Chapter 206: 207 | Vitals, Monitored and Otherwise
I woke up to the smell of bacon and the sound of arguing.
Not angry arguing. The kind of arguing that happens when two people who care about each other disagree about something stupid. Comfortable arguing. Domestic arguing.
The kind of arguing that meant Mera and Cheon were both in my kitchen at the same time.
My body felt like someone had wrung it out like a wet towel and then left it to dry in the sun for three days. Every muscle ached. My head throbbed with the particular flavor of Essentia depletion that I’d come to recognize over the past few weeks. The drain sat quiet in my chest, barely a whisper of its usual hunger.
Five percent reserves. Maybe six if I was being generous.
I’d pushed harder last night than I ever had before. Poured everything I had into a stranger because the alternative was letting a scared kid die inside a prison my father had built.
Worth it.
Still felt like garbage though.
"The eggs are burning."
"They’re not burning. They’re caramelizing."
"Cheon. That’s not what caramelizing means."
"I’m aware of what caramelizing means. I’m choosing to redefine the term for this specific application."
"The specific application of ruining breakfast?"
"The specific application of adding texture."
I pushed myself upright on the couch. Someone had thrown a blanket over me at some point during the night. Mera’s blanket. The one with the little stars on it that she pretended she didn’t care about but always claimed the moment she walked through the door.
The penthouse looked normal. Morning sunlight through the windows. Coffee maker gurgling. Cheon’s tablet on the dining table next to a stack of papers. Mera’s vintage records scattered near the sound system.
No sign that twelve hours ago I’d almost died draining myself into a seventeen-year-old weapon designed by my own father.
Funny how quickly life snapped back to normal when you refused to let it stay weird.
"He’s awake."
Mera appeared in the kitchen doorway. She wore one of my shirts again. The black one that hung past her thighs and made her red skin look even more striking in the morning light. Her horns had regained some of their luster overnight. Still duller than usual but not the dead grey they’d been when she’d pulled me through that portal.
Her tail swayed behind her. Slow and lazy. Content.
"Morning." I tried to smile. Probably looked more like a grimace. "What time is it?"
"Almost noon."
"Noon?"
"You slept for fourteen hours." Cheon emerged behind Mera with a spatula in one hand and her phone in the other. "Your body required significant recovery time. I monitored your vitals remotely."
"You monitored my vitals while I slept?"
"Someone needed to ensure you didn’t die of Essentia depletion in the middle of the night."
"That’s either incredibly sweet or incredibly creepy."
"Both. Breakfast will be ready in three minutes. Assuming Mera stops criticizing my cooking technique."
"Your technique involves setting things on fire."
"Controlled thermal application."
"The smoke detector went off twice."
"I removed the batteries."
I managed to drag myself off the couch and shuffle toward the kitchen. My legs worked but they didn’t enjoy working. Every step felt like wading through concrete.
Noel was gone.
I noticed it as soon as I rounded the corner. No extra shoes by the door. No tactical genius lurking in corners taking notes. No violet hair or round glasses or sharp comments about my decision-making.
"She left around seven." Mera read my expression without me having to ask. "Said she needed to get back to the dorms before anyone noticed she was missing. Also said to tell you that you’re still an idiot but she’s choosing to accept that as part of the package."
"Romantic."
"That’s Noel for you. Romance through insults."
Cheon slid a plate across the counter. Eggs. Bacon. Toast. The eggs were definitely burned on one side but I wasn’t going to mention it.
"Your phone has been receiving messages since approximately eight AM." She gestured toward the device sitting on the counter. "I took the liberty of monitoring them without responding. Most are from Aurora. Several from Professor Reeves. One from an unknown number that I suspect is your sister."
I grabbed the phone. The screen lit up with a cascade of notifications.
AURORA: Are you okay? I heard about what happened last night.
AURORA: Rome please respond
AURORA: I’m serious. People are saying there was some kind of attack on Building F. Were you there?
AURORA: I know you said you’d give me time but I need to know you’re not dead
LAURANA: My office. Today. No arguments.
VIVIAN: The laboratory received emergency reports about an incident on campus. Father is asking questions. We need to talk.
UNKNOWN: This is Liam. The girl with the portals gave me your number. I don’t know what to say except thank you. I’m still processing everything. But I’m alive. And I’m myself. And that’s because of you.
I stared at the last message longer than I probably should have.
Liam. The kid I’d almost killed myself to save. The weapon my father had built using my blood.
Alive. Free. Grateful.
Worth it.
"You’re making that face again."
Mera hopped onto the counter beside me. Her legs dangled over the edge. Her tail curled around my wrist. The contact was light but constant. Grounding.
"What face?"
"The one where you pretend you’re not feeling things while obviously feeling things."
"I don’t have a face like that."
"You absolutely have a face like that. Cheon, doesn’t he have a face like that?"
"He has several faces like that. I’ve catalogued them." Cheon took the stool on my other side. "Face seventeen: emotional response to positive outcome resulting from personal sacrifice. Characterized by softened jaw muscles and distant eye focus."
"You numbered my faces?"
"Organization is essential for accurate analysis."
I ate my burned eggs and tried to figure out what to do next.
The immediate problems were obvious. Campus security would be investigating last night’s incident. The NEA would be sending people to assess what happened. My father’s surveillance team had probably already reported to him about the chaos at Building F.
And somewhere in all of that, Liam existed as living proof that Vito D’Angelo had been conducting illegal experiments on kidnapped teenagers using stolen genetic material.
My genetic material.
"We need to get ahead of this." I set down my fork. "Before the official investigation starts asking questions we don’t want to answer."
"Already working on it." Cheon pulled up something on her tablet. "I’ve been monitoring campus security communications since five AM. The official report characterizes last night as an unprovoked villain attack targeting the dormitory. No specific identification of the attacker. No mention of student involvement in the resolution."
"How is that possible? There were dozens of witnesses."
"Witnesses who saw a terrifying entity and then saw that entity neutralized. Most of them were too busy evacuating to observe the specifics." She scrolled through something. "The few who remained close enough to see anything useful have provided statements that are... conveniently vague."
