The Opelux and Other Monsters || Book One

CHAPTER 10 - TRITTEON

It took half a second to realize the old man wasn't going to reach her in time.

I darted around the chair and threw my Thet out toward her, but I wasn't fast enough. The sickening crack of her head against that unforgiving marble wall echoed through the room. I slid to my knees, catching her before she hit the ground, and she fell back into my arms, her eyes in the back of her head, blood pouring from her forehead and nose.

I grabbed my com off my belt. "Colleena, get in here!" I yelled into it.

She rushed into the room instantly, followed closely by Rilyin, and shrieked. I could see how it looked in her mind: glass all over the floor, blood covering the girl's face, neck, and my arm and pants, Pharro gripping the arm of the chair like he was going to pass out, the tranquilizer on the floor where I had dropped it.

"What happened?" Rilyin bellowed.

"She got out of the chair herself," Pharro said, his hand trembling against his forehead. "Her reaction to the test was quite terrible."

"Why did she react that way?" I growled, unable to stop my eyes from blackening. Everything turned shades of violet. I took a deep breath, ordering my body to calm, and the room went back to normal.

Pharro shook his head but didn't answer, looking ready to pass out.

"We need to get her to the Infirmary," Colleena said, pulling herself together enough to give orders. "Can you carry her, Tritteon?"

I stood, cradling the girl against my chest. She weighed nothing. "Sir, are you alright?"

Pharro waved his hand impatiently. "Just take her. I'll put all this away and meet you up there."

It was times like these I wished the man's mind wasn't blocked from me. He was obviously ill. In fact, he looked exactly like Asis had before the Librarian had collapsed, though Pharro had seemed perfectly fine before the test began—uneasy, but fine.

I gritted my teeth. I would have to send someone for Pharro once the girl was taken care of. A hot, sweet smelling wetness had begun climbing up my arm. She was bleeding profusely. Only Rilyin's anxious concentration and Colleena's distressed, urgent thoughts were enough to overpower the strange urge to taste it and get me out the door.

* * * * * * * * * *

PHARRO

The second their hurried footsteps disappeared, Pharro collapsed into the white chair, gripping the top of his head between his hands. The room spun fast and his stomach clenched, threatening to relieve itself of its contents.

He had been afraid of this. He had known it would happen. He had even lessened the exposure of the electrical current to each of her Poeir points. But it had only kept the blocks in place. It hadn't stopped her merged DNA from leaking its toxic combination. He figured the only reason Colleena hadn't been affected despite her constant use of Poeir on the girl was the woman's strange immunity she and High Healer Padovani shared.

The girl was a radiation nightmare. It had taken everything out of him just to keep a shield up around Tritteon. He would need to find a way to get her alone as soon as possible. The concoction within the vial Desraeon had sent with her would need to be administered immediately before anything happened further.

And Desraeon would have to be notified about what had transpired. How dare he send her in this condition.

* * * * * * * * * * *

TRITTEON

Colleena threw the double doors to the Infirmary wide. The spacious, high-ceilinged room was bright and warm with a large fireplace on both ends of the room and ten beds, spaced at four-foot intervals, covered in lavender linens. Tall, black cabinets covered every inch of wall that wasn't already taken over by a door or floor to ceiling window and a small stone table occupied the space in the center of the room.