Caleb 48 – Eleanor

We’d had quite a late night the previous night.

After dinner, which Ness and I had eaten together by the pool, we were joined by the rest of the family and our guests. We sat talking late into the evening.

Eventually Emma and Claire said that they had to go since they were flying home the next day. They insisted on taking my number so they could keep in touch and told me that if I were to ever go back to the UK, and was in the area, I should look them up.

Reggie and Donna also left at the same time, Reggie saying that he would walk the two girls back to their apartment and make sure they got back safe. Since he and Donna were staying until the following weekend I was sure that we would see them again, especially since Dean had given them permission to use our beach while we were there.

After they all left it was time for me to go to bed. I had been thinking about our sleeping situation, and I decided to simplify everything by taking the two double mattresses off the beds in the room where we had entertained the girls, stacking the bed frames against the wall, and placing the mattresses on the floor. It didn’t feel much different there than when they were on the frames, so that would do. It was a far better solution than sleeping separately, although I did end up on the seam between the two mattresses for most of the night. The sacrifices I make…

I chose to run on the road the next morning, rather than the beach, and made it all the way into a small town, about five miles away, before turning back and returning to the villa, just as the rest of the family were getting up.

We ate a lazy breakfast around the pool.

“What are we doing today?” asked Mary.

“Maria Gonzales is supposed to be coming to see me,” I said. “She said something about needing help with some Healing. I need to stay near the villa, but don’t let me stop you from doing whatever you want to do. There is a little town about five miles in that direction,” I indicated the direction I had run that morning, “although there didn’t seem to be much there.”

“I want to sunbathe,” said Amanda. “I’ve walked my legs off for the last two weeks. I just want to work on my tan.”

I looked at Mary, and she was looking at her sister and smiling fondly. “Beach then?” she asked, Amanda nodded.

“Jules?” I asked.

“Fine by me,” she said. “I’ve got my book, I’m happy to chill with that, and maybe swim a bit later.”

“Ness?”

“Boring,” she said. “There has to be something else to do around here.”

“Your daddy and I were going to go and have a walk around the city. Apparently, there’s a bus you can catch just up the road that takes you into Barcelona in about thirty minutes. You could come with us?”

Ness smiled. “Sure,” she said. “That sounds nice. Let’s leave all the old folks to vegetate.”

Jules snorted, “Brat,” she said smiling at her sister.

“You mind if we tag along?” asked Josh, “We could look and see what else is going on too. I hear that there’s a water park, a marina, and possibly a zoo. We could scout around and find stuff to do for the rest of the week.”

Amanda looked horrified.

“I thought we were chillaxing on the beach,” she complained. “Now you want us to do more walking?”

“It’s your vacation,” said Dean as he walked past the back of her chair. “You do what you want.”

He leaned down and placed a kiss on the top of Amanda’s head, as I’d seen him do so many times to both his girls.

Amanda squirmed in pleasure and looked up at him.

“Thanks Pops,” she said, a suggestion of tears in her eyes.

Dean smiled at her fondly and then went and took a seat by Cheryl.

Once again, I felt a shift in their relationship. Somehow, I knew that the days of the twins sharing with Cheryl and Dean were over. They, it seems, had now achieved the status of adopted daughters. I felt that they, Amanda especially, would be both thrilled and disappointed by this change.

I looked at the Steadman daughters and gauge their reaction.

Both Ness and Jules were smiling. They both knew the hole that had been left in the twins’ lives by the death of their parents. Dianna had done her best, and done well, but she could never fully replace what they had lost.

I had, on more than one occasion, seen both Mary and Amanda looking at Jules and Ness a little wistfully as they interacted with their parents. Now, it seemed, that they were being included in that family, and they liked the idea.

Ness went over to Amanda and, for the first time ever, climbed into her lap and hugged her. Amanda, a little surprised at the attention, looked down at the younger girl and then put her arms around her and pulled her into a tighter hug.

Mary, who was sitting on the other side of Amanda from me, was watching her sister and Ness, a tear in her eye, so she didn’t notice Cheryl approach until she was enfolded from behind in a hug. She turned her head in time for Cheryl to whisper something in her ear. I saw unshed tears finally roll down her cheeks as well, as she turned around to be drawn into Cheryl’s embrace.

“Well,” said Jules, climbing into my lap, “it looks like we are true sister-wives now.” She smiled at me.

I looked down at her. “Does it bother you?” I asked.

“No,” she said. “I’m happy for them. My parents are awesome. I loved the fact that you seemed to have adopted them, and I love that the girls and they seemed to have now adopted each other. It couldn’t be more perfect.”

I pulled her to me, my face against the top of her head. I agreed, it couldn’t be more perfect. If only I could have a similar relationship with my own parents, then things would be even better.

I wondered if that were still possible, or had I destroyed any chance of that?

Those that were going into the city got themselves together and set off. Jules, the twins, and I gathered some supplies and headed down to the beach. I sent Maria a text message to tell her that I would be on the beach when she arrived.

Reggie and Donna were there already, sitting and sunning themselves. Reggie was reading a book and Donna was just basking in the rays.

Reggie stood as I arrived on the beach and walked across to me. He grasped my hand.

“Thank you,” he said. “Last night was the first night since I came back that I actually slept through. For twenty years I haven’t had a single full night’s sleep, without medication, until now.”

“I’m glad I could help,” I said. “But take it a day at a time.”

He nodded. “Even so,” he said, “I owe you…”

“Nothing,” I interrupted. “You had my back when those boys were facing off with me. You didn’t know me, but you did it all the same. For that alone I would have helped. But more than that, you, and anyone who puts on a uniform to serve their country, deserves all the respect and help that anyone can give. That you faced combat makes that even more so.”

He released my hand and went to re-join his wife, who had been sitting watching us as we talked. She was far enough away that I doubted that she had been able to hear our exchange, but she smiled as he settled down in his chair beside her. They exchanged words as he picked up his book and began to read once more.

