The S-Gene (Book 1: Amelia) - COMPLETE
The Illusion

A/N: Thank you for the well wishes! We are all doing much better, more alive, haha. And *yes* I did *again* change the cover... haha.. one day I’ll be happy with it....

***

A giant trap.

That was how she could describe this house. She had gone around and around, but Amelia hadn’t been able to replace anything that might give away the location of any devices. Then again, it wasn’t like they would make it obvious.

She could only pray that the bathroom offered them some kind of privacy.

Genecorp hadn’t specified how long this little fake-ass-weird honeymoon was meant to last. Not a shocker. The least amount of detail they could get away with, they would. It was their fucking trademark. So for now, Noah and her had to act as normal as possible.

Which she completely sucked at.

So yay.

Breakfast had been pretty quiet - they made conversation but it was basic. Half of that was because neither of them knew what to say… but also, Noah had appeared to be in his own world. He stared off into space, he looked out of it…

She hadn’t pushed it, she hadn’t questioned it. Part of her feared that perhaps he was regretting the offer he had given her. Could it have anything to do with her status as a universal donor? She never got to ask him and talk about what happened with the skinwalker.

Had she unknowingly forced Noah to do this?

This was exactly why she needed to talk to him - goddamnit.

Maybe he needed time to process this. After all, it happened so fast, and as he had highlighted many times - he had been happy with his previous life. Perhaps it hit him all at once? She couldn’t blame him though…

The only issue was… they probably couldn’t stay too far from each other for too long. Somehow, she felt that would prolong their time here - which might have been the reason why they were not provided with a timeframe.

It would be when Genecorp would damn well please. As always.

Except now everything was weird and awkward and it was driving her up the wall. No, she didn’t know everything about Noah, no they did not have a thousand things to talk about but this… silence? It was fucking weird.

“So…. Got big plans for the day?” she teased as she used her fork to push around the food on her plate. Scrambled eggs. She didn’t have the stomach for eggs right now.

“Watch TV with me.”

What-the-do-what-now?

“Huh?” she asked with her jaw loosening, her lips parted open.

That was his big plan for the day? They were stuck in this hellhole for god knew how long, being watched every second of every moment and Noah wanted to…watch TV? Had he gone mental? Lost his shit?

That was it. They had broken him.

Years here, and he had finally snapped.

That was the only logical explanation she could come up with at the moment.

“TV?”

He nodded. “Yeah, a quiet moment.”

Alright. So maybe Noah hadn’t completely lost it. She could go along with this - and hope that this was actually something and not her reading too much into it. In her defense, it was kind of hard to read a basically-stranger′ secret cues.

“…Why not,” she ended up replying with a shrug of the shoulders. Look natural, look natural.

She scarfed down the rest of her food and then pushed her plate away from her. She offered Noah a smile, her cheeks like a chipmunk as she struggled to swallow. Yes, that was for sure an attractive look.

Noah led the way, and Amelia followed him to the couch. He plopped down, ever so casually, resting his arm on the back of the couch. So, she was probably supposed to sit next to him, right? Or was he just - keeping up appearances?

Amelia shifted her weight from one foot to the other a few times before deciding to sit down next to him, their bodies almost touching, but not quite. A few inches. A bit of space. That way if she had misinterpreted the cue, she wouldn’t look like such a weirdo.

From the corner of her eye, she saw him smile.

She blinked, waiting, but he didn’t say anything.

Instead, he turned on the TV.

So they were… watching TV. Like he said… they would?

As she stared ahead, almost waiting for the sky to fall on her head, everything appeared normal. Or at least as normal as her life could be considering the circumstances.

But then, for a second, it felt like everything blurred in front of her. What the? She blinked again, but this time, there was no feeling of a veil in front of her. Had she hallucinated it? Had she lost her mind? Was it the lack of sleep?

“You can talk.”

“Excuse me?”

He leaned into her his mouth a little too close to her ear. She resisted the urge to pull away. Not because she was disgusted but mostly because she didn’t know what the heck was going on.

“You didn’t see it?”

“See what?”

On cue, it happened again. Everything around here was blurry for a flash like if she stretched out her arm, she would be touching a bubble.

“That’s you?”

Noah nodded.

“And it’s what?”

“Let’s call it a privacy bubble.”

A privacy bubble. Sounded weird, but nothing was truly weird anymore.

