Chapter Fifteen
Back in her little niche, Gemma hadn’t even zipped her backsack when the soft scrape of boots warned her that she was no longer alone.
She turned her back to her shelter just as Gunner popped inside the opening of the alcove.
He offered a crooked smile, but there was something behind his eyes. Restlessness, maybe?
“Sorry,” he said, “didn’t mean to interrupt. Just . . . I’ve been running scans on those doors again.”
Gemma straightened. “Did something change?”
He nodded slowly. “All the old frequencies are gone. It’s like the structure wiped itself and started over after you collapsed. We’re now getting new pulses that are low resonance and rhythmic. Almost like it’s breathing.”
Her stomach churned, but she forced calm into her voice. “So, the door is . . . alive?”
“I’m not ready to say that. Yet.” He scratched the back of his neck. “But I am ready to say it’s responding to something. Or someone.” Gunner gave her a pointed stare.
She sighed. “I’m guessing you want me to come check it out again.”
His smile turned sheepish. “Only if you’re up for the challenge. I know today’s already been a lot.”
Gemma hesitated, Christian’s warm and protective voice still echoing in her ears. He wanted her to be careful, but the dread lingering deep in her bones hadn’t gone away. If anything, it had intensified.
“I’m fine,” she said. “Let’s go.”
A massive grin grew across Gunner’s face, like a child gifted a new toy.
By the time they reached the set of doors, both sides still decorated with alien glyphs that glowed faintly violet, Gemma’s nerves were on edge.
Already, she could sense the power that awaited beyond, and Gunner was right—it did feel alive, like a guardian watching a tomb.
Whatever was on the other side was important.
Maybe even the most important thing in this entire temple.
Deep in her gut, her instincts warned her to back away.
But she needed answers. And she needed them now.
Gemma swallowed as she stepped closer. “What do I do?”
“I don’t know. You tell me. Are you feeling anything or sensing anything?”
She nodded, moving until she was inches from the double stone doors. They wanted her to touch them, calling to her like a child starved for affection. This is a bad idea, her conscience warned her, but she ignored it.
Gemma exhaled and lifted her hand.
The moment her fingertips grazed the surface, a shiver rolled up her arm, not cold but electrifying. The carvings in the stone shifted as if the doors recognized her touch. The subtle purple glow brightened; the patterns rearranged.
Behind her, equipment beeped. Then again, louder.
“Hold on. Don’t move,” Gunner replied, his voice low and tight. “The scanner’s picking up something. But it’s not coming from the door.”
She turned slightly, her hand pressed to the stone. “Then where in the blazes is it coming from?”
His stare flicked between his display and her. “I think it’s reading you.”
The door hummed, the carvings radiating outward from Gemma’s hand like ripples of sand. Her heart jumped as something clicked between and beneath the doors. She flinched back, snatching her hand away.
With a low hiss, the doors cracked open just enough to expose a sliver of black beyond. The energy vanished instantly, taking the purple glow with it and leaving behind only silence.
Gunner swore softly. “You didn’t even speak this time.”
Gemma’s pulse raced. He was right. “I wonder . . .” she started to say, her stomach tight in a knot. “What if there’s some sort of symbiotic connection between whatever was in that orb and whatever’s in there?”
For the first time since they’d met, Gunner looked unnerved. “That actually makes complete sense. For some reason, that door answers to you alone. That isn’t coincidence.”
She frowned. It made sense that the temple itself functioned as a soldier defending its sovereign.
The first time she was here, something deep inside her had demanded they leave, like humans weren’t allowed.
This time, runes had appeared on the statue when Gemma had gotten close, and now the doors replied almost as if they sensed her wishes.
“Maybe it’s not just these doors,” Gemma contemplated. “What if this isn’t a temple at all but a tomb? And when I touched that orb, I awoke what was sleeping inside?”
Gunner tipped his head, raising an eyebrow. “That makes complete sense, actually. You said you found this place by accident, yes?”
Gemma nodded.
“And this place was built right into one of Reva’s mountains, with galaxy ceilings and glowing, purple doorways and polished floors and intricate carvings which seem to tell the story of the race that lived here—” Gunner’s eyes widened. “The statue! What if that’s who this tomb was built for?”
Her knees weakened. “So, then what did I touch? Am I . . . possessed?” Vomit churned in her stomach.
Gunner shook his head slowly. “I don’t think so.
There’s no separate consciousness. We would’ve caught that by now.
But whatever was in that orb had to be tied to that individual.
Which could explain why it’s overwriting your DNA.
It’s trying to make you more like him.” His eyes glazed over as he fell deep into thought.
A frigid breeze brushed across Gemma’s cheek from beyond the gaping doors, like frosted fingertips coaxing her to come inside. And for a moment, she almost obeyed. But then Gunner began to speak again.
“I do think, though, that given how much of your DNA has changed already, and you still being you . . . I figure the core of who you are will stay the same. It’s more like the molecules of your body are shifting, but you’re not turning into someone else. Does that make sense?”
“Kind of,” Gemma answered, rubbing her arms to warm away the fleshbumps. “But then how do you explain why I felt so blood happy while killing people? That’s not me, Gunner.”
Her eyes burned. All those lives ended because of her. She didn’t care that she was changing, or even why. She just wanted a cure. She wanted life to go back to the way it was before the blasted orb. She didn’t want to hurt more people.
“I don’t know,” he answered. “It’s a working hypothesis. It could be as simple as it amplifies what was already there.”
Gemma’s face twisted into horror, her mouth opening to tell him off, when he held up his hands.
“Not saying that it amplified some murderous part of you. That’s not what I mean.”
“Those faces haunt me every blasted night. No part of me ever would’ve wanted to do that.”
“I know. But this is a race we know very little about. It could be that, to the Revarians, protecting people did mean warfare. This thing is rewriting your DNA, Gemma, because you aren’t Revarian.
At least, not like they were. Maybe whatever was passed down to you needs to learn who you are before it figures out what it’s supposed to do. ”
She shook her head. “That’s not acceptable. I’m not going to let it hurt anyone else.” Her voice cracked. “Can you find a cure? I need this out of me, Gunner.”
He put a hand on each of her shoulders. “If there’s a way to cure it, I promise I will find it. Okay?”
Gemma had to nod despite how much she loathed false promises. She was exhausted, tired of fighting for one more thread to pull, one more piece of evidence as to what was altering her DNA.
Gunner dropped his hands from her shoulders. “I shouldn’t have brought you here after the day you had. It could’ve waited until tomorrow. I’m sorry. Go get some rest, okay?”
Without another word, Gemma hurried back to her shelter where she could hide, sob into her pillow, and pretend none of this was happening.