Page 40 of Tyton: The Spider and the Dragonfly (Tyton #1)

C

allie awoke on the same massive bed she had only a day ago. Sesi held her hand. Bandages covered her arms. She had never seen so many.

“Those are gonna look so cool,” Sesi joked. “Unless you want to go to a DocPod.”

Callie shook her head, eyes searching.

“A reminder, then,” Sesi shrugged. “Of how far you were willing to go.” Sesi took a short breath and paused. “You are so strong.”

Callie looked up to see her dark eyes staring directly into her. She didn’t feel strong. She felt like she would have died if Talia hadn’t shown up.

“Where’s Talia?” Callie half-whispered.

Sesi sniffed like she was about to cry. “She’s dealing with her sister’s remains.”

“That was her sister? Oh fuck! I…”

“No.” Sesi cut her off. “Talia chose you.” She turned and wiped her eye with her arm. “And I know for a fact that if she had to think about it first, she would have done the same thing. You don’t know the whole story.”

Callie tried to chew on a fingernail, but the cuts on her arms made it too painful to move them.

“I saw the footage from your Opti,” Sesi said quietly. “It might not have been able to connect, but it still recorded everything.”

“Has Talia seen it?”

Sesi shook her head. “It won’t matter.”

“But I don’t want her to resent me!” Callie protested.

Sesi laughed and wiped another tear away. “Freckles,” Sesi ran the backs of her fingers along Callie’s cheekbones. “Talia is so deeply in love with you, she could never.”

Callie’s eyebrows knit together. “She’s known me for two weeks!”

“You keep saying that, but that’s just who Talia is. She doesn’t think, she just knows. And nothing will ever change her mind.”

Callie looked at her hands and fingers that she couldn’t bite in frustration. She couldn’t fathom how Talia had simply known that she was her person. Well, one of her persons. The other was sitting right here.

“What about you?” Callie flicked her gaze to meet Sesi’s before looking away just as quickly.

Sesi looked up to the ceiling, but the tear fell anyway. “Don’t tell Talia this, because I don’t like to let her lead, but I think I’ll follow her on this.”

Once Sesi’s tears started, Callie couldn’t help her own. “Why are you crying? You’re making me cry too,” she babbled.

“Because,” Sesi wiped her face with her palms, but it was futile. “I would have made the same decision as Talia, except I like Siku.”

Callie couldn’t help but laugh, burbling through the tears. Sesi rushed forward into her embrace.

“I don’t think Siku would have tried to kill me.” Callie leaned back against the overstuffed pillows.

“That’s one of the reasons I like him. Also, I’m going to need him to negotiate with NovAITech.”

Callie squirmed. The bandages were itching. “Why?”

Sesi shook the hair out of her face. “Callum Black is an idiot.”

“Is that all?”

“He’s also a dead idiot.” Sesi sighed. “He thought he was actually getting Talia. When he found out she was never on the table, he warned the Natalists that we were coming.”

“So…” Callie flicked her eyes to meet Sesi’s

“So, I can’t hold Talia back any longer. I don’t have a reason to.”

“She’s going to kill him?”

“He tried to own her, Freckles.”

“I know.” Callie looked at her fingers. “I know Sparx would tell me that I’ve killed people too, but it feels like a life-or-death situation thing. I can’t imagine planning to kill someone.”

“You can’t imagine the shit Talia’s been through.

“Because she won’t tell me!” Callie whined. “I know it’s been two weeks, but I thought we were on some sort of fast track, given all of this!” Callie gestured broadly and then winced.

Sesi placed a hand on her leg. “That’s fair. And having known Talia for this long, there’s a good chance she never will.” Sesi lowered her head. “And,” she added, “if that’s a dealbreaker, I completely understand.”

“Wait, what?” Callie panicked.

“I understand if you can’t do this.” Sesi repeated. “Talia and I, we’re a lot. We’re not exactly good people, like you. There’s gonna be more violence, more blood. Probably more threats on your life…”

“I thought you needed my egg?” Callie interrupted.

Sesi stopped.

Her face relaxed in awe, as if she had caught the first rays of spring sunlight after a long, dark winter. For several moments her mouth hung open. Callie had never seen her like this. “That is the most selfless, foolish thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Why?” Callie wondered if she might have a concussion again.

“There is no agreement anymore. We have the Natalist’s equipment and Siku will be using NovAITech’s resources to train doctors, but we don’t have to be the ones to do it.

” Sesi took Callie’s hand. “And please don’t tell me you were going to stay because you felt obligated.

That would be the worst third-act breakup ever. ”

“The what?”

“I forgot, you don’t read a lot of romance novels.” Sesi squeezed. “I did promise to show you my book collection, but I guess I never got around to it.”

Callie sat motionless for several seconds, gazing off into space.

The seconds turned into minutes and Sesi couldn’t help the growing feeling of dread that crept up her chest and into her neck.

Callie had brought more joy into her life than she’d experienced in the past decade and she couldn’t lose that.

But she knew that was a lie. She could lose it. She would lose Talia as well. She would continue to run Rhea, plus the profits from NovAITech. The earth would be free to heal after they had departed, but she would be doing nothing more than running out the clock, along with the rest of humanity.

“What if I want to?” Callie’s question snapped Sesi out of her thoughts.

She braced herself. It had been too long and she’d forgotten the subject. “Want to what?”

“Give you an egg.”

