Chapter 55 – Stolen Baby

22 years ago

“No,” said John, “I didn’t use any power on her. We met at a bar, we were both a little drunk, more than a little horny, and one thing led to another.”

“And now you’re having a bastard child,” said Zachariah with a disapproving stare. “When is it due?”

“Sometime in February,” John replied.

“Keep us updated,” said Maggie.

The baby was born right on time on St Valentine’s Day.  That evening Maggie visited the hospital and, without anyone remembering she was there, applied the amulet to little Melanie. She could already tell that Melanie was going to be powerful, not as powerful as the baby she held a few months ago, but powerful nonetheless. It seemed that John had a strong bloodline. If he’d only settle down with the one woman and be more responsible about where he left his seed.

Maggie’s visit had unforeseen circumstances though. She’d bypassed hospital security so that there was no record of her entering or leaving the building. While she was there, she amended the child’s birth record to indicate the presence of the ‘birthmark’ on her wrist.

+++++

Connie Tyler was a desperate woman. She’d tried and tried for a child over and over, only to have miscarriage after miscarriage. Her own marriage had suffered and broken down with the stress and disappointment of repeatedly trying and failing to have a child. She’d been being treated for depression, but the tablets had made no difference. She knew that she needed a baby. . .she just had to have a baby. . .and then everything would be alright.

Getting into the hospital had been easy. It was almost a public building.  She had found on her frequent previous visits to such establishments that all you needed to do was to look like you knew where you were going and that you had a right to be there. Few people questioned you.

She wore her company ID but turned it so that the card actually faced her body. People would see the lanyard and assume that she was a staff member. Thankfully, people always assumed.

Walking into the hospital, she parked the stroller she’d brought with her in a storeroom on the first floor. She’d been here before and had found that this room was often left unlocked. She took off her coat, scarf, and hat and laid them over the stroller. Underneath she wore scrubs. She’d managed to steal these on her last visit.

Although Connie was desperate, she was not stupid. She was a project manager in a tech company, and so, when it came to carrying out any job, she broke it down in to parts, allocated tasks each with their own timelines and criteria for success, and each leading toward the inevitable goal: the success of the project. This had been no different. Tonight, was the final part of this particular project: to get her a baby.

Putting on a surgical mask she walked confidently up to the maternity floor and stood near the entrance, by a window, apparently talking on her phone.

A woman in a suit exited the unit and Connie approached the door holding her ID as if she were about to use it to let herself in. The woman smiled at her and held the door. Connie nodded her thanks and went inside.

She was in. She looked into a couple of rooms which turned out to be empty. This was a part of her plan that she couldn’t prepare for. People moved about in here from hour to hour. She’d have to wing it and see who she found.

The first room with a mother also had a father. Dad was cradling his baby in his arms and grinning like a lunatic. He bounced the infant gently and cooed to it.

“Sorry,” said Connie as they looked up, “wrong room.”

She moved on. She’d tried three more doors before she hit paydirt. A new mother, exhausted and asleep lay in the bed, beside which a was a crib holding a baby. Connie went in and looked at the baby. She was beautiful. Her eyes were closed and she twitched gently as she slept, but Connie knew that this was the one. This was her baby.

Taking a look to make sure that the mother was still asleep, she pulled a small pair of snips from her pocket and cut the RFID bracelet off the baby’s tiny wrist. The bracelet would have set off an alarm if she’d tried to take the baby out of the unit with it in place. She quickly checked that there wasn’t another one on the baby’s ankle, but there wasn’t.

She looked at the tag, which also doubled as an identity band for the baby. “Melanie,” she breathed and smiled. She liked that name. Connie frowned when she noted that the tag seemed to have left a mark on the baby’s wrist, but no matter that would fade.

She picked up the baby, walked through the door, and out into the corridor.  Connie was thankful that the hallway was deserted.

Had it not been for the fact that Maggie had only just left, having applied the amulet to the baby, there might have been someone around to see Connie, or the security camera’s might have caught her walking out with a babe in arms, something that was not permitted in the hospital. But Maggie, who had inadvertently held the door for Connie to enter the unit, had disabled all of the safeguards so her own visit would go unnoticed.

Connie took the elevator down to the first floor and slipped into the storeroom where she’d left the stroller. She gently placed the baby into the stroller, and then put on her coat, hat, and scarf. Then she left the hospital as just another mother bringing her child to be seen by one of the many doctors in the building. The security guard even held the door for her.

It was an hour later that the baby Melanie’s disappearance was finally noticed. A midwife went in to do her checks and found the crib empty and the mother still asleep. The alarm went up, and the hospital was immediately sealed, but by then Connie and the child were already far away.

Connie had deliberately chosen an out of state hospital. She’d told her colleagues at work that she’d been applying for an adoption and had taken a month’s leave of absence to finalize everything.

When she returned to work three weeks later, she was just another proud mother showing off her baby pictures.

“AWWWW,” said her colleague. “Isn’t she beautiful. What did you name her?”

“Melanie,” said Connie, “and yes, she’s perfect.”

+++++++

Present Day.

I was starting to feel like I was on a treadmill. Every morning at four a.m. I would wake, train, study, have hypnotherapy sessions, eat, then be in bed at ten p.m., rinse, and repeat.

I sighed, looking at the dark ceiling above. “Is this it?” I thought to myself. “Is this my life – same old routine day in and day out?”

I shifted my arm slightly and suddenly had a handful of smooth warm flesh. I looked down. Ness was snuggled up to me and I was currently cupping her naked ass, the T-shirt she wore to bed having ridden up in the night. I grinned.

“Could be worse,” I said to myself, before slipping out of bed and heading to the bathroom.

I couldn’t really complain. My life was far from mundane. Yes, I was up early in the morning to train, but I had a goal in mind, and it wouldn’t be forever, although I suspected that it would be a hard habit to break.

Marcia arrived at eight, as promised, and we all had breakfast together. I ate a lot more than I would normally, but I was preloading. I’d been promised a heavy Healing session with Vince and Jeevan this afternoon. I was hoping it didn’t wipe me out too much as I had my first flying lesson that evening.

First though, I had a couple of hypnotherapy appointments. The first being a new woman. She was apparently new to the area, but worked with someone who I had treated before. She had tried to stop smoking many times in the past and been unsuccessful. Mary had put her in first. She was going to be accompanied by the colleague I had treated.

Since I was going to the range rather than to campus, I clipped on my holster, and tucked my CQB inside. Dean had suggested that I should carry at all times when not at school. His rationale had been that I was a trouble magnet and, although I could deal with just about anything with my powers, having a ‘mundane’ option would make life easier. He also told me to get a bigger gun safe because each of the girls, when they were old enough, would be getting their own weapons from him. He didn’t want them any less protected than me. Since Ness and Jules were norms, it counted double for them.

I climbed in my truck and headed downtown to the range.

The girls for the first hypnotherapy appointment were already waiting for me in the reception area when I arrived. I recognised the girl I had treated, Maddison,  as she stood and came to embrace me. Hoss cocked an eyebrow at me, and I grinned.

