Touching Water
Page 6
A trail of slime that smelled of the sea caught her attention, and she traced it while the sounds of battle were all around her.
She rounded the corner and froze.
She and her opposite said the same thing in unison, “You!”
Dr. Hameruk had not fared well in the time since she had seen him last. His body was covered in a layer of slime that soaked through his clothes and trailed in his wake.
“How are you alive? You were dead and underwater.”
She didn’t answer him. With focus, she aimed a cascade of electric pulses toward him.
The gel coating him absorbed them, and he laughed it off. He raised his hand, and a ball of goo shot out. Lydra turned, but it caught her on the shoulder and spread upward to her ear. Her limbs gave out, and she dropped to the floor.
“I may not have gotten grace or beauty, but I got a lovely toxic attack. It is my mutation, and soon, I will have this world writhing into a new shape of evolution!”
He raised his hand and aimed another shot at her. She stared at him as he took pleasure in moving close so he wouldn’t give her a glancing blow.
She fought her impulse for two seconds, and then, she pulled all the water within fifteen feet to her aid. It was a pity that the doctor was made of liquid.
She struggled and looked toward where Rombar was getting to his feet using one of the tanks for support. The hissing began immediately.
“Rombar, get away fast! Poison!” It was all she could say before her jaw locked up.
He moved before the gas cloud could reach him, and she focused on making a curtain of water around the gas to keep it contained.
The fighting was slowly coming to a halt, and Kloran-Vidiaro came striding toward her. “Lydra!”
She looked over toward the canisters and the dome of water that she was using to hold the toxin in.
“Let me at the closure, Lydra.”
She opened a vent in the dome while keeping the dome over the rest of the gas.
When he had shut it off, she closed the dome and kept it in place with all of her attention. Her body was paralyzed, and only her mind was keeping the water in place.
“It is all right, Lydra. You can let the water go now. The gas is water soluble, so as long as you don’t drink it, you are fine.”
She shuddered, knowing where the water had come from and held still as he looked her over.
“Paralytic?”
She hissed a yes through her teeth.
He held his hand over her neck and jaw. A warmth spread across her skin and tingling took over the numbness of her body.
“I have you, pet. Come on.” He knelt and picked her up, walking out through the pile of dust that was all that was left of Dr. Hameruk.
She looked at the battered bodies of the men who were going to use the minerals for a devastating mutation bomb. Her teammates hadn’t held back either. There were burns, broking limbs and several slashed bodies.
Kloran-Vidiaro looked at the Guardians. “You have done well, Guardians. Take your comrade here while I dispose of the mineral and gas canisters. I do not wish you to be anywhere near it.”
Lydra looked up in surprise, and it was the soul of the world looking down at her. “Pleased to meet you, Vidiaro.”
“And you as well, Guardian. My Avatar is rather taken with you, and I am enjoying his uncertainty. It keeps things fresh.”
With that odd comment, he handed her to Umbor and her teammate walked out with her in his arms. When all of the Guardians were out, there was a deep rumble and a strange purple-blue flame that shot out of the entryway. The mine collapsed, and Lydra forced herself to relax.
Umbor had her settled in the skimmer when Kloran emerged from the sinkhole where the mine used to be.
Merker took off, and the Guardians all sat in silence, wondering what might have happened if they hadn’t been there to stand between Vidiaro and disaster.
Lydra wondered how the hell that oozing idiot had made it onto the world where she was working as a Guardian and how fate would like a swift kick to the backside. She would have Sorrow look into it the next day if she could sleep off the last of the effects of the toxin.
That night, she was going to have a shower, get Merker to requisition a new uniform and contemplate her new situation as the girlfriend of the Avatar and kick ass Guardian. For the first time, she was pretty damned sure she could be both.
Author’s Note
Yay! A new world, a new talent and settling for being more than she thought she could be, Lydra has made an impact on the world of her choosing.
She’s my hero.
Viola Grace
About the Author
Viola Grace (aka Zenina Masters) is a Canadian sci-fi/paranormal romance writer with ambitions to keep writing for the rest of her life. She specializes in short stories because the thrill of discovery, of all those firsts, is what keeps her writing.
An artist who enjoys a story that catches you up, whirls you around and sets you down with a smile on your face is all she endeavours to be. She prefers to leave the drama to those who are better suited to it, she always goes for the cheap laugh.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Author’s Note
About the Author