The twins settled down on towels and I spent a pleasant half hour rubbing suncream into various parts of their anatomy. Jules settled under the umbrella, once again with her book. I wasn’t sure what she was reading, but it was keeping her entertained, and she seemed to be enjoying not doing a lot of walking too.

I think, given the choice, she would have been in her workshop tinkering with the toy she had bought in Paris but, since that was not an option, she read instead.

Having finished oiling up the twins I was at a bit of a loose end. It had been some time since I’d actually done any martial arts training, having run or swum most mornings since we’d been on vacation, so I decided to run through a couple of katas.

I’d been at it for about an hour, when I heard a shout.

“Fuck me, it’s the Karate Kid,” then laughing.

I turned to see that the four boys had returned. They didn’t have the rest of their gang with them this time, but I guessed that they had worked themselves up to facing off with us again. Even this early in the morning they looked like they had been drinking.

I saw Reggie put his book down and make to stand, but I held my hand out to him indicating he should stay where he was. He cocked his head to one side, and then settled back. He didn’t pick up his book again, and I knew if he thought I was in trouble he would pitch in.

I walked over to meet them, intercepting them before they could get near any of the girls.

“This is a private beach,” I said, “as I told you yesterday. Please leave.”

“Are you going to make us?” asked one of the boys stepping up and putting his finger in my face.

“No,” said a voice from behind me, “but I will.”

I turned and all eyes were on Maria Gonzales. She was holding a badge out in front of her and had pulled the jacket she was wearing back over her hip to show that she was carrying a sidearm. Her hand was on its grip.

“Police,” she said. “You are trespassing and have been asked to leave. Now you either leave, or I arrest you and have you detained until your flight home, at which point you will be deported and never allowed to return to Spain.”

“I… We…” the boys stepped back.

“If I catch you here again…” she began but didn’t finish. The boys turned and slunk off.

She turned her attention to me.

“What exactly were you planning to do?” she asked, a suspicion in her eyes.

“I could have dealt with them,” I said.

“I know that,” she said. “But…”

“I mean physically,” I said.

“Four of them?” she asked.

I offered her the memory of my fight with Jasper and his friends. She winced when she assimilated it, presumably at the breaking of Jasper’s arm.

“Was that your plan for them?” she asked.

“No,” I said. “But I knew that if I took one or two of them down they would all go away and not come back. That is the third time now that they have been here, last time they brought about ten people. Fortunately, I had back up that time.”

She shook her head.

“Can we go back up to the villa?” she asked.

I nodded.

Reggie grinned at me as we walked past him. He obviously thought something else was happening with Maria and, given what had happened the previous day, I can see where he got that idea from.

When we got back to the villa I could see Maria’s car parked in the courtyard. I wasn’t sure how she managed to get through the gate; perhaps the police had a special code or something. I noticed there was someone sitting in the car. As we approached, the door opened and a little girl, probably about eleven years old, stepped out. She looked up at me.

“Eleanor,” said Maria, “This is Caleb. Caleb, this is Eleanor, my sister.”

+++++

We were seated by the pool, each of us holding a soda, while Maria told me the story.

Eleanor had a form of bone cancer called chondrosarcoma. It was normally fairly treatable with chemotherapy and the outlook was normally quite good.

Since her sister was also a Healer, her outlook should have been excellent. The cancer wasn’t too widely spread yet, and Maria should have been able to deal with it easily.

The problem was that Eleanor was powered, and she was stronger than Maria. In fact, she was significantly more powerful than Maria. The other problem was that her powers were acting to defend against what her own psyche was identifying as an attack on her.

Her powers were nullifying the chemotherapy as a poison in her body. Adding to the issue was that each time Maria tried to Heal her, Eleanor’s power prevented her from doing so. It was a totally instinctive and reactive process that Eleanor had no way to prevent, but it would kill her unless something could be done to circumvent it.

It would be possible to use the anti-psych drugs to suppress her power, but they couldn’t be given at the same time as the Chemo due to drug interaction. The drugs would also interfere with attempts at Healing using powers.

I considered what I had been told. I could see three possible approaches to deal with this.

The first and simplest would be to strip Eleanor of her power. She may be stronger than Maria, but I was still significantly stronger than her. I had no doubt that I could do it. No power would mean that all options for healing her could go ahead. It would save her life – but at what cost? How would she react to losing a power she had grown up with?

The second would be for me, in some way to ‘overpower’ her, and Heal her despite her power. That might be dangerous to both of us. I had no idea how much power would be required to simply Heal her, and if I were fighting against her powers all the way, would I have enough? There was no way to know.

The third way would be to somehow convince her power that it needed to allow the Healing. I was guessing it was some part of her subconscious psyche that was blocking all the Healing, seeing it as an attack on her. I had the errant thought that I could learn something from that but, that aside, whatever was fighting the Healing needed to be persuaded to allow it to go ahead.

I shared my thoughts with Maria and Eleanor.

They both immediately dismissed option one, however I suggested that it be held as a position of last resort. If it were either that or Eleanor dying of the cancer, surely living without powers was preferable. I’m not sure that Eleanor agreed with my thoughts though. I had to accede that it would be her, and her sister’s, decision in the end.

Option two was also problematic for both Eleanor and me. It was decided that, again, it was something we might try if option three didn’t work. So, it was option three – convince her power to allow the Healing. The only problem was I had no idea how to go about doing that.

“What actually happens when you try to heal her?” I asked Maria.

“I can’t break through her shield,” Maria said.

“Are you not able to drop your shields for your sister?” I asked Eleanor. She shook her head.

“I don’t know how to make a shield,” she said, her English good, but far more heavily accented than Maria’s.

I looked at Maria. “How is she shielded then, that is, if she isn’t doing it?”

Maria looked uncomfortable. “I…” she sighed. “I need your oath that, what you learn here today, you will never divulge to anyone.”

“I am a Healer,” I said. “I may open my mind to other Healers if we work together.”

