Wyatt sounded hopeful for the first time during their conversation. “So, what are the odds that it might work?”
Beryl didn’t want to make any promises but she felt confident enough to say, “In theory, I’d say there’s a fifty-fifty chance it works.”
Wyatt groaned. “That’s better than nothing, I guess.”
“We were going to run our formula by Mica and Gage, but my brother said Gage is out of town for a while on vacation.”
“Well, the notion that more great scientific minds have yet to weigh in at least gives me hope. While my twin toddlers think the backseat of daddy’s squad car is awesome, I disagree.”
That made Beryl laugh. “I promise, I will do my utmost to figure out the antidote for our sticky glitter creation.”
“I would be so grateful.”
Beryl was dealing with her own share of glitter, and she hadn’t even touched the being they’d bombed. When she’d showered the night before, quite a lot of glitter circled the drain. A second shower had done nothing to improve the situation. She’d resigned herself to shedding glitter until they perfected the antidote. Those fifty-fifty odds she’d given Wyatt didn’t seem so great now.
Overhead, she could faintly hear the ’80s music the truck stop always played. It somehow made her a little less grumpy. The song—the Scorpions’No One Like You, one of her favorites—soothed her broken spirit.
She made her way to Cam’s security office and saw that Diesel and Wyatt had beat her there. There was no sign of Jake or Ian.
“You ready?” Diesel asked. She nodded.
He opened the door that led to the brig, and her eyes landed on Jake and his friend, who stood right outside the glitter-bombed alien’s cell.
The creature, completely coated in glitter, sat on a bench. The evidence that at least something had gone right for her gave her mood another lift.
It must have spotted her, because Glitter Being stood up. He was over six feet tall, but not by much, and humanoid. He was also no longer invisible. His skin, what little of it she could see beneath the glitter, was the color of old gravestones. It looked leathery, with markings like an intricate snakeskin.
He had a predator’s body, with a lean and muscular form. His face looked like that of an angry gargoyle carved from granite into a cruel, ready-for-battle countenance. His expression was set to furious.
She did not feel sorry for him one single bit. In fact, a sense of satisfaction warmed her.
“Has he said anything?” Diesel asked as they approached.
Ian shook his head. “He said he wasn’t going to talk until Beryl got here.”
That perked her up. “What? Why me?”
The deep, grating tone of the alien filled the room. “Because you did this to me!” He gestured at his body, where twinkling bits of glitter clung to every crevice and surface of his skin.
“And I’m not sorry,” she said.
“You will be,” the being threatened. “Just you wait and see.”
Jake slammed his hand against the door of the cell, getting the being’s—and everyone else’s—attention. “Do not threaten her!”
“Why?” the being said. “You don’t remember her.” His laugh was grating, sinister.
“Stop!” Diesel said. “Let’s start with something simple. How about you tell us your name and where you’re from.”
“I am called Vanthex. I am from Nyzar, a dark, hidden planet located in what you call the Tri-Spiral Galaxy.”
“Did you steal memories from Alphas on Earth, sell them and blab our most coveted and protected secret to an entire solar system?” Diesel asked.
Beryl guessed the simple questions were over and the problematic ones had begun.
Vanthex did not immediately answer. His cruel expression did not change much. It seemed like he was thinking through his answer before he said, “I do not know what the word ‘blab’ is. However, if it means speak, then yes, I did.”
Vanthex didn’t sound like he was sorry, either.