She rolled her lips together, yeah no. What the heck?

“And it does?”

“It shields us from them. They can’t hear what we’re actually saying, they can’t see what we’re actually doing.”

“Wait what?”

“Complete privacy.”

“So - what… what do they see us doing?”

“I’m not used to it anymore, I kept it simple. Watching TV, probably having a casual conversation about what’s on.”

“So you don’t know for sure.”

“More or less.”

That was more or less reassuring. Though she had to admit, it was nice to drop the facade for a little bit…

Wait a goddamn minute here mister.

“Wait, so - I don’t… could you do that the whole time?”

He tilted his head to the side. “Normally. I wasn’t sure… this place is a little different. I’ll be honest, I never tried to work out where we were or how the whole place was set up. I know it was… dampening my abilities but… It made sense. If we were all left running rampage… it could end badly.”

True.

“I felt a little different since we woke up here. I thought it was the drug but then… I kinda ran around testing it.”

“That’s what you were doing?”

“I didn’t wanna share until I knew for sure… didn’t feel safe.”

“…and you’re sure now…?”

Could he truly be sure that they were fooled? Maybe they were pretending and not intervening on purpose.

“If they saw some the shit I did… they woulda done something about it.”

Amelia arched an eyebrow, her lips pursed out. “Now I’m intrigued.”

He chuckled as he leaned into her. She watched with focused eyes as he twirled his hand in front of her until a bright yellow smoke emanated from his fingertips. When it dissipated, all that was left behind was a red rose in the middle of his palm.

She thought genies granted wishes… not that they were magicians.

Regardless, Amelia reached out for it, picking it up from his hand. She held it between her fingers; it was real. She could touch it, feel it, smell it…

“You think they would be scared that you’re creating flowers out of thin air?” she teased, nudging him with her shoulder. Granted, it was impressive. It wasn’t like she could create stuff by snapping her fingers but… it hardly qualified as dangerous.

“And you did the coffee! You changed my coffee!”

“It was a small trick, I changed something. I didn’t create it from nothing. But I can create other illusions.”

“Illusions?”

Noah dropped his hand back in his lap, turning his head away from her. She watched as he palmed the side of his throat, his shoulders rolling inwards. Her quest to replace out more about supernatural creatures, including Djinns was interrupted.

“Most wishes… they’re fake. It’s an illusion.”

She bunched her eyebrows together. “But you asked me to wish for you to tell the truth.”

He nodded. “Most. Those, I couldn’t - I couldn’t really do anymore. I guess it woulda been cheating…”

“Really, because I recall a certain movie from my childhood and it kinda implied that ya know…” She tossed her hands up in front of her chest. “Falling in love wasn’t a permitted wish.”

“It’s not really falling in love if it’s an illusion, now is it?”

Wasn’t falling in love always an illusion? Then it fell apart once people would see the true person behind the facade. Fine. That was a little cynical of her maybe. Could someone blame her? Especially after the hard dose of depressing reality, she had gotten ever since she let Genecorp into her life.

“Okay, so you can create stuff - without it being a wish. And until we got here you couldn’t.”

“Exactly.”

“But small wishes non-illusion based wishes were fine?”

“I think so.”

“You think so?”

“No one - no one ever…”

“No one made wishes.”

“I tried a few things, so I think it worked. I never got that far with anyone so…”

No, because he had long ago given up on all of this. Until now. This moment, where he was giving it all up to help her and lord did that pile of guilt remind her of what she wanted to talk to him about? There were a lot of things. But this was a top priority and the topic at hand.

And now finally they could talk.

Sure, she wanted to discuss what the fuck they were going to do while they were here and how they were going to get away with not being a couple but…. Well, this new nifty trick might help…. But she’d ask about that later.

For now, she had to discuss the incident. The one that made her doubt everything. If he was doing this based on her being a universal carrier… she couldn’t let him do it. She couldn’t.

“I gotta talk to you about something.”

He pointed upwards with his index finger. “It’s kinda the whole point of this,” he said with a grin.

Yeah, but he was not going to expect this conversation….

“…I kinda… I don’t even know what I did but… the skinwalker came back…”

“When?” his voice was like a roar, and for a second she saw the space around her flicker. Alright.

