Chapter 30
THE GUNFIRE MAKES MY EARS RING LONG AFTER it’s stopped.
Smoke rises from the end of the barrel, but Crayton wastes
no time and drops the gun’s clip and snaps another in
place. Heaping mounds of ash have given the air a thick
haze. We stand waiting, Ella and I behind Crayton. He
keeps the gun raised, his finger hovering on the trigger. A
Mogadorian climbs into the entryway with a cannon of his
own, but Crayton fires first, cutting him in half and hurling
him backwards. The Mogadorian explodes before he hits
the wall. A second jumps into view, wielding the same
flashing weapon that tore my shoulder downstairs, but
Crayton disposes of it before any light comes forth.
“Well, they know where we are now. Come on,” he yells,
rushing forward and down the stairs before I can offer to
float us out the window. Ella and I follow, still holding hands.
Crayton stops after the second curve of the stairwell,
pressing his fingers to his eyes. “There’s too much ash in
my eyes. I can’t see anything,” he says. “Marina, take the
lead. If there’s anything up ahead, yell and get the hell out of
the way.”
I keep the Chest tucked beneath my left arm and Ella
stays in the middle, holding my hand and Crayton’s. I lead
them down and out the broken oak door just as the tower
above us explodes.
I scream, ducking down and pulling Ella with me. Crayton
instinctively begins firing. The gun unloads a rapid stream
of ammunition—eight to ten bullets per second—and I can
see an entire group of Mogadorians drop. Crayton stops
firing.
“Marina?” he asks, nodding his head forward without
seeing me.
I turn and study the hallway, thick with ash. “I think it’s
clear,” I say; and the second the words leave my mouth, a
Mogadorian leaps out of an open doorway and fires,
sending a flashing white meteor raging towards us too
bright to look at. We drop just in time, and the white death
misses us by a hair. Crayton quickly lifts the gun and returns
a barrage of bullets, killing the Mogadorian instantly.
I lead us forward. I have no idea how many of them
Crayton just killed, but the ash stands thick on the floor,
covering our feet and ankles. We pause at the top of the
steps. Light from the windows comes through the fading
ash, and Crayton has cleared his eyes. He takes the lead
position, clutching the gun tightly to his chest while staying
hidden behind the corner. Once we turn, all that separates
us from the door leading outside are these steps, a short
hallway, the back of the nave, and the main vestibule.
Crayton takes a deep breath, nods his head, and then
turns, dropping the barrel of the gun, ready to fire. But
there’s nothing to fire at.
“Come on,” he grunts.
We follow him and he escorts us across the nave’s rear,
which is black with fire damage. For a brief moment I
glimpse Adelina’s body, looking small from as far away as
we are. My heart aches seeing her. Be brave, Marina, her
words echo.
An explosion erupts against the outside wall on our right
side. The stones blow inward, and I instinctively lift my hand
and prevent any of them from hitting Ella and me. But
Crayton gets hit hard, and he smashes against the wall to
our left, landing with a grunt. The gun rattles away from him,
and a Mogadorian enters the cathedral through the newly
created hole. He’s holding a cannon; and in one fluid
motion, I heave the Mogadorian backwards with my mind,
bring Crayton’s gun into my hand, and pull the trigger. The
gun’s kick is a lot harder than I expected, and I almost drop
it; but I recover quickly and keep firing until the Mogadorian
is reduced to ash.
“Here,” I say, pushing the gun into Ella’s hands; and in the
comfortable way she takes it, I can tell she’s no stranger to
firearms.
I rush to Crayton. His arm is broken, and blood seeps
from gashes on his head and face. But his eyes are open
and he seems alert. I slap my hands on his wrist and close
my eyes, the iciness crawling over my body and extending
to Crayton. I watch the bones in his arm move under the
skin, and the gashes on his face seal and disappear. His
chest expands and contracts so fast I think his lungs are
going to explode, but then he’s calm again. He sits up and
moves his arm fluidly.
“Nice job,” he says.
