Chapter 18: Energy in the Air

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"Me? What? But there's nothing special about me. I'm only human!"

"That may be true, but I think there's more to it than that," Henri notes. "Think about it."

"Think about what?" John asks.

"Pixie," he says, nearing my side to put a hand on my shoulder, and the bunny runs to us at the sound of her name to sit at my feet, staring up at us—at me! I look down at her then back at Henri, not following. "Why do you think she chose to save you that day? Why do you think the stone started glowing the second you touched it?"

"I don't know."

"Are you saying there's more to Emily than we know?" asks Marina.

"There may be. I don't know for sure, but I do believe you're here for a very special reason, Emily," Henri goes on. "That it's you and not some other human that she found. I don't have any answers; I'm just saying it can't be a coincidence."

I'm not sure what to say. I don't feel any different than anyone else—than Héctor, or my friends back home. I'm just an ordinary person trying to keep Earth safe and prevent any bads from happening. I'm the most boring person in all of Kingston, probably.

I slide out of Henri's arm to tell him so when suddenly, something seems strange; icky. It's almost like an energy in the air—something—radiating hatred. It doesn't exactly hurt, but it doesn't feel good either. Like when it's about to rain; you smell it, sense it, and sometimes can even see it, and the next time you look out the window, it's thundering. It's not a good feeling.

"Do you feel that?"

"Feel what?" John asks.

"Something's wrong," I try to explain, and almost as soon as I say so, the ground rumbles, and an explosion rocks the cave.

"What's going on?!" Héctor shouts.

Eight vanishes, but seconds later, he reappears. "Mogadorians!" There's a wound at his side, smearing blood into his clothes, and he falls. "They're here!"

"What do we do?" cries Ella.

"We have to fight," Henri yells to be heard over the thunder of crushing stone.

"There are a lot of them," Eight wheezes as Marina presses her hands to his side. "Least a couple dozen, and there're probably more on the way."

"There are more of us now too," Henri counters. "We'll handle a couple dozen; if we don't—"

"ADELINA, LOOK OUT!" Héctor yells.

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