The Dweller came up next to him, humming while he stared down. “What to change… Maybe her hair, and a slight altering to her face and the tips of her ears.”
Seri watched, trying to staunch his fear and panic when her shadow stretched and a different baby took the place of his own. Skya’s curls changed to black, her pert button nose rounded out, and her cupid's bow became less prominent. Even the shape of her eyes was slightly different.
“That should be good enough, I think,” the Dweller mused.
“Is this necessary?” he rasped softly, a dull ache forming in his chest as he stared at her. “Do they… Do they even know what she looks like?”
“The only one who should know outside this compound is Cyrus and Killian. But there’s a leak. I don’t know if they’ve hacked the system, stolen some of the paper files, or just listened into our conversations.”
Seri’s nose wrinkled. “You all still use paper?”
Severo shrugged. “It’s the government. A universal governing agency that isn’t based on a single country and location, but it’s still a government.”
“Right...”
“It’s better to be safe than sorry.”
Seri sighed. “I guess… So, are we heading out right after her Passbook is done?”
“We are. Ender does have some tighter clothes for you to wear underneath though. He said he left it on the dresser…” Severo glanced over and then said, “Ah, there it is.”
Seri looked, and there was indeed a pile of clothes on the dresser in the room that hadn’t been there before.
“Get that on underneath, and then when you are ready, I’ll switch you back to the body of my husband,” Severo said, the last part in his newly improved female voice.
Seri just shook his head and shooed the man out of the room.
Severo towed their carry-on luggage towards security. The small suitcases were, as far as he knew, filled with what they could change into once they reached Alaska. Ender had given them the good shit too, at least case wise. Levitating cases weren’t cheap. Which is why most just stuck with the cheaper, more affordable wheeled ones.
Severo, even though he could afford them, had never felt it was justified to drop more than a few grand on something he could get for way less if he just went with wheels.
Besides, he usually just brought a backpack or duffle with him on his hunts. Packing light was always key when you would likely have to hop on a plane multiple times. It usually meant having to wash his clothes often, though.
He glanced at Seri next to him. The man was, well, looking like the stranger he’d turned him into. Also like a ball of nerves. The Nymph was tense all the way around. His fake boxy face was pinched, and his hairy knuckles were white where he gripped the stroller he was pushing. It was fascinating how well the shadow shell mimicked his actual movements.
Skya, the poor Nymphant, was fussy. Sniffling, she stared out with sad eyes, as if she was being kidnapped and taken away by strangers. Seri had tried to hold her, and he was pretty sure the poor Nymph’s heart about broke when the little girl refused his touch. Hell, Severo’s heart about broke too. He felt so bad, they obviously hadn't gone about this the right way. They should have done something to make sure she wasn’t scared…but there hadn’t been time unless they wanted to miss their first flight.
Skya had calmed slightly when Seri tried to talk to her with his normal voice…but only slightly. Calmed, as in no longer screaming.
Leaning over, he drawled in his fake female voice. “You need to relax, Darling.”
Seri slowly looked over at him. “I…”
In his normal voice, he whispered, “They got us pre-checked in on all our flights. We just need to hand over our Passbooks, press our thumbs to the scanner, and we will be good to go for the rest of the airports. Unless you keep looking like you are hiding something, then we may get stopped.”
Seri stopped walking. “Pre…checked in?” he asked, his face twisting in anger. Yet…the fake face was not as threatening as Seri usually was when angry. Just didn’t have that spark of ‘if looks could kill’. “Why didn’t you tell me that before?!” he hissed, keeping his voice low.
“Because there is still a body scanner we have to walk through, on top of talking to people. Just relax. No one is going to know.”
The Nymph grimaced and faced forward without saying anything.
He sighed and forced a smile on his face when they reached the end of the line of the pre-check-in. There were only three people in front of them. It didn’t take long until it was their turn.
Walking up first, Severo smiled at the man standing there. The guy didn’t so much as twitch, his expression remaining disinterested and possibly dead inside. “Documents,” the guy said in the most monotone way possible.
He cleared his throat and pulled out all the stops in sounding as feminine as possible when he spoke, holding out their ID Passbooks. “Here you go, Passbooks for my husband, child, and I.”
Severo almost rolled his eyes when the man grunted and took them without a word. The guy opened the slim pocket-sized folders and scanned the code that appeared on the screen inside. The code would bring up their IDs and travel tickets, both linked.
