Free The Guard by Pittacus Lore Page B

the instrument panels when we get to thecockpit. They slowly flicker on. The ship hums to life around us.
    “That seems like a good sign,” Sarah says.
    “Here comes the real test,” I say.
    I touch a few more of the controls. The ship slowly begins to lift off the ground. Beside me Mark clutches the back of one of the mounted chairs in front of the controls and whispers a dozen curses.
    We’re a few feet off the floor and hovering inside the hangar when the entire craft starts to shake, then suddenly drops a few inches, causing my two human companions to cry out in alarm. But the ship recovers. It levels itself off until all systems look normal.
    “By Lorien,” I murmur. “I think it’s going to work. The ship’s running off the fuel line I’ve installed, plus we have a few days of backup from the charged crystals.”
    “That’s . . . good?” Sarah asks.
    “It’s very good,” I say.
    I set the ship back down and power off. Mark looks a little shaky on his feet. There’s a sheen of sweat on his forehead.
    “I think I should probably sit down,” he says.
    Sarah touches his forehead. “His fever’s breaking.”
    I take them back down and into what used to be the foreman’s office when the hangar was still a processing plant. Now it’s filled with computer equipment and monitors.
    We start to trade information. We learn about each other.
    I give Mark and Sarah an abbreviated rundown of my history, leaving out the parts about me using Mark or tracking all of his communications—though, by the look on his face, I’m guessing he’s figured that out by now. Sarah gets me up to date on the latest with the Garde, who they are and what Legacies they’ve manifested. She tells me everything she knows about the Mogs. It’s easier to get information now that I don’t have to use Mark as the middleman between us or avoid talking about my identity. I learn that not only has Malcolm Goode been found, but his son, Sam, has joined the fight. I can’t help but smile at this, to know that Malcolm has been reunited with that little boy from outside his office. I can’t say that they’re safe in the middle of all this, but at least they’re together.
    I ask a lot of questions about the girl Ella has become and find out that she is a strong, sensitive young Garde. Just the kind of person I imagine Crayton would have wanted her to be. Sarah has spent a significant amount of time with her, and I can tell that she’s worried about Ella as she speaks. That she cares for her.
    “Everything happened so fast in Chicago,” Sarah says, her eyes looking off into the middle distance. “Ella was having some kind of vision and then suddenly the Mogs were there. We were overpowered.”
    “Mogadorian scum,” I mutter.
    “We’ll get her back.” Mark grins a little. “And we’ll waste a bunch of those pale freaks along the way. Ashes to ashes. Dust to—”
    “Really, Mark?” Sarah asks.
    “What?” His eyebrows draw together for a second. Then he relaxes a little. “You’re right. I should have saved that for after we’d killed What’s-His-Ra or something.”
    Sarah doesn’t say anything, just smirks a little and rolls her eyes.
    She turns to one of the monitors at her side, one that’s tuned to a twenty-four-hour news station. Her eyes get wide, and several small sounds come from her mouth, but no actual words form.
    “Oh, come on,” Mark says quietly, concerned. “It wasn’t that bad. Sarah?”
    “Oh God,” she manages.
    Several of my computers start beeping, telling me that something important has happened. That news is breaking.
    “Sarah, what is it?” Mark is by her side in a few swift steps. And then he too is unable to form words.
    It’s only when I join them that I realize what’s wrong.
    A giant Mogadorian warship is hovering over New York City.
    “It’s happening,” I murmur. “The invasion has begun.”
    It’s not just New York; the ships are everywhere, over cities across the planet. We