Caleb 62 – Family.

I stared at the car as it disappeared into the distance almost wondering if I’d imagined it. Edgar had Telepathy? That seemed like a stretch. Why had nobody ever noticed? Why had he never used it on his parents? Or his sister?

I had thought that Sarah having Compulsion and Telepathy was from John, but what if the Telepathy came from Carrie. Did she carry the gene for powers but nobody noticed? Did everyone assume that Sarah’s powers came from John and overlooked any potential in Edgar?

I had even more questions. Why, for instance, had Edgar chosen to reveal his power to me of all people? Was he really on the spectrum or was his aversion to being around a lot of people more because of the mental ‘noise’ he would suffer out in public? Each of my questions led to exponentially more questions.

My first instinct was to call Sarah and tell her, but then I thought about it. . .which led to more questions. There must be a reason that Edgar hadn’t shown his family that he had power. What right did I have to ‘out’ him to his family? I determined that Edgar and I were going to have a long chat the next time we met.

I glanced at my watch and saw that I had less than an hour before I had a hypnotherapy appointment, a new client, at the range.

I thought I recognized the man who showed up for his appointment just over ten minutes late.

I was in my ‘office’ when there was a knock on the door and Hoss stuck his head in.

“Your guy’s here,” he said.

Hoss was good about acting as an unofficial receptionist for me when I was working there. If I had several sessions back-to-back, he’d greet the people as they came in and get them to sit in the reception area while they waited for their turn. He’d even put a couple of chairs out for them to sit on. Normally, in that situation, I’d walk my client out and see my next one seated there. However, in this case, since this guy was late, I’d been sitting in the office writing an outline for my senior thesis when Hoss knocked.

I stood up intending to go out and greet my new client but, as Hoss withdrew, the guy pushed his way into the room. He looked me up and down and looked un impressed at what he saw.

“You’re just a kid,” he said.

I raised my eyebrows at him. He came further into the room and closed the door behind him. Once again a new client showed up without a chaperone. I made a mental note to tell Mary to tell all new clients that if they showed up without one, I would decline to treat them. The way this guy was looking at me I was doubting he was going to stay in any case.

“Do you even know what you’re doing?” he shot at me.

“I’m a state licensed hypnotherapist,” I said. “And since I don’t advertise, I’m guessing that you found out about me from someone you know that I’ve helped in the past. Yes?”

“One of my roadies,” he said, “said that you helped him quit smoking, and that he’d not had a single craving since coming to see you.”

Roadies? I thought. Then the penny dropped and I realised why I thought I recognized him. I’d seen him before. He was a musician, and quite a successful one. Not a megastar but certainly someone who, if people knew he was at the gun range just now, would have a crowd of people outside screaming to see him. I also thought that the twins, and probably Ness and Sarah, would be in that crowd. Now I thought about it I was certain I’d heard them playing some of his stuff.

“So, you want to quit smoking?” I asked, since he seemed to be waiting for me to say something.

“Not exactly,” he said.

“Then how can I help?” I asked.

He looked at me for another few seconds and then seemed to make up his mind.

“You know who I am?” he asked. I shrugged.

“According to my diary,” I said looking at my laptop, “your name is Robert Wilson.”

He snorted. “But you recognize me,” he said, “don’t you?”

I shrugged again. “Were you expecting me to ask for your autograph?” I asked him.

He looked startled for a second and then he laughed.

“Okay,” he said. “I guess I asked for that.” He finally sat in one of the chairs across from me.

“I have a problem,” he said, “and I’m hoping that you will be able to help me with it. Well, I actually have more than one problem but they are all kind of connected. You obviously know who I am. If you know who I am, then you know that I have a persona, a reputation, an image. My contract with my record company kind of depends on my keeping that image.

“If they, or the media, got hold of the news that I have a problem, it could end me. The media would ruin me, my label would drop me, and probably sue me for breach of contract. Worst of all, if my fans found out about it, they’d be devastated. I’m supposed to be different, clean.”

“What kind of problem is it?” I asked levelly.

“Coke,” he said. “Fucking Davey got me on it. We were on the road for so long and I was dead on my feet. ‘Just a little something to help you perform on stage,’ he said, and it was, at least at first. Now I can’t get out of fucking bed without it.”

“Who’s Davey?” I enquired. “A friend?”

“He used to be a roadie,” he replied bitterly. “Now he’s just my dealer. I hate him, but I need him.”

“How much are you spending on coke per week?” I asked.

“About five grand,” he said.

I shook my head.

“Kicking this habit is not like quitting smoking,” I said. “It’s going to take some work. And some dedication from  you. How long are you in town for?”

“We’re here for three months.” He replied. “We’re in the studio working on an album before we go on tour again.”

“Okay,” I said, “I can work with that, but you’re going to have to work with me. I can get you clean in that time, if you follow my program. I’ll need to see you twice a week for the first month, and then I think we can drop to once per week for the rest of the time.”

I looked at my diary and worked out the dates. “That’s going to be sixteen sessions, at two fifty a session.”

“Your lady told me a hundred per session.” He exclaimed.

“You’re spending five grand a week on coke,” I said. “I’ll save you the cost of the entire course in the first week.”

He stood up.

“Forget it,” he said. “I shouldn’t have come here.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a hundred-dollar bill and threw it on the table.

“For today,” he said and turned towards the door.

“How about this?” I suggested as he reached for the handle. “I’ll get you off the coke, in three months as promised, but you pay me at the end. If I don’t deliver, then you don’t pay. Simple as that. By that time, if you put away what you would have spent on coke per week, you will have saved sixty grand.

“Since I’m deferring payment, you’ll pay me five grand at our final session.”

He stared at me for a long minute and then nodded.

“Fine,” he said.

“Have a seat,” I said, and he sat down again. I opened the consent form and turned my laptop around to face him.

“I need you to sign my consent form,” I said.

“Consent form?” he asked glancing at the laptop. I noticed he actually read it which took him just over five minutes. He obviously wasn’t dumb.