“Caleb,” Maddison said releasing me, “this is Alina. Alina, this is Caleb, the man I told you about. He’ll help you for certain.”

Alina didn’t look certain.

“Hi,” I said offering her my hand. She shook it.

“Maddison tells me you can help me stop smoking.” She had a pronounced eastern European accent.

“I can,” I said, “if you want me to.”

“Yes,” she said. She reached into her pocked and pulled out some bills. Thrusting then toward me. “Here.”

I smiled at her. “Let’s go and sit down.” I said opening the office door. She looked uncertain. “Maddison is going to be sitting beside you the whole time.”

She looked at Maddison who smiled and nodded. They both preceded me into the office, and I indicated a chair for her to sit on.

She sat with Maddison taking the chair next to her. I sat the other side of the table and opened my laptop.

It took a few minutes for me to explain the disclaimer. She was one of the few who was very careful about what she signed. I suspected that she’d fallen foul of some bureau or other in her home country. Eventually, all done, I got her to count backward from one hundred.

The illusion for Maddison took but a moment, and then I placed all the usual anti-smoking compulsions. That done I went looking for her language memories. She had to know a different language, in fact she knew two, Russian and Romanian.

“A twofer,” I thought to myself downloading the memories. They came with a lot of other stuff, and I filtered through it as I was taking it.

Alina was an illegal having arrived in the US, in a shipping container, about eight months ago. She was living in a shared house with other illegals and working three jobs to pay for her accommodation and food. One of the jobs was with Maddison.

In truth, it was Maddison who had given her the money to come to see me. She’d caught Alina scrounging butts in the alley behind the shop they both worked in as she hadn’t had the money to actually buy cigarettes.

I saw there were some feelings for Maddison there, and upon checking the other girl it seemed they were reciprocated. The problem was that, as an illegal, Alina was stuck in the hostel, handing over all of her money, and forced into working. A modern day slave.

I bit my lip.

“For fuck’s sake,” I said out loud. This gig was pulling me into all kinds of trouble.

I considered my options. If I went to Maggie, the likelihood was that they would inform INS which would mean that the hostel would be shut down and everyone living there deported. I had seen what Alina had run from and there was no way I was letting her go back to that.

The people that ran the hostel were dangerous also. Gangsters, pulling girls into the US and into prostitution and various other crimes. It seemed that Alina had escaped that fate, for now, as she was what could charitably be described as ‘plain.’ There were other girls who were far prettier in the batch of people they had smuggled in and they had reached their quota. Alina, as far as they were concerned, was just someone to make them a little money on the side.

Extracting her from the hostel wouldn’t be too hard. All I’d need to do would be to go there and make them forget about her. But what about all the other people there? Could I really leave them all in that place, or get them all deported back to conditions so bad that they would risk the route into the US to escape them?

Words echoed in my head, my own words, that I’d said to Dean.

“We have enough to deal with on a daily basis without taking in every stray that happens along.”

I sighed. Should I just close my eyes to this girl, do what she was paying me to do, and let her go on her way?

Ness’ voice filled my head.

“I’m shocked that you are even considering it. Perhaps Blaze is not the horse for you after all.”

“Fuck,” I said out loud.

I knew I couldn’t turn my back on this girl, but neither could I rescue the entire hostel. I just wasn’t sure how to help her.

I examined Maddison’s mind again. She really had feelings for this young girl. I wondered if I could get her to take Alina to her place for a few days, and then get the hostel raided while she wasn’t there. I rethought. That might be a bad idea. Presumably they would have records there and when they were raided those would be seized. Alina would then be hunted down and deported with the rest of the girls.

My watch beeped telling me that I had ten minutes left of this session.

I’d collected her language memories, and salted them away. In a couple of days I’d be able to speak Russian, and Romanian, like a native. I still hadn’t decided what to do about Alina. “There’s time,” I thought. “I’ll consider my options and then maybe do something next week at her session.”

I finished up with them and let them go, conveniently forgetting to take payment from her. I was sure she could use the money.

My next appointment arrived. I looked him up and down, not sure if the chair I had for him would take the weight. His mother, who accompanied him, smiled at me. He looked about thirty years old, his mother in her late fifties.

After they left, I looked at my energy bar. I’d had to use a little more energy, supporting his chair to make sure it didn’t collapse under him. The guy had to weigh in at over five hundred pounds, although he claimed he was just three fifty. He was going to be a long-term project, probably longer term than I was going to be around. I would have to consider how to handle him when I was close to leaving as I guesstimated it would take close to two years to safely get him down to a ‘normal’ weight. I had also done some work with his skin so he wouldn’t be left with swathes of loose flesh.

I’d been so focused on his weight problem I hadn’t had time to look to see if he had any learning I could use. I did note however that part of his weight problem was his mother’s habit of feeding him every time he had any kind of issue. Something upset him – she fed him, something made him happy -  celebrate with a meal, something made him sad - console him with food. I had to stop that too, otherwise there was no way he was going to lose any weight.

I looked at my watch. I had two hours before I was due at Vince’s. My energy bar was ticking up quite nicely and I was certain I would be at full strength by the time I got there. I decided to go get a snack in any case, just to be sure.

I drove down the block and pulled into a diner. As often happened, there was someone sitting outside, with an empty coffee cup, begging for change.

I looked at her. She looked to be about my age, and she was somehow familiar although I couldn’t place her.

My tendency was to do a quick scan on homeless people to make sure that they weren’t scam artists living off people’s generosity and if not I would usually help.

This girl wasn’t a scam artist; I could see from her aura that she was hungry, literally starving.

“Hey,” I said. She looked up at me, probably expecting me to tell her to clear off and get a job.

“Come on,” I said. “Lunch is on me.”

I indicated the diner.

“They won’t let me in,” she said.

“They will if you’re with me,” I said. “Come on.”

She stood warily, but her hunger overruled her suspicion.

She followed me into the diner. I saw the waitress look up and a look of disgust crossed her face. She stomped towards us clearly intending to throw the girl out. I held out a hundred. “She’s with me.” I said. “We’re going to eat, then leave. Which table can we use?”

The waitress looked me up and down, but then pocketed the hundred. “Over in the corner. Put her by the wall.” She indicated a table at the far end of the diner, not easily visible to anyone walking in.

I thanked her and walked to the table, indicating for the girl to sit opposite me against the wall as requested.

After a few minutes, the waitress came over and put menus in front of us. She wrinkled her nose at the smell from the girl, who was definitely slightly ripe.

The girl fiddled with her menu but made no move to pick it up.

I looked at her.

“I’m having a bacon double cheeseburger, with fries, and a strawberry shake,” I said not picking up my menu either. “How does that sound?”

“Can I have chocolate shake?” she asked.

“Sure.”

I indicated to the waitress that we were ready. She came over and I gave her our order.

