The Rise of Nine (lorien Legacies, #3)

The third installment in the Lorien Legacies series follows the surviving members of the Garde, young aliens from the destroyed planet Lorien sent to Earth as children to escape the Mogadorians, a conquering alien race. Each Garde member is identified by a number and develops unique superhuman abilities called Legacies. They are accompanied by guardians called Cépans, tasked with training and protecting them. The Mogadorians, led by the nearly invincible Setrákus Ra, are hunting the Garde to extinction.

The novel alternates between two storylines. In the first, Number Six travels from Barcelona to India with Marina (Number Seven), Ella (an Aeternus, a Lorien being who can shift between ages), and Crayton, Ella's unofficial Cépan. Their mission is to find a boy in the Himalayas whom Crayton suspects may possess all the Legacies of Pittacus Lore, the most powerful of the Loric Elders, Lorien's ancient leaders, and the only force capable of defeating Setrákus Ra. Six reluctantly agrees, wanting instead to reunite with John Smith (Number Four) and their human ally Sam Goode in America.

In the second storyline, Four recovers in an abandoned West Virginia house, accompanied by Nine, a brash Garde member, and Bernie Kosar (BK), Four's Chimæra, a Lorien animal capable of shifting forms. Four has a vision of Sam tortured by Setrákus Ra, who offers a deal: If Four returns to fight him, he will spare everyone else. Four wants to rescue Sam immediately, but Nine insists they find the other Garde first.

In India, armed men ambush Six's group in New Delhi. Commander Grahish Sharma, leader of a rebel militia called Vishnu Nationalist Eight, reveals he was sent by "Vishnu," who is actually Number Eight. Their convoy is attacked by the Lord's Resistance Front, a militant faction that considers Eight a blasphemous imposter. Ella, wearing dark glasses from Marina's Chest (a container of Lorien Inheritance items), spots incoming rockets, and Marina heals Ella's bullet wound. Six and Marina repel the assault, redirecting missiles and destroying helicopters.

Meanwhile, Four and Nine discover that objects in their Chests can locate other Garde. Orbs from Four's Chest transform into a globe showing blue dots that represent Garde locations, while Nine's red crystal enables voice transmission. They broadcast a message urging all Garde to come to America, then hear explosions and a girl's voice before the connection dies.

Sharma leads Six's group up the mountain to a pool with a blue statue of Vishnu. Three avatar forms test them: Marina fights a turtle-man underwater, Six defeats a giant with an ax, and Ella evades a ten-armed lion-man. The statue then steps forward alive and transforms into a teenager with curly black hair and a Lorien pendant. He is Number Eight, with Legacies including teleportation, shape-shifting, and the ability to walk on water. Eight recounts how his Cépan, Reynolds, was killed after a woman named Lola betrayed them to the Mogadorians, and his Chest was stolen. Eight survived alone in the mountains before accepting the protection of Sharma's forces.

In West Virginia, government agents carrying Mogadorian weapons raid Four and Nine's hiding place, led by Special Agent Walker and Agent Purdy. Though they could overpower the agents, BK advises them to allow capture and gather intelligence. In transport, Four learns that Sarah Hart, his girlfriend, did not betray him; she and Sam are held prisoner "out west." Four and Nine break free, and Four's bracelet expands into a full-body shield that deflects gunfire as they escape.

Marina discovers Eight's lost Chest at the bottom of a lake. Eight reveals that Setrákus Ra has been visiting him in dreams, urging surrender. He then leads the group to a cave inside a Himalayan peak containing a blue Loralite stone that enables teleportation to matching stones worldwide. The cave walls bear carvings of Lorien history, including a panel showing a Garde member impaled by a sword; Ella identifies the figure as Eight. When Mogadorians attack, Crayton is killed retrieving the Chests. Six finds a letter for Ella in Crayton's jacket, and the group teleports away via the Loralite stone.

Four and Nine travel to Chicago, where Nine's late Cépan, Sandor, established a penthouse safe house in the John Hancock Center with training facilities and weapons. Four connects a white tablet found in the well of Malcolm Goode, Sam's father, to a computer, revealing a map with seven blue Garde dots, confirming a seventh member from a second ship. Two green dots mark Lorien ships in New Mexico and Egypt. Four declares he is Pittacus Lore. Nine mocks the claim, and they fight on the rooftop; Nine wins but lets Four go. That night, both share a vision in which Setrákus Ra strips their Legacies, and a voice repeats "New Mexico."

The teleportation scatters Six's group. Six wakes alone in a desert, collapses at an electrified gate, and is captured by the FBI. Interrogated with drugged water and held in a strobing cell, she fights her way out. Marina, Eight, and Ella surface in the Gulf of Aden, teleport to Stonehenge, and eventually reach New Mexico.

Inside the government base, Six finds what appears to be Sarah in a cell. The figure insists she never betrayed John but then convulses and transforms into Setrákus Ra. Six's Legacies fail in his presence. He seizes her pendant and has her dragged to another cell, where she finds the real Sarah, battered but alive, who confirms Sam is also at the base. Setrákus Ra forces Six to fight his soldiers without her Legacies. He strikes her with a flaming whip, transforms into her likeness, and pins her to the ceiling, encasing her body in black stone.

Four hears Ella's telepathic voice during the drive to New Mexico. She identifies herself as Number Ten and says she is with Seven and Eight, trying to rescue Six. When military forces attack near the base, Marina heals Four's bullet wounds, and the Garde formally unite. They descend into the underground facility, fighting through Mogadorian soldiers until they find Sarah, who initially cannot believe Four is real because Setrákus Ra had previously impersonated him. Sarah reveals Six was taken to fight Setrákus Ra.

In a massive chamber, Setrákus Ra enters disguised as Six, claiming Six is dead and that the rock formation on the ceiling is merely Mogadorian poison. Eight teleports to the figure for an embrace, and the disguised Ra drives a sword through Eight's back. Revealing his true form, Setrákus Ra uses blue lightning to strip the Garde of their Legacies. Nine fights him with his staff but is struck by a flaming whip; his arm, hand, and face begin turning black. Ella throws a small red object that hits Setrákus Ra, and the Garde's Legacies immediately return. Marina heals Eight's wound, Four discovers a new healing Legacy, and Six breaks free from the black stone on the ceiling using her restored telekinesis.

An explosion rocks the room, and all Mogadorians vanish along with Setrákus Ra. The Garde regroup: Four, Six, Marina, Eight, Nine, Ella, Sarah, and Bernie Kosar are all present and alive. Four declares they will never split up again, and they begin retracing their path out of the base, ready to face whatever lies ahead.