“So I consent to letting you rifle through my head,” he said. “And you promise complete confidentiality.”

“Absolutely,” I said.

He signed the form.

He glanced at his watch. “There’s only about twenty minutes left. Do you have time to start today?”

“We’ll make a start,” I said. “And, later, I want you to call my secretary and slot in two appointments per week.”

I got him to count backward from one hundred. I didn’t let him get to ninety as I had a lot to do and not much time to do it in.

First, I needed to know what was going on in his body. When I examined him with my Healing, I could see the drugs in his system. He’d taken some not long before coming to see me. I guessed he probably had some in his pocket, probably to use on the way home. I checked and saw I was right.

I got his body to metabolize the drug, clearing all of it out of his system. He’d have to drink a lot of water for the rest of the day to flush his kidneys so I placed that as a compulsion. By the time he went to bed tonight he’d be clear. I then went into his mind and started work.

I started by placing my compulsions similar to those I used to stop people smoking. I wasn’t going to make it as simple for him. I wanted him to feel the cravings and to experience some of the symptoms of withdrawal. I could simply block them for him but, not only would that be too easy, it would be suspicious.

He would stop, but he’d at least feel like he’d had to work for it.

Whatever happened though, no matter how much he craved he wouldn’t give in. He wouldn’t take the drug ever again. I wondered idly how his ‘dealer’ would react to having his golden goose stop laying. That wasn’t my problem though.

I finished everything with five minutes of the session to spare and woke him up.

“You need to get rid of the drugs you are carrying,” I said. “There’s a bathroom over the other side of the reception area. Go in there and flush them. All of them. I also want you to drink at least three pints of fluid by the end of the day. Not alcohol. Water is best, sports energy drinks work too, but not the caffeinated ones. You don’t need another addiction to deal with.

“It’s not going to be a walk in the park, but you will get through it. You will be clean by the end of the course of treatment.”

“I’m not…” he began but I held up my hand.

“I know you have some on you.” I told him. “It’s in your inside jacket pocket. I asked you and you told me while you were under. Get rid of it before you leave the range and I don’t mean up your nose. Flush it then leave. I’ll see you after the weekend.

For a moment I thought he was going to argue, but then he simply stood up and left. He didn’t even say goodbye.

Five minutes later there was a knock on the door. Hoss poked his head in.

“Was that…” he began.

“Was what?” I asked.

“That guy?” he said “He looked like…”

I shook my head. “I don’t know what you mean,” I said. “I’ve been sitting here all alone for the past hour. My two o’clock didn’t show.”

He raised an eyebrow at me but then nodded slowly.

“My mistake,” he said.

I smiled at him. “Thanks Hoss,” I said.

He just grunted as he left the room closing the door behind him.

I made us all an early dinner, since Thursday night was our usual ‘range night’, and then we all went back to practice our shooting.

Since we’d been practicing religiously every week, we were all much improved over how we’d been when we started. We had a small competition. Jules won, with Ness and I tying for second place. The twins were very close behind us though. Dana came dead last. Gracie shot, but declined to participate in the competition saying that she didn’t want to show us all up. I suspected she was concerned that, as an FBI agent, she didn’t want to risk getting beaten by ‘civilians’, and college kids at that. I didn’t mention my suspicions though.

I had a quiet word with Mary about my newest client. She was puzzled when I told her he’d be calling to arrange two appointments a week for the next month and that he’d be paying five thousand for the entire course of treatment, but only after the treatment ended.

Since Mary was ostensibly a staff member in my practice, I felt I could, without breaching confidentiality, tell her his true identity. I did not tell her why he’d come to see me though. That, she didn’t need to know.

We were getting ready to leave for our various events the next day. Josh and Louise were first out of the door, but came back almost immediately.

“Caleb,” Louise said, looking unhappy, “someone has slashed all our tires.”

“What?” I said, intelligently, following her out of the front door to see for myself.

As she had said, all three cars on the drive had had their tyres cut. The holes weren’t huge, probably made by something like a screwdriver rather than a knife, but they were definitely flat. None of these cars was going anywhere fast.

Gracie cursed up a storm. Her car was one of the ones on the drive along with Louise’s and Ness’.

I glanced across the street at Pricktard’s house. He was my first thought as to who might have done this. In fact, he was the ONLY person I could think of that might have done it. I’d promised Mary that I’d leave him alone, but if it turned out that it was him that had cut our tires then all bets were off.

“You guys catch a ride in with Mary and Amanda for today. Leave me your keys and I’ll get the tires repaired. Jules can take my truck and drop Ness off before going to school, then I can pick her up in her car later when it’s repaired.

“Can I get you an uber?” I said to Gracie, but she shook her head. “I’ll call it in. The motor pool will bring me out another car to use and take this one to the shop. It just means I’m going to be a little late. Do you think this was Pritchard?”

“I suspect so,” I said. “Let’s have a look at the security footage.”

We went into the living room and pulled up the camera feed for that morning. It had happened about two in the morning. Someone of medium height and build, wearing dark pants, a dark long sleeved top, and a balaclava had brazenly walked onto the drive and stuck what looked like a screwdriver into the tyres of each car. They had seemed to know about the camera’s since they looked up at one point but didn’t seem to care.

I tried to ascertain what direction they had approached the property from, but it was impossible to say. Even if it seemed that they had come from across the street, that wouldn’t prove anything.

Gracie called in the vandalism and I called both the police and the tire guy. I was going to look online to find one but then I remembered seeing the van that had come out to fix Pricktard’s car and, since I had perfect recall, called the number I saw on the side of the van. He said he’d be able to come out within the next couple of hours.

He arrived before the police did, although the first to arrive was a low loader with a car on the back for Gracie. She drove away in it as the driver of the low loader put her car on the back and took it away for repair.

The tire guy was halfway through replacing the tires on the two remaining cars when the police arrived.

They took a look at the security footage as well as the damage that they could see on the car that the tire guy had yet to get to.

