It had been a month since Maxine had discovered the Shadow Lords' true intentions and both her decoy and clone had consumed their respective potions since then. She had made it look like the potions were either for healing or energy restoring when she consumed them. However she was curious about the effects of the third potion that Guan gave her, and rolled it in her hands from time to time while debating whether or not she should ever drink it.
Maxine had finished with her previous batch of students and was working with the next one. Kanisha had decided to join Maxine's school in order to get a steady stream of materials to create dimensional pouches. Maxine had insisted that the girl sell the pouches through the school and since the school provided the materials, Kanisha would have to get half of the money while the school got the rest. It was a steady form of income for both Kanisha and her school.
Maxine gave herself a decent salary from her school's funds, and had it deposited in a bank account that her mother co-signed with her. That way her mother would have access to Maxine's funds to pay for Silky's dietary needs. Even in Silky's human form, she could eat more than two large men and didn't gain an ounce of fat. Although Maxine wondered why Silky needed to eat that much since her own appetite was lessening as her strength increased.
However Maxine pushed those thoughts aside. She needed to call Chris and Amanda to see if either of them were willing to teach her students in the event that she disappeared. She had considered Patrick for the job since he had similar experience to her own, but his behavior recently left her feeling sour.
Maxine dialed Chris' number first and waited for him to answer. However it wasn't Chris that answered. "Hey, Maxine. How did you know I moved in with Chris? I don't recall ever mentioning it to you," Amanda asked.
"Umm, you didn't," Maxine answered, "I was calling him to ask him if he wanted to teach at my school."
"Really, Maxine?" Amanda asked, "He just learned how to control his own essence recently. He would make a lousy teacher."
"So he hasn't told you yet," Maxine said.
"Told me what?" Amanda asked.
"That's his secret to tell," Maxine said, "Can I please talk to him now?"
"Sure, one second," Amanda said in an annoyed tone. Chris this is payback for reminding me of the pain and suffering that the original Maxine went through. Enjoy explaining this to Amanda.
"What did you tell Amanda?" Chris demanded with a hint of worry in his voice.
"Nothing other than you are keeping a secret from her," Maxine answered smugly.
"God damn it. This is payback for that stuff I said at dinner the other night isn't it?" Chris asked.
"Take a guess," Maxine responded.
Chris let out a sigh and was silent for a moment before he asked, "Amanda mentioned you wanted to talk to me before handing me the phone. What is that about?"
"Do you have a good job?" Maxine asked instead of answering his question.
"I mop floors at a school," Chris answered flatly, "Is there a point to this other than making me feel worthless?"
"Yes, there," Maxine replied in an amused tone, "And since you clearly don't like your current joy, how would you like to do something else?"
"What do you have in mind," Chris asked.
"Teaching kids how to cultivate," Maxine answered.
"How much does it pay?" Chris asked curiously. Seriously, is that all he wants to know?
"How about triple whatever you are making now," Maxine answered, even though she had no idea how much he was making. Although, she knew most janitors didn't make that much.
"Good enough for me," Chris said, "When do I start?"
"As soon as I can find enough students for you to teach," Maxine answered, "Do you think Amanda will help with selecting students?"
"It would take some doing, but I think it's possible," Chris said, "Wait, how have you been doing it so far? Or do I want to know?"
"I have the richer students undergo a combination of psych exams and background checks," Maxine answered, "I don't want to teach students that have trouble controlling their aggression or have psychological problems. As for the students with less wealth, you could always scan their surface thoughts which you seem to have no problem with. I watch their public behavior." She was hoping that by reminding him of his unethical use of spiritual sense that it would shame him.
"Oh thanks. That's actually a pretty good idea," Chris replied as if he didn't even realize he was in the wrong. What the fuck? Does he not realize he could get into a lot of trouble if he is ever found out? However before Maxine could warn him, he said, "I gotta go. Amanda is giving me the evil eye. Bye." Evil eye? Oh! They were probably about to eat dinner. No one likes being kept from their food.
"Bye," Maxine tried to say, but the call was ended before she could say anything. Amanda must have been giving him one hell of an angry glare for him to hang up like that.
