Cydney took a set of steps up to the second level and stopped in front of door 202. She produced a key and unlocked the door to enter a pitch-dark apartment. Her eyes barely had the chance to adjust when she flipped on a light.
They were in the kitchen where she put away the things she’d bought. All except for the bottle of sleeping pills, which she palmed when she left the kitchen and turned off the light.
Their next stop was a bathroom. She set the bottle on the sink and reached past a shower curtain to turn on the water. While it was running, she began to disrobe.
N8 felt himself stiffen as he watched her strip through her eyes. It was more than titillating. It was arousing as hell. He quickly realized his psyche was revving up, and he fought to keep it tamped down. If she started to feel him, it could lead to something disastrous. And he had nowhere else to go if she somehow managed to reject him. He didn’t even know if he could exist outside of a living body.
He inwardly groaned when she stopped to study herself in the mirror over the vanity. Then, to his shock, she fondled her breasts, tweaking the nipples. It sent miniature shockwaves rippling through him as his own nipples and breasts responded. If he could have reached down and grasped his dick, he would have. Unfortunately, he couldn’t. He had no choice but to suffer through and pray she’d soon stop.
“For that matter, what kind of childhood did you have? No wonder you all are so close knit. You’ve only had each other to fall back on when times got bad because you understood what everyone else was going through. Because all of you were being put through the same thing.”
N8’s attention was riveted to her flushed face as she took a deep, shuddering breath. What was happening? Why was she suddenly so upset?
“Shit. I’ve made the fatal mistake of getting emotionally involved in all this, and that was the company’s number one rule. Well, fuck their number one rule. And fuck Dorsey and Bill. Fuck them all!”
She’d gotten emotionally involved? With him?
She threw something into the shower. He didn’t catch what it was, but there wasn’t any resulting crash.
What I wouldn’t give to be able to read your mind, Cydney. What I wouldn’t give to be able to help you cope with whatever is upsetting you.
Fortunately, she managed to calm herself somewhat. He breathed a mental sigh of relief. Her emotional rollercoasters were throwing him into a tailspin. He hadn’t been subjected to this whenever he’d experimented on the guys. He was more disconcerted over the fact that he hadn’t integrated with either of the girls. Maybe he would have been better prepared for this moment.
At least she wasn’t playing with herself anymore. He didn’t know how his psyche self would’ve been able to handle it.
He relaxed somewhat when she started brushing her teeth. He tasted the pepperminty toothpaste she used, and realized it was the same brand as he and the others used. After she grabbed a couple of items of clothing from the bedroom and brought them into the bath, she rinsed her mouth out at the sink. Lifting her face, she gazed into the mirror, giving him a unique glimpse of himself—
N8 reacted the same moment she shrieked and almost fell backwards.
“What’s happening?What’s happened to me?” She peered closer at her reflection, but he already knew what she was seeing. Cydney had brilliantly blue eyes the color of lapis lazuli. He’d dreamed of those eyes. Dreamed of seeing his reflection in them one day as he leaned in to kiss her.
But they were no longer blue. They were hazel, the same color as his eyes.
The same color…
He almost shuddered. No, theywerehis eyes.Hiseyes!
He was looking at her throughhiseyes!
8Ber8
It was impossible.Her eyes couldn’t suddenly change color like that!
Almost panicking, Cydney ran into the bedroom and threw back the door to stare into the full-length mirror hanging there. Pressing her nose against the reflective surface, she checked again.
Her eyes remained greenish-brown.
“No! No, that’s impossible!” She slowly shook her head, unable to grasp what was right in front of her. “How? How can this be?”
The answer was almost too simple.Or was it?
“Did you do something to me, N8? Do you have a power we just don’t know about? Did you use your power on me somehow?” Gripping her hands into fists, she gritted her teeth and took a forceful step toward the mirror. “Did you?Did you do something to me? Fuck it, N8! What did you do to me?”
She couldn’t wait around and hope her eyes would change back. And she damn well wasn’t going to wait until tomorrow to confront him about this. She knew full well he had something to do with this. And she wouldn’t be surprised if it had something to do with an ability he had that no one knew about. A power he’d kept hidden from them all this time.
“Do the others know you’re capable of whatever the hell it is you’ve done to me?” she challenged as she pulled on a pair of jeans and t-shirt. Turning off the shower, she slipped her feet into a pair of flip-flops, snatched up her handbag, and slung it over her shoulder as she headed out the door.
Her fear continued to fuel her anger. Every few minutes she’d check herself in the rearview mirror to confirm that her eyes continued to be wrong color. “I don’t care what time it is. I don’t care if I wake you from a sound sleep, N8. Or do you already know I’m coming for you? Either way, I’m going to get answers, and it sure as shit better be the right ones!”
