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“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.