Maxine got up and went to the kitchen to help her mother prepare dinner. Afterall, they had to make enough food to feed the bottomless pit known as Silky. When she got to the kitchen, a smiled formed on her face as she witnessed an adorable scene. Silky was wearing a small apron and was standing on a short stool while stirring a pot. Maxine's mother was periodically putting ingredients into that pot for a stew.
Maxine spied a few potatoes that just needed to be cut up. She walked up beside her mother and started to cut up the potatoes with a knife made of her shadow essence. Although she had to be careful not to damage the cutting board, she still enjoyed simple act of preparing food. In the previous timeline, she couldn't enjoy it since she had to stay on guard every waking moment on the off chance that an essence beast attacked.
Right as Maxine finished cutting the potatoes, she felt a sadness come over her. After the ship from the Technological Union shows up, I won't be able to do things like this anymore with mom or Silky. Tears came unbidden down Maxine's face as she struggled not to cry. God damn it not now. I can't cry infront of mom.
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However despite Maxine's best efforts, her mother noticed her tears and gently pulled Maxine close so that her head rested on her mother's shoulder. Her mother slowly stroked the back of Maxine's head. "It's alright," her mother said comfortingly, "Just let it out." Maxine no longer resisted her tears and let them flow freely as she cried softly into her mother's shoulder. She didn't know how long she stayed in that state, but all the while she felt her mother's gentle hand stroking her hair.
Eventually Maxine stopped crying and pulled herself from her mother. "Feel better?" her mother asked.
"A little," Maxine answered honestly.
"Good," her mother said, "I'm relieved that you finally cried and got that mess out of your system. Emily has been worried about you."
"What do you mean mom?" Maxine asked as she wiped the few remaining tears from her eyes.
"She said that when you began spending more time with her than you had in the past, you appeared tense for some reason," her mother said, "But I know better than anyone what is bothering you. That fight with that fox creature a couple months ago upset you far more than you have been letting on. Now, get out of the kitchen, both of you. I will take care of dinner. Silky, take care of Maxine. She needs you right now." Mom thinks I am still upset over that? Well, I do feel bad that they died, but I couldn't do anything about it. I had enough trouble keeping myself and my friends from being killed.
Maxine did as she was told and went to the dinning room table to wait for dinner with Silky, whom cuddled up onto her lap. Maxine hugged Silky and brushed Silky's hair with her hand, while Silky appeared to enjoy every second of it. Once her mother come in with the pot of stew, they served themselves and began to eat. As usual, Silky ate most of it. It still amazed Maxine how Silky could wolf so much food down with her tiny frame without getting bloated. Maxine often suspected that Silky had something similar to a dimensional pouch for a stomach.
After eating her dinner, Maxine helped clean up the table even though her mother told her not to and she went to her room after letting her mother know that she was going to study. She opened a portal the the shadow world and leapt into it. She found a spot to cultivate and once she sat down, she began to cultivate before shifting her focus back to her main body.
Aside from satisfying her bodily needs and brief times that her clone was in the shadow world, Maxine had been cultivating non-stop and was very close to breakingthrough to iron stage rank 3. To avoid getting stiff, she stood up and stretched while determining how much more time she needed to breakthrough to the next rank. At my current pace, it shouldn't take me less than two weeks. And that will make my clones stronger since they tend to rank up at the same time that I do. It would be nice if my shadow clones and constructs followed that same pattern, but it's not as likely. In any case, a stronger clone means that it will have a higher possibility of reaching uncle Zephyr and escaping. I am really glad that Hellen talked with Zephyr in advance to confirmed that he was going to help me. Otherwise, it would be guaranteed that I would be forced to suicide my clone and decoy. Or at the very least, live in a world without color. On a side not, I am kind of surprised when she told me that she had been speaking to him. I guess it makes sense that she would want to know how the rest of her family is doing.
Maxine felt something strange going on with one of the spiritual marks she had placed earlier and began to check them one at a time. It took her a second to find out what it was. The queen bee that she had tamed had finally formed an essence core. It had taken her queen bee so long to form a core that she had nearly forgotten about it, but now that it had, various ideas started popping up in her head. She sent and order to the queen bee to gather as many venomous insects as it could and see if it could increase the combative ability of the warrior bees by analyzing the DNA of the insects collected to make changes in the DNA of the next brood of warrior bees. She anticipated that these new warrior bees would be at least four inches long and with enough numbers, pose a threat to iron stage cultivators. They would serve as an excellent means of delaying, or posisbly killing, any pursuers when her clone was fleeing to Zephyr, which would greatly enhance the odds of escape. The biggest issues were that she didn't know how many warrior bees could be produced in that timeframe and if it was even possible to edit the DNA of the bees to that extent.
