Free Aetherial Annihilation by John Corwin

wonder what kind of morphs they'll be."
    "We have a few years before discovering that." Elyssa stifled a yawn. "I'm ready for bed too. Goodnight."
    "Goodnight, dear." Bella vanished into the kitchen.
    Shelton clapped me on the back and elicited a groan from me. My muscles were still plenty sore.
    "Oops, sorry," he said. "It's good to see you again, man. Got a second?"
    I nodded.
    "I'll be upstairs in our room," Elyssa said with a curious glance at Shelton. She walked upstairs and left the two of us alone.
    Shelton motioned for me to follow him and went down the hall and into the war room, a large place with only a conference table and chairs. He closed the door behind us and produced a small box. "I'm gonna pop the question to Bella." He opened it to reveal a bright opal ring.
    I slapped him on the shoulder. "Congrats, dude! When do you plan to do it?"
    "Well, I've been looking for the proper romantic moment, you know?" He rubbed the back of his neck. "I want it to be memorable, but I'm not that great with this stuff."
    "I'm sure she'll be happy no matter how you do it." I tried to think of something or somewhere he could do it, even falling back on my favorite movie of all time, The Princess Bride . Taking her out for a ride on white horses didn't seem to be Shelton's style, and I came up short on ideas. "Um, maybe take her for a carpet ride and have a picnic somewhere nice."
    He chuckled. "Yeah, that could work, but it might be kinda cliché." He shrugged. "Maybe you could ask Elyssa for some advice."
    "Sure." I looked at the ring. "Sometimes, simple is best, though. Don't go overboard."
    He ran a finger over the opal. "Yeah, I definitely don't want to mess this up."
    "I don't think it's possible. You know she'll say yes." Another yawn yanked open my mouth. "Let's sleep on it."
    Shelton chuckled. "All right. See you in the morning."
    I went upstairs and considered taking a shower, but was just too damned tired.
    "What did Shelton want?" Elyssa lay atop the covers in only panties and a bra.
    My mouth watered at the sight. "Huh?" My mind finally took in her question. "He wants to ask Bella to marry him."
    She popped to her knees. "Really? That's great!" Elyssa clapped her hands like a little girl. "Does he have something romantic planned?"
    "That's what he asked me for advice about." I shrugged. "I couldn't think of anything."
    "Hmm." She tapped a finger on her chin. "I'll help you come up with something. In the meantime, I just want to cuddle and go to sleep."
    I stripped down to my boxer briefs. "I am totally down for cuddling." I crawled into bed next to her and ran a hand up her smooth, muscular leg. "And maybe a little something more."
    She giggled. "Sure you're up for it?"
    I kissed her. "For you, always."
    My phone rang. I groaned, but knew any call coming through couldn't be ignored. I didn't recognize the number but answered anyway. When I moved the phone from the nightstand, the only remaining signal bar vanished. I quickly moved it back in place and put it on speakerphone.
    "Hello?" The voice was barely audible through the static on the line.
    "Who is this?" I asked.
    There was a long silence, and I feared I'd lost the call.
    "Justin, hello? It's Nightliss." She repeated herself once more.
    "Nightliss?" I jerked upright and sat on the edge of the bed. "Where are you?"
    "Oh, thank goodness you can hear me." More static covered what she said next. "…don't know how but I will."
    "Repeat what you said."
    "I'm in India…finding way home…what's happened to the magic?"
    I adjusted the phone a tiny bit to the left. It was amazing I had a nom cell signal so far underground, but it seemed to be limited to this one spot. The signal didn't grow any stronger when I moved it.
    "Have you seen the meteors? They're sapping the magic." I leaned over the phone, hoping she was still there.
    "I thought so," she said, her voice much clearer. "One of them caused chaos in the village I was visiting. There were men—awful men who