I panic. I either have to try to get the Chest and Adelina down into the village for hiding—but it is the middle of the night and we are in our nightclothes and I can only see a few lonely windows lit in town—or I have to quickly find a place to hide us within the orphanage. It will take the Mogadorian less time to descend the tower than it did for him to race up it, but he still has a long hallway to travel and another flight of stairs to run down to make it to the first floor. I stick my head through the double doors, and once I see the coast is clear, I drape Adelina over the Chest and float them into the nave. My strength is waning immensely, but I am somehow able to summon just enough power to get the Chest, Adelina and me tucked away up into the farthest recess of the drafty, cold and damp nook where the Chest had originally been hidden.

I am beginning to think I led the Mogadorian right to me by opening the Chest. Perhaps the red pulse of the crystal I dropped is some kind of transmitter. Adelina will know what it is, what to do. To combat the fear that an evil alien race is coming directly for me, to somehow apologize to Adelina for drugging her, and to gather a little warmth, I rest my head on Adelina’s chest and wrap my arms around her waist.

Hours later, I hear Adelina grunt and shuffle her legs underneath mine.

“Adelina?” I whisper. “Are you awake?”

“Who is that? Marina?”

I whisper, “Adelina, you have to be really, really quiet.”

“Why?” she whispers. “And where are we?”

“We’re in the nave where you hid the Chest. But please listen to me. They’re here. The Mogadorians came for me last night after I opened the Chest, and I had to hide us.”

“How did you open up the Chest by yourself? It doesn’t work that way.”

“You told me how to do it. You were sleep-talking,” I lie. I could tell her I drugged her, but I’m not ready for that argument.

Her confusion is evident in her voice. “I don’t remember. . . . I, I remember getting out of bed and then . . . I guess that’s about it. You opened up the Chest? What was inside?”

“A lot of things, Adelina. So much. There are all these stones and all these jewels, and one of them lit up in my hand and started flashing, and I think that’s why the Mogadorian showed up.”

“What Mogadorian? What happened?” Adelina tries to sit up, but I stop her before she hits her head on the low ceiling.