Beyond The Walls (NOW ON AMAZON!!!)

An Architect

Hadley and Kade rushed to the main door and skid to a stop when three gigantic metallic humanoid monsters walked into The Lodge. The two metal giants in the back were carrying large storage boxes that they gently placed on the shiny tiled floor with uncharacteristic grace. The metal giant at the front, which wasn't carrying anything, threw its hands out, threw its head back and bellowed.

"We have passengers! That only took five years!" came the booming voice, reverberating against the walls of The Lodge, even rattling the glass room. It then looked back down at Hadley and Kade, who had their hands pressing against their ears.

"Oops, soz!" The metal giant spoke softer, its hands covering its mouth in an apologetic gesture. Then it tip toed in place excitedly. "Welcome to the family you two!"

"Who are you?" Kade asked.

"Are you human?" Hadley added.

The metallic creature bent forward, pointing one hand to itself.

Then it scoffed.

The shiny metallic form with a rigid helmet face scoffed!

"Am I human?"

It then stood up straight – hands on its side, face suddenly stoic – and then its torso began to split open. A human jumped from a plush, shaped-foam seat inside the machine, flipping in mid-air before landing with spectacular grace.

"I'm definitely human," they said, standing up and smiling wide. They had dishevelled black hair, fair skin, striking grey eyes, high cheekbones, and soft pink lips. They also looked much younger than Kade and Hadley. "How has your stay at The Lodge been? Sorry we're late. The weather's been keeping us away."

They moved forward and shook Hadley's hand and then Kade. "Hello Hadley, hello Kade, I'm Jax. And these two are Screech and Leo."

The torsos of the other two metallic creatures opened to reveal the ones who drove them. Like Jax, they too were just teenagers.

"You're The Architects?" Kade said in disbelief.

"They still call us that?" Jax said with a laugh. "That's cute."

"You're young," Hadley observed.

"We're much older than we look," one of the others, Leo, replied with a smile and a wink. Jax cocked their head at Hadley and narrowed their eyes. "I've seen those blue eyes before. A long, long time ago. But I thought Kitari scorched that experiment."

An arrival interrupted them. This time what entered the room was a human-scale metallic creature. Hadley took a step back. Kade took a step forward, moving in front of Hadley.

"Oh! That's Daisy! No need to be scared of her," Jax said all cheerily. "She's been taking care of you these last couple of weeks."

"Hello Jax." the creature said, its unhuman voice sending chills up Hadley's spine. The creature then looked up at her. "My apologies for the interruption."

The creature, Daisy, had modified her voice to a less frightening timber and tone, as if responding to Hadley's reaction.

"That's alright, dear," Jax said.

"I just wanted to apologize in person for losing you your one trillion dollar bet that you could turn Hadley and Kade into a romantic couple in three weeks." Daisy said as a matter of fact.

Jax went red. "What? I have no idea what you're talking about, Daisy!"

"You made the bet with..." before Daisy could continue, Jax was opening up a panel on its body, pulling Daisy's attention. "What are you doing, Jax?"