Chapter 118. Old Friends, New Questions
The doorbell pulled me out of a state of deep concentration, abruptly cutting short the grueling exercises I had been doing to expand my S-Power reserve.
My schedule had become so packed lately that the chance to disconnect from reality for even a full day came along almost never. So the first chance I got, I simply locked myself in my room and, half asleep, began burning through and replenishing energy at a frantic pace.
I opened the interface and checked the result.
S-Power: 872 / 872
Not much. The higher you push past your ceiling, the harder every additional step becomes. At this point, squeezing even a measly ten extra points out of my body took an entire week of nonstop work. I could not even entertain the fantasy of ever matching Mary's gigantic, almost anomalous numbers. And the girl was still growing and training hard. In a couple of years, she would become the Awakened with the largest reserve on the planet.
Nature had dealt me a losing hand. My basic ability required practically no energy expenditure, and my full Awakening had come far too late. My starting S-Power reserve had been pitifully small.
The doorbell rang again, more insistently this time, finally forcing me back to reality. I logged my current progress in the app on my smartphone so I could estimate how long the next increase would take: a very long time. I glanced at the clock. Exactly six in the evening. Then I took a quick look at myself in the mirror above the dresser. Fourteen hours of continuous exertion had left no trace on my face. No sweat, no flushed skin, no disheveled hair, none of the familiar gray cast of exhaustion. Physically, I looked better than I had in my prime, when I used to work out regularly at a gym. Evolution had ruthlessly stripped away all the deadweight genes responsible for excessive sweating, strong body odor, and muscle fatigue.
I walked to the door and looked through the peephole.
Stephanie stood in the hallway. As always, she was dressed to the nines: a studded leather biker jacket, tight leather pants, and worn-out sneakers. A couple of months ago, I might have considered the outfit edgy and stylish. But that was before I met Selina, a woman with an impeccable, instinctive sense of style who somehow managed to change her look every day without ever looking anything less than flawless.
Compared to her, Stephanie looked derivative, even a little generic.
The only new detail was her hair. The faded bubblegum pink had been replaced by a deep sea-green.
I unlocked the door and pulled it open. Another visitor from my past was standing behind her: Lucky. Usually, the friendly golden Labrador would erupt into delighted barking whenever he saw me, wagging his tail so hard his ribs practically rattled, but now he stiffened and gave a low growl. Apparently, my new anatomy and altered scent were confusing him. The dog simply did not recognize his former friend.
“Lucky, sit!” Stephanie barked, giving the leash a sharp tug and immediately bringing the dog under control. Then she looked up, studied my face, and blinked in surprise several times. “Tom? Is that you?”
“Yeah. Have I changed that much?”
“Yeah and no.” She narrowed her eyes slightly as she looked me up and down. “You... got bigger, I guess. Do you practically live at the gym now? And that military buzz cut... You look like a guy who just got back from a war zone.”
“I'll take that as a compliment,” I replied without much emotion. “Are you here for Maggie?”
“Yeah. We usually walk Lucky together in the evenings. Can you call her?”
“Maggie's busy right now,” I said evenly. Seeing her eyebrows rise in confusion, I decided to elaborate. “She's running an errand for me. She won't be free until tomorrow. Want me to give her a message?”
“Wow, a personal assignment... Sounds dangerous.” Stephanie tugged on the leash, preparing to head for the stairs, but stopped after half a step, apparently reconsidering. “Hey, Tom... How about you come with me, like old times? We can practice our Spanish, grab a couple of hot dogs in the park. What do you say?”
I had already started formulating a dry, neutral refusal in my head. Thanks to the direct reconfiguration of my neural pathways, my Spanish had long since become flawless and no longer required practice. There was plenty of fast food at home anyway. Maggie had filled the freezer with frozen meals. As for Stephanie herself... She held absolutely no interest for me, only a mild irritation at her persistence. Spending time with her instead of training seemed irrational.
“Besides, the park's kind of sketchy after dark these days,” she added while my internal processor weighed the arguments. “With you around, no street punk is going to come anywhere near us.”
“Are you flirting with me?”
“God, Tom, relax!” She rolled her eyes. “I just don't want to wander around dark alleys by myself.”
I ran the situation through a quick analysis again. The walk would not take long. Lucky usually took about thirty minutes to do his business. Besides, it was a perfect opportunity to find out, through casual conversation, what the hell this girl was doing hanging around my mother so much.
“I'll just grab a jacket,” I replied.
Stephanie gave me a slightly strained smile.
Los Angeles at night greeted us with a refreshing, damp chill. The rain from earlier that day had not yet dried, and the pavement and earth smelled of wetness, creating the illusion that autumn had suddenly arrived.
We switched to Spanish, returning to our usual language-practice routine. We simply walked at an easy pace along the path while Lucky happily nosed through the wet grass by the roadside.
“So you're back in Los Angeles?” she asked casually, but I caught the implication in her tone.
“Just passing through. Literally only for a couple of days. I'm stationed somewhere else now, and that's where I'm based.” I clasped my hands behind my back. “By the way, you can have my room. I moved all my personal belongings out.”
