Numbers

Orientation

"What up," I say, earning laughs from some of the Garde. It's the same joke I used in our telepathic summit that Ella created for us a year and a half ago. I'm happy to finally see all of them in person, without that giant asshole Setrákus Ra interrupting every damn second.

I just wish I had, you know, both my fucking arms.

Lexa and Marina glance at each other, clearly wanting me to say something more substantive. Before they can interject, I change my demeanor.

"I'm Number Nine," I introduce myself. "I am a professor here, and I am a Loric Garde. You will all address me as Professor or Mr. Worthington."

Marina snorts at my alias, rolling her eyes. I shoot her a thumbs up before continuing. "All of you are here because you all have developed Legacies. You're some Legacy-augmented, oh wait, sorry, afflicted," I give one of the Peacekeepers on the catwalk a quick, withering glare, and he looks away hurriedly, "native earthlings. Many of you probably fought on VH Day, some of you probably lost people you care about."

My eyes wander to some of the Human Garde I've known—Daniela, Ran, Caleb, Nigel, McCarthy, some orphaned LANEs I've watched over for the past year—before getting back to my improvised speech.

"In case you're wondering, you're not here to have your powers tamed and controlled. You're here to expand, to progress. You are the defenders of Earth now."

Marina clears her throat, raising an eyebrow to me. I guess she thinks that isn't the end of my speech, or doesn't think it should be. I give her a look, before letting Malcolm take the lead. If she thinks I'm gonna say any of that brave new world crack that the humans have been smoking so much of, she can forget it. Ironically, my eyes meet Melanie's, whom is sitting near the front row. She smiles at me, and I manage a tiny grin before I look away.

"Hi, my name is Malcolm Goode," I notice Malcolm's eyes are scanning the rows too. Looking for Sam, no doubt, even though he knows that his son is still out 'traveling' with Six. "I am the dean here at the Academy. While I am human, I have trained Garde before."

I realize that Malcolm isn't talking about me or the others. Hell, he isn't even talking about Sam. The first Garde he ever actually trained was Adam. The past few months must have really been hell for him—his adoptive son can't even be here to help train the new Garde. I didn't always trust Adam, but he was still one of us. I start to feel something close to guilt when I think about Adam and Rex, forced to live the rest of their lives in Alaska.

My sympathy disintegrates into an annoyed sigh when I hear Malcolm tell the LANEs, "You are the brave new world."

Marina introduces herself afterward, and I try my best to muffle my laughter when she calls herself Marina Smith—she decided to help me teach the Garde here, since Johnny was too much of a pussy to join. When Marina is finished, Malcolm recites some high school code of conduct bullshit that my mind barely registers. Twenty minutes after that nonsense, Lexa explains the absolute safety of the Academy to the Garde.

Then, all the little LANEs disperse for lunch. This gymnasium was designed like the Lecture Hall, with Malcolm and Lexa pitching in to help me build it. Lexa disappears to go hack something once the room is empty, leaving only Marina and me.

"So, Ms. Smith," I say to Marina—I know that she and Johnny didn't really work out, but I still tease her for it anyway, "how things been?"

"Things have been great, Stanley," she replies, grinning. "Since when do you use your alter ego?"

"Since Sam finally renamed his cat."

Marina laughs at this. "Right. How is he, by the way? I haven't seen Six or Sam since we left Niagara Falls."