“Didn’t you just refer to it as dusty-ass?” Sam asks.

“Statement of fact,” Nine says. “Just like this whole good-Mog thing is still hella weird. No offense.”

I silence the banter when I reach under my shirt and pull my Loric pendant over my head. I feel an odd coldness against my heart when it’s gone. I can’t remember the last time that I was without it. With the room suddenly gone quiet again, I hold out the pendant to Six.

“Take it,” I say. “Make sure it gets to the Sanctuary.”

“No pressure,” Six says, smirking, as she accepts the pendant.

“Now,” I say, looking around. “Let’s win this war and change the world.”

CHAPTER

EIGHTEEN

WE SAY GOOD-BYE LATER THAT MORNING, ALL OF us gathered around the Skimmer on the Ashwood Estates basketball court.

It feels strange to be wearing a Loric pendant around my neck again. And I don’t mean literal physical weight—the pendants themselves aren’t heavy at all. They just contain all the Legacies of Lorien, apparently. All the power of our nearly extinct people, imbued into a few glistening Loralite stones.

Yeah. No big deal.

“Is that everything?” Marina asks. She’s on her knees in front of her open Chest, gently rearranging its contents. We’ve got Eight’s Chest as well. Its contents are forever locked up, possibly destroyed, but we figured it couldn’t hurt to bring it to the Sanctuary with the rest.

I don’t have a Chest of my own, so Marina has to put all of our collected Inheritance into hers. After our meeting earlier, John and Nine went through their Chests and gathered together anything that wasn’t a weapon, a healing stone, or otherwise combat related. Besides the handful of Loric gemstones yet to be traded for penthouses or computer equipment, John handed over a bundle of dried leaves tied with a yellowed piece of twine that make the sound of the wind when my fingers brush against them, and Nine gives up a pouch of soft, coffee-dark soil. Marina carefully put these items into her Chest, alongside a vial of crystal clear water, a stray piece of Loralite and a tree branch with the bark pared away.

“So, because we don’t know what exactly these Phoenix Stones are, we’ll just dump anything that’s close, right?” I say, then hastily correct myself. “I mean, not dump. Commit to the Earth. What brainwashed Malcolm said.”

John laughs a little. “If we come up with a better plan, I’ll let you know.”

“Dad’s still down there watching more tapes,” Sam offers. “Maybe he’ll find something else.”

“Right now, winging it seems like the only option. On pretty much every front,” John says. “There’s something else I want you to take to the Sanctuary, Six.”

John crouches down to reach into his Chest. I was wondering why he’d brought it with him to the basketball court after we already went through it inside. I understand when he holds out a small can that I immediately recognize.