I sat playing with my phone, not looking at the girl, while examining her all the same. Physically she was not in great shape. She was malnourished, had a bit of a chest infection, head and body lice, and the skin in all of her ‘folds’ was raw and broken.

I killed off all the lice with a thought and pushed some healing into her, hopefully killing off the chest infection and giving her skin a little boost. She startled as if someone had poked her.

Then I decided to find out more about her.

Her name was Melanie. She was from out of town. Her mother had apparently committed suicide when she was very young and, with no other relatives, she’d been put into the system.

She’d bounced around from foster home to foster home until she’d got sick of it and simply walked out. She’d been living on the streets ever since, doing what she had to to survive.

Fortunately, she’d managed to avoid getting into drugs, although it seemed that she was still on a downward spiral. The men that had been interested in her when she was young and fresh were no longer wanting her now that she was older and, quite frankly, seemed worn out.

“Worn out at twenty one,” I thought. “What an indictment.”

She’d arrived in Portland about a month ago, had managed to get a bed in a hostel for a short while, but had been thrown out after a fight with another girl who’d tried to steal her shoes. Since then, she’d been living on the streets with nothing but the clothes on her back.

She looked up and down the diner as we waited for our food. Then she spoke quietly.

“Five dollars for a hand job,” she said. “Ten, I’ll blow you – swallow too. For twenty you can fuck me, condom only though. If you want my ass – its thirty.”

The waitress arrived and put our food on the table, still looking like a bulldog chewing a wasp. She went away. Melanie looked at me, and then reached for her burger.

I didn’t answer. Mainly because I couldn’t. Two things had hit me simultaneously. First, as I’d examined her mind to find out her information, I had seen something completely unexpected. She was a power user. A strong one too, but for some reason she was not using her powers.

That was explained by the second thing I saw. As she reached forward to pick up her food I saw the tell-tale scar on her wrist. She was wearing an amulet.

Suddenly I wasn’t hungry, but I needed to keep up appearances. I picked up my burger and began to eat. I still had about an hour and a half before I was due at Vince’s, but I couldn’t leave this girl here. Persuading her to come with me could go in any direction so, with a mental apology to her and everyone else, I decided on my course of action.

I picked up my phone.

“Mr. Stott,” said Maggie, obviously observing the previous professional relationship.

“Be at my house in twenty minutes.” I said and hung up.

I had no idea what she’d make of that but was hoping that she could manage it.

Melanie had finished her burger and drink.

“I’m sorry,” I said to her. She looked at me confused. Then I took control.

I Compelled her to follow me out of the restaurant and into my truck. She climbed in the passenger side woodenly.

It was fifteen minutes before I got to my house, and I saw that Maggie had not yet arrived. I let us both in and sent Melanie into the bathroom to get cleaned up. She’d need more than one shower to get all the grime off her. She left her clothes outside, on the floor, and I dropped them in the trash.

Marcia, who’d seen me take Melanie into the bathroom, cocked her eyebrow at me.

“Picking up strays?” she asked.

“It’s a long story,” I replied.

There was a rapping on the door. It sounded angry.

I grimaced. I’d not been particularly tactful but hey.

“I don’t know who you think you are,” said Maggie as she walked through the door.

“Hush,” I said. “If, after what I show you, you’re still mad, then I’ll bend over and you can paddle my ass.”

That completely threw her. She blinked at me.

I sent her the memory.

It took but a second for her to assimilate it, and then her eyes filled with tears.

“Melanie,” she said. “After all these years? It can’t be…”

Melanie, who’d finished in the bathroom, came out. Still under Compulsion she walked naked into the living room, not bothered about her state of undress.

She was in a terrible state.

About five foot six, she was skinny as a rake, every one of her ribs clearly visible. Her arms and legs sticks. She had no breasts and there were open sores all over her body. I knew then that I couldn’t leave her to go to Vince’s. I needed to heal her and that would take all my power.

I picked up my phone.

“Jeevan,” I said. “I’m really sorry but I cannot make today. A family emergency has come up. I promise to be there tomorrow. Is there something you can do in the meantime?”

“Bhaiya,” he said, “is there something I can do to help?”

“Not at the moment,” I said. “I have it in hand, but it just means I’m not available today.”

“Okay,” he said. “There are things I can get underway. It might mean working into the weekend, but we should still be able to get Vince healed this week.”

“Please send him my apologies,” I said. “I will explain when I see him.”

Maggie was staring at Melanie like she’d seen a ghost.

I went into our bedroom and grabbed some sweatpants and a T-shirt.

When I came back, I found Maggie clinging to the girl like a long-lost daughter, weeping softly and apologising over and over again.

I got Melanie to dress then sit on the sofa. I wanted to end the Compulsion but didn’t want her to bolt for the door as soon as she had control again.

Gently I released control, talking to her all the time, while rolling comfort, safety, and security over her as I did. She took on the look of a terrified animal but didn’t move.

“You’re safe,” I said. “I promise.” More comfort, trust, and safety.

“I’m sorry I did what I did,” I continued, “but I needed you to come with me, and it was the safest and quickest way to get you to do so. I promise we’ll explain everything.

She looked from me to Maggie and then gave the tiniest of nods.

I looked at Maggie. I wanted to hear this explanation too.

Maggie looked back at me.

“Caleb,” she said, “I want you to meet Melanie. Your sister.”

My jaw, previously a veteran of basement exploration, had gone practically antipodean.

Melanie looked at me. “My brother?” she said wonderingly.

“Well,” clarified Maggie, “half-brother. You share a father.”

She then went on to tell the tale of how John had gotten Melanie’s mother pregnant, but the baby had been snatched from the hospital never to be seen again.

“We thought we’d lost you,” Maggie said fresh tears in her eyes. “We looked everywhere, combed every inch of that hospital and the surrounding area, but we were too late. You were gone.”

“But,” asked Melanie, “how do you know that I’m that girl?”

I took a deep breath. “It’s complicated,” I said, “but the mark on your wrist is what told us.”

She looked at the raised ridge around her wrist. “This?” she asked.

“Yes,” I replied.

“It’s a birthmark,” said Maggie. “I saw it when you were born. We can do DNA tests to confirm, but I’m certain that you are Melanie Stott, Caleb’s half-sister.”

“What does that mean?” she asked.

“It means,” I said, “that you’re home. Until you want to be somewhere else, you are staying here with me and my family.”

“Caleb,” began Maggie, “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.  We need to at least tell John.”

“We will,” I said. “But what kind of a father has he been to his other children?” I asked. “I want to make sure that Melanie is cared for and I’m not convinced he’s the man for the job. What about her mother?”

“She moved away,” said Maggie. “We kind of lost touch. I could track her down, but it won’t be quick.”

“It’s up to you Melanie,” I said.

“What did you do to me?” she asked. “It was like I was being controlled.”

I winced.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “It was an emergency. Normally I wouldn’t do that, but I needed to get you somewhere safe, and I wasn’t sure that I could explain everything to you effectively in the time we had. I’m certain that you’ve had many people try and take advantage of you.”