“Any idea’s who would want to do this?” asked one of the officers.

“Nothing I can prove,” I said. “My neighbor across the street has accused me several times of vandalising his car. I have a restraining order against him. He would be my first thought.”

“We’ll go have a chat,” said the officer. “Are you going to claim on insurance?”

“I’m not,” I said. “But one of the vehicles was a government car – FBI - so they will probably want copies of your report.”

“Here’s a report number,” said the officer. “You can pass it on to them.”

I thanked them and they walked across the street to Pricktard’s house.

After a brief conversation with him on his porch, they returned to their car and left. They didn’t come back to let me know the details of their conversation.

I looked at Pritchard as the officers were driving away. He was looking in my direction, his face unreadable. Was I wrong? Was this him? Or was it just a coincidence. It seemed a reach, but I’d hold off on reprisals until I had more information.

I went back into the house and made some changes to the security system. I pulled up the image of the driveway on the camera and selected an area covering the drive. Then I set the system to send me an alert on my phone if any movement was detected in that area. I set it to only alert between the hours of ten at night and four in the morning. I didn’t think it likely that our visitor would show himself, or herself, in daylight.

An hour, and nearly two thousand dollars, later the cars were repaired. I moved Louise’s car inside the garage for now, and then took Ness’ to her school, parking it in the parking lot just as she was finishing a class.

Being connected to her meant I caught up with her in no time at all in the cafeteria. She was sitting with a couple of friends from her class, one of whom was Tiffany, the girl who’d been making eyes at me on the first day when I’d interrupted the professor controlling them all.

Tiffany’s eyes lit up when she saw me.

“Caleb,” she said. “Nice to see you.”

I smiled at her. “Tiffany,” I returned. “How are you?”

I put my arm around Ness’ shoulder and kissed her cheek. Ness smiled.

“Here are your keys,” I said. “Your car is in the parking lot out front. I’ll see you later.”

“Are you not staying for some lunch?” asked Tiffany, but I shook my head.

“Sorry,” I said. “I really have to go. I need to get to PSU.

It took me about thirty five minutes to jog the distance back to the house. I took a shower and drove Louise’s car to PSU. I arrived in plenty of time for my afternoon hypnotherapy appointments.

That night, Melanie suggested we have another barbecue. I had no feelings either way, and we had plenty of the right type of food in the house, so I started pulling things together to cook.

“I’ll go light the grill,” she said. I opened my mouth to say something, but I was getting a feeling of excitement from her. Since she was shielding, and making a good job of it, I couldn’t see what she was so excited about, but her aura gave her away.

I followed her into the yard where she was busy filling the grill with charcoal. I was about to tell her that she needed to place some wood in with it, and even some fire starters, to make it easier to start, but I stopped myself. I suddenly had a suspicion of what I was about to see.

I wasn’t disappointed.

Melanie stood back, looked at me, and grinned before looking back at the grill, her face a picture of concentration.

Sudden flames shot up from the coals, much higher than they needed to be. Melanie tsk’d and relaxed a little. The flames fell back a little to within the bounds of the grill.

“I need to practice more,” she said conversationally to me while trying, and failing, to suppress a smug grin.

“Stop showing off,” I said with a grin. “Looks like my beautiful and talented sister is even more talented that I thought.”

I’d sent the image of her lighting the grill with her PK to the other girls and they all came running out excitedly.

“Melanie,” Ness said, running up and throwing her arms around her. “That’s awesome. That means you must have the full suite.”

Melanie grinned happily as the girls all crowded around to congratulate her. Since I couldn’t get near her, I decided to do the next best thing and take control of the grill. Since the charcoal was now glowing nicely, I started to cook.

+++++

There were no alerts from the security system that night. I’d slept a little fitfully listening out for my phone making a noise, but four a.m. arrived without any excitement.

Melanie rose with me and we moved out into the yard to start training.

We’d been out there for about ten minutes when I heard the gloryhole open. I smiled to myself. It had been a while since we’d played through the gloryhole and I wondered if Melanie would be up for it. She didn’t know our neighbours and since she had a full suite of powers, she was going to have to start ‘sharing’ at some time. Perhaps some anonymous sex might be a nice way to ease into it.

“Melanie,” I sent to her. “Our neighbours have opened the gloryhole. Do you feel like having a little fun?”

She looked at me, a little wide eyed.

“Seriously?” she said out loud.

“You’re going to have to start sharing sometime,” I said. “Why not now?”

Melanie stopped what she was doing and walked toward the gloryhole. I could feel the excitement on the other side of the hole as she approached.

Anne had been peering through the hole with Alan standing beside her. He’d apparently been fingering her gently, in preparation for fucking her as she watched us, but their plans changed quickly as Melanie drew closer.

I heard some whispers from the other side of the fence and, after a moment, Alan pushed his cock through the hole.

Alan’s cock was about the same length as mine, but narrower. His foreskin covered about half of his head which was purple and throbbing in excitement.

“You don’t have to do anything if you don’t want,” I sent to Melanie. I knew that she’d need to share but didn’t want to push her into doing something against her will.

She grinned at me before taking Alan’s cock in her hand and began stroking him gently. I heard a low moan coming from the other side of the fence.

Melanie reached out and pulled me close, kissing me hard as she wanked Alan expertly through the hole in the fence. I’d forgotten just how much ‘practice’ she’d had in her life. There was no doubt that she would know exactly how to please a man.

She broke the kiss and then dropped to her knees tugging me down so that I went with her.

Bringing her face toward the hole, I noticed her sniff Alan’s cock experimentally. It seemed almost a reflex action. I guess not all those she’d been forced to be with over the years had been the best at personal hygiene. She seemed satisfied with what she found as she gave a low growl in the back of her throat and engulfed him down to the root in a single thrust. Alan moaned again.

I stroked Melanie’s head as she began to bob up and down on the cock sticking through the hole. She moved slowly, pulling almost all the way off him while using her tongue to massage his head, before pushing all the way back down until her lips were almost through the hole and she had his entire length sheathed in her hot, wet, maw.