She smiled. “I mean outside the Healer network. They are as jealous of each other’s secrets as they are of their own.”

“And I am part of that network so why the need for an oath?” I asked, looking for clarification, not an argument.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s just that I don’t know you. You are still new to the network.”

“You are going to have to make that decision,” I said. “If I am to attempt to Heal Eleanor, you and she are going to have to trust me.”

I stood up. “Perhaps you should think on it more,” I said. “Let me know your…”

“Wait,” she said. “I’m sorry, you’re right. It’s just that it’s a family secret that we are all sworn to protect.”

That phrase resonated with me. I had the feeling that someone else had said something similar to me, but I could not for the life of me remember where or when.

“As you know,” she said, “my bloodline’s primary power is Telepathy, but for some reason our line produces more ‘multi’s’ than any other worldwide. Practically all of our line have at least two powers, and most have four. My great, great, great, great, grandmother actually had what would be considered the full suite. Telepathy, Empathy, Compulsion, TK, CK, and PK.”

“Wow,” I said. “She must have been a formidable woman.”

Maria smiled. “She was tiny.” she said. “Stood less than a meter and a half tall. I never met her, but I have seen pictures. She was the one who created what she called our ‘protection’. It’s passed from person to person in our line. It’s difficult to describe but you could perhaps think of it as a part of her personality that resides within our mind. It uses whatever powers are available to it to protect the family member. It is separate and distinct from the personality of the person themselves, it never sleeps, and is always on alert. If it perceives anything as a threat it will try and nullify that threat. It can’t attack external to the persons’ body, so physical attacks are still possible.  However any foreign material entering into the host’s body that it perceives as dangerous will be destroyed, and any psychic attacks will be fought off automatically using the host’s own capabilities.

“Obviously the maximum power that it can bring to bear is whatever the host has available to them. So I have no doubt that you, if what Jeevan tells me is true, could overpower either of us, but it would be a brute force attack. If we have the same or more power than our attacker, the likelihood is that our protection would defeat any attacks on us. It won’t stop a bullet, but if the bullet is not immediately fatal, the protection will attempt to heal the damage.”

“That is amazing,” I said. “And I don’t wonder that you wanted to keep it a secret. Any power user would be after you to share this. And once it was shared, it would inevitably end up being applied to someone who you really didn’t want it to be applied to.”

She nodded. “You see the reason for my reluctance.”

“I do,” I said. “I’m not sure how we would go about dealing with it though. Perhaps if I had a look at Eleanor’s protection, I might get some ideas?”

Maria looked at her sister who had been sitting quietly listening to us. I looked at her too. She seemed much older than her eleven years would suggest.

“Eleanor?” said Maria. “What do you think?”

Eleanor turned her gaze on me. “Will it hurt?” she asked.

“I don’t think so,” I said. “I’ve never hurt anyone before.”

“Okay,” she said.

I examined her shield.  Maria was right. I could have simply torn them away, but I didn’t want to do that. Mainly because it would be traumatic for Eleanor. The shield was good, probably the best I had ever seen. It took me some time before I found a small flaw I could exploit. I extended a gentle tendril through the gap and immediately found myself under attack.

Something, or someone, was hurling what appeared to be invective at me, all in Spanish, while bombarding me with mental missiles. They were coming so thick and fast that all I could do was to hunker down and let them bounce off my shields. Each time one hit it flared, and I felt a little of my power ebb away. I watched Eleanor as this was going on, and saw that she was starting to look fatigued. The attack was using up her energy – and I was concerned that once it got through her available energy it would start eating into her life force. I retreated.

“Well,” I said, “that didn’t work.”

I explained to Maria what had happened.

“I could carry on until she exhausts all her power,” I said. “But if the protection eats into her life force for its power, it could end up hurting her. You must connect to each other, how does that work without the protection kicking in?”

“We’re family,” she said. “And we all have the protection. We can talk to each other, and share memories, but the protection won’t let me use my Healing on her, mainly because my Healing is damaging her cells therefore it’s seen as an attack. The protection doesn’t see the cancer cells as an attack since they are being made by her body.”

I thought about this for a moment.

“When I was being attacked, someone or something was screaming at me in Spanish,” I said.

“What were they saying?” Maria asked. I shrugged. “I don’t speak Spanish,” I said.

“Show me?” she asked, and I shared the memory of my hunkering down behind my shield while barrages of mental missiles assaulted me, all the time a tirade of Spanish washed over me.

“It’s bizarre,” she said after a moment. “They say that the protection is like a fragment of Tatarabuela Gonzales in our minds, but that feels like more. Almost like she’s copied her entire personality in there, and is standing vigil over us.”

“Can you communicate with it then?” I asked. She shrugged.

“I wouldn’t know where to start,” she said. She looked at her little sister, and I saw a thread extending and linking the two together. After a few minutes Maria turned back to me.

“There’s nothing there that I can fix on,” she said. “I can sense something there, but it doesn’t respond to me in any way.”

“Maybe it only becomes active when it senses an attack,” I said. “Try again, but try a little Healing at the same time.”

Maria connected again but in seconds I saw the connection break; it seemed to have been terminated by Eleanor.

“It just dumps me out,” Maria said. “It doesn’t engage at all; it literally kicks me out of her mind and body.”

“So, it won’t attack family,” I concluded, “but nor will it allow you to attack each other. That’s a grandmother’s thinking for you. She will, however, attack an outsider, i.e. me.”

I looked at my watch – It was lunchtime.

“Let’s take a break and get some lunch,” I said. “Eleanor should eat something to get some energy back, and I’m hungry too.”

“I’m making lunch,” I sent to the girls. They replied that they’d be up directly.

By the time they had arrived, lunch was almost ready. I’d made a stack of sandwiches, put out chips and drinks, and some cookies.

The girls were all taken with Eleanor. She in turn was fascinated by the twins. Jules seemed familiar to her, brown eyes and dark hair were pretty common in this neck of the woods. But twins, and golden eyes, not so much.

