Page 16 of Star-Born Anomaly
Wynn exhaled a long breath. His eyes appeared normal, just a lighter shade of brown than usual. Perhaps hazel.
A relieved shiver passed through her body, and she almost laughed aloud at herself. Of course he wasn’t Calypson. They didn’t leave their area, just lured people to their doom with some sort of immortal promise.
Then he turned his head, and the overhead lights caught in his irises. For a second, his eyesglowed. Cat’s eyes. That was what she’d heard the effect called.
All the blood rushed from her head. HewasCalypson. And he stood before her. In her living room. In her outpost. On Earth and not in Sector Ten like he should be.
Protect yourself.
She spun around and ran, through her lab, out into the hallway, toward the exit and the pulse rifle waiting in the clean compartment of the decontamination zone.
Shaky hands punched in the code. Where the hell was her PALM? She could’ve just swiped her hand instead of getting the code wrong on the first try.
She glanced over her shoulder and screamed.
He wasright there, not a meter away, each of his features as clear as day: his full lips, sharp nose, and high cheekbones. And those disturbingly reflective eyes accented by a furrowed brow.
She hadn’t heard him move over the noise of her heart pounding in her head.
His hands were empty, the glasses gone. She couldn’t tell his age, maybe upper twenties like her, but being Calypson, who the hell knew how old he was.
Her hand reached out toward the compartment, slapping the compartment’s panel. When it didn’t open, she tore her gaze away and punched in her ID code again.
It opened, revealing her sanitized suit from yesterday, as well as all his clothing. She grabbed a handful of the flexible material and threw it at him, one garment at a time. Then came his boots. They hit his body, but he didn’t react.
Wynn swallowed and touched the barrel of the pulse rifle.
A quick movement froze her in place. He took a step forward, over the clothes and boots she’d thrown at him, then took another.
She dropped the rifle in her haste to back away, her gaze riveted to those reflective eyes.
Don’t let him touch you.
That was how they did it, wasn’t it? They touched a person and changed them into Calypson too. No one really knew. Maybe Calypsons ate the pilgrims, because most weren’t seen or heard from again.
But she’d helped him inside yesterday, skin to skin. She’d touched him many times while bandaging his wounds. And she was still… Wynn.
He stopped beside the clean compartment and stared down at its contents. She shuffled backward, then paused in her retreat, startled by the confusion on his face. He reached inside.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Why had she dropped the pulse rifle? Why was she such an idiot?
All her muscles bunched to run, then she froze. It wasn’t the rifle he held in his hand, but the white fabric of her UV-suit. It hung from his fingertips like he’d never seen one before.
Hadn’t he? His trip across Earth’s terrain had been UV-suit-free. Maybe he hadn’t known he should wear one.
“What do you want?” Fear and frustration laced her words. What could a Calypson possibly want with her outpost? The only thing they did here was try to get plants to grow on this dying planet.
She took another step back, then stopped when he let the UV-suit fall into the compartment and turned his attention back to her.
“Why are you here?” she asked, her hands clenching on nothing at her sides.
Maybe she’d been misinformed. Maybe everything she’d ever heard about Calypsons had been a lie. Maybe they traveled freely throughout the system, but the CORE government thought it prudent to keep it hidden. She wouldn’t put it past them.
Her blood froze in her veins when he finally spoke, his voice a raspy, unused sound.
“I have come to collect you.”
