Toni tilted her head and planted her palms on her hips. “What does that mean?”Damn man was as exasperating as hell.
“It means their presence is fragmented,” JR14 interjected from Azazel’s shoulder. His tiny sky-blue eyes glimmered as he looked at her. “Localized energy fluctuations suggest incomplete materialization. Hypothesis: these signatures may represent partially transitioned entities—neither fully in this dimension nor the next.”
She blinked, turning to the spider-like AI. “Wait, what? You’re saying there are half-ghost crystal aliens behind that door?”
“Clarification: not ghosts. Dimensional overlap. Probability of successful materialization upon interaction: 73.5 percent.”
“Great.” Toni rolled her eyes. “So, we could be walking into a room full of invisible aliens that could pop out at any second. Fantastic.”
Azazel’s hand dropped to his side, and his fingers brushed the hilt of his katana. He whispered, his voice steady. “We’ll know for sure once we’re inside. Stay close.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” she muttered. “You couldn’t get rid of me if you tried. Just think of me as your personal shadow—clingier than a wet piece of gum stuck on the bottom of your shoe.” To make her point, she grabbed the loose material of his tunic. Just to make sure he didn’t go far. “So, tell me. Are you psychic on top of everything else?”
Azazel’s lips quirked with the faintest hint of a smile. “What would you do if I said yes?”
She snorted. “Reconsider all my life choices.”
JR14’s mechanical voice clicked in. “Advisory: recommend minimal hesitation. Delayed action may provoke spontaneous materialization of adversarial forces.”
Azazel gave a small nod to the AI, his gaze steady as he looked at Toni. “You ready?”
She swallowed hard to steel herself. “I guess as ready as I’ll ever be.” She shrugged with a ghost of a smile. “Just don’t start levitating like Dr. Strange. I don’t think I could handle that.” At least Azazel didn’t wear a creepy cape like that Marvel character did.
He pushed the door open and stepped inside.
She kept a tight grip on his shirt and stayed as close to him as she could without tripping them both. The eerie cobalt-blue color of the room made her blink as the unsettling pulse of the crystalline walls matched the tension squeezing her chest. The air inside was colder, causing her to shiver harder.Dammit!Why wasn’t there a single cozy space in this hellish nightmare? She moved even closer to Azazel. Her visible breath hitched as her eyes adjusted.
Rows upon rows of crystalline pods lined the walls, each with a low light that undulated in an erratic rhythm. Inside, indistinct humanoid shapes floated, their crystalline forms distorted by the refracted light.
“Oh my God, what the hell is that?” Toni whispered as she released her rescuer’s tunic and grabbed his lower arm.
“Krystalii incubation chambers.” Azazel’s voice was grim.
Her stomach turned. “You mean… baby monsters?”Oh God.Flashes of the movieAlienpassed before her eyes. Just what they needed.
The muscles in his chiseled jaw tightened. “That’s an adequate a description as any.”
A sudden clang echoed from somewhere behind them, sharp and metallic.
He stiffened.
She released him as he tightened his grip on the katana at his side. Her pulse skyrocketed.
“JR14?” Azazel whispered.
“Pursuers have resumed movement. Likelihood of detection within this sector: 78.3 percent.”
“Well,” Toni muttered. “I wouldn’t bet against them in Vegas with those odds.”
Azazel shot her a look, his voice calm but firm. “Stay close.”
“Oh, don’t worry ‘bout that, Captain Obvious.” Her heart hammered as they moved through the room, weaving between the eerie pods. “But I warn you, if something tries to grab me, I’m tripping you and running the other way.” She’d like nothing better than to trust him, but the hard, icy knot of suspicion in her chest refused to go away.
Now might not be the best time to ask, but she couldn’t help herself. “Where did you come from, and why are you helping me?” She gnawed on her bottom lip to stop her chin from wobbling. Great, her shivers were taking over. “What’s in it for you?”
Azazel paused and turned to face her. For a moment, the sharp planes of his face softened. “I’m here because it’s the right thing for me to do.”
Well, wasn’t that just a dandy non-answer? She’d like to believe him. Really, she did. Maybe living in LA and working in the movie business made her distrustful of everyone, but trust was a luxury she couldn’t afford. Not here, and certainly not yet.
