Caleb 59 – Family

The next week started pretty much as every week so far had done. I decided to go out for a run and noticed that Tom Prichard’s light was on in his house.

I’d never noticed if there was a Mrs. Pritchard and wondered about that. Did he live alone or was there a long-suffering wife hiding inside being constantly ‘controlled’ by her controlling husband? Had I made her life even more unbearable by eliminating his control of the neighborhood? I did think about trying to find out but then decided that if there was, it was none of my concern. Unless she specifically came to me for help, and I had no reason to think that she even existed let alone would do so, then I’d leave well enough alone.

I covered about ten miles that morning and arrived back at the house feeling energized and ready to face the week.

I was in the kitchen making breakfast when Marcia arrived.

“I see that your asshole neighbor is getting a security system installed,” she said. I raised an eyebrow then went to the front door to see for myself.

As Marcia had said there was a van from a security company parked on his drive, and they appeared to be installing cameras on the front of his house. It was a strange configuration though as there was one covering his front door, one covering the driveway and his car, and then a third being fitted. I had a sneaky suspicion what this camera was going to be tasked to do, especially since it seemed to be a different type of camera to the other ones. The third camera had a longer lens.

Marcia told me that the bathroom fittings, showers, and toilets were due to be delivered that morning. Since I had nothing better to do, I decided to stay at home in order to help her bring all the stuff inside, get it unboxed, and ready for fitting.

Melanie also was going to be around to help, so when the stuff arrived it took us little time to get it all inside and unboxed, with all the packaging being loaded onto Marcia’s van for disposal. By the time we had everything unboxed and ready to go, it was coming up lunchtime.

We spent the next couple of hours researching how we could get Melanie her GED. Apparently it wasn’t too difficult. She could sign up online, even take the four exams online as long as she had a decent computer, a quiet space, and good internet connection. We decided to go buy her a good laptop for her to work on and also for when she was ready to do any further study – if that’s what she wanted to do. If everything went smoothly, we might even get her enrolled into PSU before this semester was over. I had no qualms with her catching up on the work, I would be more than happy to get her all caught up on her first semester even if she was unable to do it herself.

In the end, I’d decided not to take her amulet off on the previous Sunday, deciding to wait just one more week, although I’d not told Melanie just yet. Her body was pretty much back to what it should have been due to a combination of a good diet, some exercise, and some assistance from my Healing. She was looking good.

We found a very decent laptop that she liked, and we took it home and got her set up in the living room. She started to work through the GED registration, filled out all the required details, and got set up for taking the exams.  By the time she was through with that, the girls had arrived home and I was getting ready to go for my flying lesson.

I arrived at the airport about a quarter of five.

Arnie was just coming out of the office as I walked up.

“Dad’s running a few minutes late,” he said. “He asked if you wanted to prep the plane with me, assuming you don’t mind having a kid instructor?”

I grinned at him. “As long as I don’t have to change your diaper mid-way through, I think I can handle it.”

“No promises,” he said. “Let’s go and do the external checks.”

He stood by and watched as I completed the external checks of the aircraft, running through the checklist with me. Once again, I added in the extra checks that Gerry had always considered worth doing, even though they were not on the checklist.

Just as I was finishing up his father appeared. He looked flustered.

“Sorry,” he said. “Meeting went on longer than I thought it would. Are we all prepped and ready to go?”

“All external checks are complete,” I said. “And I didn’t have to change his diaper even once.”

Danny looked at me, eyebrow raised, but didn’t respond. Arnie just grinned.

I climbed into the cockpit and waited for Danny to take his seat, then we began the internal pre-flight. We, or rather I, flew around the area doing various required maneuvers for two and a half hours. Danny and I made small talk between steep turns and stalls.

When I got home, I’d had an email. Or rather, several emails.

Hi Caleb,

I was wondering, or rather Connie was wondering, if, when I get my amulet removed, you could be there?

The FBI lady said it would be Okay, or if you didn’t mind, we could even do it at your place. You did invite us over after all?

Let me know.

E

Almost immediately after, there was a mail from Maggie.

Hi Caleb.

I’ve been contacted by both of John’s other children. Ephraim wants to have you there when his amulet is removed, and I think that’s a great idea. Also, Sarah wanted more information about you. Since you’d said that you wanted to get to know her, I did have a conversation with her. I think they are planning to come see you this weekend.

Just so you know, I would have no objections to you removing Sarah’s amulet if you feel it appropriate, and you can keep an eye on her. She said you offered her to move in with you and to pay for her schooling?

I think she’s going to contact you and ask to come visit you at weekend. Perhaps you can put her in touch with Ephraim too. I don’t think they ever connected.

I’ll leave it with you, but if you do remove Sarah’s amulet – you will have to be responsible for her…

Regards

Maggie.

“Bitch,” I chuckled to myself. “Talk about manipulation…”

I moved onto the next email.

“Hi Caleb.

Dad told me that you offered to pay for me to go to PSU.

I didn’t really believe it at first, but then I spoke to Maggie and she said that you definitely could afford it, and that I would be perfectly safe with you, which sounds like a really strange thing for her to say.

You told us a lot when you came over and Mom told me what you told her in the kitchen. Are you really sleeping with Melanie? Your sister?

You said that the rules were different for Power users, and everything I’ve been told growing up tells me that it’s wrong, but you two just looked so good together. And I really didn’t believe the way that Edgar took to you. He’s usually so reserved with strangers.

You said that we could come over and meet what you called ‘the inmates’ of your asylum, and Mom and Dad (I’m not going to qualify that – you were right, I will no longer be calling John Dad) would like that. Perhaps next Saturday if that’s Okay?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Your sister (I don’t like the term half-sister- it sounds so like I don’t want to acknowledge we’re related.)

Sarah. X”

I showed the emails to Melanie, who was overjoyed.

“Why don’t we get them all over here on Saturday?” she said. “Get them to come at lunchtime, they can spend the afternoon with us, and maybe have dinner too. Sarah can get to know us and E, and maybe you can take all our amulets off together?”

“Shit!” I said. “Release three new power users on the world all at the same time? That doesn’t really sound like a responsible thing to do.”

Melanie pulled her tongue out at me.

“You know you can handle it,” she responded.

“Why not,” interjected Ness, “invite Mom and Daddy too. Perhaps speaking to them will help settle Sarah’s parents down?”

“That depends on what they tell them,” giggled Amanda.

“True,” I said. “But I expect your parents and Sarah’s parents will probably have other things to discuss other than whether or not we ‘shared’ with them. It’s a long way for them to come though.”