Sesi burst into laughter, tears flowing again freely. “Are you asking me to have a baby with you?” she teased. Callie couldn’t help but blush with embarrassment. She would have hit her with a pillow if she could move her arms without hurting.

Sesi climbed on top of the bed and straddled Callie. “How about,” she kissed her forehead, “we wait until all this shit settles down? There’s no rush anymore.”

“Well, you’re going to have to explain that to my mother then.” Callie grew increasingly frustrated with not being able to use her arms. Sesi assaulted her with kisses. It wasn’t fair.

“You’re threatening me with in-laws?” Sesi slipped her fingers under the hem of Callie’s oversized shirt. Callie squirmed and wriggled. “Stop it!” she squealed.

Sesi withdrew, a self-satisfied grin on her face. Callie was right – it had been only two weeks, but she couldn’t help that her heart fluttered at the possibility.

It wasn’t as though she had put aside the idea of kids in order to avenge her mother.

It hadn’t been some noble calling that caused her to cast aside the dream of a family.

Sesi had never wanted them. She didn’t consider herself maternal .

She felt no hole in her life that only a child could fill.

Humans, to her, had always been a plague on the earth.

But now, she had to confront the idea that she had never truly examined her feelings on motherhood because it had never been plausible. She certainly wasn’t letting a man anywhere near her and after twenty-four, she had let nature decide for her.

Except that now that they knew the cause, nature had nothing to do with it. Nature hadn’t quite made up her mind and a woman who was far too good for both her and Talia had upended their entire lives.

“Okay, but…” Callie kept getting interrupted by Sesi’s kisses. “I had to tell someone and my mother got all excited and I’m not going to be the one to ruin her day over this.”

“You told her you were going to give us your egg?” Sesi sat up.

“Not exactly,” Callie shrugged. She wasn’t as much help as I had hoped, but it still feels nice to talk to your mom.”

Sesi moved to curl up against Callie’s lap. Callie managed to lift her arm enough to thread her fingers through a few strands of hair. “Tell me about your mom.”

“She’s just a mom, you know? Made sure I went to creche, ate properly, helped me pay for my AI psych training.”

“I don’t know.” Sesi tried really hard to keep the edge out of her voice. It wasn’t Calile’s fault.

“Oh,” Callie stared. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking,” she mumbles.

Sesi shifted her head. Callie took the hint and pressed her fingers into her scalp.

“Mom runs a second-hand shop. It’s nothing fancy, but at least it isn’t in The Cars.

Sparx and I hang out there sometimes and she fusses over us.

” Callie took a deep breath. The realisation of how she had taken her mother for granted made her feel guilty again.

“It’s nice having someone who will always try to take care of you, even if you don’t want it. ”

Sesi ran her thumb across Callie’s leg. “Sparx’s parents joined the Natalists when she was in her teens. That was when he came out. The operation would have destroyed any chance of him having kids, so they threw him out. Mom basically adopted him after that.”

“You have a good mom.” Sesi said quietly. “I kind of want to meet her.”

“She would be so happy, you don’t even know.” Callie’s eyes lit up.

“That your girlfriend is a criminal?” Sesi raised an eyebrow.

“Girlfriend s ,” Callie corrected. “God, that feels weird, but also like it’s supposed to. I’m sorry, that doesn’t make any sense. Anyway, she already knows.”

Sesi leaned farther into Callie’s fingers. “Sparx?”

“For once, I beat him to it. He’ll probably be kind of annoyed about that when he finds out.”

Sesi laughed and sat up. “Lemme see your arms.”

Callie obliged. Sesi carefully peeled up one of the wraps. Her arms were healing quickly and none of the cuts were too deep anymore. They still looked ugly.

“Let’s get those off and put some ointment on. It should relieve some of the itching.” Sesi helped Callie to stand and they moved over to the tub to soak the bandages. She sat on the edge. They peeled off into a sopping pile and Sesi opened a jar of some viscous, strange smelling liquid.

Callie winced. Sesi kept slathering. “Trust me,” she muttered.

“I do,” Callie reassured her. “It just stings. Where did you learn to do this?”

“Qimmiq.” Sesi scooped up another handful of goo. “We didn’t have DocPods. We wouldn’t have been able to use them even if we did.”

The immensity of the coming changes prodded at the edges of Callie’s mind. She didn’t know anything. Almost nobody knew anything. “How many people know how to do this?”

“Put ointment on an arm?” Sesi looked at her like she had said something outlandish.

“We just used DocPods. Or waited until it healed itself. The nanoids speed that up too, according to the printout.”

Sesi bobbed her head from side to side. “I hadn’t thought about it. Everyone who lives outside the city should know, I guess. I don’t know how many that is, though. Some of us stay in the same place. A bunch of others travel from here to there, trading and picking up work on the outer towers.”

Sesi screwed the cap back on the ointment.

“Qimmiq said we used to follow caribou. I’ve never seen one, though.

A few other groups follow seals. But Qimmiq said they weren’t the same kind.

Less hairy. A bunch of others mostly fish.

He said that was less affected by the climate, they’re just in different places now. ”

“Sounds like he knew a lot.” Callie met Sesi’s dark brown eyes. “Do you miss him?”

Sesi nodded. “I doubt he’d approve, but yeah, I do.”

Callie reached up to hold Sesi’s arm. It was feeling better already. Sesi leaned in to take Callie’s kiss.

The sound of the door sliding open made them break apart. Talia stepped into the bathroom, hair matted, black soot streaks along her eyes and cheeks, covered from head to toe in blood.