I look up at Setrákus Ra. The purple scar on his neck begins to pulse with a bright light. ‘Are you ready to die?’ he asks me.

Ella? If you’re coming, now is the time. In fact, it’s now or never.

I want so much to hear her voice in my head, telling me that she and the others are just outside the door. We should be together, fighting Setrákus Ra with our Legacies, the gifts the Elders bestowed upon us, until there is nothing left to him but the worthless, powerless, pile of ashes all of the other Mogs have become. Instead, I’m here alone, my hand injured and useless, playing cat and mouse with Setrákus Ra. And he’s just standing here in front of me, fire whip in hand, having rendered my Legacies useless, toying with me. What is going on?

I take one more look around at the desert, then reach for the wheel on the brown door and give it a spin. After one rotation, I decide to speed things up and just yank it off its hinges. A steel ladder goes down into a black hole.

‘I can see in the dark,’ Marina volunteers. ‘I’ll go first.’ I stand aside to let her get by.

Marina climbs down the ladder into the darkness and drops out of sight. Eight tosses her Chest down after her.

‘It’s about twenty feet down. Looks like there’s a long tunnel,’ Marina calls up. ‘All clear so far. I don’t see anyone.’

Nine looks at Ella and me and says, ‘Ladies first.’ Ella starts down the ladder, and when she disappears, Nine smirks at me and says, ‘Well, okay, but I was referring to you, Four.’

I shake my head at him. He’s nothing if not consistent. He gestures for me to go down next. ‘You know I love you, man. Get in there.’

Using telekinesis, I let Bernie Kosar down first, back in his beagle form, then tuck my Chest under one arm and awkwardly climb down using just the other hand. It’s musty and cold inside the tunnel. Ahead of me, I can hear Ella and Marina walking and BK ’s toenails clicking on the cement. I turn the Lumen on in my free hand and sweep the concrete tunnel for a few seconds, getting my bearings.

I use my Lumen to illuminate the distance between our location and a sharp turn far up ahead, then I turn it off. ‘Marina, you can see to keep us moving, right?’ Eight and Nine have now caught up to us. She nods and we all start to follow her down the dark passageway. We haven’t gone very far when I almost slam into Ella, who has stopped dead in her tracks.

‘Oh no! I finally got through to Six. She needs us! She says it’s now or never!’