“They have a jet,” said Jules. “And before you say anything about the cost, both my parents would crawl here over broken glass if they thought you needed them. I don’t think you realise how much they love all of you. If we were jealous types, we might be concerned that you are taking their attention away from us. But I, certainly, love the way you guys have adopted each other and we have become a family together.”

“Yeah,” said Ness, “I agree. It’s like… Well, I don’t know what it’s like, but I know that I love the fact that we’re all together. I also know our parents are going to love Melanie.” She smiled across at Melanie who flushed slightly but smiled back at her.

“We’re going to need more furniture,” said Mary practically. “There’s room for us all to sit, but only just. If Sarah moves in there is going to be a shortage of seating in here. Thank goodness we got the bigger dining table already.”

“I think we’ve reached capacity,” I said. “With Sarah included there will be Mary, Amanda, Jules, Ness, Melanie, Josh, Louise, Gracie, Dana, her, and me making eleven. If Sarah’s parents and brother come on Saturday that’s fourteen, E and Connie makes sixteen. If Pops and Cheryl come that will be our dining table overly full – eighteen people. I don’t know where we’d seat them all.”

“The sofa holds six,” said Louise, “and there are two chairs. Most of the time, when you are in here, one or more of the girls sits on your lap in any case. If you got maybe another three-seater sofa and another chair…”

We devolved into planning out the living space. Fortunately, the room was large enough to accommodate the extra furniture and, when we went online, we found some that matched the existing so we wouldn’t have mismatched furniture. The TV wouldn’t be visible from all the chairs, but that didn’t bother me since I rarely watched the TV in any case. I also ordered a couple more chairs for the set out on the deck, bringing our seating out there up to ten. A couple of extra dining chairs would make the dining table a little crowded but it would then seat up to twenty. The additional pieces could live in the attic when we weren’t using them. If we expanded our household any more, we would seriously have to find a bigger place.

I sent emails to E and Sarah, inviting them both over for lunch and dinner Saturday. I told them both about the other, and that we would introduce them to our extended family. We could figure out what else would happen after that.

The next day after school we moved all the furniture back into the spare rooms. Marcia said she could work around it with no problem since she was working in the ensuites and had completed the install of all the furnishings in both. The rest of the week would be tiling and grouting. It was a part of the job she didn’t particularly like but, since we’d chosen quite large tiles, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. She was happy that she was on schedule to finish everything by Friday. She had a new job to move onto starting the next week, so she wanted to be finished in time so as not to have to work the weekend.

Gracie and Dana decided not to move back into their room until after the weekend. They would stay in the Den. We hadn’t decided whether we were going to change the den back into a den or keep it as a spare room although, if Sarah moved in, we would have no guest room if we changed it back. My preference was to keep the den as a bedroom. We didn’t need a den.

+++++

I was nervous as I approached our Ethics class on Wednesday morning. I’d used a lot of power healing the professor and others had felt it when I’d used that kind of power on them. Did he? Would he say anything? He certainly looked a lot better. He still thinner than he had been, but he’d carried a little extra weight so it looked good on him. His face was no longer drawn and his eyes were bright and healthy. He looked around the class, beaming at us all as we entered.

“Good morning,” he said. “Today I, once again, must apologise. It appears that my doctors were a little premature in their prognosis. It seems that, for some reason, they got it wrong. I went to see my oncologist last Friday, since I had been feeling much better, and after some tests over the weekend and at the beginning of this week, they now tell me I do not have the cancer that they had diagnosed nor am I, in fact, dying.

“I’m sorry to have worried you all and, if our time together last week caused you any distress, I also apologize. All I can say, in mitigation, is that I told you the truth as I knew it. They cannot tell me what happened, why they got it so wrong, and why they cannot find a single trace of any cancer either on my scans or in my blood tests.”

“You should sue them,” said one student. “They caused you a lot of emotional distress.”

“Ah,” said the professor smiling, “I think not. You see, they were acting in good faith and basing what they told me on information they had. Why that information was incorrect is anyone’s guess – maybe it was a mix up in the labs?  A mix up in the radiology department? If so, how could such a mix up happen in both places at the same time in the same way? Or could it be that I did indeed have the cancer and for some reason it just went away?”

“We prayed for you professor,” one of the kumbaya crowd said. “Maybe God decided to answer those prayers?” My lip curled.

“And I thank you for taking the time,” he said. “I, personally, do not know what happened. Did a deity intervene? If so, why? I have certainly never shown any deference to such a being, having never been convinced of their existence. Some may even claim that this is proof, but is it?

“Let’s say, for arguments sake, that I was, indeed, sick and am now cured. It could be as much an argument for Miss Reid’s super powered Healer, someone who had the power to heal but couldn’t reveal their power, and I fully understand why that would be the case.”

He looked directly at me when he said this.

“However, if indeed it did happen and wasn’t just a misdiagnosis, I am incredibly grateful, as is my family who are overjoyed to find that I am going to be around for a while longer. So, as well as my apology to you for any emotional distress my announcement last week caused you, I would like to publicly thank any and all those involved in any healing I might have been in receipt of. In many ways I would almost like to think that the diagnosis was indeed correct. That would give me the hope that there are those with such powers around and that they are working to help those of us in need.”

The rest of the lesson passed in open discussion of the likelihood of such beings, against the more mainstream doctrine of a deity, and devolved into a theist/atheist debate which I thoroughly enjoyed. I have always loving dismantling bible thumpers.

I kept a careful eye on Dana though. Since her father was a pastor, I didn’t know where her opinions were on such matters and I didn’t want to hurt her with my ebullient dismantling of the theist construct. She didn’t seem to mind however, even grinning at me a couple of times as she saw how much I was enjoying myself.

“Mr. Stott?” said the professor at the end of the lesson. “Might I have a word?”

I stayed back while the others filed out.

“I’m afraid the substitute lecturer left a note on your record to say that you ignored instructions when she was taking the lesson.” he said.

I smiled at him. “I’m sorry, Professor,” I said. “We didn’t have a substitute lecturer while you were away.”

He frowned. “I was given to understand that Mrs. Breeman took my classes while I was out?”

“Oh, yes, she did,” I said, “but she didn’t teach. All she did was tell us to read chapters from one of our textbooks. If that is teaching, then sign me up – because it’s money for nothing. She sat in your chair glaring at us. Since I’d already read all the required reading, I chose not to waste time re-reading it, and made use of the time to read something I hadn’t read. It wasn’t related to the subject but that was not relevant.”

He smiled at me. “I see,” he said. “I take it she noticed what you were reading?”

“I suspect so,” I said.

“I’ll provide your feedback to the department head,” he said. “You are not the first to have been, shall we say, disappointed in her teaching.”

