Page 46

XYREK

Come to the conference room in the Ohrur building. I need you. Her words, spoken in a dead-sounding voice, gave me wings. I ran through the halls, pushing Tharaax and Raasla out of the way, all the while yelling into the comm for Alice to answer me.

The sound of boots behind me thundered over the ground. The elevator was filled with every single member of my new family, each one staring at me, asking me what had happened, what Alice needed, and what was going on. I didn't have any answers, and the elevator seemed to take forever until it opened on the third floor. I was already at the door before it opened; the others gave me room to rush out first.

"Alice!" I screamed as I ran into the conference room. My heart stopped; she wasn't there.

"In here," she called, and I noticed another door we had overlooked so far. The panel had been pried open in typical Alice fashion, eliciting a wry smile from me as I followed the light and the sound of her voice.

Alice sat on the ground, an open box in front of her. Not that I cared; my entire focus was on Alice, taking her in from head to toe, making sure she was breathing and unharmed.

"What is this?"

"By the Black Abyss."

"What the fuck?"

"Frygg."

Words of exclamation rang out, but I didn't pay them any attention. I fell on my knees next to Alice. My hands moved up, but for some reason, I was worried about touching her.

"Those are names."

"Frygg, that's Ronnex. I knew him."

"Grab one."

"No, wait. Alice has one."

The voices talked all at once. Like in a trance, Alice looked up, and I followed her line of sight, finally seeing what the others had already noticed. The stacks and stacks of boxes. So many.

"They must have taken this from the Darlams," Alice's voice told me, bringing me back to her. I finally turned my attention to the box's contents. I cursed when I realized what Alice's words meant.

Just when I thought the Ohrurs couldn't surprise us anymore, they did.

"Why would they do this?" Zoe asked, reverently stroking a box.

"Why did they do anything? They're fucked in the head, that's why," Tucker replied.

Nobody disagreed with that statement.

Gently, I took the box from Alice and handed it to Vraax. Then I helped Alice up. She snuggled right into my chest. "So many, Xyrek. There are so many."

Unsure of how to reply or if a reply was even necessary, I kissed the top of her forehead, holding her tight, as if I was afraid she'd float away if I let go.

"How many Darlams are still asleep?" Nock asked.

"We counted seven thousand four hundred and eleven," Luph replied in a subdued voice.

"You should wake them," Nock opined, removing the comm from his ear, looking more shocked than I had seen him so far. He shook his head. "This is… I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I ever said a bad word about any of you. But I will use all my power to cast this atrocity throughout the universe. Everybody will know what the Ohrurs did to you."

A tear rolled down his face. Zaarek moved next to him and grabbed his shoulder, squeezing it. "You're alright, little Kred."

"You're one of us," Raasla nodded.

"That's another brilliant idea, Nock. Actually two. I think he's right. We need to awaken the others." Sloane agreed. "It's time."

"Why?" Vraax looked torn. "We have no idea where their Soulweb Glyphs mates are. We can't wake them and have them go through the same agonies we went through without the support of their mates."

My heart constricted. Vraax had a point.

"How would we ever find them?" Zoe sounded shattered. "The Cryons took so many of us, scattered them throughout the universe. We don't even know if any of their mates are still alive."

"We were hunters," I was surprised my voice was even. "Once these males are awake and have recovered their memories, they will do what they did best once upon a time. They will search until they find their Soulweb mates."

"I don't know," Vraax shook his head. His eyes wandered over the many boxes stacked upon each other.

"We don't have to decide right now, we—" Sloane was interrupted by the noise of several boxes falling.

Our attention turned back to Nock, who seemed to have recovered from his emotional outburst and had attempted to climb up the wall to reach something, only to bring an entire column down on him.

Noodar was closest and moved the boxes off the Kred. "What in the name of the Black Abyss were you doing?" He pulled Nock up.

Nock didn't appear worse for wear. He freed himself from Noodar's grip and pointed, "There, up there. That one looks different."

He was right. High up on one of the columns stood another box. It was red and stood out from the rest of them.

"Let's find a ladder," Zaarek sighed.

"We don't need one." Nova was already in motion. She was up those boxes as if they were a staircase. "Zaarek." She had reached the box and held it out, ready to drop it.

"On it," Zaarek was already below her, having watched her progress with worried eyes but also a gleam of pride.

"It's heavy," Nova warned right before she dropped it.

Zaarek's knees buckled when he caught it. "Oomph," he complained.

"I warned you," Nova replied, making her way back down even faster than she went up.

