Helix by Viola Grace Read Free Book Online

concern. She pressed her hands against the wall of the tank and pulled herself up and out with a graceful move.
    She coughed up the liquid delicately and smiled as she flexed her hands. This time, she felt strong.
    You should be strong. We are finally one. I am sorry for the pain, but it was necessary for insertion of my being into your flesh.
    Harmony blinked. “Nero, did you hear something?”
    He was on the ladder and extending his hand to her. “Nothing aside from your coughing. Why, are you hearing more singing?”
    She blinked rapidly to clear her vision. “No. There are words in my mind. There is more than just me in here.”
    He cocked his head. “I don’t understand.”
    She took his hand and her voice said, “ She is speaking of me, Nero. ”
    He gripped her hand tightly, and his eyes stared into hers. “That isn’t possible.”
    Harmony had to watch while her body stepped down to the observation floor and calmly wrapped itself in a robe. “It is possible. You know it better than most, dark candidate. ”
    He flinched. “How can you know that?”
    “ Your lover was the light candidate. Now, she is my Avatar. I finally have a voice and it is such a great relief. You should join with him. He has been waiting for you all these centuries, and you have avoided him over and over again. ”
    Nero frowned. “Is Harmony still in there?”
    “ Of course she is! She is merely unaware of how she got into your tanks again. You might want to tell her that two years have not transpired. She is worried. ”
    The light receded and Harmony surged forward. “What is going on?”
    Nero coaxed her onto an exam bed and ran his scans. “You were only mildly scorched. Some light burns on the surface of your skin, but it was all over you, and the easiest way for even healing was the tank. You have been in there for a week.”
    The alarmed chirps and twitters of the scanners got her attention, and she sat up on her elbows. “Let me guess. Something is wrong.”
    “Something like that. Something has been added to you.” He blinked and ran some checks. “Something with the same energy signature as the rift.”
    She blinked and opened her mouth to say something, but her voice was once again not her own.

Chapter Seven
     
     
    “ I have been waiting for a very long time, as you measure it, for a match to my frequency. Harmony is more than just a name; she is the ideal candidate as host for a portion of my consciousness. I am the star caught in the tangle above you. ”
    Nero asked, “Do you have a name?”
    “ No. I have never bothered with names. I am the light half of the rift. All who exist here do so through me. ” She inclined her head imperiously.
    Harmony sat back in her own mind and watched with curiosity. Perhaps now she would find out what the hell was going on. It seemed Nero was of the same inclination.
    “Why are we here? What is this place?” He asked it politely, but Harmony saw him flick on a recorder.
    “ This place is an accident. Aeons ago, a star began to burn out, and in its panic, it cried for help. I was a rogue star, and I made my way to it with all speed. When I arrived, it was too late. The star I sought to comfort in its last moments had begun to implode. Imagine my surprise when I was hauled toward its collapsing shape. ”
    Harmony was surprised. It seemed the rift wasn’t one thing at all. It was two.
    “ A planet rocketed toward us and slipped in a moment before I collided with the black hole that had just been born. Together, we continue my riotous path through the systems and appear and disappear at random. When the first people fell through, the planet woke and tried to heal them. It was only partially successful, and it used all of its energies to create the living conditions necessary for your kind to live. After a time, researchers came in search of us and found us. They fell through and developed the technology that brings the fallen back into the physical world with bodies that