Page 53 of Eclipse Bound
She walked confidently in the direction indicated, feeling the scientist's eyes on her back. The moment she passed through the doors, she broke into a run. That bluff wouldn't hold for long. The scientist would check, find no record of her authorization, and sound the alarm.
The elevator required a key card, but Eclipse was ahead of her again. The stone showed her an image of a maintenance override panel hidden behind a decorative wall plate. Rowan found it exactly where indicated, used Poppy's multi-tool to pry open the panel, and followed the sequence of button presses Eclipse showed her.
The elevator hummed to life, descending to sublevel three without requiring any credentials. As the doors opened, the stone pulsed so strongly it seemed to be trying to pull itself from around her neck.
"Close now. Hurry. They know."
An alarm began to wail somewhere above her. Her bluff had been called.
Rowan sprinted down the corridor, following the stone's pull. The hallway opened into a large laboratory filled with complex equipment. And there, in the center of the room, was a glowing cylindrical containment unit.
Inside, a swirling mass of purple-blue energy pulsed weakly.
"Eclipse!" Rowan rushed to the cylinder, pressing her hands against its glass-like surface. "I'm here. I'm going to get you out."
The twilight essence within shifted, forming a semblance of Eclipse's face against the barrier where her hands touched.
"Control panel. Hurry."
Rowan spotted the control console nearby. It was complex, with dozens of switches and readouts monitoring Eclipse's containment.
"Which buttons?" she asked desperately, hearing footsteps approaching.
The stone guided her hands to specific controls. None of them meant anything to her.
“Um, power regulators, containment field generator, emergency release protocols.” She hesitated. “Eclipse, this is going to trigger every alarm they have.”
"Already detected. No choice."
"Right." Rowan took a deep breath and began the shutdown sequence that Eclipse showed her. Warning messages flashed across the screens. Automated voices announced containment field failures.
The door to the lab burst open. James Petersen stood there, flanked by security personnel with weapons drawn.
"Step away from the controls, Ms. Clark," he ordered.
"Sorry, Jimmy. Not happening." Rowan slammed her hand down on the emergency release, then grabbed the stone from around her neck and pressed it against the containment field.
The effect was instantaneous and spectacular. The stone shattered in her hand, releasing a burst of twilight energy that merged with Eclipse's essence. The containment field collapsed in a shower of electrical discharges. Alarms screamed from every corner of the lab.
Eclipse's twilight form surged outward, expanding rapidly to fill the room. The security personnel fired their weapons, but the energy pulses passed harmlessly through his diffused essence.
Petersen backed toward the door. "Containment breach! Seal the facility!"
Eclipse's twilight energy coalesced around Rowan, enveloping her in a protective cocoon of purple-blue light. His voice resonated within her mind, clearer than ever.
"Hold onto me."
Rowan felt herself lifting off the ground as Eclipse's energy field intensified around her. The sensation was familiar. It was the same resonance they'd shared during their night together, but magnified a hundredfold. Her body tingled as her biorhythms synchronized with his energy patterns.
"What are you doing?" she gasped.
"Trust me."
She did. Wholeheartedly.
Eclipse's twilight form surged toward the ceiling, taking her with him. Security personnel continued firing uselessly as Eclipse's essence simply flowed around the energy pulses.
"The ventilation system," Petersen shouted. "Seal the ducts!"
