The Legacy Chronicles: Killing Giants Read online

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from Generation One

  Excerpt from Fugitive Six

  About the Author

  Books by Pittacus Lore

  Back Ad

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  CHAPTER ONE

  SIX

  UNKNOWN LOCATION

  SIX GLARED AT THE CLOSED DOOR. SHE HAD BEEN doing so for about fifteen minutes—ever since Eleni had dragged Sam out of the room—hoping to jump-start her telekinesis and force it open.

  It hadn’t worked.

  Furious, she sat down on the cot that stood against one wall. Her head throbbed from the effort of trying to get her Legacies to cooperate. Or maybe that thing Magdalena put inside you is crawling around doing its job, she thought.

  The idea that some kind of parasite was in her head, doing who knew what, made her even angrier. She’d been hoping that the Mog’s story about implanting her and Sam and Max with some kind of parasites was a lie, something Magdalena had told her to throw her off. But given how her and Sam’s Legacies weren’t cooperating, how weak Sam seemed and how easily Eleni had pushed her aside earlier and prevented her from helping Sam, when normally she would have been able to take the Mog out with a couple of hits, she now had to assume it was true. And that pissed her off.

  Thinking about Max, she wondered how he was doing. She and Sam had been teleported from the bunker in Utah to a new location. But what about the others? Where were Max and Bats and Lava now? And the other kids who had attacked them back at the bunker? She wished she could get her hands on those delinquents. Especially that girl, Freakshow, the one who had used her fear-inducing Legacy to make Six relive one of the worst moments of her life. What she wouldn’t give for a chance to repay her for that torture.

  Pain ricocheted through Six’s head. She pictured a rat, gnawing away at wiring, disrupting the electrical signals and causing lights to flicker on and off.

  “I swear, if I had a knife I’d try to cut it out myself,” she muttered, hitting the side of her head with her fist.

  She winced as another jolt of pain throbbed through her, as if the thing inside her head could understand and was telling her she didn’t have a chance against it. She lay down, closing her eyes and trying to calm herself. How much longer could the parasite keep doing what it was doing? Days? Or did she have only hours left? Was Magdalena going to remove it, or was the plan to let it kill her?

  That was not going to happen. She was not going to allow herself to be a Mog experiment. If it came down to it, she really would try to get the parasite out herself. And if that didn’t work, well, she’d die before she let the Mogs steal her Legacies.

  She opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling, trying to channel her anger in a purposeful way and figure out how to get herself out of the room. The door wouldn’t open, and there were no windows. There wasn’t even an air duct to try to get into. And any second now, she suspected, Eleni would come back for her.

  Six didn’t intend to be there when that happened.

  Her gaze focused on the light fixture in the center of the ceiling. It was the only other thing in the room besides the cot she was lying on. Six concentrated on the wall switch that operated it, trying to make it turn on and off with her telekinesis. Again, nothing happened. She was going to have to find a way out of the room that didn’t involve using a Legacy.

  The image of the rat chewing on wires flashed in her head again, and an idea began to form. She got up and dragged the cot so that it was directly underneath the light. Standing on it, she was able to reach up and remove the glass globe that covered the two bulbs inside. She placed the globe on the floor, then got back up and examined the inside of the fixture. It was a basic light, nothing fancy, and it was easy enough to twist the base and remove it from the mounting pins, revealing the electrical wires that snaked out from the ceiling. There was a black one and a white one.

  Six yanked the white wire out from where it connected to the fixture. The bulbs in the fixture winked out as the circuit was broken. Now the room was dark except for a thin line of light that seeped in under the door from the hallway outside. But Six didn’t need light for what she did next. She took hold of the black wire and pulled it free, being careful not to let it touch the bare end of the white wire.

  Getting down, she picked up the glass cover, wrapped it in the thin blanket that had been on the cot, then smacked it against the floor. It shattered. She unwrapped the blanket and carefully examined the shards with her fingers. There were several large ones. These she took out and set aside. She shook the others out onto the floor, then tore several long strips from the blanket. Holding a couple of the biggest pieces of glass together, she wrapped one of the strips around them, forming a grip. She repeated this with a second strip so that she had a handle she could grasp without cutting herself.

  Standing on the cot again, she found the black and white wires. “Here goes nothing,” she said as she touched the exposed ends of the wires together. There was a loud pop and some sparks. Glancing at the door, she saw that there was no longer any light coming in.

  Six let go of the wires and got down from the cot. Picking up her makeshift knife and what was left of the blanket, she positioned herself in the corner where she would be hidden from view if someone opened the door.

  Then she waited.

  A few seconds later, she heard voices in the hallway.

  “Is it out everywhere?” a woman asked.

  “I think so,” someone answered.

  “I’m sure it will be back on in a minute,” a third voice, a man’s, said. “Let’s just stay put.”

  The voices retreated. Six heard doors opening and shutting. She reached out and tried the handle of the door to the room she was in, but it remained locked. She started to fear that maybe nothing was going to happen after all. But then she heard the sound of someone rattling the handle from the other side.

