three creatures with their phones and snapping photos of themselves or their friends standing with the monsters in the backgrounds. The beasts themselves were oddly still. They looked around, occasionally roaring and rearing up on their back legs to claw at the sky, but they weren’t attacking.

“This is weird,” Six said.

“They’re waiting,” Nine said.

“For what?”

“I’m guessing a signal of some kind,” Nine said. “It’s like they’re trying to draw as big a crowd as possible here before starting the next attack.”

Six understood. “They want witnesses,” she said. “An audience.”

“Dude, those things are awesome,” a young man standing next to them said to his friend. “They look totally real.”

“I heard it’s part of a promo for the new Revengers movie,” the friend said.

“You guys really need to get out of here,” Six said.

The boys looked at her. Their faces lit up. “You’re Six!” one of them said. His eyes shifted to Nine. “And you’re . . . that other dude.”

“Nine,” his friend said. “They’re Six and Nine. Hey, are you guys part of this movie?”

“Yes,” Nine said as Six said, “No.”

“I get it,” the young man said. “You’re not supposed to talk about it. Don’t worry. We’ll play along.” He held up his phone. “Dude, get in there with them. I’ll get a pic.”

The second boy squeezed in between Six and Nine and gave a thumbs-up, his friend taking the photo before Six or Nine could stop him. They started to swap places for another photo, but Six said, “We’ve really got to go,” and walked away.

Nine caught up with her. “That was rude,” he said. “You should always be nice to the fans.”

“That one didn’t even know who you are, Other Dude.”

“Not everyone is good with numbers,” Nine said.

Six scanned the area. “Didn’t you say you left Nemo and Max here?” she said.

Nine looked at his phone again. “They went looking for Sam,” he said. “Oh, and they had a run-in with Seamus and Boomer.”

“They texted you?”

“I was kind of busy saving you and everything,” Nine said. “Besides, that’s how kids communicate these days. When did you get so old?”