

He also meets her ex-boyfriend Mark James, who immediately begins to pick on John. John begins to attend Paradise High School, where he meets Sarah Hart, a junior. Henri reminds him why they are on the run and the conversation ends. At a truck stop, John says that he wants to make a life for himself. Four suggests a new name for himself: John Smith.

When they leave, Henri tells Four that they are going to Paradise, Ohio. These scars are present on all the Garde children, and with each death, another scar appears. On his left ankle is the scar representing his own number. Each signifies the deaths of Numbers One, Two and Three. Four has three circular scars branded into his leg. Number Four is introduced under the alias Daniel Jones as he leaves the Florida Keys, where he has been hiding for nine months. The novel begins with the death of Number Three and his Keeper. The first three have been killed, and John Smith is Number Four. The Nine Garde Children are protected by a magic charm bestowed by their Elder Loridas that only allows them to be killed in numeric order. The bureaucratic Cêpans, whom are also Loric, do not acquire Legacies, and often become protective mentors, known as 'Keepers,' for young Garde. These nine children are Garde, Loric citizens that are gifted with special abilities called Legacies. The Mogadorians are hunting John and eight other Loric residing on the planet Earth. This follows the story of John Smith, a fifteen year-old humanoid alien from the planet Lorien and Henri, his Mentor Cêpan as they run from the Mogadorians, a hostile alien species responsible for the annihilation of Lorien. After ten years, three of the Garde and seven Keepers were killed by the Mogadorians. After arriving on Earth, the nineteen Loric refugees split up, scattering across the planet, planning to one day reunite and return to their world after winning the war. Nine children and their Cêpans escaped from their home world of Lorien, before it was destroyed by a warrior alien race called the Mogadorians. we have lived among you without you knowing. Spending our lives in shadows, in places where no one would look, blending in. But they found us and started hunting us first. Our plan was to grow, and train, and become strong, and become one, and fight them. We are the superheroes you worship in movies and comic books-but we are real. We are stronger and faster than anything you have ever seen.
