Free After Impact: After Impact Trilogy, Book 1 by Nicole Stark

am going to message for the guards. They will take care of everything.”
    “But Ilium! What if the guards are part of it?”
    Ilium shook his head. “I doubt that.”
    “But what if they are?”
    Ilium sat and thought for a minute.
    “I can’t think of anything else to do right now. But the guards were not chosen for their intelligence. They were chosen for their brute strength. Whoever orchestrated this possessed intelligence.”
    Avalon nodded and took a deep breath.
    Tears rolled down her face. “What is going on Ilium?”
    Ilium wrapped his arms around her and held on tight. He patted her hair as he whispered, “I don’t know. But we’re going to get through this ok?”
    Is this the danger Father somehow tried to warn me about?
    Ilium dialed the guards using videomessage on his smartwatch.
    “Yes, guards? I need you to come to Avalon’s dorm, Room 58—”
    The guard didn’t see the rest of the videomessage, because they were plunged into total darkness.

Chapter Seven
     
     
    Avalon let out a bloodcurdling scream while Ilium rushed to cover her mouth in the darkness.
    “Calm down! I am sure it is something electrical. The generator has to kick on in exactly sixty seconds. You know this.”
    Avalon stopped screaming and became limp against Ilium’s body.
    “It’s going to be ok. As soon as the lights return, I am going to finish the videomessage,” Ilium asked.
    Avalon nodded her head.
    Ilium continued to hold Avalon close to him in the dark. Ilium’s chest rose and fell against her skin, and as she listened to his heartbeat in the dark, it comforted her. A few seconds later the lights flickered back to life, just as Ilium said they would.
    “Told you,” he said. Avalon looked into his empathetic eyes and tried to concentrate on his soothing voice.
    “Call them now!” she yelled.
    Ilium dialed them.
    “Guards. Yes. There is a situation in room 589 and we need you to come right away.”
    “What is it?” the guards asked.
    “I am going to show you. Brace yourselves,” Ilium said as he moved towards Avalon’s pod.
    Avalon gasped.
    The sheets were perfectly folded and tucked under with no sign a human body ever touched it. For a second, Ilium and Avalon both stood frozen, too surprised to move or speak. Avalon’s body turned numb.
    “I don’t see anything. Is this some kind of sick prank?” the guard said. “This is a waste of resources, which counts as two strikes.”
    “No sir,” Ilium answered, an expression of shock and horror still etched across his face. “This was not a prank. We are very sorry. It may be a side effect of the sleeping pills I gave Avalon.”
    Smooth move, Ilium.
    “Don’t let it happen again or we will report it to the Council,” the guard said before signing off.
    Avalon and Ilium sat and stared at each other in silence. Ilium’s face was a ghastly pale shade. Avalon’s skin felt cold and damp. Both of them were thinking the same thing.
    “What the frack just happened?” Avalon whispered.
    “I don’t know,” Ilium said as he chewed on his lower lip. She could see the cogs of the wheel turning in his mind.
    “I mean we saw that right? That wasn’t just something we hallucinated together?”
    “We definitely saw a dead girl’s body disappear,” Ilium answered.
    Avalon and Ilium stood together in silence, taking in the sound of every breath between them. Then Ilium spoke. “Somebody took her when the lights were off.”
    “But, I didn’t hear anyone enter the room. Did you?”
    “No.”
    “Is there a trapdoor here?” Avalon asked, feeling around the smooth surface of the ceiling and floor, not finding any hollow or uneven surface. Avalon’s mind continues to run wild, struggling to figure out how a body could just appear and then disappear, when Ilium grabbed her arm and pulled her closer to him.
    “I don’t feel safe sleeping here,” Avalon admitted struggling to hold tears in.
    The truth was she never truly felt safe. While she enjoyed the