The worker bees had just brought a few insects back to the hive when Maxine heard Emily's voice, "Maxine? Are you here?" She had left a small portal to her room open and that is why she could hear Emily. After sitting back down in a meditative pose, she expanded the portal and she switched her focus back to her clone before jumping into the portal.
Once Maxine was back in her room, she looked at the startled Emily. Huh? Why is she so surprised? Oh, that's right. I told her about my shadow portals, but I have never actually used them infront of her before. "Hey, Emily. What's up?" Maxine asked cheerfully.
"I just wanted to make sure you were alright," Emily said, "You have just seemed tense for the past month. It's not something I did, is it?" So, Emily didn't bother talking to mom. Or she did and mom told her to talk to me.
Maxine sighed and answered Emily, "No, it isn't you."
"Then what is it?" Emily asked in a concerned tone. Damn it. I don't want to lie to Emily. She is the one person that I will not lie to. Might as well keep it simple.
"I didn't mention this before, but my biological dad is ridiculously powerful," Maxine said via spiritual sense, "And there are a lot of people wanting to control him to use him as a war machine. If I get captured by them, I will be used as a tool to make Guan do what they want. I have been stressing out trying to figure out a way to avoid that and it got worse a month ago when I found out they are sending a ship to specifically fine me with a DNA scanner."
"Why not escape Earth with your uncle Zephyr?" Emily suggested calmly.
"Oh, I intend to, if I can," Maxine answered, but Emily appeared confused.
"Why did you say 'if I can'?" Emily asked.
"Because when that ship scans Earth, each and every offworlder will rush at me like a swarm of locusts all intent on capture," Maxine answered and Emily gave Maxine a look like she thought Maxine was an idiot.
"You are being an idiot," Emily stated in an annoyed tone, "You could leave with your uncle the day before, or even a week before, that ship arrives." That was like a slap to Maxine's face. She had been so focused on avoiding capture that she ignored every other avenue of fleeing. Not only would it avoid a big scene where innocent people could get hurt, it also take the death of her clone out of the picture entirely.
"That's a great idea, but I have no idea when the ship with that scanner will arrive," Maxine said.
"Can't your uncle tell you?" Emily asked.
"Probably," Maxine said and she hugged Emily, "I love you and thank you. You saw a way out of this predicament that I overlooked entirely."
"Your welcome and I love you too," Emily said and she took the initiative to kiss Maxine, which Maxine thoroughly enjoyed. Emily is definitely getting better at kissing. Too bad she no longer blushes when she kisses me though. Unfortunately the kiss didn't last as long as Maxine would have liked, but she wasn't going to complain.
"Now, is there anything else you want to talk about?" Maxine asked with a huge smile on her face.
"How will we be able to keep in contact after you leave Earth?" Emily asked.
"Good question," Maxine answered and thought for a second, "I could put one of my shadow clones in your shadow and once it is all clear, I will have it come out. That way we can stay in contact. How does that sound?"
"Sounds like a plan to me," Emily replied, "What should we do before I head back home?" Maxine discreatly ordered one of her shadow clones to enter Emily's shadow.
"Hmm, I have a few ideas," Maxine said in a sultry tone to tease Emily, but she gave Maxine a flat glare, "I was just teasing. How about we play some cards with Silky and my mom?"
"Okay, but don't use your spiritual sense to cheat this time," Emily reminded Maxine.
"Alright, so long as you don't work together with Silky and my mom to beat me," Maxine responded and started walking out of her room, "I will go get the cards."
"I will get Silky and your mom at the table," Emily said before leaving Maxine's room.
While Maxine went to go get a deck of cards, she made a mental note to get into contact with Zephyr to make sure he would be ready to take her off Earth. I should prepare a few letters for my friends, General Cullen and mom to let them know why I have to leave.