“Hm,” she cleared her throat. Sure, best not to mention that. “The other day… but… he didn’t hurt me. I… was started crying and I told him to fuck off basically… and he did?”

She angled her head to the side, watching his face, watching for another explosion of emotions or maybe confusion but there was none of that.

“Is that… is that what you meant about me being a universal carrier?”

“I - I don’t know everything… the extent… but sorta, yeah.”

Well, that explained about… fuck all.

“So… I can make people do… what I ask?”

He huffed the air out of his chest before tangling his fingers with his bangs. “I - I’m not 100% sure how it works. The thing is… supernatural beings are attracted to you. You’re the goal. Biology drives them to you. It kinda also makes sure you like them.”

That was creepy on another level. And it would explain why humans were in charge. If supernatural creatures were working for Genecorp… they could be swayed or used and they wouldn’t want that now, would they?

“So… they do what I want so that I’ll like them? Yeah, last I checked that’s not exactly how it works…plus trust me… I had asked that asshole to leave me alone before. He didn’t listen until I cried like a damn damsel in distress.”

It was not her finest moment, she was willing to admit that. But at least, it had helped get rid of that fucking freak. She’d cry again if it meant he wouldn’t get to put his hands on her.

Never again.

“I’m not sure. It’s kinda primitive all this. Acting on instincts. Maybe something about your tears? You’d have to test it to know…”

Which she wanted to do but didn’t want to do at the same time. Like, what if she tried it on the wrong person, or it didn’t work? She could put herself in harm’s way and she was already in enough danger as it was.

Unless…

“What if I test it out with you?”

His head pushed back as his shoulders came forward, a pained look on his face. Alright. He didn’t have to look like she kicked his puppy or something. Noah pressed his lips together, his arms tensed as he struggled to look at her.

“Me?”

“Do you see anyone else here?” she asked, nudging him with her elbow, trying to break the tension.

“I don’t think - no.”

So it would affect him. Which meant, she was already affecting him. Well, time to rip it off like a bandaid. She would not dance around the issue any longer. “Why? Because… it’s already my fault you’re here.”

Noah’s body posture loosened, as his head flinched back. “What are you talking about?”

“This. You agreed to do this because I’m a universal… right? You didn’t wanna do this.”

His eyes narrowed. “Ames, we already talked about this.”

“Well, now that I know I can sway the supernatural… I don’t buy it.”

“Look. I didn’t - I lived my own life, alright. I was happy with it, and I wasn’t chasing love or anything. Plus, sometimes, it felt like humans deserved it. For centuries, I got the worst part of them. So I didn’t bother to look further, I didn’t bother to help… then I talked to you.”

“And with my magical universal carrier powers…”

“No,” he interrupted. “I saw the damages, alright. I saw it. No one told me about it, no one else ever talked about this bullshit. Because that’s what it is. It’s bullshit. It’s their fault in the first place, I know it. They did something to change us. Now we rely on them and they have all the fucking power. They shouldn’t.”

He sighed. “I don’t have freedom, okay? Someone still owns me. Eventually, I’ll have to leave anyway… So might as well do it on my terms you know?”

Fine.

That was pretty good-sounding logic. She would give him that. He did sound sincere, and she was convinced he believed everything he said to her.

But there could be two things responsible for it.

“….that aside. It doesn’t mean it’s not affecting you.”

“It’s not. Sure, I know what you are. But have I gone insane like the skinwalker? I haven’t done anything. I’m—“

“But you’re different, right? You’re the one who can control himself and do what he wants regardless of what your body is forcing you to do?” Amelia could barely stop herself from rolling her eyes. Did he not realize how cheesy that sounded? Like a bad rom-com - which lord did she wish this was but it wasn’t.

“When you say it like that…” he said before chuckling. “You make me sound like a freaking idiot.”

“Oh sorry, how else should I say it?”

He meant well, that was fine. But - did he not understand? Nothing was real here. Nothing was real for her. Nothing was real for him out there, and nothing was real for her here.

“’Cause, it sounds to me like you’re trying to say you’re special and above it all.” She lifted a hand. “Now, maybe you are. I don’t know. But I have my doubts.”

He leaned back into the couch, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “I get that. That’s fair.”

AND…?

“I don’t know what I could say to make you believe me.”

Nothing - that was the biggest problem with this.

He sighed. “You wanna wish that everything I do is because I feel it and not because biology tells me?”

