Page 1 of Vylit: Glowing for Her
CHAPTER 1
MAYA
I had one rule: don’t abduct me before coffee. Honestly, don’t do anything before coffee.
The ocean clearly hadn’t read the memo.
The violet tide rippled with an unnatural rhythm that set off every scientific alarm bell in my brain. I crouched at the water's edge, collection vial poised between my fingers as dawn painted the Florida Keys in hues of amber and rose. Something about the water's movement seemed wrong—deliberately wrong—like it knew I was watching. My curiosity overrode my better judgment, as usual. I dipped the vial beneath the surface, and the water curled around it like a sentient thing, caressing the glass with purpose. Fuck me, this was going to make one hell of a paper if I could isolate whatever caused this bioluminescent anomaly.
"Come to mama," I muttered, filling a third vial and carefully capping it.
The gentle lapping of waves shifted to a strange sucking sound. I glanced up from my labeling to see the violet glow intensifying, swirling counterclockwise in a pattern that defied normal tidal movement. My heart skipped. This wasn't standard phosphorescent algae behavior. Not even close.
I scrambled backward on the slick rocks, but fascination rooted me in place. The water formed a perfect spiral, mathematically impossible in nature without external force. The scientist in me wanted measurements, samples, data. But the human in me screamed to run.
The scientist won. Always did. Besides, I could always blame the lack of coffee.
I leaned forward, extending my sample pole toward the center of the swirl. The whirlpool surged upward, grabbing the pole with liquid fingers that solidified around the metal. I yanked back, muscles straining, but the force pulled harder. My boots slid across the wet rock.
"Shit, shit, shit!"
My grip faltered. The pole wrenched free, disappearing into the violent purple vortex. The whirlpool paused, as if considering its next move. Then it lunged.
Water shot upward, wrapping around my ankles like living rope. I crashed onto my back, skull cracking against stone as I clawed for purchase. My fingers scraped raw against barnacles, finding no hold. The vortex dragged me forward with unstoppable force.
I screamed, the sound ripped away as water closed over my head. My lungs burned instantly. Pressure squeezed my skull, my chest, my limbs. Colors swirled—not just purple now but blues, greens, and shades I couldn't name. Reality fractured around me.
The water thinned, then vanished. I fell through emptiness, spinning madly, unable to orient myself in space that seemed to fold in on itself. No up. No down. Just falling forever through impossible dimensions.
Until I wasn't.
Strong arms caught me, cradling my body against a chest that radiated heat and pulsed with light. I gasped, choking on air that felt wrong in my lungs… too thick, too sweet. My vision swam into focus on a face that couldn't possibly be real.
He glowed. Not metaphorically… actually fucking glowed from within. Patterns of purple-white light shifted beneath translucent skin, brightening and dimming like a living mood ring. Eyes like twin supernovas stared down at me with an intensity that made my skin prickle.
My brain struggled to process his size… at least seven feet of rippling, luminescent muscle. Not human. Definitely not human. His arms cradled me like I weighed nothing, fingers webbed with delicate membranes that shimmered when they moved.
Panic surged through my body. I thrashed against his hold, my scientific curiosity briefly overridden by pure survival instinct.
"Put me down!" I meant to sound commanding but my voice came out strangled and thin.
The giant's brow furrowed. He pressed something against my throat—a small, slick patch that adhered instantly to my skin. It pulsed once, twice, then settled with a strange tingling sensation.
"Hello!" it chirped. "I am translator sticker. Please do not lick me. I am not candy."
"I wasn’t planning on it." My voice came out dry. Though, if I was honest, I was tempted to lick my alien rescuer. Clearly, my sanity had drowned back in the Keys.
"Logged. Human will not lick now, and will continue to not lick later."
He winced at the volume, his glowing bands flickering in apology. "It learns. English… new in my mouth."
"You’re doing fine." I tried to sound casual, but the way he looked at me made my chest tight. "But you can put me down now."
His mouth moved, forming words I couldn't understand. Then the patch at my throat vibrated, and suddenly I could comprehend his deep, rumbling voice as it translated.
"Setting you to low tide would be dangerous. The gravity fluctuations could crush your fragile density."
My mouth fell open. "What the fuck are you talking about?"
