Adelina jogs over to them, and before I can send Sister Dora all the way down the main aisle on her back, Adelina grabs her wrist.

Sister Dora rips her arm away. My heart jumps into my throat with Adelina’s newfound alliance to me and my friend.

“Don’t you ever touch me again,” Sister Dora challenges her. “You don’t even belong here, Adelina. And neither does that juvenile demon you brought with you.”

Adelina smiles calmly. “You’re right, Sister Dora. Perhaps Marina and I don’t belong here, and perhaps we will leave this very morning. But would you please be so kind as to let go of Ella first?” Her voice, while cordial and patient, contains a hint of venom.

“How dare you!” Sister Dora scoffs. “Why, you’re no more than an orphan yourself. We took you in when no one else wanted you!”

“We’re all the same in the Lord’s eyes. Surely you acknowledge as much?”

Sister Dora moves to take another step, but Adelina again grabs her arm. The two women stare into each other’s eyes.

“I will be talking about this with Sister Lucia. You will be thrown out of here so fast you won’t have a chance to pray for forgiveness.”

“I already said I’d be leaving this morning. And I will always have the chance to pray for forgiveness.” Adelina reaches her hand out to Ella, and she takes it. Sister Dora hesitates before reluctantly letting go of Ella’s arm. “I’ll not only pray that Marina forgives me for being such a terrible guardian, but I’ll also pray that God forgives you for forgetting your purpose here.”

They continue to stare into each other’s eyes for a few more seconds before Sister Dora pivots and huffs out of the nave. Once she’s out of sight and Ella has her back to me, I float to the ground.

“Hi, Ella,” I say.

“Marina!” She lets go of Adelina’s hand, runs and hugs me. “Where were you?”

“Adelina and I had to talk alone,” I say, pulling away from her. I look up at Adelina. “We had to talk about our future.”

Adelina squints, then looks down at her dirty nightgown and becomes embarrassed. “Marina, go pack your things and put that Chest somewhere safe. We’re leaving very soon.”

When Adelina walks away, Ella grabs my hand and squeezes it. “The bad men were here last night, Marina.”

“I know, I saw him. That’s why we’re leaving.” As soon as I say it I know I will ask Adelina if we can take Ella with us.

“I saw all three of them,” Ella whispers.

I gasp. “There’s three of them?”

“They were at the window last night, looking at your bed.”

A shiver runs up my spine. I float the Chest back up into the nook and run to the sleeping quarters, dodging huddles of girls in the hallway whispering to each other about something that happened in the village.

“They were right there,” she says, pointing at the window.

“Three of them, you’re sure?”

She nods her head. “Yes, and they saw me at the window watching them. Then they ran away.”

“What did they look like?” I ask.

“They were tall and had really long hair. And their jackets went almost to their shoes,” she says.

“With mustaches, right? They had mustaches?”

“I don’t think so. I don’t remember mustaches,” she says.

I’m confused, but I know I don’t have much time before Adelina shows up with a bag of the belongings she’s collected over the past eleven years. I’m about to race into the shower when Analee, another girl, stops me in my tracks.

“School is canceled today. That girl Miranda Marquez was found strangled inside the school this morning.”

I sit down on my bed, shocked. Miranda Marquez is a dark-haired girl who lives in the village and sits beside me in Spanish history class. Our teacher, Maestra Muñoz, often confuses us for each other because Miranda is skinny and tall like me, and her hair is the same length as mine. It takes me a second to realize that whoever killed Miranda might have mistaken her for me. Someone might have tried to kill me last night.

“This is really . . . this is bad,” I whisper.

Analee says, “Plus, I heard one of the Sisters say that some villagers saw people flying through the air last night and now there are all these news vans out there doing a report on it.”

This is all happening so fast. The Mogadorians have found me. They found my cave. I was being reckless with my Legacies and witnesses saw me and Adelina leave the belfry window. A girl from my school might be dead because of me, and Adelina and I are leaving the orphanage in the middle of winter without a place to stay.

I take the fastest hot shower of my life and wait for Adelina.

Chapter Twenty-Three

“WE’RE NOT GOING TO SARAH’S,” SAM SAYS, following me along the edge of the forest. “We got this tablet thing, possibly the transmitter we were after, and we’re going back to help Six.”

I step towards him. “Six can handle herself. I’m right here and Sarah’s right here. I love her, Sam, and I’m going to see her. I don’t care what you say.”

Sam backs down, and I keep walking towards Sarah’s house. Sam says, “Do you really love her though, John? Or are you in love with Six? Which one?”

I twist around and shine my palm in his face. “You think I don’t love Sarah?”

“Hey, come on!”

“Sorry,” I mutter, lowering my palm.

