Toni closed her eyes as a cool breeze floated over her face. Damn, that was welcome. Especially since it brought a soothing scent of lavender with it. She glared at Elemi, who looked as pristine and composed as ever. Even her pink exterior shone untarnished in the low light.
“Oh darling, don’t tell me you’re tired already.” Elemi turned to her with a mock pout. “We haven’t done anything to break a sweat yet.”
“Sweat?” Toni shot back. “How would you know what that is, you bubblegum Barbie? Or what it means to earn it.”
Elemi snorted with a toss of her shiny, pink bald head.
By this time, they’d reached the final junction.
JR14 stopped, his wings buzzing. “Alert: multiple energy signatures detected ahead. Hostile probability: 92.4 percent.”
Toni’s stomach churned.Wasn’t that just great?
“Oh, don’t worry,” Elemi announced with a confident smirk. “I’ll go in and handle it so you don’t have to worry about perspiring so unbecomingly again.” She huffed. “Now stay close, darling. You might accidentally learn something.”
Toni opened her mouth to protest, but Elemi turned her back on her and strode forward with her heels clicking with a defiant rhythm.
The corridor ahead opened into a vast chamber where the Nexus Core pulsed with a brilliant, rhythmic light. Just as in the dream Baelon had shown her.
Except for the crystalline figures hemming them in. Their faceless forms moved in unison, guarding it.
Elemi raised both hands this time, creating a flash that made the air shimmer. “Watch in awe, mortal.” Her voice dripped with theatrical flair. With a dramatic sweep of her arms, she unleashed another wave of energy, this one a vibrant pink that surged through the chamber.
The crystalline figures faltered, their movements erratic, before they disintegrated.
“And that—” Elemi turned to face Toni and JR14 with a triumphant smile. “—is how it’s done.”
Toni shook her head, a reluctant smile tugging at her lips. “I gotta admit, you’re something else, Elemi.”
“Oh, don’t I know it.” Elemi flipped her glowing bald head like she had a curtain of hair to swish back. “Now, shall we?”
As they stepped into the chamber, Toni couldn’t help the flicker of hope spreading through her. If Elemi’s over-the-top antics could take down those crystalline guards, maybe they could take out the Nexus Core and free Azazel.
And maybe, just maybe…they’d get out of this alive.
A strange sense of déjà vu made Toni queasy. Taking a deep breath, she followed Elemi inside the Nexus chamber.How strange that this place is the same as that fake psychic dream the Krystalii forced on me?As she stepped inside, the cavernous walls were formed from a polished crystal that refracted the pulsing light of multiple towering spires.
Webs of conduits stretched like veins across the room, connecting the spires to the Nexus Core in the center—a crystalline sphere suspended in midair. Its surface rippled with waves of blue-and-violet energy.
All around, the air throbbed with a palpable hum.
The vibration buzzed through Toni, making her teeth ache. She pressed her hand to her chest, overwhelmed by the oppressive psychic pressure in the air, as if the energy emanating from the Nexus was trying to peel back her thoughts layer by layer.
“Magnificent, isn’t it?” Elemi’s voice carried an edge of awe. Her android form mirrored the surrounding crystals and glass as she moved into the chamber. “Good thing neither one of us is psychic. Being this close to this thing would more than likely destroy us.” She headed toward the largest sphere, moving with a grace at odds with her mechanical frame. Her platform stiletto heels clicked softly on the glassy floor.
“Oh sure. Magnificent, like a leopard who can’t decide which part of my face to eat off first.” Toni mumbled, her gaze darting to the intricate lattice of conduits overhead. So this is how Baelon amplifies his psychic reach, bending reality to his will.The thought of disrupting it sent a spike of adrenaline through her. “Are you sure you can turn this darn thing off?”
Elemi didn’t answer immediately. She raised her hand, and her left forefinger elongated and thinned into a blade-like probe. With a flick of her wrist, the probe slid out farther. The metallic sheen caught the chamber’s light. “Of course I can.” The android’s tone was matter-of-fact. “Once I disrupt the core’s frequency, it’ll collapse under its own instability.”
As Toni stepped closer to the Nexus Core, the thrumming grew louder, resonating through her very bones. She bit her lip and clenched her fists, watching as Elemi’s probe-like forefinger penetrated the crystalline surface.
For a moment, the internal light flickered before a rippling effect pulsated through the inside of the sphere, creating jagged colors of cracking shards within.
Then the Nexus screamed.
Not with sound, but the mental pressure struck Toni like a hammer. She stumbled back, clutching the sides of the orb over her head as waves of psychic energy tore outward, crashing against her mind like a violent storm. She gasped as her vision swam.
As the conduits dimmed, their vibrant blue-and-violet glow faded to a lifeless gray.
