A Hero In The Dark

Chapter 42: Toughening It Out

Not only did Sandor invest in a two-story penthouse in a big city, but he also organized a very large vehicle lock up. The entire place is underground and separate from the regular underground parking from the other tenants. Almost each and every space is filled with expensive cars – mainly flashy sports cars. It's just like Nine said; Cêpans need hobbies too.

I walk through the dimly lit, dusty, and damp garage until I come to a smaller vehicle under a white sheet. I lift the cover to find a white Toyota Carola. Seems normal enough.

"This'll do," I think to myself. I don't want to drive to Virginia in a flashy car. And so, I pull the cover completely off and open the door to get in. I rifle through the glove box and find the keys.

I turn the key in the ignition and the car whirs to life.

As I go to grip the steering wheel, I find Nine standing in the beam of the headlights, his hands on his hips and an expression of disappointment on his face.

My face falls when I see him standing in the way.

I sit frozen in the driver seat in the hopes that Nine will move.

He doesn't.

Nine only stares; until he makes a one-handed swiping motion at the side of his neck, as if telling me to turn off the engine.

With a low sigh, I turn back the key and the headlights turn off and the car hums to a dead silence. I sit back in the driver seat with frustration spreading through me, clutching the key in a closed palm.

Nine approaches slowly and opens the driver side door. He holds out an open palm and gestures to the key clutched in my closed fist.

"C'mon," he says coolly. "Hand it over."

I hesitate, still willing to try to convince Nine to let me go. "Nine, you don't understand. I have to go."

"Sure," he responds with full sarcasm in his voice. "C'mon. The keys."

With another sigh, I hand over the keys. Nine makes a show of twirling the ring of keys on his index finger then smoothly puts them in his pants pocket. He shuts the door and steps away.

For a minute, I think he is just going to leave and go back upstairs.

My arms and head leaning over the steering wheel in utter sadness and defeat, I don't realize that Nine is still here until the passenger door opens. Still, Nine watches me intently.

With an elbow resting casually on the top of the door, Nine begins again subtly, "Ella told me what you were doing. Do you want to talk about it?"

I turn away from him; don't reply.

He climbs into the car, settling into the passenger seat next to me and closes the door after him.

"Emily, can you answer me one question?" he asks. I stay silent. "Why do you want to go back?"

Without making eye contact, I let out a long quiet sigh and finally find the words to reply, "I don't want to go back."

"Then what are you doing?" he asks slowly and calmly.

I hesitate to tell him any more, but something drives me in doing so. "I had a nightmare," I begin. "I've been having them all the time since I got back." Nine remains silent, allowing me to take my time. I continue, "Setrákus Ra; he keeps threatening me; saying that if I don't go back, all of you will die. I don't want that."

A sob escapes my chest while tears gradually flow down my cheeks.

Nine gently puts a hand on my shoulder, trying to get my eyes on him. When I look up from the steering wheel into Nine's solid brown eyes, he says, "Emily, nothing is going to happen to us."

"You don't know that," I respond without thinking, and then it all pours out of me, faster than I can comprehend. "What if they know we're in Chicago? At the John Hancock Center? What if he sends an ambush? For all we know, in the next 21 hours, we could be trapped hundreds of stories from the ground by dozens of Mogadorians and Beasts, with no hope of making it out alive. What if-"

Nine stops me before I can keep going, "Whoa, slow down Emily." And so, I do, only now realizing how fast I was talking. "All of these scenarios; all of these questions that you're tormenting yourself over; they're only what ifs."

I stay silent, waiting for him to continue.

"We don't know if Setrákus Ra knows where we are. There's a chance he may not, even with the information he's found from your time in captivity. And even if he does know where we are, why does it matter? Ambush or not, we are prepared. Do you honestly think Sandor and I stayed here for 6 years without any defences? We'd had to have been crazy if that was the case – I might've been, but Sandor definitely was not. We have cameras all over the city, we still have Sandor's drones, we have traps in the elevator, and we have the Lecture Hall that we can always use against them. We have the homefield advantage if they do decide to attack. Even if there are scouts surveying the city looking for us, we would have seen them. And we would have killed them," Nine says, giving pause. "We're Loric Emily. We've been preparing to fight our whole lives. Even if the Mogadorians somehow get the drop on us in our own safehouse, there's no way in hell that we'll die without a fight. So, stop worrying about it like a scared little kid and show that big fuckhead of a monster just how tough you are, by giving him hell and toughening out those nightmares like a champ."

I don't respond right away, reminiscing in all Nine has said.

Nine is telling me exactly what I need to hear right now. Although the horrifying thought of John's death becoming a reality is a possibility, it's an unlikely one. Nine is right; I know he is. John, Nine, Six, Eight, Marina. Everyone. They've all been preparing to take on the mogs at a moment's notice.

However, that doesn't lessen the fear.

"I just don't know what to do," I say finally. "I'm scared Nine."

"I know," he says. "It will be okay. We will be okay; as long as you stick with us. I know my method of training you hasn't exactly been helpful with helping you control your new Legacy, but I'll keep trying. I won't give up until we find a way to build your strength."

I settle my crying and wipe away my tears. In the first time in days, I smile.

"Thanks Nine," I say.

Nine simply smiles at me and stretches an arm around my shoulder, giving me one of his tightest squeezes.

"Don't mention it Emily," he says. "Now, why don't you go get some sleep? I'll probably be up for a little bit; might do some training."

I smile. Nine would be doing training this early in the day.

And so, I leave the parking garage and go back upstairs and into my room.

The letter being the first thing I see, I read it over again, noting all I wrote. Knowing what I have to do, I tear it to unreadable pieces and recycle the bits.

I can't let the mogs get their hands on it – if they somehow do find it. I wrote some valuable stuff in it in case I didn't come back. But after listening to Nine's version of a pep talk, I've decided: I'm not leaving. I'm not leaving the Loric. I'm not leaving my friends.

Once the letter is disposed of, I climb into bed and wait for sleep to take me.