He takes the gun from Ella, and we climb through the
hole in the wall and out into Santa Teresa’s front grounds. I
don’t see a single person as Ella and I run ahead and pass
through the iron gates while Crayton sweeps his gun back
and forth, looking for any reason to fire it. My eyes are
drawn over Crayton’s left shoulder to a quick burst of red
from the cathedral’s roof. With a loud blast, the discharged
rocket surges towards Crayton. I stare at the rocket’s tip
and raise my hands, concentrating harder than I ever have,
and at the very last instant I’m able to slightly alter the
rocket’s path. It misses him and angles off towards a
mountain, where it hits it with a plume of fire. Crayton
rushes us through the gates with eyes alert and the gun
aimed. He pulls up and spins around.
He shakes his head, and from behind us we hear the
church doors thrust open.
“He isn’t here,” Crayton says, and just before he turns
around to begin firing, the sound of squealing tires pierces
the air. The plastic covering that had kept the truck
concealed falls off and its back side fishtails as Hector,
wide-eyed behind the wheel, floors it. He comes racing our
way and slams on the brakes when he reaches us. The
truck screeches to a halt, and Hector reaches across the
seat and throws open the passenger-side door. I toss my
Chest beside Hector, and Ella and I jump in. Crayton stays
out just long enough to empty his gun at the Mogadorians
emerging from the church door. Several drop, but there are
far too many to get them all. Crayton jumps in and slams the
door, and the tires bite into the cobblestones in an attempt
to find traction. There’s the sound of another rocket nearing,
but the tires catch and we go racing down Calle Principal.
“I love you, Hector,” I say. I can’t help it; the sight of him
behind the wheel fills me with such warmth that it brims over
the edge.
“I love you, too, Marina. I always told you, stick with
Hector Ricardo; he’ll take care of you.”
“I never doubted it once,” I say, which is a lie; I had
doubted it this morning.
We reach the bottom of the hill and fly past the signs
announcing the town limits.
I twist around to peer out the back window as Santa
Teresa quickly fades behind us. I know it’s the last time I’ll
ever see it and though I’ve waited years to leave, it now
holds the sacredness of being Adelina’s last resting place.
Soon the town is gone, left behind.
“Thank you, Senorita Marina,” Hector says.
“For what?”
“I know it was you who cured my dear mother. She told
me it was you, that you were her angel; and I’ll never be
able to repay you for it.”
“You already have, Hector. I was very happy to help.”
He shakes his head. “I haven’t yet, but I’m sure going to
try.” While Crayton refills both clips and takes inventory of his
ammo, Hector navigates the windy and unpredictable road.
We bounce and skid along the sharp turns and sudden hills.
But despite the speed, it doesn’t take long for a convoy of
vehicles to be seen in the distance behind us.
“Don’t worry about them,” Crayton says. “Just get us to
the lake.”
Even though the truck is barreling down the road, the
convoy closes the gap. After ten minutes, a flash of light
sails just over the truck and explodes into the countryside
ahead of us. Hector instinctively jerks his head down.
“My God!” he says.
Crayton turns around and breaks the back window with
the butt of his gun, then fires. The lead vehicle is upended,
which makes us all cheer in celebration.
“That should keep them far enough back,” Crayton says,
quickly reloading the gun’s clip.
And it does for a few minutes, but as the road grows
more precarious and twists down the mountain at sharp
declines, the vehicles catch right back up to us. Hector
mutters under his breath as he whips around each bend,
the gas pedal buried, the truck’s back tires swinging
frighteningly over the edge of the towering cliff.
“Careful, Hector,” Crayton says. “Don’t kill us before we
get there. At least give us a chance.”
“Hector is in control,” Hector replies, bringing no comfort
whatsoever to Crayton, who keeps a white-knuckled grip on
the headrest in front of him.
The only refuge is the road’s perpetual turns, which keep
the Mogadorians from getting a straight shot, though they
try anyway.
As we race around a particularly sharp bend, Hector
can’t turn us quickly enough and we go off the edge of the
road. At a seventy-five-degree angle, the truck races down
the dense mountainside, smashing through saplings,
bouncing off boulders, barely avoiding thick trees. Ella and I
scream. Crayton yells as he flies forward and slams into the
windshield. Hector doesn’t say a word; he clenches his
teeth and maneuvers us around and over obstacles until we
miraculously land on another road. The truck’s hood is
severely dented and smoking, but the engine is still running.
“This is a, uh, shortcut,” Hector says. He tries the gas
pedal, and we quickly rumble down the new road.