“Thank you, Professor,” I said. “While I’m here, I wanted to run an idea past you for my senior thesis.”

“Oh yes?” he said. “It’s good to have something in mind. What were you thinking?”

“I was intrigued,” I said, “by the session, and subsequent discussions I had with Dana, about the ethics of a superhero. I was thinking of writing my thesis on that.”

He nodded slowly. “Frankly,” he said, quietly, “you could write the instructions on building the Death Star with Legos and you would graduate with honors. I don’t know what you did, or how you did it, but I know it was you. I felt it. The question from Miss Reid was to get my consent for you to do whatever it was that you did.”

I opened my mouth to argue but he held up his hand.

“Please,” he said, “don’t. I have told no-one, nor will I tell anyone. I understand your need for secrecy, for anonymity. I want you to know how grateful I and my family are for what you did, or they would be if they knew. The only ones that do know, are you, me, and presumably Dana. Doing your thesis on the ethics of having superpowers sounds like a good idea, and something you might be uniquely qualified to comment on.”

I nodded and turned to leave the room. When I got to the door he spoke again.

“Caleb,” he said. I turned to look at him. “Thank you.”

Dana was waiting for me outside the classroom. Rather than explain it to her, I simply sent her the memory of the exchange. She frowned.

“He felt it?” she said. I nodded.

“It’s not the first time,” I said. “Others have felt it when I used a lot of power on them.” I told her about Christina, the six-year-old, and the woman with pancreatic cancer. “Even your mom thought that she recognized me, but she didn’t know why.”

“You need to be more careful,” she said. “The professor probably won’t say anything, but others…”

“I know,” I said. “But he liked my idea for my thesis at least.” I grinned at her and she shook her head, smiling wryly.

We ate lunch together and then separated for our afternoon activities. I went to the range to meet a new hypnotherapy client and Dana went to her afternoon class.

My new client was a security guard from the Mall. Apparently he was a friend of the guard who’d helped Melanie out. He’d been bemoaning to his colleague about being unable to stop smoking and had gotten my card from him.

I left that session a hundred dollars richer and able to speak Japanese, since the guard was second generation Japanese American, and had been brought up speaking the language at home. I was pleased about this. Japanese had been one language I’d wanted to learn, and not just so I could understand all the hentai porn I’d seen.

I made my way home and was met by a very excited Melanie who was hopping from foot to foot at the door into the kitchen as I pulled into the garage. I grinned to myself as I saw her so excited. I had an idea from her shouted thoughts of what she wanted to show me, but I pretended I hadn’t noticed.

As soon as I got out of my truck, she came and dragged me into the house and into the living room, pointing at her laptop which was sitting on the coffee table. I looked at it but the screensaver had activated and all I could see was a picture of a lake and some trees.

“That’s pretty,” I said.

She looked puzzled and then looked at the screen seeing what had happened. She scowled at me before unlocking the device and showed me what it was she wanted me to look at.

She’d taken all four of her exams for her GED and had gotten her results back only ten minutes before I’d arrived home. She’d passed them all with a score of 180 or more on each section.

I threw my arms around her hugging her to me. “Congratulations,” I said. “I knew that you could do it.”

“I would never have been able to without your help,” she said.

“Of course you would,” I assured her. “You’re an extremely intelligent young lady, even with your amulet in place. Imagine what you can do when you get full access to your metal capacity. Think what you could achieve.”

“But without you giving me all the memories of your’s and the girls’ schooling,” she said, “and then sorting my mind out so that I could remember it, I’d never have done all this in just a couple of weeks. I crammed years of study into two weeks. I would never have been able to do that.”

“Maybe not in quite so short a time,” I said, “but you would have done it. Have you any idea what you want to do next?”

She nodded. “I want to be a doctor,” she said. I looked at her wide eyed.

“Wow!” I said. “Talk about setting the bar high. Way to go.”

“I’ve been looking at the PSU catalog, and they have a pre-med major. I could do that and then go to med school. I just need to look at how much it…”

“Don’t even think about it,” I assured her. “John gave you enough to get you through college. I’m going to talk to Dean about investing money in his business. By the time you’ve graduated PSU, I promise there will be money available for you to go to medical school – wherever you decide to go.”

She looked up at me, her eyes bright.

“I don’t know what I did to deserve you,” she said. “But whatever it was, I’m glad I did it.”

I gathered her into my arms again and held her to me. “You deserve everything good that happens to you,” I said.

Just then the door opened and the girls arrived home. Melanie wasted no time in showing the girls her results and they too were impressed and lavished her with praise.

Later I was in the kitchen, making dinner, when Jules came in.

“You see that Pricktard has a camera pointed directly at our house?” she said.

I nodded.

“Can’t we do something about that?” she asked.

“I don’t think so,” I said. “It’s his right to film anything he can see from his property. I could claim that the camera itself is a harassment, since it’s so blatantly pointed at our house, but I’m not going to waste any time on it.

“I have some other ideas.” I grinned at her, and she grinned back at me.

The next morning, when I got up to train, I scanned the local area. I wasn’t looking for people, rather I was looking for wildlife, and I found it for almost immediately. Just down the block there was a squirrel just waking with the dawn. Other than the dancing cow, I’d never tried compelling an animal before, but I went about it in the same way as I would a human. The effects were, predictably, just as potent.

In less than ten minutes, the squirrel had chewed through all the wires to all three cameras placed on Pricktard’s house. The voltages were so low that the animal was never in any danger of electrocution. With the cameras taken care of, I once again pulled the valves and the drain plug from his car, allowing the air to escape from his tires and all of his engine oil to drain out onto his previously pristine drive.

I went out onto the back deck to train.

It was just past seven when there was a hammering on my front door. I looked through the window and found Tom Pritchard on my porch.

I dialled 911 immediately.

“911, what’s your emergency…” the operator answered the call.

I told her about Pritchard being on my front porch, that I had a restraining order against him, and that there were several young women in the house who were now in severe distress from having a deranged neighbour hammering on the door. I also told the operator that I was armed and that, should he actually break through the door as he appeared to be trying, I would not hesitate to use lethal force in defence of my property and those inside.

I heard the sirens less than five minutes later.

Pritchard was taken into custody once again. His claims that I’d tampered with his cameras, and once more vandalized his car, were investigated, but the officer who looked at the cameras could see clearly that some animal had chewed through the camera cables.

After they loaded Pritchard into their car, one of the officers knocked on my door.

“Good morning,” I said smiling at the officer.

“Good morning,” he said. “Mr. Pritchard is claiming that you vandalized his car. He says that you have done so on several occasions.”

