you’re making each other’s acquaintance. Hopefully, in the upcoming days, you will become the first handlers of the Mist Defense Squad.”
I felt silly for being so stoked about it. I hadn’t trained to be some sort of superhero handler. Seeing the same thrill reflected on the faces of my companions made it all better.
“Riley, Julia, I’m stealing Ms. Connors from you,” Director Thomson said, pointing at me with his chin. “Belinda will be here shortly to discuss the next steps with your respective Nightmares.”
They both nodded and waved me goodbye as I rose to my feet.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of it for you,” Riley said when I leaned forward to pick up my food tray.
I gave him a grateful smile and, complying with Thomson gesturing for me to proceed, I headed towards the door. It bothered me that he had addressed both of them by their given names when he still called me Ms. Connors.
“I’m pleased to see that you are well rested,” he said in a friendly tone, while holding the door open for me.
“Yes, thank you, Director Thomson,” I said graciously.
“You can call me Alfred, although most people simply call me Thomson.”
I smiled, relieved to have been afforded the same courtesy as the others. “Only if you call me Naima,” I replied.
“Naima it is,” he said with a grin. “Your little Zain paid me a visit while I slept last night.”
I stopped dead in my tracks and gaped at him with bulging eyes. “He did?!”
“Mmhmm,” Thomson said with a nod. “He wanted to know if our offer was genuine, or if I was manipulating you in order to lure him into a trap.”
My jaw further dropped. I should have accounted for that possibility, but it never even crossed my mind. Clearly, I had much to learn about spy games.
“Were you able to convince him?” I asked, my stomach knotting with apprehension.
“Come see for yourself,” Thomson said with a mischievous grin.
My heart leapt in my chest as he led me to a door similar to the one that had led to the first holding cell that Zain had destroyed. The door opened onto a larger room but with an identical layout. A desk sat a few meters in front of a large glass wall. This one had been doubled. The backdoor, which no doubt opened onto the tunnels to the exit was sealed. The Mist swirled inside the room. However, it was the whitish cloud streaked with lightning right below the surface that held all of my attention.
Laid down on some kind of camp bed, it clearly had the shape of a very tall and broad human male. The barely defined limbs and features could have passed for those of a partially melted wax statue.
I ran up to the reinforced glass wall and pressed my palms against its cool surface. “He’s crossing over!” I exclaimed in an awed whisper.
“He is,” Thomson said with undisguised excitement in his voice. “Zain came in four hours ago. He’s so damn powerful, he’s forming at an accelerated pace. Most Transients whose births we’ve managed to record took between six to eight hours just to achieve this level of development and nearly twelve to fully form. At this rate, your Nightmare could be awake in the next couple of hours.”
My head jerked towards him in shock, the reality of what was about to happen finally sinking in. What if Zain had been the one playing us? What if he’d seized this opportunity to benefit from a safe birth only to destroy us from within? Granted, in his human form, he could easily be dispatched with a well-placed bullet or two—as long as he was still weak from birth. But what if he played along until he grew strong enough before showing his true face?
“I see your wheels turning,” Thomson said with an approving smile. “It is good to question the intentions of a potential threat. One can never be too prudent when dealing with the unknown. But, for the time being, Zain is not a threat.”
I clamped down on the relief that wanted to take over me, refusing to rejoice too early. “What makes you say that?”
“My son-in-law, Risul,” Thomson said, matter-of-factly. I blinked in confusion, and his smile broadened. “My daughter is married to her Wish; except she has chosen to live with him in the Mist.”
“Are you shitting me?” I exclaimed, immediately embarrassed by my lack of self-control.
But who could blame me for having my mind blown by such