  “The main panel sensor shows the short came from in here,” a man’s voice said.

  The handle turned again. Then Six heard the sound of a key being inserted into the lock. She readied herself. She had no idea who might come through the door, whether they were Mog or human. Whoever they were, though, she wasn’t going to wait and ask questions. A moment later, the door opened. A flashlight beam cut through the darkness. The pieces of glass on the floor sparkled.

  “Whoa,” said a second male voice. “What the hell happened in here?”

  “Looks like the fixture fell somehow,” said the first man. “Well, it’s easy enough to fix. Come on.”

  The men stepped into the room, leaving the door open. As soon as they weren’t blocking it, Six slipped out from behind the door.

  “What the—” one of the men exclaimed, jumping back.

  Six didn’t stop to offer an explanation, pushing past the men and darting out into the hallway. She saw a flashlight scan the hall behind her as she ran, but nobody followed her. Whoever the men were, they didn’t seem to be interested in finding out who she was, which puzzled her. Had Magdalena just left her there without a guard? If they were in yet another Mog stronghold, why had the men come into the room so casually, as if they expected it to be empty?

  She reached the end of the hall, which went off to both the left and right. As she stood there in the dark try
ing to decide which way to go, the lights came back on. All of a sudden, Six was looking at a giant poster depicting a woman who looked strangely familiar. Then she realized why—the woman resembled her. Not enough that anyone would confuse them, but enough that it was an obvious likeness.

  The woman was standing with a group of other people, all of them dressed in what looked like black leather uniforms. Several of them had their hands raised, and they looked like they were holding glowing blue stones. At the top of the poster was written CIRQUE DES ÉTOILES PRESENTS: BATTLE FOR EARTH.

  Six had no idea what this was. She scanned the poster, looking for more clues, but there were none. Now she was even more confused. If she wasn’t in some kind of Mog facility, where the hell was she?

  “Are you here for a fitting?”

  Six whirled, the weapon in her hand held at her side and out of sight, at least for the moment. Looking at her was a young, slight woman with blond hair pulled into a ponytail. She was holding a clipboard. She didn’t seem at all shocked or worried to see Six running loose in the hallway.

  “Sorry about the lights,” the girl said. “Something went wrong with the electricity. But it’s back on now.” She laughed. “Obviously. Anyway, you’re probably looking for the costuming room, right?” The girl’s gaze moved past Six to the poster, and she laughed again. “You look a lot like Camilla,” she said. “Are you her understudy? They said a new girl was coming in. I can’t believe Lara left right before we open, but a lead on Broadway doesn’t happen every day, right? Anyway, she’d probably never get a chance to go on. Camilla is never out.” She put her hand to her mouth. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I mean, maybe she’ll let you play a matinee once the initial excitement wears off and the crowds slow down. Which will probably be never once people see how amazing this show is. I mean, wait until you see the monsters.”

  “Monsters?” Six said. She was getting more confused by the moment. She’d expected to encounter Eleni, some other Mogs or even humans who were working for them. But nobody seemed to find her presence there at all alarming.

  The girl shook her head. “They’re flipping fantastic. Bigger than anything we’ve ever had. People are going to lose their minds.”

  Nothing the girl said made any sense to Six. “Who are you?” she asked.

  “Oh, sorry. I’m Allison, the assistant to the assistant to the assistant costuming coordinator.”

  “Okay,” Six said, even though she still had no idea what the girl was talking about. “Well, Allison, I need to make a call. Do you have a phone I could use?”

  Allison shook her head. “We don’t get reception down here. But there’s a phone in the lobby.”

  “Lobby,” Six repeated. “Now we’re getting somewhere. If you could just show me how to get there, that would be great.”

  “Um, you had to walk through it to get down here,” Allison said. “You just take the elevator back up.”

  “Thanks,” Six said, and started to walk away.

  “What about the fitting?” Allison asked.

  Six was going to ignore the question. But then she thought about it. She still had no idea where, exactly, she was. It obviously wasn’t a Mog base, but there had to be some reason why she and Sam had been brought here instead of to a more secure facility. She needed to call Nine and find Sam, but she didn’t know where Sam might be and she had nothing to actually tell Nine at the moment. While she was anxious to be taking action, it might help if she took a few minutes to see what she could find out. Reluctantly, she turned around.

  “Right,” she said. “The fitting.”

  Allison beamed. “Come with me, and I’ll get you set up.”

  Six followed Allison down the hallway.

  “What other Cirque des Étoiles shows have you been in?” Allison asked.

  “None,” Six answered.

  Allison looked shocked. “Wow. You must be really good. They usually only let people understudy the principal roles if they’ve done at least a couple of the touring shows. What’s your primary skill set? No. Wait. Let me guess. If you’re understudying for Camilla, it’s probably aerial.”

  Six didn’t know what that meant, but she nodded.

  “Yes,” Allison said. “I’m getting really good at guessing just by looking at people. I mean, some of them are obvious. Like, if you’re under five feet tall, chances are you’re a tumbler. And the clowns are always easy to spot, usually because they look sad. You’re graceful and obviously really fit, so aerial makes sense.”