“You could have given me twenty bucks,” she said with a small smile, “and I’d have come with you.”

“Well, that part of your life is over,” I said grimly. “From here on in, you’ll only go anywhere with someone if you want to. You’ll have enough to eat, and somewhere warm and safe to sleep.”

She looked at Maggie.

All the time we’d been talking I’d been working on her body, healing the sores, killing the infections, making her whole again. Now all she needed was feeding. If I was honest, so did I.

“It’s up to you,” Maggie said. She pulled out her credentials. “I work for the FBI. I promise that you are safe here, and that Caleb, and his girls, will look after you.

“His girls?” she asked.

“That’s complicated too,” I said. “You’ll meet them soon.”

I looked at my watch. “They should be here any time. And I have to go out soon too. I’ll introduce you when they arrive. They are lovely and will be more than welcoming.”

“There’s another agent I want you to meet and talk to,” said Maggie. “Her name is Dianna. She’ll be here in about an hour.”

Melanie looked a little worried and looked at me.

“Dianna’s nice,” I said. “You’ll like her.”

The front door opened and Josh and Louise entered. They came in and looked at Melanie. Josh smiled. “Hi,” he said “I’m Josh.”

“Josh, Louise,” I said. “This is Melanie. My sister.”

“GET THE FUCK OUT!!!!” shrieked Louise. “I thought that…”

“Long story,” I said. “She’s going to be staying with us for a while.”

Josh’s smile widened. “Nice,” he said. “I’m happy to meet you,” he held out his hand. She shook it.

“Fuck handshakes,” said Louise and enveloped Melanie in a hug. Melanie looked stunned, but after a moment returned the hug.

“We have so much to talk about,” said Louise grinning. “What…”

“Lou,” I said, and she looked at me. I gave her, and Josh, the memory of everything up to date,

I saw her assimilate and then turn her now sad eyes to Melanie. “Oh, you poor thing.” She said enveloping her in a hug once more. “Caleb, the girls, Josh, and I will look after you now. You’re safe.”

Melanie still looking a bit stunned once more returned the hug.

Then the door opened and everyone else piled in. The twins, Jules, Ness, and Dana. Gracie was still at work.

Melanie’s eyes widened.

To save time I simply sent the memories to everyone. They paused for a moment.

Mary approached Melanie.

“Hi,” she said. “I’m Mary, this is Amanda, Jules, Ness, and Dana. We’re happy to meet you.”

Melanie looked from girl to girl, overwhelmed.

Jules, ever the practical one, went over to her and held out her hand. Melanie took it and Jules led her out of the living room and into her workshop. The door closed.

I looked at my watch.

“I have to go,” I said. “I have a lesson in forty minutes.  Ness, are you ok doing dinner?”

“Of course,” she said. “Quick question though, where is Melanie going to sleep?”

I hadn’t thought of that. Since we were remodelling the only bedrooms were ours, Josh and Louise’s, and Gracie and Dana’s

“We’ll figure that out when I get back,” I said.

“Don’t worry,” said Mary. “We’ll look after her.”

“Dianna is coming to speak to her,” said Maggie.

“You guys staying for dinner?” asked Ness, Maggie’s eyes lit up.

“I thought you’d never ask.”

“So,” said Mary grinning, “does Caleb get his ass paddled? I’d quite like to see that.”

“It was a close call,” Maggie said, “but I think on this occasion, I’ll let it slide.”

I grinned at her, “Shame,” I said darting past her in case she changed her mind. “I’ll be back around seven thirty – save me some dinner?”

“We can eat then,” said Ness. “That’s not too late.”

“I’m hungry,” I said. “I had to heal Melanie. And can you feed Melanie before then please, she needs fattening up.”

“Okay,”

“She had burger for lunch,” I said. “So, something a little more sensible?”

“Yes, boss,” said Ness rolling her eyes.

I drove to the airport, arriving just five minutes before my allotted time.

Arnie was in the office along with an older man whom I assumed was his father.

They both looked up as I entered. The older man looked at Arnie and Arnie nodded.

“Mr. Stott,” he said, “I’m Danny Jarrett. I own the school and am the principal instructor. Arnie here is a student instructor but can’t take anyone up until he’s eighteen in a few months.”

I grinned. “That soon?” I said, “I though five or six years at least.”

Danny looked at me, and then at Arnie who was grinning also.

He shook his head, deciding not to ask.

“Arnie says that you’re looking to get your license.”

I nodded.

“I’ve already had my medical,” I said showing him the medical certificate.

“Mind if we take a copy?” he asked, and I handed it to him. He handed it off to Arnie.

“Make yourself useful,” he said to the youngster.

“First things first,” he continued. “Do you have a headset?”

I shook my head.

“Okay,” he said. “We can use one of ours, but I advise you buy one. There are many available online or I can sell you one. We carry a small selection. I personally use the ones we carry but they are not the cheapest on the market. We currently have three models.” He indicated three headsets in a display case. “The Sennheiser HMD-300 is three hundred. The David Clark H10-60 is four hundred.  Finally, the Bose A20 is twelve hundred. All are good, but obviously you get what you pay for.”

“Which one do you use?” I asked.

“I use the Bose,” he said. “It has superior noise cancelling as well as Bluetooth connectivity.

“You have one of those in?” I asked.

“Yes,” he replied.

“Cool,  I’ll take the Bose then.”

He gave me a very surprised look.

“They’re twelve hundred,” he reminded me. I handed him my card.

Shrugging he looked at Arnie, who sighed theatrically and went through the door at the back of the office.

He emerged a few minutes later with a headset in a box.

It comes with a carrying case so you don’t have to worry about that. Also, they include batteries, and decent ones for a change not the cheap Chinese things that last ten seconds.

I unwrapped the headset and took a look. I realized it was like the one that Gerry had, although he had the next model up.

“Okay,” he said. “Shall we?”

We walked out of the office and onto the apron where a small single engine plane was sitting. I recognised it as a Cirrus SR20. Gerry had never flown one of these.

“What we’ll do today,” he said, “is go through the preflight checks you need to run every time before you fly. Then I’ll take us up, give you some stick time to see how it feels, and then I’ll bring us down. After that we’ll have a chat about how you felt and we’ll go from there. Sound okay?”

“Perfect.”

We spent the next twenty minutes walking around the aircraft checking everything that needed to be checked: tires, that control surfaces all moved smoothly, fuel, and a myriad of other things. I had to curtail myself as I found I was automatically heading for the next thing, before Danny told me what the next thing was. It was instinctive.

“Right then,” he said. “That’s all the external checks done. Let’s get onboard.”

I waited for him to indicate which seat I was to take.

“You take the left seat,” he said. “You need to get used to flying from that position.”

“Why?” I asked. “Surely if I’m right-handed, it’s better to sit on the right if we’re using a joystick?”