I shrugged at him. “I don’t know what to tell you,” I said. “This is the first time I’ve opened this door today. I have footage from my security system that can prove that neither I nor anyone else has been out of the house today. He just had a new security system installed. Surely that will show whoever did it. One of the cameras is pointing directly at my house after all.”

The officer looked across the street and nodded. “It certainly appears that way,” he said. “I’m going to note that in my report. He seems to have a real problem with you. I’m not even going to bother asking to see your footage. But I would suggest that you ensure it’s not deleted. I suspect it will be needed as evidence.”

I nodded. “Thanks,” I said. “I’ll make sure we keep a copy.”

He nodded and went back to his car where his partner was waiting. They drove off.

“How long are you going to keep tormenting him?” asked Mary.

“Until he stops harassing us,” I said. “We can’t have a camera pointed directly at our property. If he were to capture something on camera, through one of the windows, it could cause us all kinds of issues.”

She sighed. “It was funny at first,” she said. “But now it’s starting to feel much less so. Can’t you just Compel him to leave us alone?”

“Ask Dianna that question,” I said. “If she says okay then that’s what I’ll do. But I doubt that she will.”

Mary sighed. “It’s just starting to seem so vindictive,” she said. “Can’t we just…”

I shrugged. “I’ll leave him alone from here on,” I said. “As long as he affords us the same courtesy.”

She nodded. “I somehow doubt that this particular dick measuring contest is over,” she said sadly.

The rest of Thursday passed uneventfully. Pricktard apparently spent the night in jail and was released the next day on bail. One of the bail conditions was that he didn’t so much as look in our direction. The judge also directed him to point his security cameras away from our house. He considered that having a camera directly pointed at our dwelling, in light of the previous harassment, constituted further harassment and was in breach of the restraining order.

I got a really nice surprise on Friday afternoon. When I got home, I found Cheryl and Dean at the house. Dean grinned at my look of astonishment as I walked through the door and found them there.

“Well,” he said, “it’s nice to know we can still surprise you.”

“Jules said she was going to ask you,” I said, but she didn’t say you were coming in today.”

“We thought it would be easier than everyone arriving tomorrow,” said Cheryl. “Your contractor let us in.” I wondered where Melanie was.

Marcia came into the room looking a little nervous.

“Jules told me that her parents were coming today,” she said, “and asked me to let them in. I hope that’s okay?”

“Of course,” I said. “Where’s Melanie?”

“She said she had an errand to run,” said Marcia. “She’s been gone all afternoon. Would you like to come and look at your new ensuites now they’re finished?”

I grinned at her. “Perfect,” I said. We all trooped into the bedrooms and examined the two new bathrooms.

Marcia had done a great job and they were perfect.

“Don’t use the showers for 24 hours,” she said. “The grout needs time to dry. If you can stay out of here until this time tomorrow altogether it would be best.”

I nodded. “We can do that,” I said, and then turned to Dean. “I was going to put you and Cheryl in here. But you’ll need to use the family bathroom if that’s okay.”

Dean sighed theatrically. “If we must…” he said and then grinned at me.

I shook my head and we went into the kitchen. I started to make coffee.

“How long have you been here?” I asked.

“Just about half an hour,” said Cheryl. “We’ve just been chilling on the back deck.”

“Where’s Gerry?” I asked.

“He’s staying in the city,” Dean said. “He’s going to look up some old friends.”

I heard the front door open and looked around to see Melanie entering. She had a huge grin plastered on her face as she entered, but that faltered a little when she saw the strangers in the kitchen with me.

I smiled at her.

“Melanie,” I said. “I want you to meet my other parents, Dean and Cheryl, Jules and Ness’ mom and dad.”

They both turned to her. She stood, a little nervously but Cheryl went to her and pulled her into a warm embrace.

“Jules and Ness have told us all about you,” she said. “I have been really looking forward to meeting our newest daughter.”

I saw tears drip from Melanie’s eyes as she returned the hug.

+++++

The rest of the girls arrived home and were happy to see Dean and Cheryl. Melanie eventually got around to telling us where she’d been for the afternoon; I was surprised to find that she’d actually been to the admissions office at PSU to discuss her joining the Pre-Med program.

Initially they had been reluctant to entertain her request to join so far into the semester but, once she offered to pay all her fees up front and showed them her GED report, she finally managed to convince them. She was due to start on Monday. At some point over the weekend she’d have to go get some textbooks. I suggested that she pay a visit to Briar’s books in the morning before the rest of the family arrived.

After dinner, Dean and I sat out on the back deck as was our habit.

“I needed to talk to you about the money,” I said. He nodded but said nothing.

“I decided I wanted to invest about four and a half million,” I informed him.

“And the rest?” he asked. “Is there something that you are keeping the other half million for?”

I explained to him that I had offered to pay for Sarah to attend PSU, and that I’d also told Melanie that I’d finance her through med school if she ended up going.

“Then your best bet,” he said, “is to invest the full total. You’ll get a better return on it than in your bank, and you don’t need the money for Melanie straight away. With regard to Sarah, you can pay her fees semester by semester and give her an allowance. I would be happy to organize it all for you if you want. I’m kind of used to it with the girls, and my accountant will be able to deal with it without issue. The last thing you need is to have something else to worry about.

I looked at him gratefully. “Will the interest cover it?” I asked. “I thought I’d have to use some of the principle.”

“In the short term,” he said, “probably not. But it will even out over time. There’s enough money around to take up the slack.”

“I don’t…” I started and he held his hand up.

“Caleb,” he said, and then looked thoughtful for a moment as if deciding whether to tell me something or not, but then he sighed.

“Just over a year ago,” he said, “we got a call from the counsellor at PSU. She told us that Jules had tried to commit suicide and that her life had been saved by another student. She said that there were others there but she’d spoken to Jules and that, in her opinion, the only reason that Jules had stepped down rather than jumping was because of one boy. Jules is my baby. She was my first born, and I know you know how much I, we, love her. Her loss would have devastated me and would have destroyed my family.

“That night, I opened a bank account and put a sum of money into it. It was going to be a thank you to the person who’d saved my baby, who’d saved my family. Then I met you. I realised that you were not the kind of man who would take money for what you considered to be something that anyone in your situation would have done, even though that, in itself, wasn’t true.

“Then that same boy saved the life of one of my employees’ children thus saving me a lot of money and grief in the process. So, I added to that account, another ‘thank you’. I figured that at some point in the future you would need some money, and that money would be there for you when you did. The cost of the house, and its upkeep, is actually coming out of that account. In reality, I’m not paying your expenses, you are. It’s money I’d already given you.

