Read Online Terra Nova (The Variant Conspiracy Book 3) by Christine Hart - Free Book Online

I blinked and blinked, fighting tears. I swallowed and took a deep breath. Gemma was just at Chatham Park, not lost to me forever. To get her back and to stop The Compendium from launching Terra Nova, I had to be stronger than this.
    “I’m going to bring Josh in for a second opinion. Sit tight.” Melissa opened a portal and popped through it.
    The gateway stayed open until a tall dark stranger in a black trench coat stepped out followed by Melissa.
    “You both stay here until I’ve done a full sweep of the entire office,” said Josh, dressed as though he’d just left The Matrix. His unchanged voice gave him away.
    Josh explored the far hallway as Melissa had done. I had no interest in their empty offices anyway. Only my sister and the virus mattered to me.
    “He’s not going to find anything, but he is the expert,” said Melissa.
    “I vote we stick to the plan and go straight to Chatham Park. We’ve still got plenty of darts for the tranquilizer guns. If we can’t convince them we’re Rose and Sage, we can zap Gemma, grab her, and fight our way out.” My fake wings flapped as my animated arms flailed.
    “Remember what I told you about putting Compendium defeat before recovering your sister?”
    “I know, I know. Just let me hope, will you?”
    “I can’t say that I know how you feel. I don’t have any brothers or sisters. But I can empathize all the same.” Melissa’s head snapped to the side as footsteps came down the hall.
    “I’ll clear the rest of the space, but I’m pretty sure you’re right,” said Josh. He took a step toward the sitting room and froze as we all heard a chime and a door close in the distance. A metal on metal sound followed. I couldn’t place what it was.
    “Was that the front door?” Melissa clamped her hand over her mouth.
    “Hide!” I blurted to Josh.
    He darted back around the corner of the hallway past the kitchen.
    Footsteps thudded along the floor and as we stood frozen to the ground in fear, Ralph and Adelaide appeared in the kitchen doorway. A huge green humanoid reptile and half supermodel-half octopus woman glowered at me. I had forgotten how intimidating they were as a pair.
    “What are you two doing here?” Instinctively, Adelaide lifted several tentacles in surprise. She used a tentacle to push a glossy ringlet of hair out of her beautiful brown face.
    “We . . . uh . . .,” I said desperately trying to think of an explanation, or something, anything, that would convince Adelaide I was Rose.
    “We thought there was more clean-up to do today,” said Melissa, doing her best to act natural as Sage.
    “Tatiana is ready to tear you both in half.” Ralph’s words dripped with irritation, but his reptile face remained expressionless. A crisp new Union Jack shirt and dark denim pants would have screamed tourist on anyone other than Ralph.
    “Doesn’t that tell you what kind of a woman she is?” I blurted angrily, still sizing up the reptile man formerly my ally.
    Adelaide’s eyes narrowed and she shuffled forward to examine me.
    “Does it matter what kind of person she is, as long as she gets the job done?” Ralph came closer.
    “Since when did you start caring about Tatiana’s personality?” Adelaide cocked her head to the side.
    “I don’t care. I just want this all to go smoothly, with Terra Nova I mean.” I heard the anxiety rippling through my voice.
    “Well then, you better not pull stunts like not showing up for work. You know you’re supposed to be at Chatham already. You were there at the last staff meeting.” Adelaide didn’t take her eyes off either of us.
    “Nobody knew where you both were. It signified bad news for a while there. I’ll text Casey and let him know we found you and that you didn’t make the trip last night,” said Ralph.
    I watched with wonder as Ralph operated his smart phone with clawed fingers. I hadn’t known that he was capable of the dexterity required. His fingertips, such as they were, moved deftly on