“Tradition mostly,” he said, “but you need to get used to using either hand. You could be flying in any position in the future so getting used to flying left-handed is essential. All the main controls are on the left seat – with the backups on the right. There are some aircraft too where there are not a full set of backups on the right – for instance some commercial jets can only be taxied from the left seat, there is no steering control on the right.”

I climbed onto the wing and into the cockpit. It felt a little cramped in comparison to the G500.

“Have you ever been in a cockpit before?” he asked.

“Couple of times,” I said. “Not one of these though.”

“Ok,” he said, “what aircraft was that?”

“Gulfstream G500,” I said.  He whistled.

“Someone knows someone with a lot of money,” he said.

I grinned at him.

We continued through the prefight checklist, I plugged my headset in, and put it on when told to do so.

Eventually he started the engine. I listened to him as he spoke to the tower, got clearance for us to taxi, and eventually take off. We were finally in the air.

He was talking all the time he was flying, pointing out instruments that I already recognised and controls that I already knew.

“You want to take control?” he asked.

“Sure,” I said.

“Nice and gently,” he said. “You don’t have to move the stick much. For now, I’ll control the rudder, you concentrate on the stick.”

I nodded, having almost automatically put my feet on the rudder pedals. I pulled them back.

“Ready?” he asked, and I nodded.

“Your plane” he said smiling.

“My plane,” I repeated automatically taking hold of the joystick and keeping the aircraft in straight and level flight.

He seemed surprised.

“Nice” he said. “Most people take a few minutes to get the feel and usually wobble a bit when they take over.

“I’ve played a lot of flight sims,” I said, grinning.

He laughed.

“If only it were that easy,” he said, “I’d be out of business. Let’s try a turn. We’re currently on this heading,” he pointed to the indicator. He gave me a new heading.

“Nice and gently,” he said. “I’ll control the rudder, you just concentrate on keeping the altitude as it is. We don’t want too steep of a bank angle either. We’re not doing aerobatics.

We completed the turn with a minimum of fuss. A half a minute later were on our new heading. Our altitude having not wavered in the slightest.

He frowned.

“You never had lessons before?” he asked. I shook my head.

“Okay,” he said. Let’s try another turn, only this time you take the rudder pedals. Now, it’s not like in a car, moving the left pedal will make the aircraft yaw to the left. Moving the right, the opposite.

“You understand pitch roll and yaw?” he asked and I nodded.

He gave me the new heading, and soon we were on that, again no drama.

His tongue poked out a little and he bit it as if in thought.

We flew around for a little while longer and then we turned back toward the airport. He took control again and we came in for a landing.

As we were approaching the landing, he said “Flaps 50%.”

I pulled the lever to set the flaps.

“Flaps 50%” I confirmed.

That, I realized immediately was a mistake.

He landed the plane and taxied to the flight school parking. Then he shut it down.

“Okay,” he said to me, looking at me angrily. “What game are you playing?”

“Game?” I asked.

“You’re a qualified and experienced pilot,” he said. “Nobody flies like that on their first time up. So, what is it.”

I bit my lip.

“Since nine eleven,” he went on, “we have been instructed to report anyone suspicious taking flying lessons. So, Mr. Stott, are you going to tell me what’s going on, or am I calling the FBI?”

I reached into my pocked and pulled out my ID.

“We’re already here,” I said.

He looked at my ID.

“It says you’re a consultant?”

“I am. But if you want to check my bona-fides, feel free to call the local district office.”

“The fact is,” I said, “I do know, technically how to fly. I have an eidetic memory, and I’ve read just about everything there is to read about flying. I’ve also been in some simulators,” I continued. “Not home PC setups, but real flight simulators. And I’ve actually had some stick time on the G500 I mentioned before, but don’t tell anyone.”

“I can fly,” I said. “But I need the paperwork that says I can fly.  I’m sorry if you thought something more sinister was going on, but really I’m just here to get signed off.”

“Okay,” he said. “Let’s see. Take us up and fly a pattern. Let’s see how good your memory is.”

Since we’d only just shut down, we didn’t need to do a full pre-flight but there were still a couple of checks we needed to do, and I ran through those swiftly.

I started the engine, and contacted the tower to request taxi and take off, telling them that I was a student pilot intending to fly a pattern. They gave me clearance.

Half an hour later we were sitting on the parking stand once more. The engine of the plane ticking as it cooled.

“You have some bad habits,” he said. “The kind of bad habits that creep in after decades of flying. We need to work on those. Other than that, I think we can get you signed off in minimum time. Another thirty-eight hours flight time and you’ll be licensed.

“Since you have such a great memory, you want to book your radio and nav assessment?”

“Yes, please,” I said.

We shut the plane down and went into the office.

“Arnie,” he said, “go secure the aircraft.”

The boy nodded and left through the door we just entered. Danny then signed off on the first entry in my log book.

The lessons that the twins had bought for me didn’t include the assessments, but that was no problem. I booked them for later on that week, both on the same morning. I handed him my card.

“I suggest,” he said, “that if you are in a hurry, we do four-hour lessons. That will give you three hours in the air per lesson, so you’ll be done with your instructor hours much quicker. Then you can go onto the other aspects, like your solo flights. Since you already logged an hour in the air, another six weeks will get your instruction out of the way, we’ll stretch a bit to make up the extra hour.”

“Sounds good,” I said.

“Are you intending to get rated for the G500?” he asked.

I nodded.

“Okay, then you’ll need some other things too. You’ll need your instrument rating then complex airplane endorsement, which I can sign you off on, but you’ll have to hire a plane because I don’t have one. Alternatively, I can give you the name of a flight school that does, but they are at the international airport. Then you’ll need the high-performance endorsement. You can do complex and high performance those together if you get the right plane. Then to get to the G500 rating you’ll need to do commercial, instructor, and then your multi engine rating. Finally, you’ll need your type rating.

Getting all that is going to cost you, and take quite a while, but if you are dedicated, you could complete it in a year, all things being equal.

“Okay then,” I said. “that’s the plan.”

“So, first things first. Let’s get you your Private-Single-Engine-Land license,” he said. “See you next week?”

“Five?” I asked and he nodded.

“Until nine,” he said. “Don’t forget to bring your headset. And also, your student pilot certificate if you have it. They say up to three weeks, but they can come sooner.”

That reminded him.

“Here’s your medical certificate back.” He handed it to me, and I put it back in my wallet.

When I arrived home, Dianna and Maggie were sitting out on the deck talking to Melanie. Ness was just serving up dinner and Jules and the girls were struggling pulling one of the beds from the attic.

“Hey,” I said, “let me get that.”

Jules grinned at me.

I lifted it down with TK.

“Where?” I asked.

“My workshop for now,” she said. “Melanie can have that until the spare room is ready.”

“That’s Ness’,” I said.

“I don’t need it,” Ness said. “I’m staying put where I am. If you want to fuck someone that I don’t want to play with then we’ll see, but right now Melanie is more important than you getting your freak on.”

She grinned at me to let me know she was baiting me.

“How quickly they forget,” I said. “You up for another spanking?”