After lunch the girls headed back down to the beach, taking more drinks with them, and once again I faced Eleanor and Maria.

“I think we were on the right track,” I said, “getting the protection routine to engage with me. But if I just hunker down behind my shields all that will happen is that it will continue to attack until Eleanor runs out of power. We can’t take the chance it would tap into her lifeforce once that happens.”

“So what else can you do?” asked Maria. “If you drop your shields, her attacks will get through, and she might hurt or even kill you.”

“What powers does Eleanor have?” I asked.

“Same as me,” she replied, “But she’s stronger.”

“So how can she attack me?” I asked. “I’m strong enough to resist any Compulsion, I’d recognise and counter an Empathetic attack and the same with Telepathic.”

“She could hurt you with her CK,” Maria said. “She could literally freeze your brain solid.”

I pulled a face at that. “I’d rather that didn’t happen,” I said. Then I had a thought.

“When she was attacking me,” I said, almost to myself, “I definitely felt something like a personality. I wonder…”

“I have an idea,” I said. “Perhaps we can communicate with whatever personality is left in there running the protection.”

“How?” asked Maria.

“I can get through Eleanor’s shield,” I said. “But once I do – I am immediately attacked by this ‘thing.’ It feels like a person, so what would happen if I tried to pull it into an illusion with me. Perhaps It would manifest enough of an understanding that I could communicate with it?”

“It’s risky,” she said. “What if she attacks you inside the illusion? She could hurt you.”

“How?” I asked. “If it’s my illusion, then surely, I’m in control. I should be able to quash anything she throws at me.”

“True,” Maria said, “but she was a really powerful and really experienced power user when she created the protection. She might have some tricks up her sleeve you may not even be aware of.”

“Worst case,” I said, “I’ll bug out of the illusion, and we’ll be no worse off than we are now.”

Maria bit her lip for a moment, but then nodded.

“That should be okay,” she said. “Be careful though.”

“I will,” I said, before turning back to Eleanor, who, as before, was sitting silently staring at me.

“Are you ready?” I asked her, and she nodded. Once more I looked over her shield. The flaw I had found last time was no longer visible so, obviously, the protection had figured out my entry point and closed it. It took a few minutes but I found another. I braced myself and slid a tendril through the shield and into the little girl’s mind.

Once more I was assaulted by a barrage of ‘missiles’ battering against my shield. I ignored them for the moment, letting my shield do its job, while I felt for the ‘presence’ that was not Eleanor’s consciousness. I could feel it, although it was kind of faint and illusive.

Finally I locked onto it and pulled, dragging us both into an illusion. Stupidly I had not really thought about the illusion itself, so I was surprised to find myself smack dab in the middle of a bull fighting ring. I glanced around. I knew I’d pulled the other consciousness in with me, but I couldn’t see them. The ring, the whole stadium, was deserted. I was completely alone, standing on the sand. I felt a prickle on the back of my neck and, for reasons unknown to me, I threw myself forward into a roll. A ball of ice, probably a foot across, narrowly missed my head as I rolled and came up, facing the direction it had come from. I still couldn’t see anyone, but that had been close.

I scanned the arena searching for the source of the ice ball. I caught a flicker of movement off to my left, and once again a huge ball of ice was rocketing toward me. I reached out with my TK and smashed it into fragments.

“Abuela Gonzales,” I yelled. “I only want to talk to you.”

I hoped that the illusion would manage the translation  - Since Eleanor could speak English I reasoned that any presence in her mind would also be able to speak and understand it too.

Another ice ball shot at me, faster this time, but I once again knocked it aside with my TK, only to find there was another immediately behind it. The other had been half the size of the first, and invisible from my point of view. I ducked and it sailed over my head. Smashing into the arena floor about twenty feet behind me.

“Abuela, please!” I yelled. “You need to speak to me.”

Suddenly I felt a bone deep chill enveloping me. I could feel my limbs growing heavy. It almost felt like my blood was beginning to freeze in my veins.

I saw threads of power connecting to my body and severed them. I imagined my shield into existence here inside the illusion thus preventing further connection. My arms and legs were stiff though and my movement sluggish, so when the next barrage of ice balls came my way, I knew I had no chance of avoiding them.

Once more my TK came to the rescue. I grabbed the first ice ball and simply stopped it where it was. The following ones crashed into the back of it, destroying it, and also themselves in the process.

“Abuela,” I yelled again. “You’re killing her. You’re killing your granddaughter.”

Silence.

“Who are you to call me Abuela?” a voice challenged from across the arena. “I don’t know you.”

“I don’t call you Abuela as a member of my family,” I clarified, “but as a sign of respect.”

“What do you know of respect,” she spat. “You force your way into my granddaughter’s mind, and speak to me of respect?”

“It was necessary,” I said. “If you let me explain, you will see why.”

“Explain?” she said. “You mean lie?”

“No,” I said. “Explain. Your granddaughter is sick, and your protection is stopping them from helping her.”

“She’s not sick,” she said. “I would know it.”

“Would you?” I asked. “Can you tell when a body is destroying itself? Or can you only detect threats from the outside world?”

There was a longer silence.

“What is this sickness?” she asked eventually.

“It is called ‘Cancer’,” I said. “The body produces cells that it shouldn’t, in places that it shouldn’t, and they destroy the healthy cells. In the end, cancer kills the person.”

“I know what cancer is.” She spat.

“They tried medicine to kill it,” I said. “But you destroyed the medicine. Her sister tried to Heal her. But you blocked Maria from destroying the abnormal cells. Unless you let her be Healed, your protection is going to kill her.”

I saw movement once again and braced myself for another attack, but instead a small ancient looking woman stepped out from behind one of the walls at the edge of the bullring. She walked purposefully toward me, her eyes fixed on me all the while.

I stood still and waited for her to approach. Eventually she stood about six feet in front of me, glaring up at me.

“Why should I believe you?” she asked.

“What would I have to gain by lying?” I queried.

