Pittacus Lore - I Am Number Four

I nod. "Smart thinking."

He pulls onto the road.

"So are you going to tell me her name?"

"Huh?" I ask.

"There has to be a reason for that ridiculous smile of yours. The most obvious reason is a girl."

"How'd you know?"

"John, my friend, back on Lorien this ol' Cepan was quite the ladies' man."

"Get out of here," I say. "There is no such thing as a ladies' man on Lorien."

He nods approvingly. "You've been paying attention."

The Loric are a monogamous people. When we fall in love, it's for life. Marriage comes around the age of twenty-five, give or take, and has nothing to do with law. It's based more on promise and commitment than anything else. Henri was married for twenty years before he left with me. Ten years have passed but I know he still misses his wife every single day.

"So who is she?" he asks.

"Her name is Sarah Hart. She's the daughter of the real-estate agent you got the house from. She's in two of my classes. She's a junior."

He nods. "Pretty?"

"Absolutely. And smart."

"Yeah," he draws out slowly. "I've been expecting this for a long time now. Just keep in mind that we might have to leave at a moment's notice."

"I know," I say, and the rest of the trip home is made in silence.

When I get home, the Loric Chest is sitting on the kitchen table. It's the size of a microwave oven, almost perfectly square, a foot and a half by a foot and a half. Excitement shoots through me. I walk up to it and grab the lock in my hand.

"I think I'm more excited about learning how this is unlocked than about what's actually in it," I say.

"Really? Well, I can show you how it's unlocked and then we can just relock it and forget about what's inside."

I smile at him. "Let's not be rash. Come on. What's inside?"

"It's your Inheritance."

"What do you mean, my Inheritance?"

"It's what's given to each Garde at birth to be used by his or her Keeper when the Garde is coming into his or her Legacy."

I nod with exhilaration. "So what's in it?"

"Your Inheritance."

His coy response frustrates me. I pick up the lock and try to force it open as I've always tried doing. Of course it doesn't budge.

"You can't open it without me, and I can't open it without you," Henri says.

"Well, how do we open it? There isn't a keyhole."

"By will."

"Oh, come on, Henri. Quit being secretive."

He takes the lock from me. "The lock only opens when we're together, and only after your first Legacy appears."

He walks to the front door and sticks his head out, then he closes and locks it. He walks back. "Press your palm against the side of the lock," he says, and I do.

"It's warm," I say.

"Good. That means you're ready."

"Now what?"

He presses his palm against the other side of the lock and interlocks his fingers with mine. A second passes. The lock snaps open.

"Amazing!" I say.

"It's protected by a Loric charm, just like you are. It can't be broken. You could run over it with a steam-roller and it wouldn't even be dented. Only the two of us can open it together. Unless I die; then you can open it yourself."

"Well," I say, "I hope that doesn't happen."

I try to lift the top of the box, but Henri reaches over and stops me.

"Not yet," he says. "There are things in here you aren't ready to see. Go sit on the couch."

"Henri, come on."

"Just trust me," he says.

I shake my head and sit down. He opens the box and removes a rock that is probably six inches long, two inches thick. He relocks the box, then brings the rock over to me. It is perfectly smooth and oblong, clear on the outside but cloudy in the center.

"What is it?" I ask.

"A Loric crystal."

"What's it for?"

"Hold it," he says, handing it to me. The second my hands come into contact with it both lights snap on in my palms. They are even brighter than the day before. The rock begins to warm. I hold it up to look more closely at it. The cloudy mass in the center is swirling, turning in on itself like a wave. I can also feel the pendant around my neck heating up. I'm thrilled by all this new development. My whole life has been spent impatiently waiting for my powers to arrive. Sure, there were times when I hoped they never would, mainly so we could finally settle somewhere and live a normal life; but for now-holding a crystal that contains what looks like a ball of smoke in its center, and knowing my hands are resistant to heat and fire, and that more Legacies are on the way that will then be followed by my major power (the power that will allow me to fight)-well, it's all pretty cool and exciting. I can't wipe the smile from my face.

"What is happening to it?"

"It's tied to your Legacy. Your touch activates it. If you weren't developing Lumen, then the crystal itself would light up the way your hands are. Instead it's the other way around."

I stare at the crystal, watching the smoke circle and glow.

"Shall we start?" Henri asks.

I nod my head rapidly. "Hell, yes."

The day has turned cold. The house is silent aside from the occasional gust of wind rattling the windows. I lie on my back on top of the wooden coffee table. My hands dangle over the sides. At some point Henri will build a fire beneath them both. My breathing is slow and steady, as Henri has instructed.

"You have to keep your eyes closed," he says. "Just listen to the wind. There might be a slight burning in your arms when I drag the crystal up them. Ignore it as best as you can."

I listen to the wind blow through the trees outside. I can somehow feel them sway and bend.

Henri begins with my right hand. He presses the crystal against the back of it, then pushes it up my wrist and onto my forearm. There is a burn as he has predicted, but not enough of one to make me pull my arm free.

"Let your mind drift, John. Go where you need to go."

I don't know what he's talking about, but I try to clear my mind and breathe slowly. All at once I feel myself drift away. From somewhere I can feel the sun's warmth upon my face, and a wind far warmer than what is blowing beyond our walls. When I open my eyes I'm no longer in Ohio.

I'm above a vast expanse of treetops, nothing but jungle as far as I can see. Blue sky, the sun beating down, a sun almost double the size of Earth's. A warm, soft wind blows through my hair. Down below, rivers forge deep ravines that cut through the greenery. I am floating above one of them. Animals of all shapes and sizes-some long and slender, some with short arms and stout bodies, some with hair and some with dark-colored skin that looks rough to the touch-are drinking from the cool waters at the river's bank. There is a bend in the horizon line far off in the distance, and I know that I am on Lorien. It's a planet ten times smaller than Earth, and it's possible to see the curve of its surface when looking from far enough away.

Somehow I'm able to fly. I rush up and twist in the air, then torpedo down and speed along the river's surface. The animals lift their heads and watch with curiosity, but not with fear. Lorien in its prime, covered with growth, inhabited by animals. In a way, it looks like what I imagine Earth looked like millions of years ago, when the land ruled the lives of its creatures, before humans arrived and started ruling the land. Lorien in its prime; I know that it no longer looks like this today. I must be living a memory. Surely it isn't my own?

And then the day skips ahead to darkness. Off in the distance a great display of fireworks begins, rising high in the sky and exploding into shapes of animals and trees with the dark sky and the moons and a million stars serving as a brilliant backdrop.

"I can feel their desperation," I hear from somewhere. I turn and look around me. There is nobody there. "They know where one of the others is, but the charm still holds. They can't touch her until they've killed you first. But they continue to track her."