“Then Ness went and got herself in strife and you saved her, damn near killing yourself in the process. Again I wanted to show my gratitude – so I added to the account.”

“But I didn’t…” I began but he interrupted me again.

“I know,” he said. “And if you’d asked me for money that first time we met, or I’d thought you’d have accepted it, then I guess things would be very different between us. But you never did. You never asked for a red cent and that is why I never begrudged a single cent I spent. I would never begrudge spending money on my girls, on my family, and you, now, are my family. All four of you, sorry five now, and possibly more, are my family.

“If Melanie needs money for school, for med school, to set up her own practice, it’s there for her. If either of the other two need money, then let’s talk. There is plenty of money around and, even without the money Nana Babi gave you, there’s a good chunk of it with your name on it. Not to mention that both Jules and Ness have their own accounts.

“I know you’re not the kind of man to sit back and rely on the generosity of others. I’ve watched you work your ass off for the last year, juggling school, the FBI, your hypnotherapy business, none of which you needed to do. Not to mention all the extra curricular activities that you seem to get up to. I’m surprised there are enough hours in the day. I remember that first day, thinking that my telling you we got up at five in the morning would put you off helping on the farm, and then finding out that you’re up at four every morning in any case to train. And then you came out with me and, once again, worked your ass off even before you figured out about using your powers.

“All I’m saying,” he finished, “is that you need never worry about money. As long as you aren’t planning on buying a superyacht or a 747, there will be money available for anything you need.”

I gazed at Dean for a long moment, bereft of words.

Once more we were interrupted by the emergence of the girls from within the house. Our ‘man time’ was over and they came out to join us on the deck. It only occurred to me then that Josh had never once come out with us onto the deck and I briefly wondered about that.

The rest of the evening passed in comfortable conversation with all of us taking advantage of the new seating out on the deck. I smiled to myself as the gloryhole opened but ignored it. I heard it close shortly after and I felt a twinge of disappointment from the other side of the fence. It had been some time since we’d played with them. I made a mental note to rectify that situation soon.

The next morning, though, I decided to go for a run.

I’d not slept particularly well the night before. There was a lot going on today. I would be introducing my half siblings to each other, and the two of them to my family. I was grateful for Dean and Cheryl flying in to support us. I felt that them being there might smooth the way with Sarah’s parents.

The other thing I was going to be doing was removing two, or even three amulets. Melanie’s and E’s for certain and probably Sarah’s also. I figured the sooner that they started learning about their powers, the better it would be for all. I’d checked the device that I’d been given to remove amulets and it seemed to work, or at least the little green light on the device lit up when I pressed the button.

After breakfast Melanie and I took my truck and went to Briar’s books. She needed to get all her books for school. Rachel wasn’t working that day, and I got a dirty look from Mrs. Briar when we entered and she saw me with yet another girl.

“Can I help you?” she asked coldly.

I smiled at her, feeling her disapproval coming off her in waves.

Melanie, either not noticing or choosing to ignore the chill, smiled at her too. “I’m starting school Monday,” she said. “I need these books please.”

She handed over a printout of the book list that PSU had given her.

Marjorie glanced down the list. “Pre-med?” she asked, her eyebrows raised. Melanie nodded.

“I’m starting a little late,” she explained, “but it’s not too far into the semester. I’m confident I’ll catch up.”

“There are two books on the list that I don’t stock,” Marjorie said. “I can order them in for you. We should have them by Friday. The rest of them you can take today.”

“That’s great, thanks,” said Melanie, as she followed Marjorie around the store and collected books from the shelves, finally bringing them all up to the register.

“What’s name for the order please?” asked Marjorie.

“Melanie, Melanie Stott.”

“Stott?” asked Marjorie surprised.

“My sister,” I said, one eyebrow raised. Marjorie blushed.

“Oh,” she said. “Rachel never mentioned you had a sister.”

“Rachel didn’t know,” I said. “Melanie’s only just moved to Portland to go to school.”

“Oh,” she said again, looking guilty. “I thought…”

“I figured,” I said sighing.

Marjorie rang up the total and Melanie handed over her card.

“What was all that about?” she asked as we walked back to the truck. I told her about Rachel and what had gone on there, how Marjorie was still warning Rachel about me, and how Marjorie thoroughly disapproved of our living arrangements.

“I guess she saw you and assumed that you were another girl I’d picked up,” I finished.

“Well,” she said chuckling, “she’s not wrong, is she?”

I laughed. “I would never describe you as ‘just another girl,’” I said, as we put the bag of books on the rear seat of the truck before climbing inside.

Once we were inside, I saw her running her fingers over her ‘birthmark.’

“What powers do you think I’ll have,” she asked after a moment.

“Compulsion, definitely,” I said. “That power breeds true in the bloodline. And you are strong too. That much I can feel. More than that I can’t say. It took a few days before all my powers became evident. To be a healer you need minimum Compulsion and Empathy.”

“And since they can’t co-exist without other powers…” she smiled at me as she quoted an earlier conversation we’d had.

“You’ll need to be really careful,” I warned her, “if you do become a Healer, especially once you qualify as a doctor.”

She smiled at me. “I’ve not even started Pre-Med yet,” she said. “That’s some way away.”

“I know,” I said, “but I have no doubt that you will ace both Pre-med and Med school. You are my sister after all.” I grinned at her again and she laughed.

We swung by the discount warehouse and picked up what I thought we’d need for the day. We were entertaining a lot of people after all, and then headed home, arriving back just in time for me to go into the kitchen and help Ness with the preparation for lunch.

I was still in the kitchen when I heard a knock at the front door. Jules went to answer it.

E was standing there with Connie, both looking nervous.

“Hi,” said Jules, “I’m Jules. Come on in.” They followed her into the living room where everyone apart from Ness and I were. Ness and I followed in after.

“E,” I said. He turned to look at me. I made the introductions. The twins went full shining on him.

“Hi,” they said in perfect unison. “We’ve been looking forward to meeting you.”

His eyes widened a little, but Connie grinned.

“Do you do that to freak out all the new people you meet?” she asked. The twins both laughed.

“They do,” said Josh. “The first time I met them it was creepy as fuck.”

“I seem to remember,” said Amanda with a smile, “something different happening the first time you saw me.”

Josh blushed but grinned. “That’s a tale for another time,” he said. “We don’t want to completely freak them out.”

E looked from Amanda to Josh and then to me. I finished the introductions with Dean and Cheryl.

Cheryl gave them both a brief hug. “It’s lovely to meet you,” she said. “Welcome to the family.”

“We…” started E seeming a little stunned.