He rubs his eyes. “It’s a valid question, man. I see you and Six flirting all the time, all the time, and you do it right in front of me. You know I like her, and you don’t even care. And to top it all off you already have like the hottest girlfriend in Ohio.”

“I do care,” I whisper.

“You care about what?”

“I care that you like Six, Sam. But you’re right—I like her too. I wish I didn’t, but I do. It’s stupid and cruel to you, but I can’t stop thinking about her. She’s cool and she’s beautiful and she’s Loric, which is like, extracool. But I love Sarah. And that’s why I have to see her.”

Sam grabs my elbow. “You can’t, man. We have to go back and help Six. Think about it. If they were waiting for us at my place, then even more of them are waiting for us at Sarah’s.”

I gently pull my elbow away from his grip. “You got to see your mom, right? You saw her in the backyard?”

“Yeah,” he sighs. His eyes find his shoes.

“You got to see your mom, so I get to see Sarah.”

“That doesn’t make as much sense as you think it does. We got the transmitter, remember? This is why we’re in Paradise. It’s the only reason.” Sam hands me the tablet, and I stare at its blank screen. I touch every inch of it. I try telekinesis. I hold it to my forehead. The tablet remains off.

“Let me try,” Sam says. As he fumbles with the tablet, I tell him about the ladder, the huge skeleton with the pendant, and the desk and wall covered in papers.

“Six grabbed a handful of the papers, but it’s not like we can read them,” I say.

“So my dad had a secret underground lair?” Sam smiles for the first time in hours, handing the tablet back. “He was so cool. I’d really like to look at the papers Six took.”

“Absolutely,” I say. “Right after I see Sarah.”

Sam opens his arms in astonishment. “What can I do to change your mind? Just tell me.”

“Nothing. There’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

The last time I was at Sarah’s house it was Thanksgiving Day. I remember walking up the driveway and seeing Sarah wave from the front window.

“Hey, handsome,” she said when she opened the door, and I turned around to look over my shoulder to pretend she meant it for someone else.

Her house looks completely different at two in the morning. With every window dark, with the garage doors closed, the house looks cold and empty. Uninviting. Sam and I are on our bellies in the shadow of a house on the corner, and I don’t know how I’m going to talk to her.

I pull the prepaid cell phone I’ve had turned off for days out of my jeans. “I could text her until she wakes up.”

“That’s actually a pretty good idea. Just do this already so we can get out of here. I swear, Six is going to kill us, or worse, maybe she’s about to be killed by a swarm of Mogs and we’re here lying in the grass about to go through a scene from Romeo and Juliet.”

I power up the phone and type: I promised I’d come back. U up?

We count to thirty after I send it, and then I type: I love you. I’m here.

“Maybe she thinks you’re pranking her,” Sam whispers after we wait another thirty seconds. “Say something only you would know.”

I try: Bernie Kosar misses you.

Her window lights up. Then my phone buzzes with a text: Is it really you? You’re in Paradise?

I pull up a handful of grass, I’m so excited.

“Chill out,” Sam whispers.

“I can’t help it.”

I respond: I’m outside. Meet me at the playground in 5?

My phone buzzes immediately: I’ll be there. :)

Sam and I are hiding behind a Dumpster at the end of the street when Sarah takes her first steps onto the concrete playground. From the moment I see her, I’m breathless, flooded with emotions. She’s twenty yards away, wearing dark jeans and a black fleece jacket. A white winter hat is pulled over her head, but I can still see her long blond hair, and it brushes over her shoulders in the slight wind. Her flawless complexion glows in the lone playground bulb, and I feel instantly self-conscious about being covered in dirt and Mog ash. I take a step away from the Dumpster, but Sam grabs my wrist and holds me back.

“John, I know this is going to be really hard,” he whispers. “But we have to be back in those woods in ten minutes. I’m serious. Six is counting on us.”

“I’ll do my best,” I say, not even thinking of the repercussions at this point. Sarah is right there, and I’m so close I can practically smell her shampoo.

I watch Sarah turn her head back and forth looking for me. Finally she sits down on a swing and twists herself, the ropes above her becoming taut. Sarah starts to spin slowly, and I shuffle around the perimeter of the playground, pausing behind trees, watching her. She looks so beautiful. So perfect.

I wait until she’s facing the other direction before stepping out of the shadows, and when she twists around again, there I am.

“John?” The toes of Sarah’s sneakers scrape on the concrete to stop her from twisting back around.

“Hey, beautiful,” I say. I can feel my smile reaching the corners of my eyes.

Sarah covers her mouth and nose with her hands.

I walk towards her and she tries to get off of the swing, but its ropes are too taut for her to escape.

I jump forward and catch the swing’s ropes in my hands. I twist her towards me and raise my arms, lifting her and the seat so her face lines up with mine. I lean in and kiss her, and the instant our lips meet, it’s as if I’d never left Paradise.