Six grabs it and shoves it into Ella’s hands. ‘Ella. Listen to me. I know you don’t want to leave him. None of us do. But if we don’t leave right now we will die too. You know Crayton would want us to do what is necessary to survive, right?’ Ella nods. Six turns to Eight. ‘Right. Now, how do we teleport the hell out of here? Has too much of the mountain been destroyed for it to work?’

‘Ella, you hold my Chest! Marina, get yours,’ Eight says, ushering us towards the glowing blue Loralite. ‘Six, you’re going to have to hold on to someone’s arm so we can all go at once.’ He looks around grimly at the wreckage. ‘I really hope this works.’

He grabs Ella’s hand and mine. Six hooks her arm through my other elbow. I look around at the pieces of the walls that spoke to us about our future and our past. I think about the many Loric who were here before us. I’m sad we’ll be the last ones to see it. But I also think about the responsibility that being the last Loric puts on all of us. I take one last look at Crayton, thanking him for everything he did.

‘Okay. Here we go,’ Eight says. Then, everything goes black.

18.

18.

All of a sudden, Nine’s at the edge of his seat. ‘Holy shit! Four! Check it out. They’ve moved.’

‘Who moved?’ I take the tablet out of his hand. The blue dots that identify us have changed position. At least, some of them have. There is still one blue dot in Jamaica and two in Chicago. But there are now three off the coast of Africa, and one in New Mexico. My chest relaxes when I see there are still seven dots, but I’m confused by how they moved to these other places so quickly. ‘How did they do that?’

‘I have no idea,’ Nine says. ‘It’s like they teleported or jumped through space. Maybe they found a stargate, or something?’

‘Henri said stargates don’t exist,’ I said, shaking my head.

‘Yeah, well, neither do aliens from another planet, according to some people. In fact, many people.’

He’s right. Maybe Henri was wrong. ‘One Garde is in New Mexico, Nine. Near what you think might be our ship. That can’t be a coincidence. Do you think they’re going after it?’

‘Man, I hope not. It is so not time for that yet. We have a lot of shit to take care of before we leave Earth.’

I stare at the blue dot pulsing in New Mexico, and press the green triangle, revealing where the Lorien ships are hidden again. There is no way this one has accidentally landed so close to it. Add that to the fact I’ve been told Sarah is out west, possibly with Sam, and I’m convinced.