“I think we lost them,” says Crayton, looking up the cliff.
I pat Hector’s shoulder and laugh. Crayton sticks the
barrel of his gun out the back window and waits.
Eventually the lake comes into view. I wonder why
Crayton believes the lake will save us.
“What’s the big deal about the lake?” I ask.
“You didn’t think I’d come to find you with just Ella, did
you?”
For a moment I think to tell him that up until a few hours
ago I thought he had come to kill me. But soon the
Mogadorians appear behind us again, and Crayton turns
around while Hector’s eyes dart up to the rearview mirror.
“This is going to be close,” Crayton says.
“We’ll get out of it, Papa,” Ella says, looking at Crayton;
and hearing her call him that fills my heart with affection. He
smiles warmly at her, then nods. Ella squeezes my hand.
“You’ll love Olivia,” she says to me.
“Who’s Olivia?” I ask, but she doesn’t get a chance to
answer before the road turns at a ninety-degree angle and
declines sharply towards the lake ahead. Ella tenses in my
arms as the road ends, and Hector barely lets up on the
gas as the truck rams straight through a chain-link gate that
surrounds the lake. We hit a slight bump, and the truck’s
tires leave the ground entirely before landing with a thud
and bouncing on the shore. Hector speeds straight for the
water, and just before we reach it, he slams on the brakes
and brings us skidding to a stop. Crayton shoulders open
the passenger-side door and dashes towards the lake,
rushing straight into the water until it reaches his knees.
With the gun still in his left hand, he hurls an object as far as
he can with his right and begins muttering something in a
language I don’t understand.
“Come on!” he screams, thrusting his hands up in the air
as though offering encouragement. “Come on, Olivia!”
Hector, Ella, and I rush out and run up near him. I have the
Chest under my arm and in an instant I see that the water
has begun to crest and bubble in the lake’s middle.
“Marina, do you know what a Chimaera is?”
But I don’t get to answer, because just then a lone
Mogadorian vehicle, a tanklike Humvee with a gun mounted
on top, erupts onto the scene and speeds down the hill. As
it comes right at us, in the water, Crayton unloads a
barrage of bullets into the windshield. The vehicle instantly
goes out of control, crashing straight into the back of
Hector’s truck. It creates a deafening bang, followed by the
crush of grinding metal and breaking glass. As the dozens
of other vehicles in the convoy rumble down the last hill and
begin firing, the world erupts in fire and smoke as
explosions rock the beach, causing all four of us to hit the
ground. Sand and water rain down, and we scramble back
to our feet. Crayton snags me by the collar.
“Get out of here!” he yells.
I take Ella’s hand and we run as fast as we can around
the left side of the lake. Crayton begins firing; but it’s not
one gun that I hear but two, and I can only hope it’s Hector’s
finger pulling the second trigger.
We race towards a cluster of trees sloping down from the
mountainside, jutting out all the way to the water’s bank. Our
footsteps slap on the wet stones, and Ella’s accelerated
pace matches my own. Gunfire continues to rattle through
the air; and just as it lets up, a loud animal roar booms over
our head, causing me to stop short. I turn to look at the
creature able to create such a paralyzing call, knowing it’s
not of this world. A long, muscular neck protrudes ten or
fifteen stories out of the water, the flesh a gleaming gray. At
the end of it, a giant lizard head separates its pebbled lips
to show an enormous set of teeth.
“Olivia!” Ella cheers.
Olivia rears her head and lets loose another earsplitting
roar, and in the middle of it, a series of high-pitched yipping
sounds roll down from the mountain. I look up and see a
pack of small beasts descending towards the lake.
I gasp. “What are those?” I ask Ella.
“Krauls. Lots of them.”
Olivia’s neck is fully emerged and thirty stories high now,
and as the rest of her body surfaces, her neck widens and
her torso thickens. The Mogadorians immediately fire at
her, and Olivia slams her head down on several at a time,
creating large piles of ash. I can see the dark figures of
Crayton and Hector, both with guns blazing. The
Mogadorians fall back as a hundred krauls enter the lake
and swim towards Olivia. The creatures leap out of the
water and attack. Many claw their way up Olivia’s back and
rip at the base of her neck. The lake water is soon streaked
with blood.
“No!” Ella screams.