After a couple of strokes, she simply pushed her mouth up against the hole and held it there.

It didn’t take Alan too long to get the message and he began to thrust, gently at first but gaining in both speed and strength as he started the climb towards his orgasm.

Melanie had put so much suction on that her cheeks were pulled in and I could see the outline of his cock moving back and forward as he fucked her face. I noticed that she had also pushed her hand down the front of her shorts and was masturbating as Alan rammed his cock in and out of her mouth.

Moving closer, I got behind her and put my arms around her. I used one hand to pull and tweak at her nipple while the other I slid down the front of her pants. I moved her hand out of the way and took its place in strumming and fingering at her clit before moving even lower and sliding a couple of fingers inside her.

She was drenched and there was no resistance as I pushed first one then two fingers into her streaming cunny.  I thrust them in and out as I used my TK to increase the stimulation of her clit and also duplicated my pulling and tweaking at her nipple on her other breast.

Melanie moaned, lost in the sensations of being face fucked and fingered at the same time, and I could feel her climbing rapidly towards her release, even as I listened to Alan body thumping against the fence as he too raced towards completion.

A tendril of thought connected me to Alan and, although it took a little longer, I managed to connect to Melanie too, even through her shields. I could see that they were both very close and I gently pushed Alan’s orgasm down a little so he’d come at the same time as Melanie thus giving them both an amazing experience.

I decided to let Melanie feel what Alan could as he came, although I couldn’t do the same for him without revealing our powers. I not only wanted her first time sharing to be a memorable experience that she would not regret, but I also wanted it to be worlds apart from the experiences that she’d had when she’d been forced to sell herself to stay alive.

Alan had lost all pretence at co-ordination now and was simply ramming himself in and out of Melanie’s mouth, grunting with every thrust, his belly slapping against the wood of the fence. I held him a moment or two past the point where he would normally have cum, just to prolong his pleasure a little longer and make it even more satisfying when he finally released. Just before Melanie hit her peak, I let him cum.

Melanie’s eyes went wide as her mouth filled with his spunk and she felt his orgasm crashing through her body. Feeling his orgasm triggered her own, and had she not had a mouthful of cock, she’d have woken the entire neighbourhood with her shriek. As it was, a high-pitched squeak escaped from her  as she gulped down Alan’s seed while shuddering through her own climax. Her pussy clamped down on my fingers and flooded her panties and shorts with her cum.

I held her very close through her orgasm letting her feel my love, but once more without using my powers. I much preferred to feel love without powers. It just felt more ‘real’ that way.

I heard a gentle ‘pop’ as Alan finally pulled his cock out of Melanie’s mouth. Melanie sat still for a few moments breathing heavily. Then she turned her face to me.

Now that the heat of the moment had passed, I felt a little embarrassment, and uncertainty, from her. She seemed scared that my seeing her doing that to another man may make me think less of her.

I leaned in and whispered into her ear.

“You are wonderful,” I said gently. “I love you.” Then I kissed her.

She’d swallowed most of Alan’s offering but I could still taste him in her mouth. That wasn’t an issue for me, nor was it my primary concern. I needed to show her that my opinion of her hadn’t changed and I loved her just as much, if not more, than before she’d ‘shared.’

Melanie rested against me for a moment, enjoying the kiss, but then I felt her mouth twitch up into a smile. I pulled back and she indicated the gloryhole where a couple of fingers were gently stroking the bottom edge. Apparently, Anne was feeling a little left out. It was my turn.

As I stood up, Melanie, who’d stayed kneeling, pulled down the front of my sweatpants and released my straining cock. I was rock hard and already leaking copious amounts of pre-cum.

She lapped at the head of my cock, causing me to jump, and then pulled back, a string of fluid linking her lips and my cock. Then she turned me and pushed me toward the gloryhole. She guided me through and pushed against my ass until my belly was tight up against the fence.

For a moment I felt nothing, but then a hand grabbed my cock and held it in place. Then I felt a liquid heat and someone, presumably Anne, backed their pussy onto my cock and slipped me all the way into her in a long slow languorous thrust.

I felt her wriggle her ass a little as she got herself positioned comfortably and then felt her push even harder back against the fence which allowed me to gain perhaps another half inch or so of penetration. Once she was pushed all the way back, she didn’t move, but just clenched and unclenched her pussy on my cock until I took the hint and began to fuck her.

I heard a low, hissed ”Yessss” as I began to move, pulling half my length out before pushing slowly back in, relishing both the heat and tightness of her channel. She was soaking wet, having watched her brother’s performance, and there wasn’t a great deal of friction. However, she continued to grip and release her muscles as I moved in and out of her, forcing me to drag the sensitive head of my cock against the bumps and folds of her insides, which had me moaning in appreciation. I knew that, unless I did something underhanded, I wouldn’t last long enough to give Anne at least as good a time as Melanie had given Alan.

I pushed my own orgasm back some and monitored Anne’s. I could feel that Alan was pressing her against the fence, while kissing her deeply, and playing with her breasts. All of that stimulation was bringing her quickly to her own climax, and she was almost sorry for that, wanting to relish the experience rather than rush to its completion.

I slowed down and, at the same time, gently pushed her orgasm down, giving her the opportunity to enjoy the journey rather than simply dash to the destination. I settled into a gentle but firm rhythm, fucking her steadily as she clenched and released on my cock.

Melanie had finally stood and turned my head so she could kiss me again. Her hand stroked my ass as I fucked my neighbor through the hole in the fence. For a moment the surrealism of the situation almost made me chuckle, but then Melanie slid a finger into my ass, and I moaned into her mouth. She’d either been talking to Amanda or figured out herself just how sensitive men, particularly me, were back there.

