After a gargantuan effort, she managed to move enough to prop her body up on one elbow. The dizziness hit, and the white room spun. She gazed around and saw it was just like a small box room, but the walls looked like someone had sprayed them with fake snow. Where was everyone and what had happened? Had she passed out again? Rolling onto her back, she looked from side to side and saw Nicole was with her. The woman she had only just met was flat on her back and appeared to be out cold at this point.
Evie crawled across the room and checked to see if Nicole still had a pulse. She did, thank goodness, and it was strong. The side of Nicole’s face was swelling, and her lip was split. She would have one hell of a black eye come the morning. That was, if they made it to the morning. Nicole groaned and slowly opened her eyes.
“Shit. Not here.”
It wasn’t exactly what Evie had expected to hear, but she hoped it meant her new friend still had some fight in her. Nicole sat up and tenderly touched her cheek.
“Do you remember anything?” she asked.
“I was in your arms and watching them try to remove the darkness from Heath. Then someone hit me. I didn’t see them. It all happened so fast. The next thing I knew, I woke up here. Looking at my watch, we’ve been out for hours. Do you know where we are?”
Nicole nodded. “We’re in Pergor. It’s the staging post between their Homeworld and ours. When I first met Ridge, he brought me here to get a new guardian. It’s also where we had a fight with Liliath when she tried to kill me and use my body to get to Earth. Lovely lady, or whatever that freak is.”
Evie sat up with Nicole’s help and leaned against the wall. She ran her fingers along its rough surface. It was warm and almost seemed to tingle beneath her fingers.
“If the others are here as well, wouldn’t they sense us, especially Ridge and Heath?”
“Not in this place. Because both sides use the staging post, they are shielded from each other. The only place they mix is in a big crystal chamber. I think we can both guess who is behind this. Charles and that bastard Sayell must be close.”
Nicole stood and started to run her fingers around the walls, trying to find a crack or a doorway, but as far as Evie could tell there was nothing. Nicole sat back down beside her.
“Thanks for trying to protect me. I’m sorry you’re in this mess. Since I met Heath, all I seem to do is get other people into danger. That was never what I wanted.” Evie just hoped she would see Heath again, even if it was just one last time.
“It was the same for me. The thing is, you and I didn’t start this. Their race has messed with us in some way. I think our bodies are changing. I reckon there will be more like us soon who don’t have guardians attached, and it will change things.”
“I didn’t want to make a difference in anyone’s life, I just wanted to live, and when the darkness came, I just wanted to die.”
“Until you met Heath.”
Evie nodded and knew it was true. From the moment he had caught her in the sky when she fell from the car park, she had believed she had something to live for again.
“I was the same with Ridge. My husband had been murdered a while back, and I was struggling to keep it together. Thought about ending it more than once. Then this great big jerk, who is too sexy for his own good, comes into my life. He got under my skin, and I fell for him.”
“Heath’s people think he’s aloof, but I see this incredibly warm and caring man. He’s just been hurt and is scared to love again. Listen to us waxing lyrical about them.” Evie laughed.
“I’d like to think they are in a bar somewhere having a whiskey and talking about how hot their women are. Not that we look hot at the moment. They will be looking, though. They’re both stubborn men and won’t give up until they find us.” Nicole sighed.
“If we’re up here, then how come Charles and Sayell haven’t taken me to Liliath? Without the darkness, she could connect with me.”
“I’d guess the darkness has caused this place to be swarming with Midworlders from both sides. She lost her chance once before, and she won’t want to mess up again. Homeworld is probably keeping an eye on her, too. I would guess Homeworld is like Earth, and the higher up you are, then people are too scared to take you on.”
Evie started to cough and tasted blood in her mouth. Her chest ached with each breath she took, but she wouldn’t give up until she couldn’t breathe anymore.
