She’d never be herself again.
The violet lights along the path blinked gently, urging her back the way she’d come, but she couldn’t convince herself to get onto her feet. Every lingering thread of hope had been burned away. Only dread remained.
Somehow, Gemma managed to make it back through the double doors, though she couldn’t remember taking a singlestep. Her entire body felt numb, every atom of her being spent to the point of dismal exhaustion.
Relief flashed across Gunner’s face the moment he spied her then quickly twisted into concern. “Are you okay?” He stepped forward, his gaze scanning her from head to toe. “What happened in there?”
Gemma blinked at him, unsure how to answer. Was she okay? Not at all. Was she permanently changed? Absolutely.
“I saw her,” she said softly. “The other me. Or . . . what I might become.”
The Kaizen listened with eyes sharp as razors. “And did it tell you how to stop what’s happening to you?”
Gemma shook her head and wiped a tear from her cheek. “No. There is no cure.”
Silence cracked through the corridor like a gunshot. Gunner’s shoulders tensed; the Kaizen’s jaw flexed.
“I give up.” Gemma’s voice cracked.
Gunner stepped forward, his brown eyes wild with deliberation. “Now, let’s not go that far yet. We’ll draw some labs, run another scan—”
“That’s not an option,” the Kaizen interrupted. Her gaze narrowed on Gemma, studying her the way a field medic might eye a failing heartbeat, wondering if it could be stabilized or if it was already too far gone. “Look at her arm.”
Gemma lifted it. A faint violet tattoo had spread beneath her skin from the tips of her fingers to her elbow, curling around her forearm in an intricate, veiny web.What the . . . ?
Gemma opened her mouth to offer an explanation, but she couldn’t think of a thing to say.
“Pheebs, she’s not a threat,” Gunner replied.
“The scientists on Mora didn’t think their alien relic was a threat either until it destabilized and vaporized them all. You didn’t see the way Gemma slaughtered people whenthatside ofher took over. But I did. And if there’s no cure for her, then I have no choice but to take her into custody. Governor’s orders.”
“Please, Phoebe. Just let me run a few more tests.”
“No. She just walked through a gateway, made contact with something we don’t understand, and now her arm is practically glowing. I can’t keep her near civilians if we don’t know what she is.”
Silence permeated the air with the heavy weight of finality as Gunner’s shoulders drooped. Even if the Kaizen didn’t want to arrest Gemma, an order from Governor Gallowood couldn’t be ignored.
Gemma swallowed before answering. “It’s fine, Gunner. Hide me or lock me away—I don’t care. Just don’t let me hurt anyone else.”
An emotion close to respect crossed over the Kaizen’s face. She probably had expected Gemma to put up a fight. But the time for fighting was over. Gemma’s fate was sealed.
“Can I just make one last phone call to Christian?” she asked, her chin quivering.
The Kaizen sighed. “Fine. You can call him from the lab but make it quick. As soon as I inform the governor there’s no cure, I have to take you back to Zion.”
Gemma nodded and let Gunner lead her back to Doctor Manae’s laboratory while the Kaizen made the call to Governor Gallowood. The door to the lab hissed as Gunner exited, leaving Gemma alone in sterile silence.
She took a deep breath and tried to stuff the emotions that were teetering on the edge of shattering her. She wasn’t going to cry again. Not yet. She would have a pleasant call with Christian first.
Her hand shook as she tapped her comm. She took a deep breath, then said, “Call Christian Holm.”
He answered on the third ring. “Hi, love.”
His voice was like a balm against her broken soul. She didn’t realize how much she’d needed to hear it.
“Hey,” she replied, her voice already cracking.
The squeak of a mattress. She was glad she hadn’t caught him out in the field.