Her grin widened. “Anytime,” she said turning to wiggle her ass in my direction. I laughed.

“Go tell the Grannies that dinner’s ready,” she said.

“I heard that,” said Maggie who was just coming in through the kitchen door.

Ness grinned again. “Oops,” she said, not looking the slightest bit contrite.

Melanie and Dianna came in and we all took seats at the table.

Melanie had had something to eat just after I’d gone out, but she was hungry again. I guessed it would take some time for her to balance out. I remembered Rachel who’d only missed meals for a couple of months. I shuddered to think how long Melanie had missed meals for.

Melanie sat down the table between Dana and Dianna. I looked at her, just as she looked at me.

I smiled. Once again directing love, safety, and security at her. She seemed to shiver, but gave me a half smile back, then went back to her food.

Almost as soon as dinner was over, Maggie said she had to go. Dianna though, stayed and she and Melanie went back out onto the deck to talk some more. I started to clear the kitchen. It became apparent that our dishwasher, wasn’t big enough. We needed to either get a second one or find one that took a lot more place settings.

I decided it was easier to wash the overflow by hand, than wait for the dishwasher to cycle. Amanda came in, saw what I was doing, and picked up a cloth and began to dry.

“Your sister seems nice,” she said. It was the most cliché’d opening to a conversation I’d ever heard but I didn’t call her on it.

“It sounds like she’s had a hard time,” I replied.

Amanda nodded.

“Is she joining us?” she asked.

“What?” I said. “She’s my…” but then stopped. Amanda smiled softly.

I had been about to say ‘she’s my sister’, but then Mary was Amanda’s sister, and Jules was Ness’. How was Melanie being my sister any different?

I certainly wouldn’t want to have a baby with her, not at least without some major genetic screening beforehand, but would I baulk at ‘playing’ with her? I could hardly claim any kind of morality where that was concerned. I was sleeping with two sets of sisters and playing with another brother/sister pairing of neighbours. I’d had physical sex with my ‘mother-in-law’ and my ‘grandmother-in-law’ and psychic sex with my own mother, my mother-in-law, grandmother-in-law, and father-in-law. Fuck!

“You ask all the right questions,” I said, “but you’re asking the wrong person. Let’s let her get settled and see what she wants to do.”

Amanda nodded.

“Whatever you, and she decide,” she said, “Mary and I are happy with it. We’re happy you found your sister.”

“So are we,” said Jules and Ness who had snuck into the kitchen while I’d been distracted.

“She seems lovely,” said Ness, “and if you both want her to join our family, then we’re happy too.”

“You’ve known her for less than six hours,” I said. “At least let’s get to know her a bit more before we make those sorts of decisions. Besides, she may have other plans. I’m just going to give her time and help her get healthy and whole, and then we’ll take It from there.”

The door opened and Dianna poked her head into the kitchen. “Caleb?” I looked over. “Can you come out here please?”

I took the towel from Amanda and dried my hands before making my way out onto the deck. Dianna closed the door behind us, then indicated a chair.

“Melanie has some questions,” she said.

I turned to look at Melanie.

“What did you do to me in the diner?” she asked.

I looked at Dianna, but she remained impassive. No help there.

I sat back in my chair and thought.

“There are some people,” I began, “who were born with what might be termed ‘power’. They, depending on which power they have, can do certain things. I have power. One of the powers I have is that I can make people do things, even if they don’t want to. I can take control of them and make them do my bidding.”

“One of the powers?” she asked.

“I have four,” I said. “I can make people do things, I can feel, read , and even send emotions…”

Melanie’s eyes widened. “The feelings of safety and security?” she asked. She was bright. I nodded.

“I can move things,” I lifted the table in front of us and she yelped in surprise. “And I can read minds.”

“You can…”

I nodded.

“That was how I found you,” I said. “When I see people doing what you were doing outside the diner, I check them out a little. There are some who just pretend to be in trouble and make a good living off the generosity of others. I could see you were genuine, so I invited you to lunch.

“When we were inside, I saw who you were,” I finished.

“How could you tell who I was, when even I didn’t know?” she asked.

“I didn’t know exactly WHO you were, but I saw that you, too, had power.”

“Me?” she said.

“The power follows the bloodline,” said Dianna. “Since you are of the same bloodline, you also have power.”

“But I don’t,” she said. “I can’t do anything.”

“That’s because,” I said, “your powers are being blocked. That mark on your wrist. It’s not a birthmark. It’s an amulet, designed to stop you using your powers until you are old enough to be responsible with them.”

She looked at her wrist.

“Can you take it off?” she asked.

I looked at Dianna.

“Maggie has gone to meet with the council,” she said. “It will be their decision.”

I chewed my cheek for a second.

“Let’s get you healthy first,” I said. “Using powers is hard on your body. In the state you are in now, it could do you harm. Give us some time to get you healthy and get some meat on your bones, and then we’ll get it removed. Normally they don’t remove it until your twenty first birthday.

“I don’t know when that is,” said Melanie.

“February fourteenth,” said Dianna. “You’re twenty years old now.”

“Melanie,” I said, “I want you to know that you’re safe here. Our home is your home.”

“But I don’t have any money,” she said.

“That’s no problem,” I said. “We have more than enough to take care of you. You can stay for as long as you like, up to and including the rest of your life if you so wish. You’ll always have a place with me and mine.

“I’m not going to keep you a prisoner though. At any time, if you want to move on, then you’re free to do so. Can I ask did you go to school?”

She shook her head.

“I did a little schooling when I was younger,” she said. “But I moved around so much that I didn’t really get much, and then I left.”

“You can’t read, can you?” I asked gently. She looked down and shook her head.

“You must think I’m stupid.”

“No,” I said. “I know that you are definitely not stupid. You survived out there, alone for almost all your life. Nobody stupid could have done that. Just because you haven’t been schooled, doesn’t make you stupid.

“Our priority, then, is to get you your GED. I’ll teach you to read tonight, and we can start other studies tomorrow.”

“Teach me to read?” she said. “In one night?”

I smiled at her. “Powers remember? I can take my memories of learning to read and put them in your head. By this time tomorrow you’ll be able to read as well as I can.”

“Can I meet our father?” She asked.

“Sure,” I said. “He and I are not on the best of terms, but I can see if he will come over.”

“When?” she asked.

“How about tomorrow night?” I replied. She nodded.

“Tomorrow,” I said, “you and I are going shopping. You need some things.”

“I don’t…” she began,

“I do,” I said, “and more than enough to get you a full wardrobe.”

“I suggest,” said Dianna, “that you postpone that shopping trip until the weekend, and then get the girls to take her.”

“She needs stuff before then,” I said, “but we’ll just get her the basics maybe we can all go shopping this weekend.”

“Good plan,” said Dianna.

While we’d been talking I’d been considering all my reading learning. I’d collated it all together as best I could.

“I’m going teach you to read now,” I said, “if that’s alright with you. It will feel a bit strange at first. I’ll also need to help you remember it long term, but like I said you should get it overnight.”

