Soulless The Girl in the Box - By Robert J. Crane Page 0,69

gaze from where he had fallen to her, glowing brown eyes giving me a sense of deep unease. I had no defense against what she’d done to him; I only hoped that if she sent me over the edge I’d be able to land 1) softly and 2) on him, because I didn’t know if I could take any more pummeling.

“Are you okay?” she asked in a throaty voice, a little hoarse, like she hadn’t used it in a long time.

I flinched at the sound of her voice, mostly because I was expecting an attack instead. “Do...do I look okay?”

The naked girl studied me, her eyes assessing. “Not really.”

I worked my way to sitting again. “Who are you?”

She looked lost in thought, far away, drifting, and I almost thought maybe she’d passed out on her feet, as though the trauma of being released from a big black cylinder was too much for her. She paused, looked across the room, then turned back to me, still almost uncertain. “Andromeda,” she said finally. “My name is Andromeda.”

I heard voices, raised, from behind me, and crooked my head to look. Andromeda tensed, as though she were ready for battle. The doors on the far end of the room burst open and Reed and Scott came through them, followed by two guys in tactical vests carrying submachine guns. Neither wore masks, and I knew them instantly. One was Kurt, the other was Zack.

“Sienna!” It was Scott who shouted, his hands pointed at Andromeda, who pointed her hands back at him. “We thought you were dead.”

Reed matched Scott’s position, though his expression was a bit more wary. Both Kurt and Zack had their weapons pointed, and I held up my hand to stop them, and felt myself sag against the railing as they came onto the platform. “Me? Not so much. Everybody calm down,” I said. “This is Andromeda.” She looked at me, then at them, and began to relax. “Andromeda, this is...everybody.”

Scott inched his way around the platform, still keeping his hands up, eyes fixed on her, though they looked down more than once to take in her nakedness. “So Andromeda is not a project...it’s a person?”

She cocked her head at him, her pale skin giving off a briny smell, now that she was closer to me. “Perhaps it’s both.”

“We don’t exactly have the perimeter secure here,” Kurt said, scanning the room. “We need to find what we’re here for and leave.”

“She’s it, I think.” I said this as Zack made his way forward, easing past Andromeda, and grasped me under the arms to help me stand. “She’s the reason we’re here; though I’m not sure how much she can tell us about Omega.”

Her eyes followed mine, and I caught a hint of deep intelligence in them. “Everything,” she said. “I can tell you everything about Omega. Who they are, where they started, why they’re here and what they’re after.”

“Then we need to get her out of here,” Scott said. “Back the way we came?”

“No,” Andromeda said. “This way.” She looked at me. “Let me help.” She put her hand on me and I started to protest, but something in her eyes silenced me. Her hand was on mine, and a second passed, then five, and nothing happened.

“What...are you?” I asked, staring back at her.

Her eyes glowed and I felt strength course through me as she pulled me along, almost effortless. “Something new. I am a sacrifice made by Omega to bring about change.”

“Oh, good, cryptic,” Scott murmured from behind me. “You’ll get along well with Old Man Winter.”

“Are you all right?” Zack whispered next to me, trying to keep up as Andromeda pulled me along. I noticed that all my pain had receded; the wounds were still there, but they seemed not to hurt.

“I think I’ll be fine, once I get a day to heal,” I said. “Did you drive here from Detroit?”

“All the way through the Upper Peninsula at about a hundred miles an hour.” He gave me a tight smile. “Ariadne said you were headed into trouble.”

“I was.” I tried to smile at him. “I found my way out again, with a little help. What about you?”

His smile disappeared. “We’ll talk about it later.”

“No, wait,” I said. “They sent you after a meta, didn’t they?”

“They did.”

“So what happened?” I asked.

“Omega jumped ahead of us, bagged ‘em.” Kurt was the one who answered, and I got a glimpse of him behind me. He had a bandage across the back of his head,