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What’s really odd is that the idea of traveling with Valerian terrifies me almost as much as catching this virus. I don’t know if I’ll be able to stay mad at him while spending so much time together.
A part of me is already weakening. He did, after all, want to keep me safe before the seer messed it up.
Well, if I do go, I’ll stay extra vigilant when it comes to Valerian. Surely, I can stop myself from lusting—or worse—with sheer iron will.
Yeah. Right. And maybe I can fight the virus with my willpower while I’m at it. Even now—though it could be the alcohol talking—I want him to hug me and kiss me and tell me everything will be okay.
As if sensing that, he comes to stand next to me by the bar. “You barely survived the last encounter with Icelus,” he says softly. “Think hard before you make your choice.”
I down my drink. “There’s not really a choice, is there? Nostradamus has spoken. Besides, if Collywobbles was behind my sister’s death, I want to thwart him and his minions.”
Valerian nods solemnly. “This will be a long journey. How about we start over?”
And so it begins. “Nice try. You know my price to let bygones be bygones.” I face him squarely. “Tell me everything about Soma and let me into the black windows in your dreams. I want no more secrets.”
He turns away. “That’s too much.”
A hysterical chuckle escapes my lips. “You served me on a platter to the New York Council. Now you want me to go to a virus-infested world, and you have the nerve to say I ask too much?”
“It’s not me who says you should go. In fact, I’m still wondering if there’s a way you don’t have to go.”
“There isn’t.” Not according to a legendary seer, untrustworthy though he might be.
Valerian exhales audibly. “Fine. You win. After we’re done with this mission, you’ll get what you want.”
The car stops.
I look up at the hub building. “We’re going to Necronia already?”
“Earth first.” He exits and holds the door for me. “You’ll be safer there.”
As we cross through the lobby of the building, I spot Enforcers—no doubt our bodyguards in case the Overtaken strike again.
“How does Collywobbles Overtake people, exactly?” I ask.
Valerian gestures for me step into the elevator and presses the button for the top floor. “No one knows for sure. So far, the one thing all victims had in common is recurrent nightmares and other sleep problems.”
“Do they retain their powers?” I ask when we come out of the elevator and head for the blue shimmering plasma gate that leads to Earth.
“Seems like it,” he says. “And, as I mentioned, I can only fool a single one with illusions, which makes my power useless when dealing with a team of them.”
We step through the gate and come out on the Earth side. The JFK hub is underground, so my voice echoes as I say, “I wonder if my powers would work on them.”
“I wouldn’t go into the dreams of the Overtaken,” Valerian says. “You know who might be waiting for you there.”
Right. I wonder if Mom counts as one of the Overtaken. She clearly did at one point. And I did face Collywobbles in her dreams.
We enter the corridors, but instead of leading me to the secret door that opens into the JFK airport, Valerian takes a different turn.
“What’s there?” I ask.
“A lab.” He goes into a room at the end of the corridor.
I follow him.
A lab? More like a mad scientist’s lair.
If a medical supply company were to battle a hardware store inside a space station, this might be the aftermath. A mix of Gomorran and Earth tech is everywhere, but particularly on a table where Itzel is building something, her attention fixed on her task.
Ariel and Felix are here too, engaged in an animated discussion.
“—no way Batman would beat Iron Man in a fight,” Felix is saying. “Not unless they didn’t have any gear on.”
Ariel frowns, managing to still look uber-attractive while doing it. “If Batman had enough time to prep—”
“Hi, guys,” I call. “What’s going on?”
All three look at me as though I’ve appeared out of thin air.
Valerian smirks. He must’ve hidden us with his powers until now.
“I was working on something important,” Itzel says, raising her head to pin me with a grumpy stare. “These two were supposed to test my work, but are really just interrupting.”
I walk over to examine Itzel’s “work.” She’s made a number of masks that are reminiscent of the one she always wears, being a gnome with breathing problems and all.
“I commissioned Itzel to make equipment for our Necronia trip.” Valerian takes out a phone and types as he talks. “The Enforcers will take the prototypes to human labs and test them out.”
I look around in confusion. “And she’s working on a backwater world like Earth because…?”
