13. Chapter 13

For the second time in as many days, Jayna found herself in a canoe powered by two strong, handsome young men as they steered her and Emmaline on a leisurely cruise between the wamo platforms at the center of Manutai's fashion district.

At first, she had been nervous at the prospect of spending the afternoon with Sid's assistant. Jayna found Emmaline's confidence and poise intimidating. The fact that the woman was drop-dead gorgeous didn't help.

But after several hours of shopping, during which Emmaline had insisted on purchasing her far more clothes than anyone could ever wear in one week, Jayna began to see her for the fun, energetic person she was and not just Sid's intimidating, all-together personal assistant.

Emmaline had wisely insisted on purchasing a u-suit for Jayna, despite the astronomical cost. The climate-controlled underlayer was a miracle, keeping her cool despite the muggy tropical heat. It was lightweight and color-matched perfectly to Jayna's skin, giving her flexibility to wear a broad range of clothes that would otherwise have been stifling in the humid tropical climate, like the long-sleeved shirt and broad-brimmed hat she had chosen to protect her fair skin from the intense sun.

They passed beneath a bridge just as a group of people pedaled over on bicycles. "That looks like fun," Jayna said.

Emmaline looked up from her mirror display and wrinkled her nose at the cyclists slowly pedaling overhead. "I suppose. There are bike trails all over the place. Apparently, a lot of the engineers who designed Manutai were Dutch, and they included their love of cycling in the design of the islands."

At the mention of Dutch engineers, Jayna's mind went to Toren, and she felt a twinge of guilt realizing this was the first time she had even thought about him since arriving in Manutai. Their relationship hadn't been terribly exciting, but it had been comfortable, and it concerned Jayna that she had forgotten about him so quickly.

Emmaline apparently misread Jayna's guilt as disappointment. "I'm sure Obsidian would take you out riding if you asked him." She pointed at a rack of bicycles and said, "Bike rentals started dying out in the mid-thirties, but Sid bought one of the last companies and turned it around last year. He's quite proud of the fact that he figured out how to make the segment turn a profit."

"Wow, that's great," Jayna said, though the thought of cycling through Manutai with Sid both thrilled and terrified her.

Emmaline returned her attention to her mirror display and scowled. "Does this blouse clash with my hair as badly as I think it does?"

Jayna glanced between Emmaline's bright lavender hair and the creamy yellow top. "I wouldn't say they clash, exactly…"

Emmaline finished Jayna's thought for her. "But they don't exactly work together."

Jayna wrinkled her nose and shook her head.

Emmaline sighed. "That's what I thought." She began to rummage in her bag. "I'd better change before the fashion police catch me."

Concerned, Jayna glanced between Emmaline and the canoe paddler sitting behind them, and then at the crowds that lined the pedestrian plazas on either side of the channel. Would Emmaline really change her blouse in public?

"Ah-hah!" From her bag, Emmaline produced a thick, dark gray comb. She fiddled with it for a moment, and then Jayna watched in amazement as Emmaline ran the comb slowly through her hair. As she did, the strands turned from lavender to a deep reddish-brown.

"How does that work? With your hair color, I mean."

Emmaline grinned. "It's an experimental digital dye one of our companies is developing. The process takes picocapsules of color, similar to those used in digital paper, and embeds them into the hair fibers. These capsules are white when opaque and each contain either cyan, magenta, yellow, or black pigments. This comb emits a radiofrequency that activates the different picaps, causing them to become transparent and reveal the color inside."

Emmaline offered Jayna a lock of her hair, and as Jayna examined the individual strands, she could just make out the tiny spots of color.

"Since the different picaps respond to different frequencies, it's possible to induce specific combinations and generate a variety of hues. The color lasts for about a day and a half, but then the picaps begin to lose their charge, and after forty-eight hours or so, they will have gone completely white."

"Wow, that is amazing," Jayna said.

Emmaline waggled her eyebrows, and then returned to combing her hair. "What about you? Is that your natural hair color?"

"Almost," Jayna said. "My natural color is more of a strawberry blond. I take pheomelanin supplements to increase the coloration."

Emmaline screwed up her face in confusion. "I thought melanin supplements changed your skin tone."

