Page 34 of Guardian's Heart

"I think you should stay here," a woman voiced.

"Let her go. She already got us in enough trouble," the man next to her advised.

I arched an eyebrow at the couple and looked the others over. Was that what they were thinking about me? That I was trouble?

It wasn't totally unjustified from their perspective, I suppose.

I shrugged and moved on. I didn't owe these people anything. I didn't even know their names. It didn't bother me that I didn't; in fact, I preferred it that way. I hated baggage, especially the emotional kind, which was ultimately the end result of spending too much time with others.

The opening doors exposed a narrow hallway illuminated by… I didn't see any light fixtures, but the walls on both sides seemed to emanate a soft glow. I passed more built into the wall doors, but none opened as I followed the hallway. At the end, I found a narrow opening with a steep ladder leading up. With a shrug, I climbed it curiously. When my head poked out, I was eye-level with another, shorter hallway. Climbing all the way up, I followed that hallway for a few more feet until blinking lights drew me into what was obviously an alien spaceship's bridge.

Zaarek stood in the center of it, hands moving over translucent screens that seemed to hover in midair. My heart stuttered for a moment; even though he too was still covered in gore, he was a sight to behold, maybe more so because the goo covered up his strange coloring and emphasized how incredibly tall and muscular he was. I was still mad at him, yet my body was drawn to him as if he were a magnet.

I forced my eyes away to take in the bridge; four seats were arranged in a semi-circle, facing forward toward two triangular, large windows. It was there that my breath caught in my throat. Space. We truly were in space. I swallowed hard. I thought I had gotten used to the idea of aliens and not being on Earth any longer, but it seemed my brain had yet to fully catch up.

"I thought I told you to stay and wait." He sighed without looking at me or stopping to tap on the six screens hovering in the air.

"I thought you would know by now that I don't follow your orders," I shot back.

This time, he looked at me; a loud exhale was meant to show his irritation, but just then, my eyes caught sight of something spectacular on the other side of the window. "What is that?"

"A galaxy?" he remarked, raising my ire.

"I can see that. I mean those two planets above and below… " I squinted my eyes. "Those aren't planets, are they?"

It was hard to describe what I was seeing. It looked like two ginormous bubbles floating in space. Inside each bubble—one the exact mirror image of the other—was a galaxy, swirling with beautiful colors and what looked like two suns or very, very bright stars. Dividing the two bubbles from one another was something disc-shaped, something like one of Saturn's rings, only much, much more colorful, it almost looked as if the bubbles were emerging from the disc.

"Oh, the Twin Hubs?" He shook his head. "No, they're galaxies, forming from the Celestial Portal."

"Celestial what?"

Was he talking about the ring/disc thing in the center?

Finally, he turned his full attention to me. "It is pretty spectacular," he agreed.

I arched an eyebrow. It was a bit more thanpretty spectacular, but hey, this was my first glimpse of real space, so who was I to say there weren't more amazing things out there?

"Elucidate," I demanded.

He laughed, actually laughed, and it lit up his face, making him look younger, more carefree. Someone I could really, really fall for if I wasn't careful. As if the strange attraction and tattoos weren't enough already. He was by far the most handsome manI had ever seen; add in the newfound charisma, and he was captivating to my senses.Fuck, heart, be still, quit beating like crazy and stomach, quit that fluttery shit. I'm still mad at him.

"Elucidate?" He chuckled. "What you see is one of the celestial ports. In layman's terms, it's where galaxies are birthed."

I didn't know much—or anything—about space and stars, suns, universes, and the likes. But one thing I remembered from class was, "I thought galaxies were birthed in nebulas."

"Nebulas birth stars," he corrected, gently enough not to raise my hackles. "See that there," he pointed at one of the bubbles, "you can see nebulas right inside, birthing stars, even as the galaxy itself is just being formed."

Goosebumps rose over my skin; that was incredible. I didn't remember learning this, but then again, I hadn't paid that much attention in my classes other than math. Plus, whatever I might have learned about the universe in school was probably only based on educated guesses from educated people. Theories. And how often over the course of history had they been revised? Point in case, the eternal debate about Pluto being a planet or a moon or a dwarf planet. The story changed so many times, I wasn't sure what it was anymore. So, I was more inclined to listen to Zaarek on this.

"Why are they in a bubble?"

He shrugged. "The bubbles will dissolve eventually, once the galaxy is mature. Maybe to protect it? Here," he handed me a device that reminded me of a tablet, but before I could take it, he pulled it back, "hold on… what's your language?"

"English." I watched him tap something on the tablet before he handed it to me. I tapped a few icons and was amazed when it did indeed give me information in English.

"You can either tap or tell it what you need, and it'll find it for you."

Something fell out of my hair and slipped down my neck, and I shuddered in revulsion.

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