The Revenge of Seven Read Free Page A

gray husky. Another Chimæra, Gamera, which Malcolm named after some old movie monster, trundles after the others but has trouble keeping up in his snapping turtle form. The two other new Chimærae – a hawk we dubbed Regal and a scrawny raccoon we named Bandit – watch the game from one of the inoperative conveyor belts.
    It’s a relief to see them playing. The Chimærae weren’t in the best shape when Adam liberated them from Mogadorian experimentation, and they still weren’t doing so hot when he brought them to Chicago. It was slow going, but I was able to use my healing Legacy to fix them up. There was something inside of them, something Mogadorian, that actually felt like it was pushing back against my powers. It even made my Lumen flare up briefly, something that’s never happenedwhen using my healing. Ultimately, though, whatever the Mogs did was washed away by my Legacy.
    I’d never actually used my healing Legacy on a Chimæra before that night. Luckily, it worked, because there was one Chimæra in even worse condition than all our new friends.
    ‘Have you seen BK?’ I ask Sam, scanning the room for him. I had found him on the roof of the John Hancock Center, shredded by Mogadorian blaster fire and barely clinging to life. I used my healing on him, praying that it would work. Even though he’s better now, I’ve still been keeping an extra-close eye on him, probably because the fates of so many of my other friends are unknown.
    ‘There,’ Sam replies, pointing.
    At one end of the room, against a wall covered with competing graffiti tags, are a trio of industrial-size laundry bins overflowing with piles of khaki pants. It’s at the summit of one of these piles that Bernie Kosar rests, the antics of Biscuit and Dust seeming to tire him out. Despite my healing, he’s still weak from the fight in Chicago – and also missing a jagged chunk from one of his ears – but with my animal telepathy I can sense a sort of contentedness coming off him as he watches the other Chimærae. When BK sees us enter, his tail thumps fresh dust clouds from the pile of old clothes.
    Sam sets down Stanley, and the cat trundles over to the clothes piles with BK, settling into what I guess is the designated Chimæra napping zone.
    ‘Never thought I’d have my own Chimæra,’ Sam says, ‘much less a half dozen of them.’
    ‘And I never thought I’d be working with one of
them
,’ I reply, my gaze settling on Adam.
    At the center of the factory floor, steelwork benches arebolted into the floor. Sam’s dad, Malcolm, and Adam are setting up the computer equipment they just purchased by trading in some of my waning supply of Loric gemstones. Because there’s no electricity running to this old factory, they had to buy some small battery-powered generators for the trio of laptops and mobile hotspot. I watch Adam hooking up one of the laptop batteries – his deathly pale skin, lank black hair and angular features making him slightly more human looking than the usual Mogadorians – and remind myself that he’s on our side. Sam and Malcolm seem to trust him; plus he’s got a Legacy, the power to create shock waves, which he inherited from One. If I hadn’t seen him use the Legacy with my own eyes, I’m not sure I’d even think it was possible. Part of me wants to believe, maybe even needs to believe, that a Mog wouldn’t be able to just steal a Legacy, that he has to be worthy. That it happened for a reason.
    ‘Look at it this way,’ Sam says quietly as we walk over to the others. ‘Humans, Loric, Mogs … we’ve got like the first meeting of the Intergalactic United Nations over here. It’s historic.’
    I snort and step up to the laptop Adam has just finished connecting. He takes one look at me and must detect something – maybe I’m not doing such a good job concealing my conflicted feelings – because he looks down and steps aside, making room for me and moving on to the next laptop. He keeps his eyes fixed on