She shrugged. “I don’t know you.” she said. “I have no idea what your motivations might be. All I see is someone attacking my granddaughter. If I stop the defence, then you win. That is your gain.”

“How can I prove the truth of what I say?” I asked.

“Drop your shield,” she said. “Let me see the truth in your mind.”

“Like you just said, I don’t know you,” I said. “And so far, all you have done is attack me. Dropping my shield would leave me exposed to more attacks.”

“Then we are at an impasse,” she said. “I don’t trust you, and you don’t trust me.”

“Look at Eleanor,” I said. “Look at her power. You are eating up her reserves, and soon you will be eating up her life force. I have plenty of reserves, but if you persist, you will kill her.”

“Which is something that you don’t want,” she said. “So perhaps her death may be the safest path for her. You may have something in mind for her that would be worse?”

“Worse than death?” I asked. “What could be…”

“When you’ve lived as long as I have,” she interrupted me, “you’ll see that there are plenty of things worse than death.”

“There must be a way to prove to you,” I said, “that what I’m saying is true. I could show you the memory of my conversation with Eleanor and Maria?”

“Maria is here?” she asked. She looked around. “Where?”

“She is not in the illusion with us,” I said, “but she is close by.”

“What line are you?” she asked. “I don’t recognise you.”

“Stott,” I said.

“Ah,” she said. “The Everson’s lapdogs.”

I chuckled slightly. “Not anymore,” I said.

She raised an eyebrow.

I don’t know what prompted me to, but I told her my story, from first discovering my power, to the present time. It took hours. All the time we stood, in the centre of a deserted bull ring. I was keeping an eye on my power meter, and it was down to about half. I hoped that Eleanor was doing okay. I had no idea where her reserves were at.

After I finished my tale, she stared at me for a while. “I met Zacharia Everson one time,” she said, “maybe a hundred and fifty years ago, He was but a boy, but even then, he was arrogant. His control over your family made him so.”

“He hasn’t changed,” I said. “Although he no longer wields any control over my family.”

“Good” she said. “His prejudice blinded him.”

“I hate to press,” I said, “but Eleanor must be getting low on energy now. She needs to be Healed. If you will allow me, to connect to her as a Healer, I can show you exactly where the problems are, and what needs to be done to fix it. You have her powers and you could do the Healing once you recognize the problem. Or, if you won’t allow me, then allow Maria to connect. Talk to her and allow her to show you. Then you need not trust me at all.”

She looked at me for a moment. “Tell Maria to start the Healing,” she said. “I will speak to her.”

I nodded. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Abuela Gonzales,” I said.

She just clicked her tongue at me.

I waited for a second, thinking she might say something more.

“Well?” she demanded. “Go on!!”

I smiled as I dropped the illusion.

I opened my eyes to find myself surrounded by the entire family. Maria was seated on one of the pool chairs, Eleanor in her lap.

Mary and Amanda were sitting either side of me Jules was in my lap and Ness was kneeling at my feet.

“What time is it?”

“After six,” said Dean from a couple of seats down.

I looked at Maria. “How is she?” I asked.

“Tired,” she said. “You completely wore her out, but she ate while you were in there. Now that you’re out of her head, she’ll regain her strength.”

“I didn’t know I was in there that long,” I said. “Maria. Try some Healing.”

She looked at me, then at her sister, and I saw her power flare and envelop her sibling.

She sat still for maybe ten minutes and then I saw her power fade. When she looked at me, her cheeks were wet with tears.

“I spoke to her,” she said. “My Tatarabuela, she spoke to me.”

“Did you explain to her about the cancer?” I asked. She nodded.

“Now she recognizes it,” she said. “Once Eleanor recovers her energy, the protection will destroy it and Heal her.”

I smiled at her. “That’s great,” I said.

“Caleb,” she said, “I don’t know how to thank you.”

“You know that there’s no need,” I said. “Healers help one another. Isn’t that the point?”

Suddenly Eleanor, who had been dozing, opened her eyes and looked at me. I felt a thread of her consciousness touch mine.

“Tatarabuela wants to talk to you,” she sent to me.

I sent a thread of consciousness into her mind and felt a tug. I generated the illusion again, pulling on that connection, and found myself back in the bull ring facing the tiny old lady once more.

“I owe you my apologies,” said the old woman without preamble. “I can see the issue now, and I can deal with it. You have my thanks, Caleb Stott.”

“There are no thanks necessary,” I said. “I am happy to have been able to help.”

“You took a risk,” she said. “I could have hurt you, or worse.”

“It was calculated,” I said. “I was fairly certain that I would survive.”

She shook her head.

“Nevertheless,” she said, “you risked yourself to save my granddaughter. Our line owes you a debt for that.”

“Honestly there…”

“Do you never shut up?” she asked irritably. I clamped my mouth shut. “So. . .how do we settle the debt?”

I stayed quiet. She was on a roll and I knew that she didn’t need my input just now.

She looked me in the eye.

“You saved a member of my line,” she said. “It’s only right that we reciprocate. Would you allow Eleanor to give you my family’s protection? It will care for you as it cares for her and the rest of my family. All I would ask is that you keep the secret, as my family had for six generations.”

“I…” I said not knowing what to say. I could see the advantages of having this protection, but could I trust her?”

She saw my reluctance.

“Read my thoughts,” she said. “You will see for yourself everything you need to see.”

She stood before me, completely unshielded, waiting for me to delve into her mind. I looked into her eyes for a second, but then shook my head. “No need,” I said. “I would be honored to receive the protection of Tatarabuela Gonzales.”

She nodded, satisfied.

“When you are ready,” she said, “return to Spain. Our lines should merge. A child of Stott-Gonzales heritage would be powerful indeed. Maybe in ten or fifteen years?”

“Who knows,” I said a small smile on my face. “Who knows.”