She nodded and I sent it to her. Her eyes glazed for a second and then I saw understanding dawn.

I pulled out my wallet and got out my medical certificate and handed it to her.

“Caleb Stott,” she read, a grin splitting her face. “Class three medical certificate.”

“That’s amazing,” she said.

“It’s a beginning,” I replied. “You and I have got some work to do, but I’m sure we can get you your GED in couple of weeks and, after that, you can decide what you want to do. If, that is, you decide to stay with us.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” she asked.

“You haven’t seen all your options,” I said. “Maybe our father will make you an offer you find more attractive.”

She bit her lip.

“That would seem ungrateful,” she said. “I owe you…”

“Nothing,” I interrupted. “Not a single thing. You and I are blood, brother and sister.”

“Half...” she began but I shook my head.

“There’s no such thing as a half-brother,” I said. “You are my sister, and as your big brother, it’s my job to look out for you. I’ve done a completely shit job of it so far, so I have a lot of making up to do.”

“You didn’t know,” said Dianna.

“Just one more piece of information that was kept from me,” I said, and Dianna cocked an eyebrow.

Melanie looked at me quizzically.

“I have a lot to catch you up on,” I said. “But let’s take it one day at a time. We have plenty of time.”

I looked at my watch. It was after ten.

“It’s past my bedtime,” I said. “The girls will look after you. If you need anything we are just in the first bedroom.”

“All of you?” she asked.

“Me, the twins, Jules and Ness,” I said. “My family.”

She stood up as I did. Then she came over and put her arms around me, tentatively, as if fearing I might push her away. I put my arms around her and held her gently. She felt like a bag of bones, like she might break if I squeezed her too tightly.

“Thank you,” she said, “for finding me.”

“Thank you,” I replied, “for being there to be found.”

She released me, walked with me back into the kitchen, and from there into the living room. I left her with the girls, and I went to bed.

When I woke up the next morning, I wasn’t overly surprised to find Melanie curled up beside me. Even in sleep, her hands were holding onto my arm. Jules, always the mother of the group, was holding her gently from behind. Ness lay between the twins on my other side.

Her eyes snapped open as soon as I moved. I guess that living rough all your life made you a very light sleeper.

“It’s okay,” I said. “It’s time for me to get up.”

“Already?” she said.

“You don’t have to,” I said. “I always get up early, before my girls. Sleep some more if you want.”

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“I go out to train,” I said. “Sometimes on the deck, where we were last night, and sometimes I go out for a run. I’ll be making breakfast in a couple of hours. You rest until then.”

She nodded, releasing my arm and snuggling back down into Jules’ embrace. I smiled. Then I went to train.

I was back and making breakfast when Jules and Melanie came into the kitchen. I smiled at them both.

“Morning,” I said. I placed a plate of bacon and another of waffles on the table. “Dig in.”

Jules came over and hugged me.

“She didn’t want to be alone,” she said quietly to me. “I hope you don’t mind?”

“Didn’t I ask you to look after her?” I said with a smile. “I half expected it, to be honest, after Rachel.”

Marcia showed up at eight as usual and I introduced Melanie to her.

“Sister?” she said. “Wow.” I could feel some scepticism from her but ignored it. If she wanted to believe I was picking up strays off the street, then that was her affair.

“I’m taking Melanie shopping this morning,” I said. “Just to get her the essentials. I was hoping you guys would help her to shop properly this weekend.”

“I’ll come,” said Gracie. “I’m not due in until this afternoon. Even the essentials need a woman’s eye.”

“Okay then,” I said. I cast my Healing eye over Melanie. She was now fully Healed, just undernourished. She had a lot of making up to do.

The rest of the gang went off to school and Marcia started work mudding the walls in the rooms.

“You ready?” I said to Melanie, and she nodded. She was still wearing the sweatpants from yesterday, although she had a clean T-Shirt on, one of Jules’ I thought. I would bet she was wearing Jules’ underwear too. The sneakers she wore I was certain were Ness’.

When we got to the mall Melanie hung back.

“What’s the matter?” I asked.

“I’m not allowed in there,” she said. “I got thrown out.”

“For?” I asked. She looked uncomfortable.

“Melanie,” I said, “if you got caught stealing, then that is okay. I know that you were doing what you had to do to survive. Like I said, that part of your life is over. Whatever you had to do to survive, you don’t anymore.”

I heard her thought. She’d been caught by one of the security guards trying to steal some food. He’d been sympathetic to her, even letting her keep the food, but told her that she wasn’t able to come into the mall again.

We walked into the mall and began by getting her some footwear, buying her a couple of pairs of sneakers and some shoes. She couldn’t wear anything with a heel but found some flats that she liked. Then Gracie took her to get some underwear. I waited outside. They came out maybe twenty minutes later, giggling like a pair of schoolgirls and clutching a bag.

Jeans and T-shirts next, and I kicked my heels for half an hour while she tried stuff on. She only bought two pairs of Jeans, since she was so skinny just now, but when she put weight back on, they probably wouldn’t fit. They handed the bags to me. I was starting to feel like a pack horse.

I decided, after the next store that I was going to take the stuff back to my truck rather than lump it all around. When I returned to where I’d left Gracie and Melanie, there was a security guard standing in front of Melanie.

“Is there a problem?” I asked.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“I’m her brother,” I said. “Caleb Stott.” I held my hand out and he shook it.

“This young lady was asked not to return to the mall,” he said. “There was some unpleasantness last time she was here.”

“Don’t sugar coat it,” I said. “She was caught stealing. You were decent enough to let her keep the food that you knew that she was desperate for, but you have your job to do. I get that, and I thank you.

“Melanie was very down on her luck,” I said. “Until yesterday, I didn’t even know I had a sister. Now I’ve found her, and I promise you that there will be no more ‘unpleasantness.’ We’re here today buying her everything she needs because yesterday, aside from what she was wearing, she had nothing.

“If there’s some store owner that’s due some recompense for what she took then I’ll gladly go speak to them.”

He shook his head. “It was only a box of donuts,” he said, “I took care of it.”

“Then I thank you again.” I pulled out one of my cards. “If there’s ever anything I can do to repay you, then let me know.”

He looked at it. “Hypnotherapy?” he asked. “What like clucking like a chicken?”

I laughed. “I don’t think there’s many would want that for themselves. I do smoking cessation and weight loss mostly, but I’ve treated other things too.”

“Like?” he asked.

“PTSD,” I said.

“Wow,” he said “that’s cool. I don’t personally need your help, but I’ll pass your card along.”

I gave him another. “Keep one for yourself,” I said. “I’d like to repay the debt for you helping Melanie.”

He looked at me and then at her. Gracie chose this moment to arrive.

“Is there a problem?” she asked.

“And you are?” he questioned.

She flashed her creds.

“No,” he said. “No problem. We were just talking. You guys have a nice day.” He turned and walked away.

