It was undoubtedly a cool reception on my girlfriend’s part, but about the best that could be hoped for under the circumstances. Ever since their initial meeting after I returned from Caeles – and had to tell Electra about my contracted nuptials – the relationship between the two had been nothing short of frosty.
“I’m sorry for intruding,” Myshtal said, turning to me, “but I just wanted to ask if you wanted me to pause the movie, Jim?”
I felt, rather than saw, Electra jerk her head in my direction. At the same time, a volcano of emotions erupted within her – mostly bitterness and displeasure, blanketed by layers of anger and frustration.
“Uh, no,” I said, purposely avoiding looking at Electra. “You can just let it play, or watch something else if you want.”
“Okay,” she said with a nod. “Goodnight, Electra.”
My girlfriend grunted something inaudible in response as Myshtal turned and headed back inside. A moment later, the door closed.
“Is that what you were doing when I called?” she demanded. “Watching a movie, with her?”
“Yeah, we were watching a movie,” I said defensively.
She gave me a smoldering look. “So the two of you were having a date night?”
“What?!” I asked, flabbergasted. “No! It was just a movie!”
“Really? So who else was there?”
I cut my eyes away in impotent anger. I didn’t say anything, but I didn’t have to.
“That’s what I thought,” Electra said as she indignantly crossed her arms.
“That still doesn’t make it a date,” I stressed.
“And what about what she was wearing?”
“What about it?” I asked.
“It was practically lingerie!”
I frowned in concentration for a moment. I hadn’t really gotten a good look at what Myshtal was wearing when she came to the door. I suppose it could have been a negligee…
“That’s not what she was wearing earlier,” I insisted, and it was true. If memory served me correctly, she had previously been dressed in some kind of skirt-and-blouse combo.
“Oh?” Electra intoned, raising her eyebrows in faux surprise. “So you’re saying that for the movie, she decided to slip into something more comfortable?”
“That’s not what happened at all. You’re twisting the facts into something sordid.”
“Or maybe you’re just being blind to the truth,” she countered. “Can’t you see what’s going on here?”
“Yes, I can. And what I can confirm is that there’s absolutely nothing going on.”
She shook her head in disbelief. “You can’t be that naïve, Jim. She’s prancing around in front of you in a negligee – you think she’s doing that for her health?”
I let out an exasperated breath. “Even if what you’re suggesting is true – and I don’t believe it is, but even if it were – you can’t possibly think I’d be more interested in her than you.”
“In all honesty, I don’t know what to think any more,” she said softly. “You two could be doing anything, and I wouldn’t have a clue.”
I stared at her in dumbfounded amazement for a moment. “You’re kidding, right? Between my mom, Gramps, and my grandmother, we’ve got like a million chaperones – all of them psychic! There’s nothing going on in that house that they don’t know about or condone.”
Electra seemed to mull over my statement, then let out a long sigh and said, “Okay, but why does she even have to stay here, under the same roof as you?”
“Where else is she going to stay? She literally knows no one else on the planet.”
“Just check her into a hotel or something. Plus, I hear they’re fixing up a place for her at League HQ.”
“Come on, Electra. Only a handful of super teens have ever stayed at the League full-time. And with her limited experience with Earth culture, I can’t just stick her in a hotel – even a resort. I promised to look after her.”
“Yeah,” Electra scoffed disdainfully. “Dressed like she was a moment ago, I imagine you’re doing a lot of looking – and not just after.”
I bit my tongue to avoid blurting out my instinctive response, which was to deny what was being implied. Electra’s last statement was bait, and any denial on my part would lead to her asking a question along the lines of, “So you’re saying you’re not attracted to her?” Having already been painfully hooked by that lure several times in the past few weeks, I wasn’t falling for it again.
“Look,” I said calmly, “in addition to everything else, Myshtal is a guest in my family’s home. Even if I was willing, they wouldn’t let me stick her away out of sight, any more than they’d let me do it to you if your positions were reversed. And in case you forgot, her great-great-grandmother rules an interstellar empire, and Myshtal is her favorite. You don’t think the queen’s having her watched? Having me watched?”
“There wouldn’t be any watching if you hadn’t gotten yourself into this mess,” she stated stonily. “Did you even try to say ‘No’ to this shotgun wedding?”
“We’ve been over this before. This was the deal I had to make to get home. Or would you prefer that I be stuck on Caeles for decades like my grandmother?”
“What I would prefer–”
“Shhh!” I hissed, putting a finger to her lips. She immediately went quiet.
I looked around warily. Just as Electra had begun speaking, I had picked up an emotional spike from nearby – a mix of excitement and elation mingled with trepidation. Somebody was watching us. Acting on instinct, I stepped protectively in front of my girlfriend.
“What is it?” she whispered.
“We’ve got eyes on us,” I answered over my shoulder.
“How many?”
“Just one, I think.”
At the same time that I answered, I felt the hairs on my arm rising as the air became ionized. Electra was gearing up to use her power.
“Where?” she asked, trying to step from behind me.
“Not sure,” I said, thrusting an arm back to make sure she stayed to my rear. “But give me a sec. I’ll find them.”
I began reaching out empathically. For me, the
