Thomas awoke the next morning before sunrise, laying on the bottom of the shallow end of the pool. Thomas no longer had any thoughts of her former reality. She hoped the boys would sleep in and leave her world at peace for a while longer. The long sprint of the conference meet and graduation left no time to relax. State and Nationals were in the next three weeks, and then getting ready to move to a different state for college with these clowns also weights on Thomas's thoughts. Thomas watched the sky glow brighter as the sun, still below the horizon, crept higher. Thomas's mind was empty...blank...calm, but too awake to fall back asleep. She thought about Mark and how he looked when the last immature symbiote rejected him. Thomas wanted to tell him more...but her mother warned her about that. Thomas fused her legs together and her feet became a large flesh toned fin, then she began to swim up and down the length of the pool, staying within a few inches of the bottom. Thomas swam for a couple of hours, making the most of having the pool to herself. She swam to the steps on the shallow end and cleared her lungs of water, and felt her legs separate. Thomas then stood up, stepping up and out of the pool as the end of her legs transitioned from fins to feet. Thomas checked on the three sleeping swimmers, then quietly left with her purse and car keys, and drove to the mall. Thomas formed an area of her skin to look like a skintight black jumpsuit, and entered the mall. There were only a few places open at 8:30am like the salon and a few places in the food court. There were several people jogging around the inside of the mall, and several more just walking. Thomas wanted a doughnut, but went for a sausage egg fried rice breakfast from some asian fusion place. Thomas ate alone at a table when an older man walked up and sat down.
"Hello. May I join you and rest a while?," he asked.
Thomas recognized the man from the shop after a few moments, then spoke after remembering more from before, "Please, join me. It feels like a lifetime here. I would not have thought of it had you not stopped by. To what do I owe the visit?"
"Our deal," the older man replied, then after a pause, he continued, "If your ready...there is no hurry."
Thomas nodded, and closed her eyes for a few minutes before an immature symbiote legsuit slid into her waiting hand. Thomas then lifted the suit around the side to hand to the older man, "A deal is a deal." Thomas reflected on the nature of what she had just done.
The old man took out a bag then took the still wet legsuit from Thomas and slid it into the bag. The man then reformed his skin to be less baggy as his clothes shrank to become skin tight and his clothes change color to resemble the same shiny black jumpsuit. He smiled, "If you ever want to go back, that choice will always be there for you," and then the old man slid some papers that came from some place Thomas did not see, and he signed them before passing them to Thomas.
Thomas saw the release the old man signed. She had paid in full. She had taken on and become a queen in waiting of a hybrid race living among humans, and joined this reality as if it were her own. Thomas took the papers, then looked at the old man, "Will I see you again?"
The old man nodded, "From time to time, our paths will cross. My store moves around among the quantum realms." The old man stood up, now holding what looked like a vacuum sealed bag with the legsuit folded neatly inside.
Thomas asked the old man, "I'm not going to remember the other place am I?"
The old man's body tightened and reshaped into the younger asian girl who worked the shop in this reality, "You will never forget, and all you have to do is hold those papers, or copies, in your hand, and all of your memories will be clear, here and there. Make some copies and keep a few." The young girl's skin changed further to look like shiny latex, as the coloring suggested it was an anime plug suit. "It has been a pleasure doing business with you," she said, standing up.
Thomas rolled the papers up and slid them into her purse. "Will you ever sell that?" she asked.
The young girl replied, "Not in your lifetime. It's my way of getting you back to your prime reality if you change your mind. Good luck in your upcoming competitions, now and for as long as you wish."
The young girl walked away, and Thomas watched as the young girl just melted into the growing number of people in the mall, indistinguishable from the crowd. Thomas returned to the barely warm breakfast stir fry. Thomas appreciated the breakfast, though it was not as good as what she could milk from her crew. A mall employee came over to take her empty bowl. Thomas grabbed her purse and went back to the car. The drive back to the house was bittersweet, but she had no regrets. Thomas expected the boys to be up, but it was just 10:30am, and when she walked into the bedroom, they were in the same place as before. Thomas went back to the pool, and began to swim laps again, keeping a slow steady pace as she thought about the next three weeks to come.