The Power of Six

“I had four girls wake me up in the middle of the night saying that Marina snuck out last night and that you left with her.”

Adelina starts to speak, but Ella suddenly appears behind Sister Dora and tugs on her dress.

“Sister Dora? I just saw Marina,” she lies.

“Where?”

“In the bedroom, sleeping.”

Sister Dora bends down and snatches Ella by the arm, and the terrified look on Ella’s face causes something to shift inside me. “You’re a little liar! I just came from the sleeping quarters, and no one is in there. You’re making up excuses for her.”

“Sister Dora, that’s enough,” Adelina says.

But Sister Dora begins dragging Ella away so forcefully that her feet hardly touch the ground. “We’re going up to the office, and you’re going to learn that you don’t lie here.”

Tears stream down Ella’s cheeks. From the nook’s opening, I stare at Sister Dora’s hand and pry her fingers away from Ella’s bicep. Sister Dora yells in pain, and then peers down at Ella with surprise and confusion. She grabs Ella again.

Adelina jogs over to them, and before I can send Sister Dora all the way down the main aisle on her back, Adelina grabs her wrist.

Sister Dora rips her arm away. My heart jumps into my throat with Adelina’s newfound alliance to me and my friend.

“Don’t you ever touch me again,” Sister Dora challenges her. “You don’t even belong here, Adelina. And neither does that juvenile demon you brought with you.”

Adelina smiles calmly. “You’re right, Sister Dora. Perhaps Marina and I don’t belong here, and perhaps we will leave this very morning. But would you please be so kind as to let go of Ella first?” Her voice, while cordial and patient, contains a hint of venom.

“How dare you!” Sister Dora scoffs. “Why, you’re no more than an orphan yourself. We took you in when no one else wanted you!”

“We’re all the same in the Lord’s eyes. Surely you acknowledge as much?”

Sister Dora moves to take another step, but Adelina again grabs her arm. The two women stare into each other’s eyes.

“I will be talking about this with Sister Lucia. You will be thrown out of here so fast you won’t have a chance to pray for forgiveness.”

“I already said I’d be leaving this morning. And I will always have the chance to pray for forgiveness.” Adelina reaches her hand out to Ella, and she takes it. Sister Dora hesitates before reluctantly letting go of Ella’s arm. “I’ll not only pray that Marina forgives me for being such a terrible guardian, but I’ll also pray that God forgives you for forgetting your purpose here.”

They continue to stare into each other’s eyes for a few more seconds before Sister Dora pivots and huffs out of the nave. Once she’s out of sight and Ella has her back to me, I float to the ground.

“Hi, Ella,” I say.

“Marina!” She lets go of Adelina’s hand, runs and hugs me. “Where were you?”

“Adelina and I had to talk alone,” I say, pulling away from her. I look up at Adelina. “We had to talk about our future.”

Adelina squints, then looks down at her dirty nightgown and becomes embarrassed. “Marina, go pack your things and put that Chest somewhere safe. We’re leaving very soon.”

When Adelina walks away, Ella grabs my hand and squeezes it. “The bad men were here last night, Marina.”

“I know, I saw him. That’s why we’re leaving.” As soon as I say it I know I will ask Adelina if we can take Ella with us.

“I saw all three of them,” Ella whispers.

I gasp. “There’s three of them?”

“They were at the window last night, looking at your bed.”

A shiver runs up my spine. I float the Chest back up into the nook and run to the sleeping quarters, dodging huddles of girls in the hallway whispering to each other about something that happened in the village.

“They were right there,” she says, pointing at the window.

“Three of them, you’re sure?”

She nods her head. “Yes, and they saw me at the window watching them. Then they ran away.”

“What did they look like?” I ask.

“They were tall and had really long hair. And their jackets went almost to their shoes,” she says.

“With mustaches, right? They had mustaches?”

“I don’t think so. I don’t remember mustaches,” she says.

I’m confused, but I know I don’t have much time before Adelina shows up with a bag of the belongings she’s collected over the past eleven years. I’m about to race into the shower when Analee, another girl, stops me in my tracks.

“School is canceled today. That girl Miranda Marquez was found strangled inside the school this morning.”

I sit down on my bed, shocked. Miranda Marquez is a dark-haired girl who lives in the village and sits beside me in Spanish history class. Our teacher, Maestra Munoz, often confuses us for each other because Miranda is skinny and tall like me, and her hair is the same length as mine. It takes me a second to realize that whoever killed Miranda might have mistaken her for me. Someone might have tried to kill me last night.

“This is really . . . this is bad,” I whisper.

Analee says, “Plus, I heard one of the Sisters say that some villagers saw people flying through the air last night and now there are all these news vans out there doing a report on it.”

This is all happening so fast. The Mogadorians have found me. They found my cave. I was being reckless with my Legacies and witnesses saw me and Adelina leave the belfry window. A girl from my school might be dead because of me, and Adelina and I are leaving the orphanage in the middle of winter without a place to stay.

I take the fastest hot shower of my life and wait for Adelina.

Chapter Twenty-Three

“WE’RE NOT GOING TO SARAH’S,” SAM SAYS, following me along the edge of the forest. “We got this tablet thing, possibly the transmitter we were after, and we’re going back to help Six.”

I step towards him. “Six can handle herself. I’m right here and Sarah’s right here. I love her, Sam, and I’m going to see her. I don’t care what you say.”

Sam backs down, and I keep walking towards Sarah’s house. Sam says, “Do you really love her though, John? Or are you in love with Six? Which one?”

I twist around and shine my palm in his face. “You think I don’t love Sarah?”

“Hey, come on!”

“Sorry,” I mutter, lowering my palm.

He rubs his eyes. “It’s a valid question, man. I see you and Six flirting all the time, all the time, and you do it right in front of me. You know I like her, and you don’t even care. And to top it all off you already have like the hottest girlfriend in Ohio.”

“I do care,” I whisper.

“You care about what?”

“I care that you like Six, Sam. But you’re right-I like her too. I wish I didn’t, but I do. It’s stupid and cruel to you, but I can’t stop thinking about her. She’s cool and she’s beautiful and she’s Loric, which is like, extracool. But I love Sarah. And that’s why I have to see her.”

Sam grabs my elbow. “You can’t, man. We have to go back and help Six. Think about it. If they were waiting for us at my place, then even more of them are waiting for us at Sarah’s.”