“Seriously? No way!” She gave a little hop and raised her fist in triumph. “So you're never coming back here at all?”
“Why wouldn't I? I'll visit from time to time, but as a guest. The apartment belongs to Maggie, lock, stock, and barrel.”
“Damn, you really are handing out real estate to distant relatives... Where do they pay you so well that you can just throw apartments around like that?”
“We've been over this.” I gave her a cold, reproachful look. “I'm not allowed to discuss the details of my service with civilians.”
“Oh, right, right. State secrets, sealed lips, all that.” Stephanie waved a hand dismissively. “By the way, where's your mom? Did she move to the base with you or something?”
I had been mentally preparing for this question for a long time.
“She died.”
“What?” Stephanie stopped dead, staring at me with her mouth hanging open. “How did it happen?”
“The way old people die.” I kept walking at an even pace, my face perfectly calm. “Fortunately, it was quick and painless.”
“Damn... I'm really sorry, Tom.”
“Thanks. But let's drop it. Tell me about you and Maggie instead. You two seem pretty inseparable.”
“What do you mean?” She looked confused for a second, then her eyes widened. “Wait, do you think we're lesbians?! Tom, you've clearly been watching too much porn!”
“I didn't say that.” The corner of my mouth lifted slightly. “I just asked how you met.”
“We're just friends.” She blushed slightly. “We hang out on weekends and walk Lucky together in the evenings so neither of us has to go alone.”
“And you decided to move in together.”
“Only temporarily, so we can save some money! God, Tom, have you seriously never lived with anyone in a dorm or a rental?”
“Actually, no. I always chose schools and jobs close to home so I wouldn't have to waste money on rent. So, how did you two meet?”
“Nothing special. Just the usual story.” She shrugged, her voice dropping slightly. “No cheesy movie cliché where we bump into each other and send our textbooks flying everywhere. We crossed paths here in the park, started talking, and hit it off. She was actually the one who started the conversation. Practically interrogated me about you and me. Be honest, did you tell her some story about me?”
“You mean the story about how you threw yourself at me because you thought I was Awakened and hoped you could ride my coattails into the big leagues?” I watched the tips of her ears beneath her blue hair turn bright red. “Of course. I considered it my duty to warn my poor relative about a status-seeker living nearby.”
“Don't you dare make me sound like some money-hungry bitch!” She poked me in the chest with her fingernail. “I was just making the most of what life had to offer! Did I rob you? Did I stab you in the back?”
“If we set aside your attempt to manipulate my feelings, you're innocent as a newborn.”
“Was that sarcasm?” Stephanie tilted her head and gave me a skeptical look. “Tom, what the hell happened to you over the last couple of months? Actually, never mind. Keep quiet and you'll just say it's classified again. But honestly, I like you a lot more this way. You're so much more relaxed and uninhibited.”
I barely managed to suppress a smirk. Uninhibited? Typical nonsense from trashy magazines. It was much simpler than that. After my evolution, my brain chemistry was in perfect balance. My physiology had simply stopped producing the hormones that triggered useless fear, awkwardness, and disorientation. That was why conversation came so easily and naturally.
“So what happened after you two finished dissecting my personal life?” I steered the conversation back to something more productive.
“Nothing much.” Stephanie hesitated thoughtfully. “We just hit it off and went out that same evening. I barely remember where we ended up. Some bar, I think, and then a club. Luckily, you never run out of places to go in Los Angeles as long as you've got the money...” She shook her head. “So, no. Tom, I'm not trying to seduce Maggie so I can get close to you again, or whatever other ridiculous theory you've come up with.”
“I believe you.” I nodded slowly. “Are you still working at that clinic nearby? As a vet?”
“Yeah. I spend all day brushing dog hair and trimming the claws of spoiled cats,” she said with a nervous laugh. “If only someone would bring in a real surgical case for once... I could actually make enough for a decent vacation in Thailand. Maggie and I are actually planning to go there. Once I save up a little more, we're heading off to Asia for some adventure.”
“How much are you short?”
“I couldn't tell you off the top of my head.” She thoughtfully wound a strand of bright hair around her finger. “Why? You thinking about sponsoring us?”
“Maybe. But not right now. I'm a little short on cash myself.”
“Wow, do they actually withhold the paychecks of honest soldiers?” Her eyes widened, completely unaware of how accurately she had hit the mark. Then she narrowed them mischievously. “By the way, Tom... Have you found someone?”
“Yes.”
“Seriously?” She drew in a breath with such genuine astonishment that you would have thought I had just announced contact with extraterrestrials. I definitely did not like that reaction. “Who is she? Where's she from?”
“I have no intention of discussing the details of my personal life with you.”
“Oh, and there goes our old grumpy Tom!” she said with a theatrical sigh, rolling her eyes. “Honestly, I didn't miss him one bit.”
Despite the touchy subjects, the walk went quite well and was even a little fun. At the very least, the time flew by, which was the foundation of any good outing.
When we got back to the apartment, I immediately glanced at the wall clock. Maggie's evolutionary changes had just finished.