Amelia clasped her hands together as she shook her head. “If I wished that… then it really would be an illusion…” she looked at him, pausing. “Wouldn’t it?”

The corner of his mouth lifted, but there was no joy or happiness in his smile. “You catch on fast, Ames.”

“So my only choice is to believe you’re doing all of this super willingly and somehow selfishly and it was nothing to do with me being a universal carrier.”

“Exactly.”

Yeah, no.

“We’ll see I guess.”

He hadn’t done anything creepy, he was right. But helping her in itself could be considered creepy and ugh her head hurt. Focus. They had signed a contract, so they’d have to go through the charade a little bit anyways. No matter how willing or unwilling this all was.

For now, she should focus on the important stuff. “Is your bubble gonna run out at some point?”

“Nice way to change the conversation.”

“I’m serious.”

“I haven’t tested the limits of my powers yet.”

“Okay, so we might not have long. Important stuff. How much can you trick them?”

“I’ll refer you to my previous answer,” he said with a wink.

Damn it. Yeah, that made sense. It pissed her off, but it made sense. “Then I guess we’ll have to test it, don’t we.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t think they’re gonna let us out until they see something… if you know what I mean.” Don’t blush, you are not a freaking virgin teenage girl. Do not blush.

He glanced down at her, his top teeth sinking in his bottom lip, a hint of a grin tugging at his lips. Oh, he thought this was amusing. Well, at least someone was having fun.

“Sex? Are they’re gonna wanna get their socks off to us having sex? Is that what you mean?”

“Yes, Noah. I mean - I’m pretty sure they want us to do it at least once. That’s probably why we are stuck in the middle of butt nowhere.”

“If you think about it, it’s kinda good for us to be stuck here if it means I have my powers to a somewhat-normal capacity.”

Good point.

“Depends on how much you can do.”

“We’ll see I guess.”

“Alright, so we’ll test it out, see what you can project for them - or however the fuck that works.”

“You know, I take my illusions from somewhere.”

“What?”

“Yeah, when I create illusions, I inspire myself on real events, people, or things.”

“…Okay?”

“I’d be easier if I had a source of inspiration.”

One of her eyebrows flew up. “Are you… I’m sorry is this the worst way anyone has ever asked anyone to have sex? Because if I was gonna give them a real-life show, why the fuck would I ask if you could fake it?”

He had lost his damn mind.

Yup.

He was laughing.

Noah covered his mouth with his hands, his shoulders shaking from his laughter. “That’s not - Ames, if I wanted to have sex with you, I would go a very different way about it.”

“So you don’t wanna have sex with me?”

“Do you want me to want to have sex with you?”

Okay, now her head hurt. Amelia lifted both her hands, stopping him. “Can we go back to the beginning?”

Noah smiled at her, reaching for her face, and gently tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. He used his newfound grip to lean into her, his nose touching hers, brushing against it. His breath was warm on her face as his lips parted. “I only meant some proximity. You can take your mind out of the gutter.”

Oh, she was the one with the dirty mind? Mister I do my yard work like I’m the side piece in a bad soap opera. Sure.

Fine.

She took a deep breath and closed the small distance that separated them. At first, he was stunned, not moving as her lips met his. She considered pulling away, except he moved. His hand changed position, cupping the back of her head as he pulled her in.

Her hands were trapped, flat against his chest, as he put his free hand on the small of her back. She could feel his fast heartbeat beneath her touch - was that from nervousness or did Djinn’s hearts beat faster…

He tasted sweets, remnants of the fruits he had eaten earlier, his skin warm like fire. Had he always been this warm? She had meant for this to be a peck, but… It wasn’t. His tongue was pressing at the seam of her lips, asking them to part open.

She did.

Amelia melted against his touch, her heart soaring in her throat. It wasn’t supposed to feel like this. Her nerve endings were tingling, her fingers aching to grip something - anything.

Pop.

Pop?

Her eyes widened open and she pulled away, feeling his tongue on her swollen bottom lip. Her pressed his forehead to hers, glancing down instead of looking into her eyes. A pop like a balloon popping… could that have been…

“Did…you just pop your…”

He brought his finger to her lips, shushing her. Right, no bubble, no privacy.

Which meant they saw the kiss.

Good. Good.

Laying the groundwork.

Making it believable.

That was all it was.