“Sorry, I was in the bathroom. What was that about?” she asked. I sent her the memory, it was simpler.

She slipped her arm around Melanie. “You okay?” she asked. Melanie nodded.

“He wasn’t nasty, just told me I couldn’t be here,” she said. “It was just kind of embarrassing.”

“Well, it’s over now,” I said. “So, who’s hungry? I have two hours before I need to leave.”

“Where are you going?” asked Melanie.

“I have to go help a friend,” I said.

“Can I come?” she asked.

I thought about it for a few minutes.

“Okay,” I said. She smiled.

We went and got something to eat, and then dropped Gracie off at home, on the way to Vince’s.

+++++

Both Vince and Jeevan were surprised that I brought someone with me, let alone someone they had never met before.

They both looked at me, a question in their eyes. Melanie answered it.

“Hi,” she said, “My name’s Melanie. I’m the family emergency that stopped him coming here yesterday.”

Both turned their eyes back to me, having looked at her as she was speaking.

I offered both the memory; it was just quicker.

I saw them assimilate it, and I saw Jeevan’s eyes fill with tears. He looked at Melanie.

“It is my pleasure to meet you Choti Bahana. I hope that you will look upon me as another, perhaps slightly older, big brother, as my Bhaiya Caleb does.”

“Slightly older?” I asked with a small smile. He grinned.

“I am very pleased to meet you,” said Vince, then he looked at me. “And don’t worry about yesterday, Jeevan managed to torture me plenty without you being here.”

I looked at Jeevan.

“I made a start,” he said, “on removing some of the extraneous metalwork. Things that were no longer required even with the bone as it is. We can start on the bone proper today.”

Vince was looking at Melanie.

“She still wears the amulet?” he asked.

“The council is discussing it,” I said pulling a face. “I’m not kicking up a fuss just now because she’s so weak that I don’t think her body would tolerate using powers well in any case. When she’s better, if they won’t remove it, I will.”

“Against their wishes?” he asked.

“If necessary,” I said.

He said nothing more, and we began our Healing.

Ninety minutes later, all three of us were sweating and drained.

Jeevan and I had used up almost all our strength, and Vince had suffered.

We’d blocked his pain every time it had occurred, but even so it was not a pleasant experience for him. He was stoic though and suffered each new discomfort without complaint.

“I think that is enough for today,” said Jeevan. “Vince, you need to eat, and take the supplements as I told you. Normally it would be dangerous for you to take as much calcium as I have asked, but we need it to be in your body for us to use. It will cause you no harm, I promise you.”

Vince nodded.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go and eat.”

Melanie held my hand as we walked out to my truck.

“What were you doing to him?” she asked.

“Believe it or not,” I said, “we were healing him. He had a badly damaged leg on account of his time in the desert. Unfortunately it healed badly, and we have to undo some of the healing before we can put it right.”

“Healed?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said. “It’s something Jeevan and I can do with our powers.”

“Will I be able to do that?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I can feel that you have power, but I don’t yet know what they are. You are definitely going to be strong, but the actual power or powers you have are yet to be discovered.”

She quieted then, looking thoughtful.

Jeevan and I both ate copious amounts of food at the Diner. Melanie watched with saucer eyes as we packed it all away.

“How much do you eat?” she asked me.

“Using powers like that,” I said between mouthfuls, “uses a lot of energy. This is why I thought it best for you not to have access to yours until your body is stronger. You can actually hurt or even kill yourself using powers if your body isn’t strong enough.”

“Kill myself?” She asked, looking frightened.

“I’ll make sure you are safe,” I said. “I will train you how to use whatever powers you have, and how to be safe. I’m sure there are others that will help?”

I looked at Jeevan who smiled.

“You don’t even have to ask,” he said. “Meena is going to be overjoyed to meet your new family member.”

“Meena?” asked Melanie.

“Jeevan’s wife,” I said.

“Does she have power too?” asked Melanie.

“No,” I said, “but she doesn’t need them. She’s plenty fierce enough without them.”

Jeevan laughed. “I will tell her you said that.”

We left Vince at the diner. He said he would take care of the check which was going to be substantial. I’d let him get it today, but not every day.

Jeevan went on his own way, and Melanie and I got into my truck.

“Now what do you want to do?” I asked. Smiling at my kid sister.

My kid sister, it had a nice ring to it.

“Can we go and meet our father?” she asked tentatively.

“Let me call him first,” I said, “and see what he says.”

His phone rang for a long time. I wondered if he was going to answer it at all, given what I’d said to him the last time we’d met.

“What do you want,” he said flatly. “You said to stay away from your family, and now you’re bothering me?”

“Have you spoken to Maggie or any of the council members today?” I asked.

“No,” he said, surprised into answering by the question. “Why?”

“John,” I said, “I found Melanie.”

I heard a clatter, and the line went dead. I guessed he’d dropped his phone. That reminded me.

“What happened?” asked Melanie.

“I think he dropped his phone,” I said. “Let’s give him a few minutes, I think he’ll call back. But if he doesn’t, we need to go back to the mall and get you a phone.”

“Me?” she asked. Looking at my phone. “Why do I need a phone?”

“Because there are going to be a lot of people,” I said, “me included, that are going to want to be able to keep in touch with you when we’re not together.”

“Caleb,” she said after a moment’s thought. “Why are you doing all this? Why are you helping me?”

“Because you’re my family, my sister.” I replied instantly.

For some reason she looked a little disappointed at that answer.

My phone rang. John.

I picked up, since we were in the truck and, as before, it was on handsfree.

“Caleb,” he said. He sounded shaky. “Are you sure it’s her? Where is she? Is she all right?”

“Yes,” I said. “I’m sure. She’s sitting beside me in my truck right now and can hear you. She’s had a hard time, but I’ve got her now and she will be all right.”

“Can I speak to her?” he asked.

I looked at Melanie. She seemed unsure of what to say.

“Hello?” she said eventually.

“Melanie?” he asked, probably a stupid question given the conversation so far, but I understood.

Melanie seemed at a loss as to how to answer. I saw her confusion. What should she call him? Father? Dad? Daddy?

“Your name is John?” she asked finally.

“Yes,” he said. “You can call me John if you like. My other kids, aside from your brother there, call me Dad. I’m sure Caleb’s told you what his opinion of me is in lurid detail.”

“He told me that you didn’t get along,” she said. “He didn’t say why.”

“Oh,” he said sounding surprised.

“Will you tell me why?” she asked.

“Can we meet?” he asked, diverting her. “Where are you?”

She looked at me.

“We’re in town,” I said. “I was going to take Melanie to get her a phone, then I can drop her off if you like.”

Melanie shook her head. “You come too.”

“I thought you might like some time with him?”

She shook her head again.

“It’s probably best if you come as well,” said John. “You know where my office is?”

“I do,” I said.

“Just opposite, there is a little coffee shop.” He continued. “How about we meet there in an hour?”

I looked at Melanie and she nodded.“Okay,” I said.

“And Caleb,” he said. “Thank you.”