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His eyes followed the one he’d scared. He liked their reaction. The scream was impressive, but few creatures took the time in their fright to try and hurt him. Only the bigger ones, once backed into a corner, would lunge at him. But the small ones always went running.

Interesting.

Once the little suits stopped running around and the armored ones let off steam, they started back onto the ship.

No. They couldn’t leave. He couldn’t let them.

He needed to know more, wanted to get closer still. And his fun was only beginning.

Slowly, he slipped from his perch and headed toward them.

CHAPTER FOUR

Dani

She sat on the bench next to her locker, white-knuckling the helmet in her lap. Damp hair pressed to her temples as she stared at the wall, at the sign above.

NEXACOR. REBUILDING WORLDS.

She closed her eyes and tried not to shake, taking deep breaths. Her crew was in the storage dock packing the batteries and metal sheets away. Security was checking around the ship and the outside perimeter for anything suspicious.

She must have checked her garometer a dozen times in the last minute. Ever since the smog had disappeared, the energy levels had been all over the place. Ranging from three all the way to nine.

There were things on this world that had been hiding, but they were hiding no longer. Whether it had been from the ship landing scaring them off or something else, it didn’t matter. They weren’t afraid anymore. Outside she heard another shrieking howl.

But that didn’t really bother her. What bothered her was that sometimes her garometer jumped to fifteen.

Whatever the monstrous creature that she saw was, it had followed them out, and it was close by.

Her hands shook in her lap. She envisioned the monster again in her head. Mostly she just remembered it towering over her, but she saw the twisted horns that crowned its head, saw the large red eyes that shined in the light. Its tail—which she knew now must have been the thing that had been slithering over her body—had whipped around behind it.

She’d never seen anything like it. And yet, at the same time, it seemed oddly familiar to her. How the hell could that be?

It didn’t matter. It was the freakiest thing she’d ever seen. And the way it had mimicked her and Garret’s voices had made her heart drop to her stomach.

She took another deep breath. Okay. It was okay. The doors were shut tight, and security was checking the area. She heard their guns go off a few times. The thing couldn’t get in.

The lights flickered above her, making her flinch.

Damn it, she couldn’t lose it now. A job needed to be done. It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen creepy things before. This one just scared her real good, but it hadn’t technically hurt her. And it sure as shit could have. It could have grabbed her and took a chunk out of her. Instead it had…

It had…toyed with her.

That somehow made it way more terrifying.

She stood and shook out her arms, trying to ease the tension.

No. No, she was good. It was fine. Everything was fine. The soldiers could deal with it. They could still get this done.

A door nearby opened and her team piled in.

“I’m telling you,” Tom said to Myrell. “Sometimes certain chemical compounds in the air can cause hallucinations and—”

Myrell elbowed him in the chest, and he went quiet. “You okay, Dani?”

Dani eyed them each, then cleared her throat. “Fine. I’m fine.” She tried to smile. “Just had an... encounter.” She turned back to her locker, pretending to change out her gloves, not wanting them to see the fear still on her face. “It just caught me by surprise. But I’m good. We’re good.”

“Are we?” Lex said. “I mean, if there’s something out there, we should worry about…”