Legacy Rises (Lorien Legacies: Book 7)

Chapter 16: Eight

"Okay, Sam! You win!" I admit in defeat. Six had this 'brilliant' idea for us to train in pairs and I got paired up with Sam. Despite the fact that he got Legacies about six years later than I did, he was really good at using his telekinesis. At the moment, I was hanging upside-down in the air. We agreed I couldn't use my teleportation, so that explains why I'm stuck. Sam releases his hold on me and I fall on my head. I stand up and grab my head. "What the heck, Sam!"

"Sorry! I thought you were gonna catch yourself!" Sam protests.

I moan and sit down on a porch step. Our condo has a porch that leads down to a small grassy area where we decided to train. "I'm gonna sit out for a while. Why don't you go take Ella's place? Fighting doesn't really seem like her thing."

Sam shrugs and walks off. Ella looks relieved when Sam gets to her and Mark. For a human with no powers, Mark was really good at fighting. Ella walks over to me.

"Hey. You tired too?" Ella asks, sitting next to me.

"Yeah, Sam dropped me on my head," I explain.

"I'm just not great at fighting."

"You'll get your fighting Legacy eventually."

Ella shrugs. "I'm just glad I have you guys with me, or else I'd probably be dead by now."

"I don't know about that; you're a pretty tough twelve year old." I look around at the others. Marina and Daniela are using their Legacies to glue each other to the ground (Marina is freezing Daniela's legs and Daniela is turning Marina's to stone). Mark and Sam are using hand-to-hand combat and I can't tell who's winning. Nine's using his antigravity to jump on the wall of the condo and John uses his Ximic to mimic Nine and follow him. Sam told me about how John had recently developed Ximic, the Legacy that set Pittacus Lore apart from the other Elders. To be honest, I'm kind of jealous, as I was hoping to take Pittacus's place as one of the Elders. Six and Lina seem to be having the most intense fight. Six is using her weather Legacy to create a small storm above them, raining down on them both. Six is trying to shoot hail at Lina while Lina shoots electricity at Six. Lina stomps on the ground, sending visible ripples of electricy at Six. Six jumps up to avoid getting shocked and Lina takes this time to tighten her ponytail. Little pieces of her silky, black hair falls in her face and rest is held in a long, smooth ponytail behind her. She has beautiful hair.

"You like Lina, don't you?" Ella asks.

"What?" I ask, being pulled back to focus.

"I can tell by the way you look at her that you like her at least a little bit," Ella replies, pulling her knees under to her chest and grabbing them with her arms.

I ponder over her words. I look at Lina and feel my face turning hot. I guess this explains why my feelings for Marina feel off. Oh crap, what am I gonna tell Marina? I wonder.

"What are you going to tell Marina?" Ella asks, as if she's reading my mind, which she probably can do.

"I don't know, but I'm definitely gonna talk to her about it."

After a while, Ella and I join back in the training and I, and I find myself facing Nine. This is gonna be painful. I swing at Nine, but he dodges my punch. He jumps on the wall and climbs about half way up then two story condo. I shape shift into a snowy owl and fly up and start trying to claw at him, not hard enough to hurt him, but enough to win our duel and get him to surrender. Nine literally pulls part of the balcony railing off from the condo above ours and starts try into hit me with it. I pull on his hair, but he smacks me right on the head and I fall. I lose concentration and turn back to a person. I yell and try to catch myself with telekinesis, but hit something solid.

"Watch it!" A voice next to me says. I turn and see Lina floating above me, a hand grabbing my arm as I struggle to hold myself up with telekinesis. I see that's she's throwing balls of lightning at John, who is standing below. "So not fair, pair in the newbie with the guy who has all Legacies," she mumbles. John shoots a ball of electricity, though not as stably as at Lina. She barely dodges it. "Hey, I've got a plan, but brace yourself okay?"

I slowly nod and as fast as lightning (haha pun), Lina drops me on top of John. I yell and hit the top of John's head.

"Hey! That's cheating!" John yells up at Lina. She smiles and floats down to us.

"Hey, you never said I couldn't do that!" she teases.

"I never approved of this plan!" I say. I charge Lina and fling her over my shoulder. "Ha ha! Revenge is sweet!" Lina yelps.

"Put me down!" she screams.

"Never!" I yell. Then, I feel something heavy land on us and I fall backwards. I look up to see Nine grinning at me.

"Took down two birds with one smoking hot stone," he says.

"Guys! I'm dying down here!" I hear Lina say under me. Nine and I crawl off of her.

"Whoops, sorry," Nine says sarcastically.

"Whatever," Lina replies. Suddenly, she grabs both of our arms, shocking us both.

Nine curses and jumps up. "This is war!"

Let's just say, this ended up with the others joining us for a big wrestling battle and ends up with All of us in a big dog pile. I, sadly, end up on the bottom of the stack with Mark's foot on my face. I'm next to Marina, who is giggling like mad. She leans in and whispers in my ear.

"Meet me on the deck at midnight," she whispers. "We need to talk."

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As requested, I'm on the deck at midnight. I sit on the steps, my back facing the door. At exactly 12:01, I hear the door slide open and hear Marina walk out.

"You're late," I tease.

Marina sits next to me and rolls her eyes. She's wearing pajama pants and a black shirt.

"So what do you wanna talk about?" I ask. My heart's racing in my chest and I hope she can't hear it.

We sit in silence.

"I'm sorry I didn't heal you in time," Marina finally says.

"It's okay. You tried."

She shakes her head. "I still feel horrible about it. I should he been faster."

"It's not your fault, and besides, I'm back now!" I say.

"Well, at least dying didn't change you. You're still the same laughing idiot you were before."

I smile and give Marina a playful punch in the arm.

"I missed you all, but you especially. You've been the best friend," I say.

Marina ruffles my hair and giggles.

"Glad your back," Marina replies, putting her arm around my shoulders, over lapping mine, as the cold aura she carries creates goosebumps on my arms. She turns her face towards me, our faces only a couple inches. I lean in and close the gap with a kiss.

"I'm glad too."