Free Legacies Reborn by Pittacus Lore

protect my friends. I can protect the planet .”
    â€œRight,” I say. John’s whole pitch from earlier comes back to me. About how I should use these powers to help him win a war. Sam’s obviously on board. “Maybe it’ll be you on TV fighting aliens next time.”
    He smiles a little bit.
    â€œMaybe. I don’t know that I’ll ever look like John when I fight, though. He’s a hero.” He sounds so genuine when he says it. There’s such awe and respect in his voice.
    It makes me wonder.
    â€œAre you two, like . . . a thing?”
    Sam looks confused for a second. Suddenly he understands what I’m asking.
    â€œWe’re . . .” He hesitates. “Best friends I guess? We both have . . .” He pauses again. “Girls,” he finally says, a little awkwardly.
    I stare at him for a few seconds. Then I shrug. “Because it’s totally cool if you are.”
    â€œWe’re not a thing.”
    â€œI know. You both have . . .” I pause dramatically. “Girls?”
    Sam rolls his eyes and jumps across into the car we left John in. He’s still out, snoring a little.
    â€œIt’s just a complicated situation. His girlfriend is with her ex-boyfriend right now trying to expose the Mogs. They’re the ones who made that video you saw. They’ve got some mysterious hacker friend on their side who’s helping them uncover classified government info. And my . . . the girl I’ve been . . . Oh man, I’m not sure what Six is doing right now. She’s in Mexico looking for a Loric sanctuary.”
    â€œYour girlfriend’s name is ‘Six’?” I ask. “Weird.”
    Sam looks up at me. “ That’s what’s weird to you out of all of this?”
    I shrug, and then let out a massive yawn.
    â€œI know,” Sam says with a smirk. “Intergalactic space wars and the fate of the world are so boring.”
    â€œShut up,” I say, trying not to yawn again.
    â€œWith so many tunnels caved in, I doubt anyone’s going to be down here looking for us, but we should probably sleep in shifts just in case,” he says. “I’ll take first watch and wake you when I start to fall asleep.”
    â€œI guess. You sure you won’t just immediately pass out on me?”
    â€œAre you kidding? I’ve got granola bars and . . .” He pulls a crumpled plastic bag out of the tote. “Someone left their entire comic shop haul down here.”
    â€œYep. Nerd.”
    He kinda grins, then gets a sad look on his face.
    â€œHey,” he says quietly. “I hope your mom’s all right. My dad . . . He was missing for a long time. There were days I thought I’d never see him again. Logically it made sense to move on, but I never really gave up hope. Eventually we were reunited. I’m not saying it’s the same thing, obviously. But you just have to keep fighting and believing. You have to honor the person who’s not there with your actions.” He shakes his head. “Sorry, I’m really tired. I think I’m rambling now.”
    â€œThanks,” I murmur. “For real.”
    I ball up the fake Prada bag and use it as a pillow on one of the benches, turning away from Sam and John, my face almost touching the back of the subway seat. I’m too tired to even care about how gross it is to be lying here. Instead, now that it’s finally quiet and I’m not running or foraging for snacks and left-behind electronics, all I can think about is her. The uncertainty. Sam’s words repeat in my head. Tears start to come, silent and pooling on the seat in front of me. They take away my last drop of energy, and before I know it I’m asleep.

CHAPTER TEN
    I WAKE UP WITH A START. TURNS OUT FIGHTING aliens all night and then sleeping on a gross subway bench doesn’t make for the best sleep. Half-realized nightmares about Mom linger in my head as I get over