him—which makes Mark James, her bully ex-boyfriend, jealous. Mark trips Four, and Four stares Mark down in front of everyone. Afterward, Four feels hot and shaky, and his hands begin to glow. He realizes his first Legacy must be forming. He cannot hide his glowing hands or make them turn off. He fakes an asthma attack and locks himself in the school darkroom until Henri can come get him.

At home, Henri explains that Four’s first Legacy is called Lumen. He will be able to make his hands light up and turn off at will, and he will develop a resistance to flame and heat. However, strong emotions will make the lights in Four’s hands flip on and off at random until he learns to control himself. For the time being, he has to wear a pair of ugly work gloves whenever his hands light up in public.

The day after Four develops Lumen, Henri begins training him. He explains that Four will develop several more Legacies over the next few months or years. His major power, the one that will bring him to his fullest strength as a fighter, will come last. Together Henri and Four open a special chest they brought with them from Lorien. Henri takes out a magical crystal that is tied to the Lumen. With its help, he leads Four through a meditation session and allows him to witness the destruction of Lorien firsthand. Henri also lights fires under Four’s hands to train his resistance to flame.

Four soon grows attached to his new home and life in Paradise, Ohio. One day a dog appears at his front door. His collar says “Bernie Kosar,” and Henri allows him to stay. Sarah Hart becomes Four’s partner in home economics, and they strike up a friendship. He also befriends Sam Goode, a geek who is obsessed with alien conspiracy theories. Four wishes he did not have to lie to Sarah and Sam about his real identity, but he is glad to have their friendship anyway.

But not everything is perfect in Paradise. Mark James and his friends from the football team bully both Four and Sam. When Four goes on a Halloween hayride with his new friends, the football players try to beat him up and humiliate him in front of Sarah. Four fights the boys off, and later he and Sarah kiss. However, Sam sees Four use his Lumen during the fight.

Four knows that Sam reads many magazines for space aficionados and that one of them contains an article about the Mogadorians. Henri needs to see the article so he can figure out who may have information about Lorien’s enemies. After the fight, Sam avoids Four for days, so Four goes to Sam’s house to ask to borrow the magazine. Sam pulls a gun and demands to know if Four is an alien. Four convinces Sam that this is crazy, and Sam confesses that he believes his father was abducted. This makes Four understand Sam’s interest in aliens. He wishes he could tell the truth about his identity.

Sam lets Four borrow the magazine that contains information about the Mogadorians, and Henri learns that the publishers live in Athens, Ohio, just two hours away from Paradise. Against Four’s advice, Henri drives to Athens to find out more. He knows it may be dangerous, so he leaves Four behind. They are both supposed to go to a Thanksgiving dinner at Sarah’s house that afternoon, but Henri does not return by the time they are to leave for the dinner. Unsure what else to do, Four goes to Sarah’s alone, worrying about Henri throughout the meal. While there, he develops his second Legacy: telekinesis.

Four needs to confide in someone about Henri’s disappearance, so he asks Sam for help. Sam says they can borrow his dad’s old truck and drive to the magazine’s address in Athens even though neither of them has a license. They make it without much trouble, and Four finds Henri tied up in a basement. He fights three men with his telekinesis and secures Henri's release. Sam witnesses Four using his powers, and Henri has to explain who they really are. Then the Mogadorians arrive, and Four barely manages to get himself and his two allies out of the house in time.

After this close call, Henri says they need to move to a new home. Four refuses because the Mogadorians have no knowledge of their actual whereabouts and Sam can be trusted not to talk. Henri agrees to stay in Paradise until they learn of some imminent danger. Four knows he may need to leave any day, but he is developing an increasingly strong attachment to Sarah. He trains hard, developing his telekinesis and his resistance to fire, but outside of training he focuses most of his attention on his relationship with Sarah and his friendship with Sam.

One evening, Four attends a party at Mark’s house with Sarah and Sam. During the party, Mark’s house catches fire, and everyone gets out except Sarah and Mark’s two dogs. Four goes in and uses his powers to rescue them. Afterward, he has no choice but to tell Sarah what he really is and swear her to secrecy. He does not think anyone else saw him using his powers, so he lies to Henri, to the police, and to the reporters who ask him about his involvement in the rescue.

Unfortunately, someone managed to film Four rescuing Sarah from Mark’s house. When Henri finds out, he is furious. He says they have to leave right away, but Four worries that the Mogadorians might hurt Sarah to get to him. He runs to the school, where he knows she is working in the darkroom, to rescue her. The Mogadorians are already there. They have enclosed the school and its grounds in a mysterious force field to keep people out. Four and Sarah get trapped inside. As Four is trying to sneak Sarah out through the dark halls, an amazingly strong person arrives and immobilizes him. At first he thinks it is a Mogadorian, but soon he realizes it is another member of the Loric Garde. She introduces herself as Six.

Six, who is a year or two older than Four, explains that her Cêpan has been killed. She has been tracking the other Garde and trying to rejoin them. She, Four, and Sarah barricade themselves in a classroom, and soon Henri arrives. He brings along the Loric chest, a shotgun, and the dog Bernie Kosar. He also brings Mark James, who has been trying to figure out what Four is.

With the help of Six, who can turn invisible, Four and his band of companions sneak out of the school through a passageway under the stage. Unfortunately, the Mogadorians have anticipated this move, and they wait in ambush. Now that two of the Loric Garde are together, the charm against killing them out of order is no longer in place. Six claims that the time has come for all the Garde to join together and fight. Henri and Four agree. Before the fight begins, Four sends Mark to hide with Sarah.

Six, whose powers are more developed than Four’s are, sets off a thunderstorm and strikes the Mogadorians with lightning. Four does his best to help, and he makes a few kills. Henri stands by them with his shotgun, and Sam soon arrives and takes out a Mogadorian with a pistol. Even Bernie Kosar fights. During the battle, Four learns the dog is really a chimæra, a special Loric animal that can change shape at will. Bernie Kosar makes himself large and strong. He battles and kills an evil Mogadorian beast, but he is almost killed in the process. As Bernie Kosar lies wounded, he speaks in Four’s head to tell him to flee. Four realizes that he is developing another Legacy: communicating with animals.

By now all the good guys are separated, and Four is badly wounded. When all seems lost, he meets Henri, who is also hurt. They get trapped between a group of Mogadorian fighters and another Mogadorian beast. Four looks into the beast’s mind and realizes it has been tortured by its masters, so he convinces it to fight the Mogadorians instead of the Loric Garde. The beast switches sides, and it kills and chases away its masters. Unfortunately, this happens too late for Henri, who is mortally wounded in the last moment of battle. Four is almost killed too, but Sarah appears out of nowhere and stabs the last Mogadorian in the back with a kitchen knife just before it kills him. Afterward, she joins forces with Mark and Sam. The three of them help Four and Six, who is unconscious, get away from the site of the battle.

The next morning, Four wakes up in a hotel room. Sarah, who has cleaned his wounds, is sitting over him. Mark is there too, and he and Four thank each other for the roles they played in the battle. Six and Bernie Kosar are also wounded but healing. Six says they have to leave town, and this time Four knows they have no choice but to go. First, however, he has to take care of Henri’s body. They cremate him in the woods. Four takes the ashes away in a coffee can and vows to spread them on Lorien when it is safe to go back.

As I Am Number Four ends, Four kisses Sarah good-bye and climbs into a truck alongside Six and Sam, who has decided to run away with them. The three friends drive off to search for the other four surviving members of the Loric Garde.