We circled around Zaarek, who put the box on the ground before prying at the lid to open it.

"Here, use this," Alice held out an omni-key—screwdriver—to him.

"Thank you."

"No, no, not like that," Alice fell to her knees and adjusted the box. With a sigh, Zaarek held out the omni-key to her.

Alice grabbed it as if it were her baby that he had held onto for too long and went to work. Within a tick, the lid popped open, exposing another box—a simple, black box. There was nothing special about it, but we all hovered as if this were some kind of holy relic.

Alice held it up and scrutinized it from all angles. "It looks just like a cube. There is nothing…" Her hands ran up and down the box's surface. "Aha!" Her fingers hesitated. There is something." She held the box up again. "Xyrek, some light?"

I held up my comm as she squinted. "Zaarek, hold it like this," she instructed, already digging through her tool belt. Zaarek and I exchanged an amused look as this moment took us back in time. How many hours had we spent in Alice's workshop, assisting her when she was in the zone ? Unaware of anything other than what she was building. I had always believed the world could collapse all around her, and she wouldn't know. And maybe it had. I hoped to all the stars that when death came for her, she had been in the zone , not realizing what was happening.

"Hah!" Alice exclaimed once more. "Turn it just a little to the right, ZaZa, more light—" She broke off and stared, stunned, at Zaarek, who took her in with the same surprise that tore through my heart. Despite Allisaahn and me only having had a rotation together, she and Zaarek had grown close. Zaza had been his nickname from one of our little sisters, and Allisaahn had adopted it.

Alice cleared her throat, but her hand was shaking as she finally found the tool she had been looking for. It had a small star at the top and was as thin as a needle. Nobody knew its use, but it was kept in everybody's tool belts. Even the repair drones were equipped with them. Over the years, people had started calling it the Master's Pin ; legend had it that only true engineers instinctively knew its purpose. I stared at Alice in wonder. She was so caught up in what she was doing, and with no memory of her past or knowledge of the significance of this tool, that she didn't realize that all of us Darlams—and Kred—stared at her in utter disbelief. Even non-mechanically inclined people like us had heard of the Master's Pin . It was a legend in itself.

Surreptitiously, Nock was casting again, but nobody stopped him this time. We all sensed that we stood at the precipice of a gigantic historical moment. The very air around us seemed to stand still as Alice inserted the pin with the star side up. Carefully, she rotated it until there was a small click. It was so still in the room that the click sounded like a missile exploding.

Zaarek nearly dropped the box when the lid sprang open.

"Zaarek!" Alice snarled, stabilizing the box until he had himself back under control. Nova snickered quietly from behind him, a sound that was picked up by the others and broke some of the tension.

But the snickering stopped when Zaarek lowered the box, and we saw what was inside. The globe inside was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen. It shimmered in gold and silver, and its facets caught rays of light and reflected them in tiny sparkles of color. Alice's hand moved forward.

"Don't touch that," Hannah snarled, rushing forward as if to snatch the globe.

Zaarek pulled it away from her.

"Hannah?" Tharaax stepped behind his mate.

"Don't touch that," Hannah repeated. Her entire body was shaking. "This abomination needs to be destroyed right fucking now."

"Tharaax, hold her back," Sloane demanded.

Tharaax looked torn, but when Hannah made another jump for Zaarek, his hands gripped her waist and pulled her back.

"Hannah, what's wrong?" Tharaax wanted to know.

Hannah didn't look herself. She shook her head, "I don't know. But something tells me this is evil. It needs to be destroyed."

"Ark-he-vari." Zaarek squinted at something only he could see inside the box.

"Let me see," Alice reached for it.

"No, don't touch it," Hannah cried again.

Torn, I looked from one to the other. I didn't know what to do. Stop Alice like Hannah demanded, or let her investigate?

Alice's hands were moving closer.

"Don't touch it," Hannah's eyes were pleading. Her fear for Alice was real.

"This is not going to hurt me," Alice said, giving Hannah a warm smile.

"You don't know what you're doing," Hannah wailed.

"I think I do," Alice said. Her hands were already caught in the otherworldly golden shimmer emanating from the globe.

"Stop her," Hannah stared right at me.

"It's okay," Alice assured me.

When the time comes, you must listen to her. Trust her, as you have always done. She will know what to do. She has always known. Zapharos' words echoed in my head. Was this the moment he had talked about?

Hannah's worry and fear were valid.

None of us knew what that globe was or what it could do.

Alice's eyes met mine. Trust me was written all over them, but Hannah's fear was also real. My heart nearly tore in two, because I had no idea what to do.