Mina Murray easily adapted to her new life in New York.
Her paperwork was easily managed and she was enrolled into Stoker University for marine biology. She would start her 1st year after summer vacation, but she was allowed to take a pre-commencement program that will help her get prepared for the school year proper.
It says that she was homeschooled and has no scholarly achievements to speak of, but she got into the program with the help of her affluent cousin from the mother's side, Roland Faust.
"Mina's mom is my mother's sister. They haven't spoken much ever since Mother and Father got married." Roland told Harker about the whole story of Mina Murray's background. "When my mom died from the accident, Mina and I met once at the funeral. She contacted me recently due to her interest in studying at Stoker."
Harker looked through the legal documents. "Wow….. Money can really do anything. You guys developed a whole new person so fast."
"Everything is possible through Roland Faust." A voice suddenly resembling Roland's came.
Roland made a face. "Never copy my voice again, Mina. I already let you copy my face, doing that is just too creepy."
The voice also made Harker jolt a little, but even more so the person who sat beside him. "Princess Jinzhu... Your walking has improved pretty fast now."
"Thank you, Harker sir. Oh, and it's not Princess Jinzhu or Your Highness now. You should just call me Mina….. Maybe I should just call you Harker too." She said, sitting on the sofa with him with a black knee-length dress. "Or maybe I should call you Hark?"
Roland scoffed. "Only I get to call him Hark. That's a nickname reserved between best friends–"
"Sure thing, Prin— Mina. You call me whatever you want." Harker wore his toothy smile.
Mina was sitting cross-legged. Her skin became much more naturally white, as the shade it had when she was still a mermaid was a bit yellowish in an unnatural way. She was wearing light make-up again, and now wore a purse to keep her things.
Her style was the same classy and regal type like Roland, like those femme fatales in black and white movies.
Even her demeanor was very much like that. No doubt she and Roland had watched mafia movies in order for her to study how humans behave around each other.
"Oh, you can also do the same for me. My full name is actually Wilhelmina, but you could call me Mina or Minnie if you want." She said.
The way her eyelashes fluttered as she blinked was so dangerously seductive. Harker knew she wasn't even trying that hard, and yet it had a great effect on him already.
But he calmed himself, and instead reached for the glass of water on the table to take a sip.
"Mina's fine. Did you get your transfusion done for the day?"
"We did. We always do it in the morning. I do it myself since it's easy." Roland answered. "Dr. Rothstein taught me how to before he left."
"That's great." Harker said. "I gave 500 ml of my blood and so the Shapeshifting cells and DNA would last for about 1 month in Mina's body. But after that…."
Harker had already discussed it with Mina before in private. It was a really awkward conversation, but she was understanding. She didn't think too much of it as it may not be a big deal for creatures like her.
Still, it would be Harker's first kiss.
"Don't think too much about it, Harker." Mina placed her delicate hand on his lap. "I shall not give any meaning to it if you won't. But if you fancy it to mean something more, I don't mind that either~"
Harker looked away. "Ah, you're teasing me now. You sound like Moonroe's character in Diamonds Prefer Blondes."
Roland frowned, unaware of what they were talking about. "After one month, what will happen? You wouldn't do a blood transfusion again?"
Harker shrugged, not telling his friend about the kiss. "I'll deliver DNA in another way. It's just a complicated process and…. I don't want to mess things up."
Mina rested her hand to her chin, giving Harker a very siren-like look. This girl would really be the death of him with that diamond-studded neckerchief of hers.
"A-Anyway, do people never really question how you're the spitting image of each other?" Harker decided to change the topic. "After all, Roland looks like the guy version of Mina and Mina looks like the girl version of Roland. You must have had some double takes when you walk on the streets."
"Oh, we do get asked a lot if we are twins. Or if one of us was just crossdressing." Mina chuckled. "But I always answer that I am way prettier."
Roland rolled his eyes. "In your dreams, Fish Girl."
"Isn't it true, White Ape?" Mina just batted her eyelashes.
Harker frowned. "Didn't I tell you guys not to call each other names—"
"It's a nickname between best friends, darling." Mina assured him, placing her fingers on his chest. "Family, that is. Right, Roland dear?"
Roland put an arm around Harker's shoulder and chuckled. "Mina dear is right. Though we're more like frenemies at this point. There's just things that we would never get along with, like how I know that violet is a lighter shade than purple. But we have some similarities and learned to agree to disagree."
"It's a darker shade, darling." Mina smiled.
"Lighter."
"Darker~ The violet flower is a darker shade than the purple snail."
"Well in the spectrum of colors, violet is the lighter shade—"
They continued to bicker once again, and Harker could only sigh, forever stuck in between these two blondies with a sibling rivalry relationship.
"I guess some things never change. But at least they did get closer to each other."
He was just happy that they were getting along, as they were the two most important people to him that were unrelated by blood.
As for that experiment with his Shapeshifting cells, he worked hard day and night in the Academy to transfer his DNA safely to the chameleons. But first, he had to observe it under a microscope since his curiosity couldn't resist finding out what the Shapeshifting cells— which he now referred to as SS cells— looked like.
"Hmm…. SS cells seemed to have a different construct from other mitotic cells." He muttered to himself. "They do the similar effect of those substances beneath the skin of chameleons, and have some sort of iridescence. It's possible that they also regulate the body temperature, that's why transforming into other beings can result in changes in body heat."
He wrote down these observations, and accidentally dropped his pen. He went to pick it up—
And his heart almost leapt out of his throat when he saw someone else looking at the SS cells under the microscope.
"Sweet mother of— Professor Jones, what are you doing here?" Harker said.
Professor Jones did not answer. Her hair was unruly as usual, and her lab coat had coffee stains. She had her hands to her hip as she observed the cells.
"Huh…. This mitotic cell still divides even without the plasmic construct of the body. Fascinating. And look…. Isn't it reaching out to the cells of the chameleon's skin?"
Harker frowned, and went to look as well with her.
The SS cells really were moving closer to the chameleon skin….
And then they engulfed it. Soon, they transformed to appear like the chameleon's skin cell as well.
Professor Seward stepped back in shock.
"W-What…. What kind of monster's cell is this!?"
This chapt𝙚r is updated by fr(e)ew𝒆bnov(e)l.com