Connie stepped in. “Thanks,” she said. “Although it is a little overwhelming.”

I cleared my throat. “I’m sorry,” I said. “But there is someone else coming I wanted you to meet. John has another daughter, Sarah. She and her family should be here soon.”

“Sarah?” asked E. “I’d heard about her, but we’ve never met. She’s coming too?”

I nodded. “All things being well, the plan is to remove all three of your amulets today, if you want.”

“Wow,” said Connie. “You don’t do things half way, do you?”

Dean laughed. “That,” he said, “is an understatement.” He probably would have said more, but there was another knock on our door and, this time, I went to answer it.

Sarah and her parents were standing on the porch.

I looked for Edgar but he wasn’t with them. Sarah, seeing my glance, said “We left Edgar with a sitter,” she said. “He wouldn’t do great with a lot of people all at once.”

I invited them in and took them into the living room.

Sarah looked around all the people there nervously.

“Sarah,” I said, “this is Mary and Amanda, my fiancées.”

“Hi Sarah,” they said together, smiling. Sarah smiled back and nodded at them.

“Jules, my fiancée,” I continued. Jules smiled and half waved, “And Ness, my fiancée.” Ness grinned at her.

“Over there is Josh and Louise, who live here with us,” I went on, and they both offered grins and small waves, “and Gracie and Dana, who also live here. So that’s every inmate. Next is Dean and Cheryl, who are technically Jules and Ness’ parents but have kind of adopted us all. And last but definitely not least this is E, our other brother, and his girlfriend Connie.

Sarah’s eyes widened a little at my introduction of E and Connie, but she smiled tentatively at him.

“Hi,” she said. “So, you got dragged into this too?”

He grinned at her. “Caleb is kind of persuasive,” he said. “Besides I was told he was going to take my amulet off.”

“He is?” she looked at him, then at me. “Then…”

“Yes,” I said smiling. “The plan is, if you were up for it, to take yours, Melanie’s and E’s off all together. That way I could explain to you all at the same time some of the rules of using powers, and start to train you in their use.”

“Will they show right away?” asked Sarah. “Will I know what powers I have?”

I shook my head. “Mine took a few days to all manifest,” I replied. “My Compulsion was the first, although I don’t know how long it was between my amulet failing and my first use of power. My empathy showed next a little while later, followed by TK, and I think telepathy was the last to show. It kind of goes without saying that you need to keep a tight hold on yourself and your emotions once your amulet is removed, until you have a handle on what powers you have, and how to control them. Compelling someone could be problematic but not half as much as setting them on fire, if one of your powers happens to be PK.

“Anyway,” I finished, “to finish the introductions, and not to be rude to Sarah’s parents, Brian, Sarah’s dad and Carrie, her mom. Her brother Edgar didn’t come today, but I’m sure you’ll get to meet him at some point, or at least I hope so.”

I looked at Brian and Carrie who were returning acknowledgements to the nods, waves, and smiles they had gotten from those in the room.

“Lunch is ready,” said Ness. “We decided a buffet would be best rather than a sit down, so go grab a plate, get some food, and find a seat. The house is kind of full, but you can find seats in here, in the kitchen, or out on the deck. I suspect that the grown-ups,” she indicated Sarah’s parents, and Dean and Cheryl, “might want to chat.”

Dean stood, walking over to Brian and holding his hand out. “Dean Steadman,” he said. “I’m Jules and Ness’s dad.”

Brian took his hand. “Brian Cross,” he responded. “Good to meet you.” He glanced at Deans arm. “Jarhead?” he asked, and Dean nodded grinning. Both Cheryl and Carrie rolled their eyes knowing what was coming next.

“Squid?” responded Dean and Brian grinned.

“Well,” said Cheryl to Carrie. “That’s them two MIA for the rest of the day. Why don’t you and I get to know each other.” Carrie smiled and they both went into the kitchen to grab some food.

“We’re going to divide and conquer,” said Jules to Connie. “You’re with me. As one of the ‘norm’ fiancées, I’ll be able to answer questions from that perspective. Unless you’re nervous about leaving him alone?”

Connie shook her head. “I guess I’m going to have to get used to it,” she said. “Especially if he has Empathy.”

Jules put her hand on Connie’s arm. “No,” she said. “If you’re not comfortable, then stay with him. We can all stay together. I was joking about dividing and conquering. The last thing we want is for you to feel uneasy.”

Connie looked at Jules. “I admit,” she said, “I am a little nervous about what happens next.”

“Don’t be,” said Jules gently. “We’ll look after both of you. From what Caleb says, it’s less likely that E will have Empathy, since he’s most likely to have just Compulsion. But even if he does, we’ll help both you and him adjust. It’s a different way of looking at things, but Caleb showed me his memory of your chat, and the love you have for each other is amazing. You will get through it, I promise.”

Connie took a breath and then seemed to make a decision. “Let’s go eat,” she said, and Jules led her into the kitchen.

E, Sarah, Melanie, and I were left to ourselves. The others in the room filing into the kitchen to get lunch.

“We’d better go eat,” I said, “while there’s still something left.”

“I’m not really hungry,” said Sarah, looking nervous. I looked at E and he looked, if anything, slightly nauseous.

“Me neither,” he said. “I just want to get this over and then see what happens.”

“Okay then,” I said. “Let’s give people a few minutes. I guess, Sarah, you’ll want your parents there when I take off your amulet?”

She nodded. I looked at my watch.

“Let’s give them a half hour,” I said. “From experience with Dean, when they meet other veterans, it can be difficult to pry them apart.”

Sarah grinned. “I know,” she said. “And it happens all the time. Dad’s always meeting up with vets. Once he starts talking to them, he’s gone.”

“If you don’t want to eat,” I offered, “would you at least like a drink?”

“Do you have a beer?” asked E.

I tutted theatrically. “You’re not 21 yet,” I said. “Underage drinking?”

He looked at me a little amazed but then realized that I was ribbing him.

“It looks like I’m not the only one with a sense of humor,” he complained.

I grinned at him.

We all moved into the kitchen. E accepted the beer while Sarah, Melanie, and I each took a soda.

“Are you sure you don’t want to eat something?” I asked indicating the table, which was still fairly full of all kinds of food. E regarded it for a moment uncertainly and then picked up a plate. He moved from end to end of the table and, by the time he’d finished, his plate was piled high.

“It’s a good thing you’re not hungry,” said Sarah giggling. “There’d be nothing left.”

E glanced down at his plate and then looked embarrassed.

“You should see Caleb when he gets going,” said Mary who’d followed us into the kitchen. “That wouldn’t even be a snack to him.”