She, very unceremoniously, kicked me out of my own illusion without so much as a goodbye. I was sitting staring into Eleanor’s eyes. I felt her extend a tendril at my mind and I opened my shield to her. Her touch was gentle and light. I felt something warm and comfortable slip into my consciousness and take up residence there. Eleanor withdrew.

Maria’s eyes were wide.

“Eleanor?” she asked. “What…?”

“Tatarabuela told me to…” she said to her sister. Maria looked at me.

“She also told me,” I said, “that in ten or fifteen years our two lines should perhaps consider producing an offspring.”

Maria blushed a little at that, until Eleanor piped up. “She told me that too.” Then it was MY turn to blush.

Maria climbed, a little stiffly, to her feet.

“It seems,” she said, “that our two lines are destined to have a future together. She pulled me into a hug and kissed me on both cheeks. “Welcome to the family, mi hermano,” she said.

Eleanor extended her arms to me, and I bent to hug her. She too kissed me on both cheeks. “Thank you,” she said. “Will you come back and visit sometimes?”

I smiled at her. “I will,” I said. “Vendré a ver a mi hermanita.” Eleanor giggled. 

Apparently having the Gonzales protection living in my head had other advantages. Having a native Spanish-speaking consciousness as part of my mind apparently gave me the language too.

Maria looked at me and shook her head. “You’ll have to come meet the rest of the family,” she said. “Perhaps you could all come for dinner before you return to the U.S.?”

I looked at Dean. “We were going to fly back Sunday,” he said. “So, any time before then?”

“Saturday night then?” she suggested. I looked around all those gathered.

“Everyone would be welcome,” said Maria. “I’ll text you an address and time.”

I walked the pair of them out to Maria’s car, Eleanor holding onto my hand as we walked.

“Once again,” Maria said, “thank you, Caleb.”

“No thanks necessary,” I said. “I am very happy I could help, and I think I have been more than amply rewarded. I’m honored to have been trusted with this.”

She smiled. “Welcome to our family,” she said kissing my cheek again.

She got into her car and I pressed the button to open the gate for her.

Wearily I made my way back into the villa where everyone was waiting by the pool to hear my account of the day’s events. True to my word, I left out any mention of the new presence in my mind.

+++++

The next day we managed to convince Amanda to abandon the beach and we all went into Barcelona. Despite her not wanting to walk any more, we toured the city seeing some amazing buildings and history. We ended up at the zoo for the afternoon. We ate an early dinner at a small restaurant overlooking the marina. I was greatly amused when an old rich guy invited the twins to go and party on his yacht which was apparently moored there. What amused me most was that he sent one of his two bodyguards over to our table to invite them.

It started to become less amusing when Amanda, who had been approached first, politely turned him down. The bodyguard went back to the older guy, who looked greatly displeased and spoke to his other bodyguard, who returned to our table to re-make the offer. This time there were incentives offered to both Mary and Amanda. This time they both refused telling the bodyguard, in no uncertain terms, that they were not interested.

Meanwhile I zeroed in on their boss, who was still eyeing the twins with an avaricious eye. I could see that he had decided that he was going to have a night with them and wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

He shifted for a moment, uncomfortable in his seat, as he felt an itch start to manifest itself in a very personal place. He held out for about five minutes before he left his table heading for the bathroom. That would do him no good. He was in for a miserable twenty-four hours.

When we left the restaurant about an hour later the old man was nowhere to be seen, having left the place earlier presumably to return to his yacht to scratch at his ring-itch in private.

I wondered how many other girls he had paid, or otherwise coerced, onto his yacht and whether I should do anything about it. I determined to have a conversation with Maria when we met again to ask about him.

For the rest of the week we alternated between days at the beach, so all the girls could work on their tans, and touring the local sights. Being suddenly able to speak Spanish was a real boon. We got to see things that we might not have merely by having conversations with the Taxi drivers we got to take us to places.

On Friday night we had another barbecue on the beach. Reggie and Donna joined us as it was their last night in Barcelona. Reggie and Dean had spent a lot of time talking together about their time in the desert, and by the time they left it was as if they were old friends. Donna came to speak to me.

“I don’t know how you did it,” she said to me, “but he’s like a different man. He remembers what happened out there, but it no longer triggers him. It’s been so long since I had my husband I’d almost forgotten who he was. I don’t know how we can ever thank you.”

I shook my head. “There’s really no need. He stepped up for all of us, it was an honor for me to be able to step up for him.”

She pulled me into a hug. “If you ever come to England,” she said, “look us up. We’d be very happy to see you.”

We spent the better part of Saturday packing things up and getting ready for our return home. I was certainly looking forward to it, even if I wasn’t particularly looking forward to the nearly nine hour flight, even given the luxurious accommodations.

In the early evening we called a taxi and went to the address that Maria had sent to us. The taxi driver took us up into the hills above the city and, after almost an hour of driving, we arrived at what could only be described as a hacienda.

The building wasn’t so much a ‘house’ as a collection of houses all joined together with arched corridors between them, and a large central building which seemed to house some communal areas. There were some delicious smells on the air and my stomach rumbled.

Maria, who must have seen the taxi approaching, came out to meet us. Eleanor skipping along at her side.

“Caleb,” Maria exclaimed, beaming. “So glad you could come.”

“Thank you so much for inviting us,” I said as we all unloaded from the taxi. Maria came to embrace me. Leaning in to touch cheeks, left then right. The phrase ‘Dos Besos’ popped into my head. She moved along the line to Cheryl who was next. Meanwhile I found myself attached to an eleven year old limpet who had thrown her arms around my waist.

“Hey Eleanor,” I said do her crouching a little to hug her. “Como esta mi hermanita?”

“Speak English,” called Maria, who was just moving from Dean to greet Jules. “She needs the practice.”

“How are you?” I asked.

“I’m well, thank you,” she said a little formally.

“May I see?” I asked. She nodded.

I looked her over seeing that while she still had some of the cancer cells in her body, they were greatly reduced. I estimated that in another week would see her completely cancer free.