My climax suddenly rushed much closer and I had to cheat a little to allow Anne to climb higher too. I wanted my shooting into her to be the stimulation for her to cum, but right now I was much closer to cumming than she was. I pushed my orgasm back a little and at the same time gave the lightest of laps at her clit with my TK. I doubted that she would even notice it with what else was going on, but I knew that her body would and that it would propel her ever nearer to the release that we were both now craving and rushing toward.

I sped up my thrusts, Melanie now pumping two fingers in and out of me and rubbing at my prostate, as Anne’s tight hot sheath massaged my now straining cock.

I felt Anne now climbing toward her peak and decided to let it happen. I sped up even more riding out my own pleasure as I thrust into her through the fence. My belly now slapping against the wood as Alan’s had done earlier. I made no attempt to hold back. I let things happen and clenched my teeth to avoid the roar I would have otherwise let out as I finally came. I shot wad after wad of hot thick creamy spunk into Anne’s depths.

As my cock twitched for the second spurt, I felt Anne’s pussy clamp down on me as she too came. A squeak came from the other side of the fence, her scream muffled by the kiss that Alan was almost forcing on her. Melanie’s fingers were deep in my ass, massaging my prostate, ensuring that I emptied myself completely into Anne, and prolonging my orgasm beyond its norm.

I sighed as I felt Anne move off me and my cock waved in the cool morning air.

Before I could pull back, I felt a hot mouth close over it, cleaning it of our combined juices as it wilted.

After a moment the mouth relaxed and I pulled out. Melanie had removed her fingers from within me and stood too, pulling me into yet another kiss, while we heard the soft sound of the gloryhole sliding closed.

She smiled at me as we broke the kiss.

“That was unexpected,” she said.

“Was it okay?” I asked.

“Okay?” she repeated, “It was hot. I’ve heard of gloryholes before but never used one, even when I was out on the street.” She looked down for a moment and then looked back at me.

“You don’t mind that I…” she began.

“Hey,” I said. “We already talked about this. You need to share just as much as I do. But even outside of that, you know that nothing you could ever do is going to change the way I feel about you. I love you, Melanie, and unless or until you decide you want to move on, I want you with me for the rest of our lives.

“We’re likely to live for at least another couple of hundred years, so a little bit of fun, here or there, is not going to make the slightest difference.”

“I’m never going to want to move on,” she said. “I can’t imagine being with anyone other than you. But like you said, a little bit of fun now and again…” she grinned impishly.

I slapped her ass gently.

“Well,” I said. “That’s used up some of our training time. We’d better get back to it.”

Louise pouted at breakfast when she heard about our morning adventure.

“You could have woken us,” she said.  I laughed and was about to answer when Melanie piped up.

“Caleb said I should talk to you about training my Compulsion,” she said. Louise flushed and moaned. I swear she just about came on the spot.

“Anytime,” Josh said. “Maybe we can talk about it later?”

Melanie smiled at them both. “Looking forward to it,” she said, her smile turning into a predatory grin. Louise shuddered again.

Mary, shook her head, laughing. “What time is Sarah supposed to be arriving?” she asked.

“No idea,” I said. “They didn’t say. I’d expect around ten, although I think I’ll text them to find out, and perhaps invite them to lunch.”

“Good idea.” said Amanda.

“Are they bringing Edgar with?” asked Jules. “I’d like to meet him.”

“Possibly not,” I said, my thoughts turning to the boy, who’d surprised me so much at their last visit. “They say he’s not great in crowds, but you never know.”

I pulled out my phone to send a text.

_3 questions – 1 what time you arriving? 2 would your parents like to stay for lunch? 3 are you bringing Edgar? The girls are dying to meet him.

It took a while for me to get a response.­

­_Are you always up this early on a Saturday?

I grinned. It was just after eight. Everyone in the house was up, except Dana, who’d perfected the art of the ‘lie-in’ on weekends unless there was something specific she needed to be up for. She normally didn’t surface until well after nine.

_I’m up at four every day. I returned.

I grinned at her response.

_I changed my mind. – I’m staying here.

I could see that she was still typing so I waited for her actual response.

­_Mom says yes please to lunch – we’ll aim to get there about eleven thirty in that case. They’re not sure about Edgar, they are discussing it now. I guess you’ll find out when we arrive.

I passed that onto the girls.

“Why don’t we get the chores out of the way,” I suggested, “do the grocery shopping, and then we can chill out this afternoon after lunch once Sarah is here. I’ll need to show her how to save her memories, so I suspect I’m going to spend the afternoon doing that in any case.”

As had become our norm, we went to the discount warehouse to pick up most of our shopping. There were just too many of us now for it to be economical for us to buy everything we needed at the supermarket. There were a couple of items that weren’t available and so I, accompanied by Mary, Amanda, and Jules went to the supermarket on our way back to home.

As luck would have it, the two guys that we’d run into the week before were in the shop and recognised me. I saw one of them starting to approach but, when he noticed that I was with a girl, he backed off. I caught the thought that he’d pretend not to know me, not because he was being ignorant, but he didn’t want to cause me any trouble with my girls.

I thought that was sweet.

“Hey,” I said, stopping him as we were about to pass in the aisle. Good to see you again. Where’s your friend?”

He seemed surprised that I’d spoken to him.

“He’s just gone to get some ice cream,” he said.

Mary stepped up beside me, so I introduced them.

“Mary,” I said. “Remember I told you about the two guys that that old crone was shouting at?”

“The one you and Josh pissed off by kissing?” she clarified, knowing full well what I meant, but letting the boy know that I’d told her everything.

“This is one of the guys,” I said. “And if I’m not mistaken, here’s his boyfriend now,”

The other guy walked up and smiled at me.

“Sorry guys,” I said. “I didn’t get your names.”

“Colin,” said the first boy.

“Brendan,” said the other, dropping a tub of ice cream into their cart.

“Caleb,” I told them both. “This is Mary, and that’s Amanda.”

“Hello Colin, hello Brendan,” the twins went full shining on the boys, and I could see it had an effect.

“And I’m Jules,” said Jules, walking up to join us. “Don’t mind them – they think they’re funny.”

