NOVEL NEXT Chapter 47: Suspicious
Jace turned toward her, still holding the spatula over the pan. "Wait, so you're saying your people live in underwater cities, heal faster than most species, and can adapt their minds to learn and process things quicker than us?"
Serai gave a slow nod, her eyes steady but unreadable.
Jace scratched his jaw. "That sounds like a pretty advanced, peaceful people. So how does someone like you end up in a space prison? From what I hear, that place only holds the worst."
At that, Serai's gaze broke. She looked away, shoulders shifting uneasily. Her lips parted like she wanted to answer, but no words came. Instead, she pressed them shut again.
Jace frowned. That reaction told him more than words could. Maybe she was hiding something. Maybe she didn't want to say it yet.
He turned back to the stove, flipping the pan absentmindedly. A tightness pulled in his chest.
Did he make a mistake taking her in? He didn't know her history. He didn't know who might come looking for her.
For all he knew, she could drag enemies straight to his doorstep. And he already had more than enough to deal with, aliens, monsters, and now the role of "hero" being forced on him.
Still, he couldn't bring himself to push her out. Not yet.
He told himself he'd get close to her, and when she trusted him enough, maybe he'd get the truth out of her.
He didn't want to manipulate her… but he couldn't risk inheriting problems blind.
"Okay," he muttered, letting the moment drop.
Silence hung for a beat as the smell of frying food filled the kitchen. Finally, he glanced back at her. "So, I'm confused. When I found you in that tunnel, I swear it felt like I was staring at an illusion. And then you screamed, it was like a siren. You didn't mention your race having those abilities. And another thing, you said your people heal faster, sure, but you've healed me. Twice. That's not just natural recovery. That's something else."
Serai's fingers twitched at her side, the faint glow at her wrists betraying her nerves.
She opened her mouth, hesitated, and then slowly began to answer in halting English, the words broken but clear enough.
Jace studied her a moment longer, but when he saw the way her words faltered and her disguise flickered faintly at the edges, he let it go.
"Never mind," he said, shaking his head lightly. "Let's just finish up here and eat."
They sat down and ate in relative quiet. Serai ate slowly, watching him the way she always did, her curiosity written across her face.
Jace didn't press her further. He wasn't sure if she couldn't explain, or if she didn't want to. Either way, forcing it now wasn't going to get him anywhere.
The night came fast.
By then, Serai had curled up on the couch, her disguise still holding, her breathing slow and steady as she slept with the TV playing faintly in the background.
Jace, on the other hand, hadn't stopped moving. He was at the table with his old, battered laptop, scraps of metal, wiring, and broken electronics spread out across the surface.
His head buzzed with information, schematics, formulas, and engineering designs that shouldn't have been in his mind, but were.
Alien knowledge merged with Zin's constant input, filling in the gaps his human understanding couldn't.
[Your mind is running at three times its usual speed,] Zin observed. [At this rate, you'll burn yourself out before midnight.]
"I'll be fine," Jace muttered, not looking away from the soldering iron in his hand. "I need to make something. My first real gadget."
He had no clear picture of what it would become, only the certainty that it needed to exist. His fingers moved with precision he didn't know he had, piecing together fragments of old circuits and scavenged parts.
[What exactly are you building?]
Jace smirked faintly, eyes still locked on his work. "Guess we'll find out when it's done."
Jace hunched over the cluttered table, parts scattered across the surface—half-dead phones, broken radios, twisted wires, even a cracked laptop fan. None of it looked like much, but in his head, he could already see the outline of something useful.
Zin's voice cut through his focus.
[You do know I only ask because I want to speak, right? I can easily read your mind if I want.]
Jace froze for half a second, then muttered under his breath, "Trash AI."
[Careful,] Zin fired back, smug as always. [You wouldn't even know how to start without me.]
Jace ignored the jab, tightening a loose screw before answering. "I'm trying to create a scanner. Something that can detect metahumans."
[And what do you think I've been doing every time I ping a life-sign in your vicinity? I can already detect energy fluctuations if they're close enough.]
"Yeah," Jace admitted, leaning back in the chair, "but you can't detect dormant ones, can you? The people walking around with powers they don't even know about. Or the ones hiding it on purpose."
Silence, then a reluctant response.
[No. That level of scanning requires specialized sensors, and last I checked, you're building with trash. Phones, batteries, and wires. That won't get you anywhere close.]
Jace smirked faintly, tossing a stripped screw onto the pile. "Don't be such a downer. It's called a prototype for a reason. I don't need perfection. I need proof of concept. If I can make something from scraps, imagine what happens when I get real tools."
[Or imagine it blows up in your face,] Zin said dryly. [But fine. You're stubborn. Keep building. At the very least, I'll enjoy watching you shock yourself.]
Jace chuckled and bent back over the table, determination in his eyes. "Trash or not, this is where it starts."
It had taken him hours. His desk was a mess of wires, cracked screens, and burnt-out batteries, and his head throbbed from staring at the junk pile for so long.
Jace leaned back in the chair, rubbing his eyes. The TV still flickered in the corner of the room, casting blue light across the apartment. On the couch, Serai lay curled up under a thin blanket, her disguise flickering faintly in her sleep.
He sighed, standing and stretching out his sore arms. Quietly, he walked over and bent down, sliding an arm under her. The moment his hand brushed against her glowing skin, her eyes shot open.
She jolted, pushing him back with more strength than he expected. "No."
Jace steadied himself, hands raised. "Relax. I'm just trying to put you in the bed. I'll take the couch."
Serai shook her head, her voice broken but firm. "I like… couch."
He studied her for a moment. There was no hesitation in her eyes. For whatever reason, she really meant it.
Jace scratched his neck and chuckled softly. "Oh. Well, I tried. Sleep well, then."
He turned, heading toward the bedroom. The door clicked shut behind him, leaving Serai alone with the TV hum.
Jace collapsed into his bed, still half-thinking about the project, half-thinking about her, before sleep finally took him.