Chapter 17 - Miles
The tech building is close to the security headquarters, given how closely integrated they are.
Walking through the revolving glass doors, I head over to reception.
“Is Mira in?” I ask the young girl behind the counter.
“Yes, sir, she’s in her lab,” she smiles.
“Thanks,” I say, walking towards the elevator. The doors are already open, so I climb inside and press the button for the fifth floor.
Whenever I am in one of our buildings, I muse over the contrast between our comfortable, simple cottage homes and these state-of-the-art spaces. We thrive on advancing technology, but prefer to live in peaceful, quiet closeness with nature when it comes to our personal space.
I love the smell of the logs in my home's walls and floors. I love the crackle of the large stone fireplace with rough edges.
The doors chime and slide open, and I step out into the hallway of the fifth floor. Turning left, I walk towards my sister’s lab. People nod and greet me when I walk past, and I smile in return.
Mira’s door is slightly ajar, and I knock one light tap before I push it all the way open.
“Hey,” I say as I step inside.
“Hi,” she says, looking up from her desk. In front of her is a long, thin glass tube over a Bunsen burner. It’s filled with pink liquid that looks very similar to Kelsey’s magic.
“What is that?” I ask, immediate fascinated.
“This...” she carefully picks it up and holds it for me to see, squinting with intense focus, “this is what I was telling you about.”
“You took Kelsey’s blood?”
“Sort of. I took her blood to isolate her DNA so I could try and find the atoms inside her that generate her magic. Once I managed to separate those into a usable monomer, I was able to replicate it using synthetic trace elements, and I created a chain…this…the polymer,” she explains.
“How many times have I told you to speak English when you’re explaining things to me,” I laugh, shaking my head.
Mira giggles. “Sorry. Uh…basically this is super exciting. I made a synthetic version of the thing that gives her power,” she tries again.
“Ok, that makes much more sense to me. And in what way do you plan to use this?” I ask.
“The applications are infinite at this point. My first trial is going to be making some kind of jewelry or a cuff of something that she can wear that will help enhance the strength of her magic by allowing her to narrow the focus of its energy. Sort of like a laser instead of a wide-beamed light?”
“Yes, you’re still making sense,” I laugh.
“Ok, then, another would be some kind of shield she could use. Something she could manipulate to deploy, for example, over a group of our warriors should they be under attack.”
“Wow,” I mutter in awe. “You know, your brain is magic. You said the other day you wished you would wake up one day and realize you have magic in you…But you do. You’ve always had it.
Look at this. This is crazy stuff. I don’t know a single person who could create this kind of thing,” I tell her, truly inspired.
Her smile is sweet and shy. “Thanks,” she mutters, carefully putting the glass tube down.
“So, can I report anything to the elders yet, or do you still want to test this?” I ask.
“Oh, the synthesized version is stable. This is almost perfected. You can tell the elders about this and potential applications. Don’t get them too excited about specifics yet because they tend to latch on and sulk when they don’t get exactly what I suggested as an idea.”
I chuckle. “Very true. Those old farts need to learn to loosen up and go with the flow a bit more.”
Mira leans over and writes some symbols that look to me like hieroglyphics in her notepad. I take a step back and quietly let myself out of her lab, realizing she’s already deep in focus again, and if I say anything, I’ll just be disturbing her.
Wow, I’m really impressed with that. Kelsey is going to be super excited to try it out.
***
As I step out of the tech building, I spot Kelsey in full uniform, obviously on patrol through the compound. A mischievous grin spreads over my face, and my body begins to hum with the thrill of the hunt.
My training kicks in as I tiptoe. Like a silent breeze, I drift over the ground, following her at a safe distance.
She’s a brilliant tracker. A brilliant scout.
She’s damn good when it comes to defensive training.
But what will happen if I sneak up on her and ‘attack’ her.
Will she be able to defend herself? I’m chuckling inwardly as she turns a corner behind the building and walks along a quiet path through some scattered, manicured trees.
Something triggers her, and she pauses. She stands dead still, and I realize she must have sensed me or something. Very few people are able to do that, though. My Black Ops training makes me practically invisible when I don’t want to be seen.
Deciding it’s now or never, I strike.
My back legs flex as I leap forward. She spins and ducks low, kicking her leg out to try and swipe-kick me off my feet. I jump up and land almost on top of her.
But I can’t move.
It’s like my feet are glued to the ground.
Unfortunately, the momentum of where I thought I was going is still in force, and I topple over, landing on my knees in front of. She stands and grins down at me.
“Nice try,” she muses.
I look at my feet, wondering what the hell is going on, and there are thin pink snakes of smoke, like vines, tying them to the earth.