“Nice to meet you all,” said Colin. “Your – um – other friend said you had four fiancées? Are these ladies…”

“Three of the four,” said Jules. “The other is taking the frozen food home in her car. We can’t all fit in one vehicle.”

“Wow,” said Brendan. “You’re very lucky.”

“I know,” I said smiling at him.

“I don’t think he was talking to you,” said Jules grinning. Colin blushed.

I glanced at my watch. It was just after eleven.

“Sorry guys,” I said. “We’re under a time crunch yet again, although not frozen food this time.”

“It’s okay,” said Colin. “We’re the ones with ice cream this time so we can’t hang around either.” He glanced at the girls, seeming on the verge of saying something but then decided against.

Amanda held out her hand. “Give me your phone,” she said to Colin. “I’ll put his number in for you.”

“You…” he began.

She grinned at him. “That is, unless you don’t want it?”

Brendan beat Colin to getting his phone out and handed it to Amanda. She smiled at him, punching my number in and then handing it back.

“Text him some time, but I warn you he’s very, very busy, so don’t be discouraged if he doesn’t get back to you immediately.”

“See you guys later,” I said making my way to the registers to check out. I needed to get home to help Ness prepare lunch.

When we arrived home, I parked my truck on the road thus leaving a space on the driveway for Brian to park. I knew it would be easier to unload the remainder of Sarah’s belongings from there rather than the street.

We’d just about finished putting all of the groceries away, and had started lunch, when Amanda shouted, “They’re here.”

I went to the front door and watched as Brian reversed his car onto the drive. He positioned the tailgate so it would open near the door, again, making it easier to unload the remainder of Sarah’s stuff.

Once he’d parked, Sarah bounded out of the car, came up to the house, and gave me, and then each of the girls in turn, a hug.

“Hey beautiful,” I said. “How are you doing?”

“I’m good,” she said. “I can’t believe it’s happening. I’m finally moving in.”

Brian had moved to the rear of the car and opened the tailgate.

“You’re not moved in yet,” he said. “Come and help me with your stuff.”

In the meantime, Carrie had gone around to the other side of the car, and had opened the back door, undoing Edgar’s seatbelt and helping him out of the car. She held tight onto his hand, approaching cautiously watching to see how he’d react to all the people standing at the doorway.

Edgar  spotted me and squirmed his hand out from hers. He trotted over to me and threw his arms around my legs.

“Caleb,” he said.

Gently I disengaged and then crouched down so I was closer to his height.

“Hey Edgar,” I said. “It’s good to see you.”

At the same time I sent to him gently.

“Hello Edgar.”

His eyes widened a little and he grabbed my hand.

Carrie shook her head.

“I’ve never seen him like this with anyone,” she said. “He normally avoids strangers, especially strange men.”

“Are you saying I’m strange?” I quipped at her and she gave a small smile.

“I’m reserving judgement on that,” she said.

Everyone in the house, apart from me, pitched in, and we ran out of things to move before we ran out of people to move them. Everything was piled into Sarah’s room for her to sort out at her leisure.

“Ness,” I said. “Are you okay doing lunch, I appear to be otherwise occupied.”

Ness smiled, her eyes misty as she watched me with Edgar.

“Of course,” she said. “You guys go out into the yard. I’ll get someone to bring drinks out for you.”

Sarah’s parents, Edgar and I moved out into the yard. As soon as I sat down, Edgar climbed into my lap and began once more to show me a small toy he’d pulled out of his pocket.

After a few minutes the twins came out with drinks and, at a gentle prod from me, engaged Sarah’s parents in conversation. I wanted to ‘talk’ to Edgar.

“Hey Edgar,” I sent to him gently once more. His gaze, which had been fixed on his toy, turned to me.

“Hello,” he sent back, a trace of wonder in his send.

I wondered what to do next. I had little or no experience with children with Autism, hell I wasn’t even sure if that was the right term, but I did know that Edgar, no matter whether he did or didn’t have it, definitely had power. Telepathy at least.

“You can hear me?” I asked him.

“I can hear everyone,” he replied. “Too loud.”

That didn’t surprise me. I remembered Sarah’s reaction when she’d suddenly been exposed to her powers, Edgar had the same powers, but nobody had known.

“I can help with that,” I sent, “If you want.”

“Help?” he asked.

“Make the noise go away.” I sent “So you only hear what you want.”

“For real?” He asked.

“You can do it,” I replied. “I can show you how. Would you like that?”

He actually nodded.

As gently as possible, I placed the same memories in his mind, as I had into Sarah’s. I went much slower with Edgar since I didn’t know how suddenly being in possession of knowledge would make him react. He simply sat there looking thoughtful, then he smiled and went back to playing with his toy.

“Is that better?” I sent to him. He nodded again but seemed to have no more interest in conversing with me.

“Edgar?” I tried once more, but he ignored me and continued to play. I patted him gently on his shoulder and then allowed my attention to rejoin the conversation around me.

While we were talking, I wondered what I should do. Should I tell his parents about his power? How would that affect them, affect him? If I did tell them, would that change the way they dealt with him? Should I be talking to someone like Vince Wragge, a man whose family all had Telepathy, to ask for his help in working out how best to help Edgar?

Maybe the more fundamental question was ‘did Edgar even need my help’? As a healer, I was always looking for cures, ways to make things better, but when I looked at Edgar, I didn’t see someone who needed to be cured, I just saw a happy and loving little boy. I suspect that the ‘noise’ of having telepathy hadn’t done him any favors and wondered if simply showing him how to block out that noise was as much help as I could and should give.

I decided that it wasn’t my choice to make. I needed to tell his parent’s and let them make the decisions. They were responsible for him, had brought him this far, and obviously loved him, so they had a right to know.

I sighed.

“Carrie,” I said, pulling her attention toward me. She frowned when she saw my face.

“Is something wrong?” she said. The note of worry in her voice stopped the conversation between Mary and Brian and he looked at me too.