Sarah looked at me, eyes wide.

“Using your powers can make you a bit hungry,” I said. “You’ll find that out.” Then I turned back to E.

“How’s the knee by the way?” He blushed.

“Oh shit, I forgot,” he said. “I don’t know how you did it, but I trained on Thursday evening and it feels as good as it ever was. I didn’t push it hard, since it wasn’t a full week like you said, but I’m really going to give it a workout on our next training session on Monday night. I’ve also not needed to take the painkillers either.”

“Good,” I said. “If there are any problems just let me know.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I guess I was sceptical when you said you could heal it and then, with everything else, it kind of slipped my mind. You must think I’m an asshole. I didn’t even say thank you.”

“It’s fine,” I said. “I can see how that can happen. See how you go on your next training session. If it’s still not right, then let me know and I’ll fix it.”

I turned to Sarah.

“Did you decide what you are doing about school?” I asked. She glanced at E, a little embarrassed.

“I’d like to go to PSU,” she said, “if it’s okay?”

“Of course,” I said. “And what about moving in here? How about I show you the room on offer?”

She smiled. “That would be good,” she said. “Mom?” she called to her mother, who was still chatting with Cheryl. “Come see my room.”

I smiled to myself a little at that. It seemed like the decision had been made.

Carrie smiled at her daughter and nodded, excusing herself from Cheryl. She walked over to us.

I led them down the hall and into the room that we’d set aside for her. Dean and Cheryl were sleeping in, what was going to be, Gracie and Dana’s roo since they’d elected to stay in the den until probably tomorrow. I led her into the room.

“You can keep or ditch any or all of the furniture,” I said. “We can always get new stuff. We just had an ensuite put in. Its not in use until tomorrow, when the grout dries, but you can kind of see how it looks.”

Sarah looked around happily. “it’s great,” she said. “The bed’s huge and even with the ensuite there’s still room for a desk. I like the furniture.”

“Well,” I said, “if you do decide to move in, then this will be your domain. You’ve kind of seen the rest of the house. Ness and I tend to do the cooking, and we have a lady that comes in and cleans a couple of times a week. The twins, Jules, Josh and Louise, and Dana all go to PSU so you’ll never be short of a ride there or back, at least until next year. By that time I’m sure you’ll probably have your own transportation. The only limiting factor here, at the moment, is parking but I suspect that will work itself out. Worst case we can pave the lawn at the front and that will give us two more slots, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

“What about rent?” asked Carrie.

“I don’t charge family rent,” I said. And I doubt that our grocery bill will go up markedly with a single extra mouth to feed. Her expenses will be minimal. I’ll cover her tuition, books, and anything she needs for school. We can discuss her incidental expenses. If she doesn’t want to move in with us, then she can always move into the dorms at PSU. I’ll obviously cover that too.”

“I don’t understand,” said Sarah. “Why are you doing all this?”

I sat down on the end of the bed.

“I was brought up an only child,” I said. “Until a year ago, I didn’t even know I had uncles or aunts. I only found out about John a couple of weeks ago, and Melanie, you, and E just after that. Don’t get me wrong, my parents are awesome, and one day I’d love to introduce them to you, but having everyone here, finding Melanie, you, and E, shows me what I missed growing up. I suddenly find out I had a brother and sisters and I missed out on that all my life.

“I was lucky enough to get given some money, more than I need, so why not? Why shouldn’t I help my family to get to where they want to be. I get if you don’t want to move in here. But either way I don’t want to lose you, especially now I’ve found you.”

She looked at her mom. “Your dad’s talking to Dean.” Carrie said. “Let’s see what he says. Cheryl did tell me some interesting tales too.”

I looked at my watch.

“I promised E that we’d get his amulet off in a half hour,” I said, “and we’re already past that. Are you ready?”

Sarah, looking both nervous and excited all of a sudden nodded.

“Let’s go out back,” I said. “It might be better for you to be laid down when they come off, just in case. The lawn chairs on the deck will be ideal.”

“Can I use the bathroom first?” asked Sarah, looking nervous. I smiled at her.

“Sure,” I said, showing her the family bathroom. “Come out onto the deck when you’re ready.”

Carrie and I walked toward the kitchen. She put her hand on my arm once we were a few steps from the bathroom.

“If she comes here,” she said, “will you sleep with her?”

“That will be entirely up to her,” I said honestly. “I can, and will, make sure that she won’t get pregnant until she decides she’s ready, and I can, and will, make sure that nobody. . .not me, nor anyone else. . .will force, coerce, Compel, or in any way make her do anything she doesn’t want to do.”

“And if I, or Brian, forbid it?” she asked.

“My answer hasn’t changed,” I replied calmly. “Sarah is eighteen and capable of making her own decisions. Neither of us has the right to dictate who she chooses to share her bed with. I will be keeping an eye on any boys or men she brings back, just to keep her safe, but other than that she’s free to do what she pleases. She will actually be safer here than in the dorms because here she’ll have multiple people looking out for her. In the dorms she’ll be on her own.”

“But will she be safe from you?” she pressed.

“I am not my father,” I said. “I understand that he left you with a poor impression of our family. I can only tell you about me and what goes on here. You’re asking if we’ll end up in bed together, it’s possible, likely even, but it will be totally up to Sarah as to who, when, and how.”

She sighed. We heard the toilet flush in the bathroom and so we continued into the kitchen.

E looked up as we entered and caught my eye. I nodded. “Let’s go out onto the deck,” I said.

We went into the garden and I sealed the gloryhole with TK. This was something I didn’t want next door peeking at.

Melanie, the twins, Dean, Brian, and Josh and Louise were out here. Connie followed E out, and Sarah joined us a minute later.

I walked over to the lawn chairs.

“Who’s up first?” I asked. The three siblings looked at each other. “E’s the oldest,” said Sarah. I looked at Melanie. She nodded.

“E?” I asked. I saw him mentally bracing himself and he nodded. “Grab a seat,” I said indicating the lawn chair. “I don’t know what this feels like since I don’t know when mine came off. Apparently it stings a bit as it’s removed but I’m sure a big strong boy like you can cope.” I grinned at him, and he rolled his eyes at me.

Connie sat on the edge of the lawn chair next to him and held onto his other hand.

“Ready?” I asked. He nodded.

Taking the device from my pocket, I held my hand out for his arm. He held it out for me. Turning it over to expose the inside of his wrist, I placed the ‘spoon’ of the device over the small lump in his wrist and, without pausing, pressed the button.

The LED on the device flashed red and stayed on. E flinched a little and I saw his jaw clench and then the light turned green. When I moved the device away from his wrist, I saw that there was a tiny cut on the inside of his wrist and a tiny metallic disc was still attached to the spoon.