“Mm,” I scoff, impressed for the second time today. “How did you hear me?” I ask.
“Oh, please, you walk like a herd of elephants,” she mocks me, smirking.
“Well, it was a test. I wanted to see if your magic skills were good enough for defense,” I grin. “You passed,” I say as though I was the one in control here.
“Pfft,” she laughs. She set her hands on her hips. “I don’t need magic to block your attack. Don’t forget I was training in security long before I discovered I was a witch.”
Kelsey spins away from me and starts walking down the path to continue her patrol.
“Hey,” I shout after her, laughing. “Let me up!”
She waves her hand in the air as she glances over her shoulder at me with a cheeky smile on her beautiful lips. Her fingers dance elegantly in the air, pulling magic from it. The pink snakes of smoke fade from my feet, and I can move again.
Standing up, I dust my pants off and look around, hoping no one saw that, then laugh at myself. She definitely won that round. But she won’t win the next one.
“Kelsey!” I shout, and she pauses.
“Yes?”
“Come to dinner with me tonight?” I shout.
“I only finish after seven?”
“Ok, meet me at the Irish pub in town. We’ll get blue cheese steaks and have a beer?”
“See you there,” she smiles and turns away again. I watch her hips sway a little extra as though she’s teasing me on purpose.
My heart is always happy when she smiles.
And lately, her smile has been more genuine, more often than it’s been a cover-up of what she’s really feeling. Ever since she discovered she has magic in her, her confidence has bloomed.
I think the Frustration Field helped more than I expected it to.
I’m really happy for her.
I’ll keep doing whatever I can to make her life easier.
At seven, I’m sitting at the bar under the green glow of a weird little leprechaun figure that someone made into a light. The entire bar is themed in Irish green with clover string lights and green tartan carpets spread over old wooden floors.
The place has character. And the beer is better here than anywhere else in town.
Margie and Patrick have owned this place since before I was born.
They inherited it from a family who left town in a bit of a rush for unknown reasons.
I think they say that story to try to make the place sound mysterious.
They are shifters from another pack in the area and are old enough to have retired a decade ago.
But they are both amazing people and never fail to make me smile when I come to say hi and ask for a pint.
“Miles, you old bugger, we haven’t seen you here in ages,” Patrick says, slapping me on the back.
“Hey, old man, it’s good to see you, too,” I laugh. “Are the beers as cold as they should be?” I tease him.
“You damn well know it,” he scoffs. “Can I get you a pint?”
“Yes, please, I’ve been dreaming about it all day,” I tell him, sliding onto a tall seat at the bar.
He tugs at the red lever on a great big stainless-steel machine and frothy lager pours from a spout into a tall glass.
He slides it over the wooden counter towards me. “Enjoy,” he says, then tosses a tartar dishcloth over his shoulders and wanders off to help someone else. He was never a man of many words. Margie is the talker in their marriage.
I sip the ice-cold pint and savor the cold rush of liquid as it pours down my throat.
“Miles?” A familiar voice calls my name, and I turn in my seat to find Alice standing in front of me.
“Alice,” I smile at one of my past hookups. It wasn’t anything serious. Just a fun fling until she married one of the guys from her pack, and I moved away to join Black Ops. “You are looking really good,” I say, friendly and cheerful.
She reaches out and gently brushes her fingertips over my biceps. “So are you,” she purrs seductively, and I laugh, shaking my head.
“Hey now, I don’t want your husband springing out of the shadows and knocking me out,” I joke, pulling my arm away.
She giggles and shakes her head. “I got a divorce a few months ago. I don’t know what I ever saw in him. But you…I’ve really missed you,” she says, and her eyes glimmer with possibilities.
She slides onto the seat next to mine but leans forward to shift closer to me, and her long dark hair falls over her shoulder. Alice talks about how things have been, but she constantly brushes her hands against my leg or my arm as she speaks. “What are you doing later?” She asks.
“Listen, Alice, I’m not interested. Not at all. I’m married.”
It doesn’t matter what my relationship with Kelsey is; I would never cheat on her. It’s a moral failure, according to me. It’s not something I’d ever be ok with.
I’m polite, but while I’m catching up, I’m musing over it in my head.
I used to think Alice was the sexiest woman on the planet.
She really is beautiful. But looking at her, I realize there isn’t even a flicker of attraction, and it’s not because she’s changed.
She actually looks exactly the same. It’s because I’ve changed.
I met Kelsey. And honestly, there isn’t a girl on the planet who could come close in comparison to her.
Even if my morals were shadier and I had no problem with cheating, it still wouldn’t happen because the only woman who is capable of turning me on is Kelsey.
The thought amuses me, and I smile.
Alice takes my smile the wrong way and gushes a little, moving closer.