I paused for a moment, wondering how best to break the news.

“It seems,” I said, “that Sarah has two powers. Compulsion and Telepathy.”

She nodded. “I know,” she said. “Sarah has been watching for others emerging, but it seems that that is all.”

I chuckled a little at that but decided not to start down that road.

“I thought,” I said. “That those powers had both come from John. Melanie and I are both Multi, although it’s possible that some of my powers came from my mother’s side. I have no idea about Melanie’s mothers’ line, so it may be that some of her powers came from her mother too, even if her mother didn’t have powers herself.”

Carrie looked confused.

“You think that some of Sarah’s powers might have come from me?” she asked, and I nodded.

“But why?” she asked. “I don’t have powers. What makes you think that?”

“Sarah got her Compulsion from John,” I said, “almost certainly. But I suspect that her Telepathy comes from you.”

“I don’t understand,” said Brian. “What on earth would make you think that Sarah’s Telepathy came from Carrie?”

“Because Edgar has it too,” I said calmly.

Both of them stared at me, mouths agape. I heard a gasp from the kitchen door where Sarah had literally just emerged. I hadn’t intended to tell her just yet, but she’d emerged from the kitchen at exactly the right, or wrong, time.

“Edgar has Telepathy?” she asked looking from me to her little brother.

“He does,” I said. “And up until about ten minutes ago, he didn’t know how to block out all the ‘noise’ he could hear. You know how that feels. He’d kind of gotten used to it since he’s obviously grown up with it, but I’m betting its one of the reasons he’s not good where there are a lot of people. Having telepathy would only add to his sensory overload.

“When did you find out?” asked Brian.

“I just confirmed it,” I said. “But something happened just as you were leaving on Thursday that made me suspect. I didn’t want to say anything in case I was wrong. I needed to be sure before telling anyone.”

“So, he’s been hearing all that noise like I heard last week?” Sarah asked.

I nodded. “I’ve just shown him how to block it out,” I said, “like I did with you. I don’t know how much difference it will make to him, but at least he’ll have some peace in his own head now.”

Both Sarah and Carrie were looking at Edgar, both with tears in their eyes.

“My poor baby,” Carrie said. “It must have been terrifying.”

“Don’t forget,” I said. “That he’s had this power since birth. Unlike Sarah – who was suddenly dropped into the ‘noise’ - he’s grown up with it. I can see why he’d avoid places with lots of people, but it probably wasn’t as scary for him as it was for Sarah.”

“That makes some sense,” said Brian.

“You’ve shown him how to stop the noise?” asked Sarah, even though I’d already told them all I had. I nodded.

“Yes,” I said. “He should be able to control it now.”

“Edgar?” said Carrie, he looked at her.

“Does that feel better?” she asked.

He didn’t answer.

Ness poked her head out of the kitchen. “Lunch is ready,” she said.

We moved into the kitchen to eat, Carrie taking Edgar from me and holding him on her lap during the meal while he played and ate part of her lunch happily.

“He certainly seems a lot less disturbed by so many people,” commented Brian quietly, looking at his son.

We ate in silence for a few minutes until Sarah broke it.

“Trevor called me last night,” she said.

“Oh,” I replied. “What did he have to say for himself?”

“He wanted me to go and visit him,” she said. “He’s laid up at home. Apparently, he got banged up a little in the wreck. Nothing major but he’s feeling sorry for himself.”

“Are you going to see him?” I asked.

“No,” she said. “I told him that he acted like a complete ass on Wednesday night and that we were done. I also told him not to call me again.”

“You think he’ll listen?” I asked. “He strikes me as the kind of guy who expects to be given anything he wants.”

“We’ll see,” she said. “I’ve blocked his number from my phone, so he can’t call me.”

“Well,” I said, “if he turns up here, we’ll deal with it. Other than that, let’s not worry about him.”

I was in the kitchen clearing up after lunch and Carrie came in.

“What do we do about Edgar?” she asked me.

“I have no idea,” I said. “I think your best bet is to talk to Dianna. She may know someone who can help you. I know little to nothing about autism and other than helping him to block out the noise, I wouldn’t know where to even start if I were to get involved. I’d be terrified of hurting him rather than helping.”

Carrie thought about that for a moment and then nodded. “You’re probably right,” she said. “Look at me, I’m old enough to be your mother and yet asking you for advice. I don’t know what it is about you Caleb, but you make people feel like,” she paused as if she was searching for a word. “I don’t know, like you can be trusted, like you know what you are doing.”

I smiled ruefully at her.

“I’m just stumbling through life,” I said. “Like everyone else.”

She laughed. “Hardly,” she said. “but I get what you mean. We’d best be going. I will take your advice though and contact Dianna. See if she has any ideas.”

“If not,” I said. “I have another friend who comes from a long line of Telepaths. He might be able to point you in a direction.”

“Thanks,” she said. “I’ll let you know.”

She and Brian gathered Edgar up and headed for the door. As he had the last time, he insisted on coming and hugging me before he left. And then he went to his sister and hugged her too.

I saw her eyes go wide and guessed that he’d said something to her Telepathically.

As their car pulled away, I asked her what he’d said.

“He just said bye, and that he loved me.” She said, a tear in her eye.

I smiled at her. “He’s not the only one.” I slipped my arm around her shoulder and pulled her against my side. She laid her head on my shoulder for a moment.

Then she shook stood up straight and shook herself a little.

I’m going to straighten up my room some but after, will you show me how I can remember stuff? I have a lot of catching up to do and I’d like to at least have made a start by the time I start classes Monday.

As I expected, I spent the afternoon and a good portion of the evening working with Sarah on sorting out her memories. I had her ‘scan’ the first chapter of one of her textbooks and then worked with her to process the knowledge.

We repeated this several times, until she got the hang of it, and by the time I went to bed, she was over halfway through the textbook. I got the feeling that she’d be up most of the night.

