Chapter Four #2
“No, it is ten percent of our population that can open gateways. Just like it is only one percent of your population to gain enhancements.” He smiled. “They just appear to be concentrating in specific places, like the city and here.”
“Oh, delightful.” Mia smiled.
“Miss, why are you not with a pack?”
“I was needed to take over the company, so my family applied to have me released from the Omega Centre, and with my cooperation, I was neutralized so that I was no longer at the mercy of my emotions and my body. I was twenty when I learned of Meeda’s origins.”
Mia smiled. “That was an interesting day. Out of nowhere, I had a little sister, and she had such a serious little face.”
He asked, “What happened to your parents?”
“They were each over eighty by the time my mother passed on, and my father went with her. I was born astonishingly late in their lives, but they both looked young when they died. It caused a lot of consternation when their obituaries were posted. They still looked like they were in their early fifties.”
She smiled. “They were probably older than eighty, but that is all they would tell me.”
Akervel nodded. “It’s good to know that our descendants will have longer lives.”
“I was more surprised at their willingness to delay having children. If they hadn’t waited so long, I might have had more siblings.” She smiled. “I am delighted with Meeda, but if we had a brother to bully, that would have been good, too.”
Meeda chuckled. “I am good with one sister. I was always going to be an only child.”
Mia smiled. “I am glad I figured it out.”
“I am happy as well. I just wish that I had been able to get more education before you took me over.”
“You did fine. You are an excellent people person, considering what you have been through.” Mia kissed her damp head.
Meeda smiled. “I have good friends. Oh, Faline is here. I think she and her team won the race today.”
“Really? Wait. Is she the kitten?”
“She was. Now she’s just a person who purrs and is Moira’s assistant.”
“The new dressmaker?”
“Yes. She’s really good, and I am thinking about getting one of her dresses for your next birthday. Ahheel is selling them directly at her shop, but if you need something specific, she sends you to Moira.”
“I love that you tell me what I am getting.”
“Well, you have a collection of cuffs, yours and the others from guys you wore out,” Meeda smirked.
Mia sighed. “Yeah, good times.”
Meeda grinned. “Loud times.”
Mia sighed. “Yeah.”
Akervel laughed. “You have lived together for a while?”
Meeda nodded. “We visited when I was a child, but when the pirates came for us, I called her before my parents shoved me below decks. I heard the screams and the guns, then the shadows, and when I came back, I had rage and was still in a sinking vessel. That is where the tail appeared, and I needed it because they were there and watching. I got to an outside wall and clawed at it until the metal peeled away. I went through layers and, eventually, had a hole I could get out of. After that, I swam as fast as I could until I passed out, with my bio tracker blazing.”
Mia sighed. “We found her out in a place she had no business being, floating and holding one of those cushions from their yacht’s benches. She was badly sunburned, but she was alive. When we told her her parents were dead, she didn’t cry, just looked at me with hollow eyes.”
Mia touched her hair and said, “She said, ‘You are everything now.’ I cried for her, and it wasn’t until years later that she told me what had happened on that ship and in the shadows. I threw up for hours.”
Meeda nodded. “Appropriate response.”
Akervel said, “You gave me broad strokes.”
“It will stay that way. I survived it, and I escaped it. That is all you need to know.” She patted his hand. “My body is fit and normal except for my other differences.”
He grinned. “I like your other differences.”
She snorted and nibbled at some of the snacks Mia had brought. “Thanks for this, Mia.”
“No problem. Thanks for surviving an attack while you were chasing tail.”
Meeda paused and hit her sister in the forehead with a cherry tomato. “Accurate but still crass.”
Mia grinned. “The benefit of age.”
Meeda nodded. “So any more ideas for the sportswear ad campaign?”
“Well, we had our gear represented at the alpha-beta team event. Those were some seriously customized outfits and swimwear.”
She frowned. “I am gonna get a tablet.”
“You stay and eat. We can go over this outfit by outfit.” Mia got up and walked into the house.
Akervel said, “You are exhausted. You need to rest.”
“If I can calm my mind a bit, it will be easier to rest. We are very excited about the new sportswear line. It’s cute, functional, and what everyone was wearing today.”
By the time Mia returned, Meeda had gotten more of the snack down and a lot more liquid.
She opened the design files and looked at them. She tapped her lips and then smiled, sending a message to Turel. She could walk the line between functional and fantasy.
Turel sent her a happy smile. She asked for ten minutes to get a basic silhouette.
Meeda grinned. “I am having a thought, but we need to steal a day from Xida.”
Mia asked, “Are you sure we need Xida?”
“I need someone comfortable in costume.”
“Split the video, have one character watching and trying to swim closer to the folks doing the sport. Not to be insensitive, but maybe a classic pirate ship.”
Meeda’s eyes went wide. “Got it, got it. And I think I know someone who can help us. I have seen several wrecks around the islands.”
Mia asked, “Who?”
“She’s an altered beta, but she’s very strong. She’s also shy, but she has a voice that can melt your soul or get you cheering. Serin can probably get in touch with her more easily than I can.”
“Why?” Mia frowned.
“She is a member of the book club.”
“Oh. Right. What’s her name?”
“Harper Riley, or Riley Harper. I can’t remember.” Meeda frowned. “Did you want to ask Serin, or shall I?”
Mia smiled. “I will ask her. We are meeting in the night market tonight.”
Meeda looked around at the dim lighting and the moon and starlight on the ocean. “You will miss... whatever you are going to catch.”
Mia grinned. “I always catch what I bait for. You work on your marketing campaign, and I will go and touch the flesh.”
“Geez. Hasn’t menopause killed that yet?”