Blue Abyss: Timewalker Chronicles, Book 3 (The Timewalker Chronicles) by Michele Callahan Page A

control of her emotions. Terror threatened to immobilize her, but she locked it away. The skill was hard earned by enduring endless nights of horror trapped inside her own mind. For once, her nightmares served her well. She glared at the warrior, a cold and determined rage rose to banish the cold panic from her limbs and restore her to life.
    Stop scaring her. Celestina’s face flushed, but she laid a tentative hand on the man’s bare forearm, as if touching him burned. From the brief flash of pain Mari saw on his face, perhaps it did.
    Only a fool would be unafraid. She is human. She must understand what is at stake.
    She’s more than human. Celestina turned away from the big man and her gaze met Mari’s once more through the glass. For the first time Mari noticed the lines of strain around Celestina’s eyes, her sunken cheeks and wan smiles. For such a gorgeous alien, the woman looked like hell.
    Fascinated, Mari watched Celestina nervously shuffle away from the giant warrior. His face gave nothing away, but his eyes blazed with unnamed emotion as he watched the tiny, obviously exhausted woman move away from him. Completely unaware of his regard, Celestina squared her too thin shoulders. Now, Marina, time to go back.

Chapter Three
    “This is insane.” Mari looked at the otherworldly beauty who stood before her. If she understood things correctly, she was standing in a spaceship. Right now. She’d died, and been pulled through time. She’d been stabbed through the heart, healed, and was about to be sent back to do it all again.
    “I’m sorry, Marina, it’s the only way.” Celestina tilted her head to the side, arms palm up. An entreaty for understanding? Patience? Courage?
    All of the above.
    “Why? We already know where Raiden is. Can’t you send me back two weeks? Or three? Send me to a day and time when the monsters won’t be down there?”
    “No. Viewing the past is not my gift. All I can see is the Triscani guards waiting and watching from inside that cave.” I can’t help you with this, Mari. I’m sorry. You have to face them again. The words appeared inside her mind, along with sharp, shooting pain. It was Celestina and her lovely telepathy. She continued aloud. “I have altered your body to suite our purposes. You will be able to breathe water and heal any biological organism, but especially Raiden. Save him first. His ship crashed somewhere near the cave. I can see the ship in visions, but I can’t pinpoint its exact location. Together, you and Raiden must find it.”
    “Why?”
    “I don’t know, but my instincts tell me that Raiden left something important behind.”
    “Why not wait until they leave the cave? I can wait a couple weeks to go back down there. Raiden’s been in stasis for at least two years. He can last a few more days.” Mari put her hands on her hips and stared down at the hole in the front of her dive suit. That hole was proof that she wasn’t crazy. Black claws had made that hole, on the way to her heart.
    “Because Raiden won’t last that long.” Celestina shook her head. “The traitor on board this ship knows that the cave and his location has been discovered. They may try to move him. It has to be now.”
    Fine. Goldilocks seemed to have an answer to everything. “Okay, assuming I’m crazy enough to go along with this scheme of yours, what am I supposed to do about the monsters down there? They are still down there, right? Waiting to kill me again? I need a light saber or a laser gun, something that will kill them. And I’ll need a dive tank for Raiden, a way to get him to the surface. Unless he can breathe water, too?”
    “No, he can’t. Not yet. You will have to take a tank down with you. As for killing the creatures.” Celestina held out her hand, palm-down, empty. “The gift I give you now must remain our secret. You can never tell anyone how you acquired it. If you do, I will be hunted and killed. Do you understand?”
    “Yes. I promise.” The vow