Of course, none of this has happened. I’m just a lone, crazy person, sitting in an abandoned, brokendown grocery store in the middle of the desert. I must be crazy, because as I come out of my dream of feasting with the Garde, I realize I am chewing. Chewing air with a satisfied smile on my face. I shake my head and will away my tears. I have not battled Mogs, survived a Mogadorian cell and watched Katarina die to have it all end in the middle of the desert, alone. I pull my knees up to my chest and rest my forehead on them. I have to figure out a plan.

It’s still sweltering hot when I leave the ghost town. I’ve rested from the sun for a while, but I know I have to keep moving before I lose all of my strength. I’ve walked about a mile towards the mountains through the burning sand when I feel the most intense cramping in my legs and stomach. I focus what little mental energy I have left on uprooting a few nearby cacti and manage to get a mouthful of water from them.

I concentrate on my Legacy and try to summon another thunderstorm from the few scraggly clouds overhead, but all I manage to create is a plume of sand that washes over me, burying me up to my knees.

For the first time, I’m not just nervous about what’s to come; I’m scared I’m going to die out here. I have nothing left. The Elders chose me as a warrior to save our race, and I’m going to die in the middle of a desert.

I feel myself starting to panic, to truly lose it. I have just enough of a grip to know I can’t lose it – I’m so vulnerable out here that it will be all over if I do. I’m so desperate I think back to last night, and my imaginary meal with the rest of the Garde. To keep myself focused I think about what I wish I could say to them right now.

Hey,Marina,how are things? Me? I’m in a desert heading to some mountain. I’m guessing I must be in New Mexico, based on what Eight said about where he was able to teleport to before.I’m growing weak, Marina. I don’t know how much longer I can hold on.And I don’t know where you are,but please, please find a way to get from wherever it is you landed and come and find me.

Ella? Do you know how sorry I am about Crayton? I know how much it hurt, watching him die, leaving him behind. I promise you, we will avenge his death, and I will be the one out front. If I make it out of this desert, I will avenge all of Lorien.