I felt a presence at my side and looked up to see Maria had re-joined me having gone along the line of people to welcome them.

“It’s almost gone,” she said. “Four or five more days.”

I nodded.

“I never thought that we would be able to cure her,” she said looking at her little sister. “Even with all our power, I was certain that we were going to lose her.”

We stood for a moment regarding the little girl who looked back at us impassively.

“Come on,” Maria said suddenly grabbing my hand. “Let me introduce you to the family.”

What followed was a whirlwind of people and introductions, as we were all paraded through what must have been an extended family of about fifty people ranging in age from two to over one hundred years old. Each of the adults did the kiss-kiss thing, even the men, which I found a little strange.  From what I understood of the culture, ‘Dos Besos’ only happened when at least one of the parties was female. I wondered how Dean would react to it, but it seemed they were only doing it to me. Josh and Dean were getting handshakes from the men. I asked Maria about it.

“You are part of the family now,” she said. “You are one of us.”

Then I was led to an old woman who was the spitting image of Taratabuela Gonzales from the illusion. I presumed she was the current Matriarch of the Gonzales family and therefore a daughter or maybe granddaughter of the consciousness I had met.

We spoke in Spanish.

“Good evening,” she said.

“Good evening,” I replied. “Thank you for inviting me to your home.”

She shook her head. “You are one of the family now,” she said. “You must consider this as your home. Would you introduce me to your family?”

I made the introductions, first my four fiancées, then Dean and Cheryl, and finally Josh and Louise.

“If you like,” she said, “you may call me simply Abuela. It is how I am usually addressed.”

“Thank you, Abuela,” I replied. She smiled.

“You have beautiful girls,” she said. “And some dedicated friends. I can see their devotion to you. You ‘share’ with them, yes?”

I nodded. “Mostly,” I said. “Jules and Ness are Norms and, up to now, haven’t ‘shared’ with any other men.”

She looked across at the two girls who were now in conversation with some of the other family.

I saw her reach out her power toward them, my instinctive block caught her by surprise.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “They are Norms, and I am very protective of them.”

She raised an eyebrow at me. I wondered if this was going to be the shortest family gathering ever. Then she grinned.

“As it should be,” she said. “However, I detect that they are not quite Norms. They have some power, albeit an extremely small amount.”

A memory stirred of Jules telling Dianna that her grandmother could sometimes feel the emotions of others if they were in contact, and that she knew what it felt like to have power used on her. It hadn’t been mentioned since and I had forgotten about it.

“The twins are Eversons,” she said. “They have reasonable power. They are not yet reached their full potential, I sense, but they are not far from it. You are also not quite there but you have much more power, I think, than I have ever seen in a single person.

I wondered how she could tell my power, I checked my shield, which seemed to be in perfect shape.

My confusion must have registered, she smiled. “Your shield is being managed by the protection,” she said. “It allows us a limited amount of freedom with each other. I couldn’t read your mind, or use my powers on you, but I do have access to see your condition and strength. Look at me and you will see what I mean.”

I directed my power at her and saw exactly what she meant. I could gauge her power, health, and energy levels. That was all I was getting from her though.

“I’m guessing,” she went on seeing I had confirmed what she had said, “that you are making people a little nervous back home?”

“You could say that,” I said. “We had some, shall we say, discussions when I came into my power. We are all friends now though.”

She laughed. “Not friends,” she said. “But not enemies either. I heard that you broke away from the Everson council and formed your own. Good for you. It was time for your family to rebuild.”

“Rebuild?” I asked.

She pulled a face. “They have been systematically reducing your numbers,” she said, “for, maybe, the last five hundred years. You think it’s an accident that there are so few of you left?”

“How?” I asked.

“Careful management of who you are allowed to marry, for example” she said. “Also, limiting family sizes to one or at most two children per family. Oh, they say it’s to keep them away from powers, but the real reason, at least originally, was to breed you out of existence. Weaken your line until those with Compulsion were no more. You will probably be the first Stott with more than one wife. You have the opportunity to restart your line. Don’t let them interfere with that.”

“Don’t worry,” I said, “I’m not going to. I’ve already told them that I will not tolerate them using the amulets on any children of mine.”

“Good,” she said. “Those are abominations. They shouldn’t even be used on wilds.”

“How do you make wilds safe?” I asked.

“It’s simple,” she said. She offered me a memory. I examined it.

“FUCK!” I said. It was virtually the same process as had been used to bind our family to the Eversons. The child could be guided through a process of using their own power to bind them to their parents. This binding would both limit their power, making it almost negligible, and still leave them with their full mental capacities. They could grow up with an understanding of their powers, as they would still be able to feel them within themselves, and train them under rigid supervision.

Other power users would be able to temporarily ‘release’ the block on their powers, for a set period of time, for these training sessions.

“So why have the Eversons been using the Amulets?” I asked.

“A number of reasons,” she said. “One, they don’t have Compulsion so it’s more difficult to use the binding. Remember these wilds are usually encountered when they are very young, so they might not be able to recite a ritual. Also it limits your mental acuity so when you do finally reach your powers perhaps you are easier to manage. . .at least at first.”

“And by the time that wears of,” I concluded, “we were bound by the ritual.”

“Ritual?” she asked, and I told her of the ritual oath. She grimaced and sucked her teeth.

“Evil,” she said. “They have been enslaving your family for generations. I hope that they are offering adequate recompense.”

I sighed. “Not really,” I said. “In the name of peace, we have agreed not to pursue the matter. We are free from their control and now it’s time to move forward.”

She considered me for a few moments.

“I sense that you are still not satisfied with this,” she said. “You need to resolve it, or it will fester within you.”

“What can I do?” I asked. “I could go to war with them, strip their power, but what would that achieve? I’d become a pariah, possibly even go to jail, if not worse. I’ve sworn the oath to our council and to them that I would take no further action. I cannot go back on that.”