"It can. I mean, regular melanin does. It's basically the same therapy, but pheomelanin is what makes red hair."

"That's fascinating. So, when they opened the Kingdom of Tangaroa, did you ever think of taking melanin supplements to darken your skin so you could try out for the lead role in their show?"

Jayna tensed at the question. "I would have loved to move here to work, but melanin supplements are so controversial, and doing something like that would have just been wrong."

Emmaline gave her a satisfied look. "You're right—it would have been. Still, you could have worked with Kalani again. I'm sure you would have liked that. The two of you seem close."

There was a conspiratorial note in Emmaline's tone, as if she suspected Jayna and Kalani were more than friends. "Yes, we're close. When I first started at Realms, he was in charge of aquatic choreography. We were part of the same gaming group, and I used to sing with him and his band, Mano Taika. He's been my coach for years. And he's been training me for the Merathlon. Remotely, of course."

"Of course. But he is quite a handsome devil. Are you sure there's nothing going on between the two of you?"

Jayna rolled her eyes. "There's nothing romantic if that's what you mean. He's like the big brother I never had."

Emmaline smiled and nodded. "Good."

There was an unexpected look of satisfaction on Emmaline's face and Jayna wondered what it could mean. "Why is that good? Are you planning to make a move on him?"

As soon as the words escaped her lips, Jayna wished she could unsay them. But Emmaline responded with a genuine smile. "Well played. But no, I'm not planning to make a move on Kalani. Handsome as he is, he's not really my type. And even if he were I'm not interested in a relationship right now."

Jayna stomach did a little flip. "Does that mean you and Sid aren't a couple?"

Emmaline laughed. "Sid is definitely not my type. No, despite reports to the contrary, we are not a couple. He is very much available."

Sid and Emmaline aren't together.Jayna did her best to hide the excitement flooding through her at this revelation. She had been trying to ignore her growing feelings for Sid, and this pronouncement made that nearly impossible.

Yes, he was a topper, and he owned Realms of Neptune. Either should have been enough to make her shut those feelings down.

But Sid genuinely seemed to care about Realms and its employees, he was surprisingly easy to talk to, and he quoted Aurora 293 as well as Jayna. The combination was impossible to resist.

As Jayna scrambled to keep her feelings in check, she remembered the little bit of research Gabrielle had done on Sid and the mixed results they had found. Jayna felt reasonably sure that Emmaline would give her an honest answer, so she decided to ask for the inside scoop on Sid and his reputation score.

"We did some research about Obsidian when we learned he had purchased the park. The information we got was very mixed."

Emmaline nodded her head. "There is some stuff out there that is less than flattering."

"But is any of it true?"

Emmaline gave her a tight smile. "I assume you're referring to the reports posted by Crystal Hadden-Steen? The details aren't mine to share, but it's safe to say that Crystal had a major grudge—and likely still does. She has made it her business to paint Obsidian as a villain."

"She says he's controlling and manipulative, and he destroys other people's lives for a living. Is that true? And if not, isn't there something Sid can do about it?"

Emmaline pursed her lips and considered Jayna's question. The buzz of tourists on shore and the sound of their paddlers moving the boat through the water all emphasized her silence as she thought.

At last, she said, "The things Crystal reports aren't technically lies. The people who claim he is controlling and manipulative are simply sharing their opinion. And many of them have been let go from companies Sid has purchased. They may even honestly believe they were targeted unfairly."

Jayna felt her insides tighten. She could no longer ignore her growing interest in Sid, but the last thing she needed was yet another overbearing man trying to run her life the way Ward had.

"I can say this about Obsidian Hayes, though. He does everything he can to take care of the people at his companies, and if someone is cut from an organization he has purchased, there was a reason they needed to go. Sid truly is a good man. And yes, I am saying that because he is my employer, but he wouldn't be my employer if it wasn't true. I think if you give him a chance, you'll see that he is every bit the person the positive reports say he is."

Jayna had seen plenty of evidence that Sid was good, but she still had her doubts. "It's hard to believe anyone could be that perfect."

Emmaline laughed. "Oh, dear, sweet mermaid. I never said he was perfect." Then her face went serious. "He is good, though. You should find some way to prove that to yourself."