  They came to a door, which Allison opened. “Welcome to Wonderland,” she said as they walked into a room bursting with color.

  Everywhere Six looked there were costumes. And not ordinary costumes. These were covered in feathers and sequins, jewels and ribbons. Several people were trying on various things, while a team of people with scissors and tape measures swirled around them, pinning things and making alterations. Things were getting stranger and stranger, and making less and less sense.

  Allison led Six over to where a group of three people were examining the bluish-purple scales on a bodysuit worn by a muscular man.

  “He still looks too much like a dragon,” one of the men said with a sigh. “We need less dragon and more terrifying space lizard. Or whatever. Just make it work.”

  “Devin,” Allison said. “This is . . .” She looked at Six.

  “Jess,” Six said, pulling a name out of thin air.

  “Jess is understudying Camilla,” Allison said.

  Devin turned, gave Six a sweeping glance from head to toe and back again and said, “Did you fall in a mud puddle?”

  Six looked down at herself. She’d been through a lot over the past couple of days, and did look pretty awful. But that was the last thing on her mind at the moment.

  “I, uh, kind of got caught in the rain,” she fumbled.

  Devin arched an eyebrow. “In Vegas?” he said. “It hasn’t rained here in like three months. You look like you not only fell into the fountain at the Bellagio, but then rolled in the street afterwards.”

  “It’s been a long couple of days,” Six snapped.

  “I’ll just leave you two to get to know each other,” Allison said briskly. “Good luck,” she whispered as she passed by Six.

  Devin walked around Six, making vague noises. When he came back to stand in front of her, he said, “You look more like her than Camilla does. She’s not going to like that. And you have a better body. She really isn’t going to like that.”

  “More like who?” said Six.

  “Number Six,” Devin said. “You know, the role you’re understudying for? I know we don’t call her that, but everyone knows that’s who she’s supposed to be.”

  “Six,” said Six. What the hell was going on? she wondered. Then she remembered the poster in the hallway. “Right. Battle for Earth and all of that.”

  “Mmm,” Devin murmured as he walked over to a rack of clothes. He selected some things and returned. “Here,” he said, thrusting a pair of hangers at Six. “Try these on. I’ll be back in a minute.”

  Six looked around. “Right here?” she said.

  Devin rolled his eyes. “Dressing rooms are for stars,” he said as he walked away.

  Six moved to a corner of the room with fewer people in it, and undressed as quickly as she could. She pulled on the clothing that Devin had given her, which consisted of a pair of leather pants and a leather jacket. They fit Six almost perfectly. The pants also had a convenient pocket for stowing her homemade knife. She looked at herself in the mirror and was surprised to see that she looked great despite everything she’d been through.

  “Oh yeah,” Devin said, appearing behind her. “Camilla is going to hate you. Here. Put these on.” He handed her a pair of leather boots.

  Six pulled the boots on. They came up almost to the knee, sliding over the legs of the pants. With the costume on, she felt oddly powerful. Almost like her old self. Maybe it was worth taking this little detour, she thought.

&n
bsp; “We just have to do something about that hair,” Devin said. “The color is a little boring. Why don’t you take that stuff off and then head down to hair and makeup. Tell Selena I said to make your hair Firefox.”

  “Firefox,” Six said. “Got it.”

  “You can hang your costume on the rack,” Devin said, leaving her alone.

  “Or I could just wear it,” Six said under her breath, making sure he was out of sight before leaving the room still in her outfit.

  She strode down the hall feeling more confident than she had fifteen minutes earlier. Sure, her Legacies continued to be on the fritz and there was a parasite in her head that wanted to eat her alive, but she did manage to get some information. Now she just had to figure out exactly where she was, find Sam, take care of the Mogs and get the hell out of there.

  “First things first,” she said as she came to an elevator and hit the button.

  As she waited, she half expected Eleni or Magdalena to show up. But there was no sign of the Mogs anywhere, nor of anyone else who had been in the bunker with them. Wherever they were now, it obviously wasn’t a Mog stronghold like the last place. They had to have some connection to it, but what? Six added that to the list of questions she had.

  When the elevator arrived, Six got in. The rear of the car had another poster like the one she’d seen in the hallway. This one had an additional line of text, though: EXCLUSIVE TO THE SATURN HOTEL. Six noticed the same name etched into the metal panel above the buttons on the elevator wall. Well, now at least I know where I am, she thought as she hit the button marked L and the doors closed.

  When they opened again, she stepped into the lobby. She paused a moment and looked around. The place was gorgeous. The ceiling soared thirty feet overhead, and was painted to look like outer space. Stars literally twinkled with tiny lights, forming recognizable constellations. Models of planets were suspended on invisible wires, seeming to float in the air. The floor of the lobby was made from black marble shot through with milky streaks of white, and as Six walked across it to the reception desk, she felt like she was walking across the sky.

  “Welcome to the Saturn,” a smiling young man said when she reached the desk. “I’m Mike. How can I be of service?”