Close Obsession (24 page)

Mia certainly felt less tense, but she was now worried about showing up at her parents’ house looking and smelling like a nymphomaniac. She gave him a reproachful look as she cleaned the traces of his sperm on her inner thigh. “Now I need a shower before going anywhere . . .”

“All right.” Korum grinned. “Let’s take a quick rinse and then we go. Five minutes should do it.” And picking her up, he quickly carried her into the bathroom, moving with inhuman speed.

True to his word, they were done and heading out within a few minutes. The pod that had brought Mia to Costa Rica was already assembled and sitting next to the house. Korum had apparently widened the clearing around his home to accommodate the ship instead of having them walk a few minutes to the spot where they had landed two weeks ago.

Entering through a dissolving wall, Mia studied the now-familiar-seeming transparent ivory walls and floating seats. The ship still didn’t look like the complex piece of technology that it was, with no visible electronics or controls. Nonetheless, she knew it was capable of carrying them thousands of miles in a matter of minutes, with no ill effects from traveling so fast.

Perching on one of the seats, Mia sighed as she felt it adjusting around her, conforming to the shape of her body. It was one of the things she would miss the most in Florida – all the intelligent technology that seemed designed solely for the purpose of making their lives easier and more comfortable. She resolved to ask Korum to remake his home back into what it was before he “humanized” it for her sake; now that she had mostly acclimated to Krinar technology, she was very curious to see what his house normally looked like.

And then they were on the way, the ship rising silently and carrying them toward Florida, where Mia’s parents were still blissfully ignorant of the surprise their youngest daughter had in store for them.

* * *

The Krinar watched as the ship took off.

They were gone.
She
was gone.

Watching her dance with his enemy last night had been almost intolerable.
He
wanted to be the one to have her light body pressed against him, to take her home for the night. He'd spent the next several hours imagining her in Korum's bed, and quiet rage had burned in the pit of his stomach. Maybe it was for the best that she was leaving. It would minimize the distractions in the next week.

She had looked happy, laughing as Korum twirled her around. Foolish girl. If only she knew the truth.

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?”

“Yes and no.” Mia was not even sure where to start. “Why don’t we all sit down and get some tea? It’s kind of a long story.”

Her mom slowly nodded. “Of course. Let me make some tea right now. Are you hungry? Have you had breakfast? I can make some potato pancakes . . .”

“I already ate, mom, thanks. But definitely another time.” Sitting down at the table, Mia twisted her hands nervously, watching as her mom put water to boil. Her dad sat down too, studying his daughter silently while the tea was getting prepared. When the water had boiled, Mia got up to help her mom carry the cups over to the table. Finally, the three of them were sitting around the table, with hot green tea steaming in front of them.

“All right, honey. Now tell us,” her mom said, visibly bracing herself for the worst.

“Okay,” Mia said slowly. “So I haven’t been entirely honest with you guys about what’s been going on in my life for the past few weeks. There was no professor, and I didn’t stay in New York for this volunteer project . . .”

Seeing the surprised looks on her parents’ faces, Mia plunged ahead. “You see, I actually met someone . . .”

“See, Ella, didn’t I tell you Mia was acting strangely?” Her dad looked smug for a second, but her mom continued to stare at her worriedly.

Taking a deep breath, Mia continued. “The reason why I didn’t tell you this is because he’s not someone you would normally be comfortable with, and I didn’t want you to worry –”

“Who is he, Mia?” her mom asked sharply. “A drug dealer? Someone with a criminal record?”

“No, nothing like that!” Although it might’ve been easier for her parents to accept if he had been. “Korum is a K.”

For a moment, there was dead silence around the table. Her parents looked shellshocked, stunned speechless.

Her dad cleared his throat. “A K? As in, the aliens?”

Mia nodded, taking a sip of her tea. “I met him in a park in Manhattan a few weeks ago. We’ve been involved ever since.”

Her mom’s chin quivered. “What do you mean, involved? Involved how?”

“Ella, don’t be silly,” her dad said, his tone surprisingly calm. “Clearly, Mia is trying to tell us that she has a boyfriend who’s a K. Isn’t that right?”

Her dad was very good under stressful circumstances. “Exactly,” Mia told them, her stomach twisting into knots as her mom’s face crumpled and fat tears rolled down her cheeks. Feeling like the worst daughter in the world, Mia tried to reassure her. “Look, you can see that I’m perfectly fine. I know how they are portrayed in the media, and the reality is not the same at all. He’s actually very caring, and he makes me happy –”

“Caring? How can those monsters be caring? Mia, they say that they drink blood!” Her mom was beside herself, her normally pale face turning red and splotchy.

“Do they drink blood?” her dad inquired, looking mildly curious.

“Only recreationally and in small quantities,” Mia admitted honestly. “It’s just a pleasant thing for them – they don’t actually need it anymore.”

Her mom buried her face in her hands. “Oh my God, I feel sick!”

“Ella, stop it,” her dad said, his voice unusually firm. “Your reaction is exactly what Mia was afraid of and why she didn’t tell us earlier.”

Mia smiled, the knot in her stomach unraveling a bit. “Thanks, dad. Look, I know how it sounds, but believe me when I tell you that he treats me really well and makes me very happy –”

“Is he the reason you couldn’t come home on time?” her dad asked, while her mom raised her head to stare at Mia with eyes that were still swimming with tears.

“Yes. We actually went to Costa Rica after my finals were over,” Mia said. “I have an internship there, at a neuroscience lab, and I’m working on some really interesting projects –”

“In Costa Rica?” Her dad looked puzzled for a second, and then his eyes widened. “The K Center in Costa Rica?”

Mia gave him a big grin. “Yep. Korum got me an internship there. I’m working alongside one of their top mind experts, and you can’t even imagine how much I’m learning –”

“You’re working in a K Center in Costa Rica?” Her mom looked absolutely floored. “With Ks?”

“I know, I can hardly believe it myself,” Mia told them, grinning hugely. “And I can now speak so many languages . . .”

“What? What do you mean?” Her dad rubbed his temples. “What languages?”

“All languages,” Mia told him in Polish, knowing that he would understand her. “All human languages, plus Krinar. It’s a really cool translator that Korum got me.” She decided against telling them about the brain implant part of things.

Her dad’s jaw dropped. “You speak Polish without an accent! Mia, how did you . . . ?”