She tries running back, but I grab hold of her arm.
“We can’t go back,” I say.
“Olivia!”
“That’s suicide, Ella. There’re too many.”
Olivia roars in pain. She whips her head at her sides and
back, trying to crush or bite the black krauls that have
blanketed her. Crayton aims his gun at the beasts, but he
lowers his weapon when he realizes he would most likely
shoot Olivia in the process. He and Hector instead fire on
the army of Mogadorians lining up and preparing for a new
attack.
Olivia wavers left and right, howls at the mountains, and
backs herself up into the middle of the lake and slowly sinks
in a wave of red. The krauls detach and swim towards the
Mogadorians.
“No!” I hear Crayton yell above the chaos. I watch him try
to enter the lake but Hector pulls him back onto the shore.
“Duck!” Ella screams, pulling me down by the arm. A
whoosh of air passes over us. A giant black hoof smashes
the ground next to me, and I look up to see a horned
monster. Its head is as large as Hector’s truck, and when
the giant roars, my hair flaps in my face.
“Come on!” I yell. We race towards the trees.
“Split up,” Ella says. I nod and dart left, towards an
ancient beech tree with gnarled limbs. I set the Chest down
and instinctively lift my hands and then pull them apart. To
my surprise the beech trunk opens, creating a hollow space
that looks just big enough for two people and a Chest to fit.
I look over my shoulder to see the creature chasing Ella
through a dense line of trees. I toss the Chest in the open
trunk, and with telekinesis I pick up two trees and send
them like missiles at the creature’s back. They splinter
against its dark skin with a loud crash, knocking it to its
knees. I run and grab Ella’s shaking hand, pulling her in the
other direction. The beech tree with my Chest comes into
view.
“The tree, Ella! Get inside!” I yell. She sits atop the Chest
and tries to make herself as compact as she can, shrinking
down to a younger age.
“That’s a piken, Marina! Get in!” she pleads; and before
she can say another word, I close the trunk up around her,
leaving just enough room so she can see.
“I’m sorry,” I say through the small crevice, hoping the
giant didn’t see where I’ve stashed the Chest and hidden
my friend.
I turn and run trying to lead the piken away, but it soon
catches up and knocks me from behind. The force of the hit
is shocking, and I fall down a steep slope until my arm finds
a boulder to hook around. I look over my shoulder to see
that I’m less than a meter from a rocky cliff.
The piken appears at the top of the slope. There it
shuffles sideways until it’s positioned directly above me. It
roars so loudly my mind blanks. I hear Ella scream my
name in the distance, but I can’t breathe, let alone yell back.
It marches down the slope. I raise one of my hands and
uproot a small spindly tree near me and launch it at the
giant’s chest. It impales its chest, and it’s enough for the
piken to lose its footing; and it falls sideways, shrieking and
barreling right at me. I close my eyes and prepare for the
impact; but instead of smashing me under its weight and
knocking me over the cliff, its body hits the boulder I’m
holding on to and then bounces over me. I whip my head
over my shoulder to see the piken fall down the rocky cliff.
I’m finally able to concentrate enough to float myself up
the slope. I hurry back towards the beech tree—to Ella and
my Chest—and I hear the cannon’s blast a split second
before I’m shot. The pain is double anything I’ve felt before,
and all I can see is red and flashes of white. I roll around
uncontrollably, writhing in agony.
“Marina!” I hear Ella scream.
I roll onto my back and stare at the sky. Blood drips out of
my mouth and nose. I can taste it. I can smell it. A few birds
circle overhead. As I wait to die, I watch as the sky is taken
over by a colossal group of dark, heavy clouds. The clouds
crash and roll on top of each other, pulsing as if they’re
breathing. I think I’m hallucinating, seeing visions before I
die, when a massive drop of water hits me on the right
cheek. I blink as another hits me above my eyes, and then a
bolt of lightning splits the sky in two.
A huge Mogadorian in gold-and-black armor stands over
me smiling. He presses a cannon against my temple and
spits on the ground; but before he pulls the trigger, he looks
up at the looming storm. I quickly place my hands on the
gaping wound in my abdomen, feeling the icy familiarity
surge under my skin. Then the oncoming rain washes over
me as the clouds become a solid wall of darkness.
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