Free United as One by Pittacus Lore

doesn’t paint a very rosy picture. Maybe I’m not in the right mind-set to help coordinate an international counterattack. Luckily, I’ve got backup.
    Six peers down the table at Ella. “There are new Loralite stones growing across the Earth, right?”
    â€œYes,” Ella says. “I can sense them.”
    Six snaps her fingers. “There you go. We use those to deliver the cloaking devices around the world.”
    Lawson looks at me. “These are the stones you mentioned to the LANEs in your . . . ah . . . psychic briefing, yes?”
    I nod.
    â€œHmm.” Lawson glances at the map over his shoulder. “Once we caught wind of those, we encouraged our international partners to lock down as many of them as they could find.”
    I cock my head. “You did?”
    â€œYes, John, of course we did. That said, some leaders have outright laughed at me when I asked them to divert resources to guarding some magical rocks. Not to mention, we only know the location of a fraction of these Loralite growths.”
    â€œHow many human Garde have been intercepted?” I ask, my voice cold.
    â€œA few,” Lawson replies cagily. “For their own protection. Most of them are still overseas. Assuming we survive the next few days, maybe we can discuss how you’ll train them. With proper supervision, of course.”
    I don’t like this. It feels like we’re giving away too much too easily, turning over the Loralite locations to Lawson, not to mention the fledgling human Garde he’s so interested in. Still, what choice do we have? Practically speaking, using the Loralite stones is our only way to get a counterattack ready fast.
    â€œWe’ll help you locate the rest of the Loralite,” I tell Lawson. “Once we’re ready to move the cloaking devices.”
    Lawson smiles at my reluctant concession but moves on quickly. “That’s transport squared away. It still doesn’t solve the problem of quantity.”
    â€œIf we can’t make them quickly enough, we’ll just have to get you more,” I say, the beginning of a plan starting to take shape in my head.
    Nine flashes me a wolfish grin. “Maybe we should go somewhere that we know will have a lot of them.”
    â€œAnd where is that?” Lawson asks.
    â€œOne of the warships,” I reply.
    â€œDidn’t I just explain—?” Lawson snaps, frustration breaking through his patient granddad routinefor a moment. He gets hold of himself quickly. “If we attack them—any attack—we risk them laying waste to another one of our cities.”
    â€œWhat if we could get in and out of one of their warships without them even noticing?” I pose this to Lawson, but it’s Six who I’m looking at. She smiles at me. I smile back. “What if we could get you a battalion’s worth of cloaking devices before the Mogs even notice they’re missing?”
    â€œThat . . .” Lawson rubs a hand across his jaw, considering. “That I could live with.”

CHAPTER SEVEN
    HERE’S THE TO-DO LIST.
    Sneak aboard a Mogadorian warship.
    Steal every cloaking device they’ve got without tipping off the Mogs.
    Arm the governments of the world for one big counterstrike.
    Meanwhile, learn every Legacy I can wrap my mind around.
    Kill Setrákus Ra.
    Not necessarily in that order. Especially not the “learn every Legacy” one. Because if I’m going to sneak aboard a Mog warship the way I’m planning, there’s one Legacy in particular I’m going to need first.
    I have to learn how to fly.
    The meeting breaks up after I promise General Lawson we’ll have a plan in place to covertly attack a Mogadorian warship by the end of the day. Hopefully,Ella was right and Setrákus Ra will be out of action for at least that long. It’s barely even noon yet, and I feel like we’ve already burned too much of the day.
    As everyone