“How was it?” I asked.

“It stung a little,” he admitted, “but I’ve had worse.”

I looked at his wrist which had already stopped bleeding. The wound was so small I didn’t even consider healing it. It would close up in a matter of minutes and almost certainly be gone in a few days.

“How do you feel?” I asked.

“A little weird,” he said. “I can feel something, almost smell something. It smells kind of coppery but,” he sniffed, “it’s not a smell.”

“You’re feeling other power users,” I said. “You’re sensing us, but your brain doesn’t know what to do with the information so it’s presenting it to you as a ‘smell’. You get used to it.”

“Oh,” he said. “Now what?”

“Now you need to test your powers,” I said. “If only we had someone who might want to volunteer to be Compelled.”

I glanced in Louise’s direction and she grinned at me.

“See Louise over there?” I said. “Fix her in your mind and get her to do something. Before you decide what, remember two things. Josh, her boyfriend is sitting beside her and, probably more importantly, Connie is sitting beside you.”

E looked at Connie, and then at Louise. I saw his brow furrow and a tiny thread of compulsion suddenly connected him to Louise.

Instantly Louise stood, put her hand on her chest, and began to recite the pledge of allegiance.

I chuckled. “Good call,” I said. “How did that feel?”

“Wrong,” he said. “It feels so wrong to do that to someone.” He looked across at Louise who had finished the pledge. “I’m so sorry,” he said.

She smiled at him. I looked at her aura. Even doing something as innocent as reciting the pledge had her horny as hell. I grinned. She came over and took his hand.

“You’re fine,” she said. “I volunteered. Caleb has trained his Compulsion a lot on Josh and me. We’re used to it.”

“Anything else happening?” I asked him. Does anything look different? Can you hear voices or anything like that?”

He shook his head.

“Okay,” I said. “That may mean that either Compulsion is your only power, or that the others are not yet ready to manifest. If anything else happens, or you do anything else like move something, then let me know. Try not to get into any stressful situations if you can. No dizziness or pain?”

He shook his head.

“Okay then,” I said. “We’ll chat more about powers when I’ve taken the other amulets off since I’ll be telling all of you pretty much the same thing. I’ll also do a little training with you before you go.”

He nodded and turned to Connie. “You okay?” he asked.

She smiled at him and leaned in, kissing him gently. “I love you,” she said. He blushed a little since we were all looking at him, but he smiled at her.

“I love you too,” he said softly, “forever.”

They embraced, and I decided that perhaps we’d move to one of the other lawn chairs for the next one since E and Connie were using that one.

“Who’s next?” I asked. Sarah and Melanie looked at each other.

“Melanie’s next oldest,” said Sarah.

Melanie arched an eyebrow at the younger girl, but walked over and took a seat on the next lawn chair. Jules came and sat by her, taking her other hand and squeezing it gently. Melanie smiled at her.

I moved to Melanie’s side and she held her hand out to me. I squeezed it briefly before turning it over to expose the inside of her wrist. I looked at my device and noted that the ‘spoon’ was clear. I wondered what had happened to E’s amulet. It must have dropped onto the floor. I determined to make sure to catch Melanie’s. I was certain that Jules would want to take a look at at least one of them.

Placing the ‘spoon’ over the small lump in Melanie’s wrist I pushed the button. Once more the LED turned red and then, after a moment, turned green. Melanie didn’t even flinch. I suspected that she’d had so much pain in her life that this didn’t even register with her. Straight away I looked at the spoon but there was nothing there. I looked at Melanies’ wrist. Nothing. I wondered what happened to the amulet. Right now, though, Melanie was my prime concern.

“How do you feel?” I asked.

She smiled up at me.

“I can see what E meant,” she said. “That smell is weird. It kind of smells like blood, but not quite the same.” I nodded to her.

“Anything else?” I asked.

She blinked her eyes a couple of times. “Things are a little blurry,” she said. “It’s like there are coloured smudges around people.”

I shared a glance with the twins. It seemed like she was seeing auras.

“Well,” I said, “give it a minute to settle down, and then see.”

We waited for a few minutes while Melanie blinked and looked around owlishly.

“It’s still there,” she said. “What is it?”

“I suspect,” I said, “that you are seeing auras.”

“What does that mean?” she asked.

“That means,” I said, “that you have Empathy. Now, if you have Compulsion too, which I suspect you will, then that means two things. You’ll have at least another two powers and you will be able to become a Healer.”

She squealed with delight. “That’s so cool!” she gushed.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” I said. “Try your Compulsion.”

She looked at Louise. “May I?” she asked. Louise smiled at her and nodded.

The next I knew, Louise had closed with Josh and was doing her damndest to find his tonsils with her tongue.

“That’s probably enough,” I said gently to Melanie. “Let her go now.”

She released Louise, who took a little time before she, in turn, released Josh.

“The colors have changed,” she said looking at the pair. “They were kind of multicolored before but now they’re pretty much all one color.

I looked at the pair and saw they were both a rich deep purple.

I grinned. “The colors that you see are personal to you but whatever color that is you’re seeing now, that means horny. I think you got them both a little wound up.”

She grinned. “I’ll remember that one.”

Louise sat back down breathing heavily. Josh too was panting a little.

“Your other powers will probably show themselves over the next few days,” I told her. “Like I said to E – try not to get stressed or angry. We know for sure you have at least two other powers, and we won’t know what they are until they show themselves. Other than that, how do you feel?”

“Awesome,” she said. “My head feels clearer. It feels like I can think more clearly now than I could before.”

I nodded to her. “Like I told you. The amulet did affect your mental acuity. How you feel now is your new ‘normal’.”

“Wow,” she said. “It feels different. Clearer, like I’ve stepped out of a muggy room into the fresh air.”

While we’d been working, E had relinquished his seat to Sarah and she was looking at me nervously. Brian, her dad, was on her other side and he was holding her hand. I saw him squeeze it gently as I approached her.

“Are you ready?” I asked. “There’s no rush. We don’t have to do it today if you’re not.”

Sarah looked at me for a minute but then shook her head. “No,” she said. “I want it gone. I’m going to need all my brain power when I start at PSU.

“Okay then,” I said.

She held out her arm to me, and once more I pressed the device to her wrist. The LED went Red and then green. I watched carefully as I pulled the device away and saw the disk, capturing it with my TK and bringing it to my hand before dropping it in my pocket for now.

In the moment that I’d been distracted, Sarah had been looking around, a look of distress on her face. “No,” she said. “No, no please...”

Then she put her hands over her ears and screamed.