“If she wants me, then she might have to hurry up. Genia’s healing is wearing off, and the injuries of the crash are coming back fast.” Evie didn’t want to give up, but if Heath wasn’t alive, then she would rather be dead than help this creature called Liliath. “What’s she like?”
“The Elevated back on their world don’t look so human. She gives the appearance of being a voluptuous woman, but she had no hair on her body and her eyes are like a snake’s.”
“Sounds fantastic. Well, we need a plan, even if I have no energy. I’ll go down fighting with you, even if Heath is dead.”
“We don’t know where they are, and if I know our men, they’ll be looking for us until their last breath is taken from their bodies. I’ll try to make an escape and contact the others when they get us out of this room. I’ve a knife. If you could stab one of them while they carry you, I might be able to get away.” Nicole pulled a small pen knife from her pocket and handed it over.
“I’ve never stabbed anyone before, but I hate these guys enough for what they’ve done, so I think I’ll manage it.” Evie tucked the knife in her bra and pulled her blouse back across her chest.
Nicole sighed. “In the past I could have taken them on. The energy I could put out was stronger, but since I had the baby, I can’t use it much. I can still heal, but I’m pretty much the same as any other Midworlder now.”
It wasn’t much of a plan, but it was all they had. She could only hope Nicole could get to the others before she was presented to the snake woman. She wondered what her Aunt Georgia would have made of the woman from another planet trying to take over her niece. Georgia would give Liliath what for. That much she knew. At this point, Evie would be quite content if her aunt put Liliath in a big pot of Cajun stew. It was enough to make her go vegetarian.
It seemed they were about to find out, as a section of the wall at one end of the room became transparent, and she could see Charles and Sayell waiting with grins on their faces. Evie smirked at Charles and gave him the finger. It wouldn’t achieve anything, but it felt so satisfying. He raised an eyebrow in a superior way. She wished she could ground him to a pulp or throw him across the room. The problem of simply breathing was an issue right now, so he had the upper hand. Damn him.
Sayell pulled Nicole roughly off the floor. There was clearly no love lost between these two. Charles scooped her up, and she noticed yet again the revolting sweet aroma that always surrounded these guys. Heath smelt earthy and clean, and she loved it. She would not give up the hope she would be in his arms again. She wanted him to come and save her from this creep, and if it involved beating Sayell and Charles to a pulp, she was okay with that. They made their way out of the room and down a corridor, and then another. They all looked the same to her, and she hoped Nicole knew what she was doing. There was another corridor off to the right up ahead. Nicole turned back and gave a slight nod with her head.
Evie took as deep a breath as she could and started to thump Charles in the chest with one hand as she slipped her other inside her blouse and grabbed the knife. Before he could see what she had in her hand, she thrust it into his chest up to the hilt. If she had expected him to fall to ground in pain, he didn’t. He made a noise more like a growl and looked down at her with contempt. Sayell stopped and turned around, letting go of Nicole’s arm for a moment. It was all her friend needed. Nicole grabbed his shoulders and brought her knee up into his groin. He collapsed to his knees with a sharp intake of breath. Nicole wasted no time and headed down the corridor beside them.
Charles clutched the handle of the knife and yanked it free from his chest. Sayell was picking himself up off the floor but still looked pale. She hoped his balls swelled to the size of melons and he would never be able to have sex again.
“Never mind about Nicole. She will probably get lost and run around in circles,” Charles said.
“Can you make it to the chamber? Why don’t you let me carry her? Your wound is bleeding already, and we need to get you to Liliath so she can heal you.”
Charles handed her over, and she didn’t fight. She would conserve her energy, not that she considered she could win any fight. They traipsed down one corridor after another, and she felt completely confused. They stopped at the end of another corridor at what looked like a dead end, but the doors hissed open like an elevator. Inside, there were no buttons, and she could not tell if they were going up or down. Wherever they were going, she was in no hurry to get there. The doors opened, and her eyes opened wide at the sight of the incredible cavern before them.