EXCERPT

 

Schmidt took the case then handed it to Emma. “Be careful with it, you will need the weapons on the other side.” He gave her a gentle push toward the portal. “Step into it now.”

Emma stifled a grin. At first, she thought they would send her to the other side empty-handed. Now she hoped they had included a knife, that would make it so much easier to remove the implant than using her fingernails to rip it out of her wrist.

Her heart sped up, and her blood rushed through her veins. I will finally be free. She lifted her foot, and as soon as it touched the glowing mass, it sucked her in. Her body tumbled and twirled in a vacuum of swirling mercury and flashing lights. Gripping the case tightly in her hand, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath to quell the wave of nausea that overtook her until she finally felt solid ground beneath her feet. She opened her eyes to lightning sizzling and flashing above her, catapulting down from the sky in a shower of sparks.

Gaining her bearings, she turned slowly, taking in her surroundings. The storm that brewed was far from normal. What seemed a haphazard display of electrical might was centered on a swirling red blaze between two tall stones. Each time the lighting struck the crimson ball, strange inscriptions carved into the stones began to glow.

She stumbled over something on the ground, gazed at her feet, and bent down to pick up the offending object, then immediately dropped it with a gasp. A human skull. Several others lay nearby, eerily lit by a blood-red sheen. Her gaze tracked the trail of red back to its apex, the strange orb at the center of the stones. Peering into the red light, she noticed an altar. What the fuck? They kill people here? This wasn’t included in my files. The place was downright creepy.