“No,” she said. “You cannot. But there are some things that I can do. First, you are welcome here at any time. I could have you and your family naturalized as citizens of Spain in less than a day if you required it. I am not suggesting that you should leave the U.S., but I am telling you that, should things become untenable for you there, you have a place to go. Second, I am announcing that as of now, the Gonzales line will no longer have dealings with the Everson line. I can assure you also that this will spread to include all of the European families. They have disgraced themselves with this binding oath. Nobody knew about it, otherwise they would have stepped in to stop it.”

“I’m not sure that will help,” I said. “In fact, it might make things worse.”

“They have been preaching accountability for centuries,” she replied. “Now they must be held accountable for their actions.”

“Before you do anything that can’t be undone,” I said, “can we at least talk to them? Perhaps an accommodation can be made. Will you at least talk to the Matriarch, and see if anything can be done? We are just starting to settle down between the families and I don’t things to blow up again.”

She thought about that for a second. “You think she would talk to me.”

“I have her on speed dial,” I said. “I can have her on the phone in seconds.”

“Call her,” she said. “Arrange a Teams call for her and I in an hour.”

I raised my eyebrows. She smirked at me, “What?” she said. “Just because I’m old you think I don’t know technology?”

I smiled at her, inwardly worried what I had set in motion. Oil had definitely been poured on the waters between the Everson council and me, and now this flamethrower ready to ignite it. The fallout from this could be devastating.

I moved off to one side and called Dianna.

“Hey Caleb,” she said. “How’s Spain?”

“I’ve met up with the matriarch of the Gonzales line over here,” I said. “She’d like to talk to you.”

“About?” she said, suddenly sounding a little guarded.

I explained all about my interaction with the Gonzales line, how I had helped to heal Eleanor, and come to meet with the rest of the family. Again, I kept my oath not to mention the protection. I explained that when she found out about the binding oath, Abuela Gonzales had been incensed and wanted to ostracize the Everson family from the European families. I concluded by saying that I’d asked for her to speak to Dianna before she did anything permanent.

“Oh shit,” she said. “This is going to go down like a lead balloon. Why did you have to… No, that’s not fair. I’m blaming you for the fallout on this when it was the Council’s decision to continue the practice.” She sighed. “You say she wants to talk to me?”

“She’s asked for a Teams call in an hour,”

“You think she’d mind if Maggie sat in?” she asked.

“I doubt it,” I said.

“You have my email,” she replied. “Send me the invite. I’ll be there.”

I fed that back to Abuela and gave her Dianna’s email address. She sent out the invite.

I went and re-joined my family who were off chatting to other members of the Gonzales family.

Mary pulled me to one side.

“What’s the matter?” she asked. Rather than answer her, I gave her the memory of my conversation with the Gonzales Matriarch. She grimaced.

“Oh,” she said. “This is not good. What do you think will happen?”

“I have no idea,” I said. “I might have to stay in Spain,” I joked with a weak smile.

Just then dinner was announced, and we were led into a dining room where a large table was set. There wasn’t room for all of the extended Gonzales family to attend but there were about twenty places around the table, with Abuela Gonzales at the head. I was seated to her right and Maria to her left. Our family was interspersed between members of the Gonzales family who, thankfully, all spoke English. Nobody seemed to have noticed I could now speak Spanish or, if they had, they hadn’t commented. If challenged I would simply say that I had got it from Eleanor as a thank you for her healing.

I was hoping that there wouldn’t be a lot of pomp and ceremony, and I was glad when Abuela simply welcomed us and bade us enjoy our meal.   Dinner was a traditional Paella and simply amazing; I would have to get the recipe.

A while later Abuela excused herself to go and have the call. I wasn’t invited and, honestly, I was glad about that. I really didn’t want to be involved in that discussion. Talk about lighting the blue touchpaper and standing well back.

I spoke to Maria about the old man in the marina and how he had tried to get the twins onto his yacht.

“He is an old lech,” she said. “We’ve had complaints about him before. He offers money but as yet has not gone any further. Some girls take him up on the offer, and they spend a night with him. They come away with some very valuable ‘gifts.’

“I’ll check in on him again, and make sure he’s not going beyond incentives.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I gave him a severe case of ring itch for twenty four hours but I have no doubt he’ll be back out there by now.”

“Ring itch?” she queried, apparently not familiar with that term.

“A very annoying itch,” I said. “In a very personal place.”

She laughed.

We had finished our meal and were still sitting at the table chatting when Abuela came back nearly an hour later. It was getting late and, in truth, we were all ready to be heading back to the Villa, since we had to fly back to the U.S. the next day. Nevertheless we waited for her.

“I have discussed things with your matriarch,” she said, “and with the matriarch of the Everson family. We have reached an accommodation. I will let them tell you about it, but know that you, personally, have the full support of the Gonzales line. Should things become ‘difficult’ for you at home, you have a place here with us. I also heard mention of a joining of our lines sometime in the future?”

I grimaced a little at that. “I think some time will have to pass before I think about that.”

She smiled at me. “You are a good boy, Caleb,” she said. “We’re not arranging marriages or anything of that ilk. A child from both our lines would potentially be very powerful, and also cement the ties between our lines. But neither you, nor any girl from our line, would be pressured into doing anything you wouldn’t want to do. I would, however, love to see you again. Please come back and see us.”

Eleanor had gone to bed a little earlier, but had extracted my email address from me so she could keep in touch. Maria and Abuela walked with us to the Taxi that had arrived to take us back to the villa.

“Don’t forget,” said Maria. “Keep in touch. Remember you have family here now.”

Jules looked at me as we drove away. “You seem to have gained a third family,” she said. “They were very grateful to you for Healing Eleanor.”

“Hmmm.” I said not really wanting to get into it. I hated keeping secrets from my girls and this was two… Two? Why was it two? I wasn’t aware of any other secrets I was keeping, but I had the definite feeling that there was something else that I was keeping from them. Apparently I was keeping it from myself as well.

My phone beeped.

_We need to talk when you get back. Call me! Maggie.

Well Shit!