sleepwalker: переводы

→‘Hey! What is this? Setrákus Ra!’ I yell to the ceiling, turning around to make sure the Mogs can all see me and know they do not have some cowering human here. ‘I thought you wanted to fight me!’ A section of the wall explodes in the back of the room, and the Mogadorian leader appears. The three Loric pendants swing from his grotesque neck. I plan on taking all of them back. Setrákus Ra opens his arms and yells, ‘You must first earn the right!’ I guess this is the command to charge, because all at once, the soldiers let out a battle cry, and rush at me. I start at my right and begin to pick them off, one at a time.

→When I open my eyes, they’ve almost adjusted to the dark. I wish I had Marina’s Legacy to be able to see in the dark, but I can make out enough for now. There are Mog soldiers lined up against the back wall. They’re wearing ragged black cloaks and black boots, and whip their swords across their bodies. They’re bigger than most of the Mogadorians I’ve fought before, but I know I can kill them just the same. A door opens behind me, and another dozen soldiers enter.

→I walk down the hall, my enemy flanking me. We walk down hallways, through several doors, and after a few minutes, I’m standing inside a huge room. It’s big enough for an army of tanks. It’s also big enough for an epic fight.

→The door slams and I hear it lock behind me. It’s so dark now that I can barely see two feet in front of me, never mind the other end of the room. I walk towards what I think is the center of the room, testing my telekinesis as I go by levitating off the ground. The pain I felt earlier is gone. When I think I’m in the middle of the room, I close my eyes and turn around, feeling the air with my mind. I sense there are about two dozen or so beings silently entering the room. I’m disappointed. I wanted this to be one on one.

→Sarah takes this in without any sign of confusion. She shakes her head and looks away. ‘I know. He showed me. A couple days ago he came into my cell. I thought he was there to take me back to the room where . . .’ She trails off for a minute, then clears her throat and straightens up. ‘This room with all these machines and strobe lights. I feel like I’m crazy in there and everything hurts. It’s hard to explain. But he wasn’t here to take me anywhere. He just stood there, not saying anything. Then he started jerking around, like he was having a seizure. Then he started to shrink, and, bam! – it was like I was looking into a mirror. When he finally did speak, it wasn’t his voice. It was mine. I tried to hit him and rip out his eyes, but he beat me so badly that . . . Well, the first time I could stand was when I caught you when you were thrown in here.’

→‘I don’t really know,’ I say. I turn my head so I can look up into Sarah’s tired eyes. I try to smile. I’m exhausted. My eyelids are already fluttering when I open my mouth to speak, ‘He was you, he tricked me into thinking he was you, the monster.’

→After a pause, she asks, ‘Are you okay?’

→‘Yes. He’s alive,’ I whisper. I can feel her sigh with relief against me.

→‘Six? Can you tell me if John is still alive?’ Sarah asks cautiously. ‘I know you’re in pain, but can you tell me that?’

→I’m humiliated by how easily I was overtaken by Setrákus Ra. How weak I was in the face of his tremendous strength. I’ve killed so many Mogadorian soldiers. I’ve cut off their heads while mowing them down with weapons I controlled with my mind. Since I received my Legacies, I have always been ready to fight, no fear, no matter who or what I faced. Until now. Setrákus Ra tossed me around by my pendant like I was a rag doll. I was helpless against him. He even made my Legacies disappear. I had the opportunity to kill Setrákus Ra, to save Lorien and end the war, and I was swatted down like an annoying gnat.

→My head is in Sarah Hart’s lap, the real Sarah Hart, and she strokes my hair with her fingers. I stare blankly at the ceiling. I reach up and touch my neck. The cut that runs all the way around it is deep. I want to sit up, but my bruised ribs and knees won’t allow it.

→‘What does that mean, exactly? “Getting to you”?’ Crayton asks.

→‘He’s been talking to me for a while now, trying to trick me and get me to lose my temper,’ Eight says. ‘But now that he’s on Earth, it’s a lot more frequent. He taunts me, lies, and now he’s trying to get me to sacrifice myself so that you all can go back to Lorien. He’s been getting to me more than usual lately.’

→Eight teleports to her side and stands there, head cocked to the side as he scratches his chin, like he’s judging a show. Our heads snap back to the golden doorframe. The hands and feet are continuing their steady pace. Wait. There are two of him now! The one standing next to Six claps, opens his palm, and the piece of gold contracts and zips back into his hand. Immediately, the second Eight disappears.

→‘I don’t know its real name, but I call it “the Duplicator.” ’ Eight holds it above his head, like a wand. Then he snaps his wrist and it expands out, and down, like a scroll. Soon, it’s the size of a doorframe. He lets go and the frame hovers in front of him. Eight steps behind and we can see the occasional pair of hands and feet when he starts doing jumping jacks.

→The sight of Six and Eight all tangled up makes me jealous, but this is not the time for it. I duck my head under water to give myself a minute to pull myself together. I let the water enter my lungs and I sink and sink, until my toes touch the muddy and rocky floor. I sit down in the mush and try to collect my thoughts. I’m angry at myself for feeling so vulnerable. This is a crush! Nothing more. And do I really care if Eight prefers Six’s perfect, blond hair to my mop? I mean, she isn’t a threat to me. We have to work as a team, trust each other. I don’t want to be angry with Six, especially after everything she has done for me. For a minute I pace around the bottom, hoping to come up with something witty to say when I surface. I can do this.

→‘And don’t you forget it,’ she says, grinning. ‘Now, can we please get out of here?’

→‘Damn, you’re strong,’ he says as he breaks the surface, coughing.

→Suddenly, there’s a huge splash right between Eight and me. The waves rock us away from each other and I watch Six emerge, her wet blond hair falling perfectly down her back. She doesn’t say a word then dives back under the water, pulling Eight with her. I dive too, and watch them wrestle underwater until Eight, laughing, begs for mercy and Six lets him go.

→‘You know what? I like you, Marina,’ he says. It sounds like he is rolling my name around in his mouth, savoring it. ‘You’re quiet, but cool. You remind me of –’