Gunner’s brows shot up. “Wicked.” He turned to Gemma, his grin softening into something more sincere. “You okay?”
She snorted. “Define okay.”
“Fair.” He tucked the protein bar into a pocket and offered back Doctor Manae’s electropad. “Listen, I’ve been poking around the central chamber again, checking resonance patterns. I noticed something weird. Well, extra weird. Some symbols popped up near the base of the statue’s platform. I think it’s reactive.”
Doctor Manae frowned. “Reactive how?”
“To her, I think.” Gunner gestured to Gemma. “It didn’t do anything when I approached, but then I thought: What would happen if I brought in one of her blood samples? And bingo—they appeared. Faintly.”
Gemma’s stomach tightened. “And you want me to do what? Go touch it?”
“More like stand near it and see if it does anything. We don’t have to do anything risky. Just test a theory.”
Doctor Manae looked skeptical. “She just finished her scan.”
“I’ll keep her safe,” Gunner promised. “We’ll be back before your caff gets cold.”
Gemma stood before she could overthink it. “Let’s just get it over with.”
They walked in silence through the stone maze to the grand hall. When they entered, Gunner led her to the central dais on which the alien statue loomed. At first glance, it looked exactly the same. But then Gemma spied a ring of glyphs near its stone base, one of which shimmered when she approached.These definitely weren’t here the last time.
“That one’s new,” Gunner murmured, pointing to the one that had glinted. “It wasn’t there an hour ago.”
She stepped closer. The air around the carvings buzzed like static. She held out her hand instinctively, and the glyphs pulsed. She jumped.
Gunner inhaled sharply. “Whoa. That’s confirmation if I’ve ever seen it.”
She was about to agree when a soft tingle pricked her fingertips. She turned her hand palm-up—and froze. Her fingertips glimmered faintly, like starlight was trapped beneath her skin.
Just like in her nightmare.
“I didn’t do anything,” she whispered, her heart in her throat.
“You didn’t have to,” Gunner said, his voice quiet now. “I think it already knows you.”
Gemma answered within seconds of his outgoing call. The “hey” she delivered sounded exhausted.
“Hi, love,” he replied. “It’s so good to hear your voice.”
“Same. How are things down there?”
He pursed his lips. Should he tell her now about the Falaichte or wait until they were face-to-face?
She had enough to worry about right now. He’d tell her later. Besides, doing it over the phone just didn’t seem right.
“They’re moving pretty slow,” he answered. “But we may have caught a break, so we’ll see how it works out.”
“That’s good. That’s really . . . really good.”
He frowned. She sounded like she meant it, but her voice was sad and thin.
“You all right?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’m . . .” She sighed. “No, not really.”
Christian sat back down on the bed in his assigned room at Gallowood House, the mattress creaking under his weight. His chest wrenched. He should be there. Not hundreds of kilometers away in a city he’d tried so fucking hard to get away from.
“Talk to me,” he said, wishing for a way to see her face.