When Melanie and I got up the next morning, the light was still on in Sarah’s room. I knocked but got no reply. When I poked my head around the door, Sarah was slumped across her desk, her head on her arms, still fully dressed.

“Sarah,” I said gently shaking her shoulder. She started awake.

“Go to bed,” I said. “You’re going to be no use at school tomorrow if you’ve had no sleep all weekend. Sleep in this morning, then you and I can work on the memories you got from your reading tonight. Then you can have an early night and be ready for school tomorrow morning. Okay?”

She nodded at me sleepily.

I looked at Melanie, and she smiled.

“I’ll put her to bed,” she said, and I left her to it.

When she joined me on the deck a few minutes later she was smiling.

“She’s so excited about going to PSU,” she said. “She’s adorable.”

I laughed. “Looked in the mirror much lately?” I asked.

She grinned at me. “I guess,” she said. “I don’t think you realise just how much you’ve changed our lives. Both of us. Yes, Sarah had a nice home, and a good family, but as far as she knew – she had no hope, no prospects. She was looking forward to a life slinging burgers or waiting tables. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it’s hardly a little girl’s dream, you know?”

I nodded. “I guess I was lucky,” I said. “Even with the amulet, I managed to scrape a place in PSU. I was hopeful of getting into law enforcement. I guess the amulet affects some people more than others. Although it affected me, it didn’t hit me as hard as it did Sarah.”

I looked at Melanie. We were both practicing Kata’s as we talked. But she stopped when she saw me watching her.

“What?” she said.

“I can’t imagine,” I said, “what you went through. For the last year and a bit, I’ve been kicking up a storm about how bad my childhood was, how wrong it was that I was lied to, how I found out about powers so late, and then there’s you. You were badly treated, really badly treated, repeatedly, and yet look at you. You’re beautiful, inside and out.

“Nobody would or could blame you for being bitter, or angry, about what you had to go through, but you just don’t seem to have those emotions in you. I don’t understand how you are as you are, considering what happened to you.”

“I am thankful,” she answered softly. “Every morning I wake up, I thank whatever fates brought me to you and each night, before I go to sleep, I do the same. How can I be angry and bitter? Look at my life. I have food to eat, a beautiful place to sleep, and a family around me who I know love me as much as I love them.

“Being angry about my past would only spoil my enjoyment of my present, and I don’t want to waste a single moment of my life worrying about what was. I just want to enjoy what is. I understand why you were angry about your past. But, in a way, your present is different than mine. What happened to you in the past is causing you issues in the present. Or at least it was. Mine isn’t. Nothing from my past matters any more, it’s gone, and can’t hurt me. So why should I be angry about it?”

I walked over to her, and pulled her into a hug, kissing the top of her head.

It was after ten when Sarah finally surfaced. She bounced into the living room showered and dressed. Ness offered to make her some breakfast but she declined, opting to just grab some cereal and then wait until we had lunch.

I was sitting on the deck with my laptop, writing a paper for my Law professor, while the rest of the household were busy with their own assignments. Only Gracie, who was sunning herself on one of the lawn chairs, was not working.

Sarah sidled up to me, trying to emulate Ness’ ‘puss in boots’ looks.

I raised an eyebrow to her.

“Did you want something?” I asked.

“Can you help me sort my memories?” she said. “I think I got to the end of this book last night, although I don’t quite remember at what point I fell asleep.

“Sure,” I said closing my laptop. I had two hypnotherapy sessions in the morning, although one was with my new famous client, so I’d be able to finish the paper while the other napped.

I went to sit up so she could join me on the lawn chair, but she beat me to it and simply climbed into my lap, as she’d seen all the other girls do.

She looked up at me and noticed my look of surprise.

“Oh” she said blushing a little. “I thought you wouldn’t mind.”

“I don’t” I said. “You just surprised me is all. If you’re okay and comfortable there, then it’s fine by me.”

She settled back down, laying her head on my shoulder.

“Ready?” I asked. She nodded.

I spent the next couple of hours guiding her in sorting her memories. I left her on the lawn chair and went to make lunch.

After lunch I continued with my paper while she continued to sort memories. I was happy and prepared to help if she needed it. She seemed to have gotten the hang of the technique so I left her to it. I knew that the more she did it herself, the faster her brain would learn the process and start to take over.

Melanie was in the living room playing Wolfenstein, and annoying me by being far better at it than I. She’d not yet managed to get her ‘bars’ visible. Although she’d been gently training her TK, I didn’t want her to start anything serious until she had those and could see when she was out of energy.

Since Sarah didn’t have TK, I was less concerned about her running out of energy. Telepathy didn’t seem to use that much, at least the kind of things I did with telepathy didn’t cost that much energy, and I doubted she could get in too much trouble, energy wise, with her Compulsion. I’d get her to do it eventually, but it wasn’t quite so important for her as it was for Melanie.

Over dinner I asked Sarah how far she’d gotten and she told me that she was about two thirds of the way through clearing her short term memory. The reading she’d done the previous night had become very fragmented as she’d become more tired, as a tired mind is much more easily distracted.

“Take that as a lesson,” I said. “You’re having to work much harder now, for trying to force things last night. If you’d gone to bed, and read more this morning, sorting the memories would be much easier.”

“Sorry daddy,” she said, much to the amusement of the other girls.

Even so, Sarah took my advice and went to bed at the same time as I did, in her own room, of course.

As I lay in my bed, staring at the ceiling and waiting for sleep to take me, I considered everything where I was with regard to everything I needed to do. I was, once again, juggling a multitude of things, from training myself and my powers, taking flying lessons, training Melanie, and now I’d taken Sarah on. In all of my considerations, I assumed that I wasn’t going to get involved in E’s training in any way, although I doubted I’d get away so lightly on that front.

I sighed heavily and settled down to sleep.

My eyes snapped open, as my phone vibrated on the nightstand. Using TK I picked it up and glanced at the screen – knowing what I’d see.

It was an alert from the security system. Someone, wearing dark clothes and a balaclava, was kneeling between the cars on our drive.