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She would be sympathetic to his cause once he explained everything to her. She would understand – the K was certain of that.
She would want Earth to be saved.
Chapter 15
“Can you please drop me off here?” Mia asked Korum as they turned onto her parents’ street. “They might see the car if you pull into their driveway.”
“Sure,” he said, and the unimaginably expensive Ferrari Spider convertible came to a smooth stop a few houses away from Mia’s childhood home.
Why Korum had chosen to make this particular car, Mia had no idea. She vaguely remembered Jessie’s brother raving about it a few months ago; supposedly, it cost more than three average houses put together. When Mia had protested that a Toyota would get them around just as well, her lover had simply raised his eyebrows. “It’s one of the nicer cars,” he told her, “and I would like to enjoy the experience of operating one of these human vehicles. Not to mention that this is the only car design I bothered to adjust to make it reproducible by our nanotechnology.”
And that was that. The little sportscar had zoomed down I-95 at over a hundred miles per hour, getting them to their destination in Ormond Beach in record time. It seemed that one of the perks of traveling with a K was not having to worry about speeding tickets; any state trooper unfortunate enough to stop them would have immediately backed off when he saw the driver.
“All right, just call me when you want me to come by. And stop worrying,” Korum told her, leaning over to open the door for her and giving her a quick kiss on the lips.
“Okay, sure.”
Mia climbed out of the car and shut the door, watching as he drove away. Then, taking a deep breath, she headed toward her parents’ house.
The street on which Mia grew up was in a slightly older part of the city. The majority of houses there were built in the eighties and nineties, before the big real estate boom of the mid-2000s. As a result, some of their neighbors’ roofs looked a little dated, with few of them covered by the solar panels that were all the rage these days. In general, the houses didn’t have that glossy, brand-new look and feel that characterized some of the wealthier and more expensive parts of the area. However, the landscaping here was much nicer, with large trees providing solid shade and cutting down on energy bills.
Walking down the street, Mia absorbed the familiar atmosphere, with each house, each shrub triggering some childhood memory. There was her friend Lauren’s house, where she had spent many hot summers swimming in their pool. And there were the tall oaks that they used to climb, as careless with their safety as only children could be. Lauren had ultimately gone to college in Michigan, and Mia rarely saw her these days, though they would usually catch up on the phone or Skype every couple of months.
Like many others, Mia’s parents had moved to Florida from Brooklyn, lured by warm weather and affordable housing. It was a decision they’d never regretted, quickly adjusting to the slower pace of life there. Marisa had been three years old at the time, and New York had been too expensive for the young couple to purchase anything bigger than a studio there. So instead, they scraped and saved for two years – no eating out in restaurants for that entire time, her mom had proudly told her – and made a downpayment on a nice four-bedroom home in a pretty middle-class neighborhood of Ormond Beach.
Approaching the house, Mia hesitated for a second, trying to control her nervousness. Not wanting to tell any more lies, she had decided against calling her parents to let them know what time she would be arriving. Simply showing up and then explaining the whole story seemed easier. Checking her phone, she saw that it was only nine in the morning, so her parents were most likely home.
Raising her hand, she rang the doorbell. Immediately, a loud barking noise pierced the silence as Mocha, her parents’ Chihuahua, did her duty by announcing the visitors. Her parents had gotten the dog when Mia left for college – as a replacement for her, her dad had always said jokingly.
Twenty seconds later, her mom opened the door. “Oh my God, Mia!”
Before Mia had a chance to say anything, she was pulled into a warm, familiar embrace. As usual, Ella Stalis smelled like lemons and some Chanel perfume.
Grinning, Mia hugged her back before pulling away. “Hi, mom. Surprise!”
“Oh sweetie, we had no idea you were arriving so early! Why didn’t you call us? And where is your car?” Her mom was looking over Mia’s shoulder and seeing an empty driveway. “And all your luggage?”
“It’s a long story, mom. Is dad home? There’s something I have to tell you.”
A look of immediate concern appeared on her mom’
s softly rounded face. “Mia, honey, are you okay? What happened? Here, come inside –”
“Nothing happened, mom,” Mia reassured her, walking into the hallway leading to the spacious living room. Mocha immediately ran away. Her parent’s dog was shy with strangers and persisted in thinking of Mia as such, despite the fact that she’d seen her dozens of times. “Everything is fine. I just have an interesting story to tell you, that’s all. Is dad home?”
“He’s in his office,” her mom said, then yelled, “Dan! Come and see who’s home!”
Daniel Stalis came into the living room, still wearing his pajama pants and a robe. At the sight of Mia, his face brightened. “Mia, hon! What are you doing home so early? When did you fly in?”
Smiling, Mia stepped toward him and gave him a big hug, inhaling the familiar scent of aftershave and minty toothpaste. “Hi, dad. Oh, I missed you guys so much!”
Her dad grinned, hugging her back. “Oh, I always forget how tiny you are after not seeing you for a while. Seriously, honey, you should eat more.”
“I eat like a horse and you know it,” Mia told him, grinning.
“Mia has something she wants to tell us,” her mom said, and Mia could hear the worried note in her voice.
Her dad frowned. “Is everything okay? Does it have something to do with that professor?”
