Caleb 79 – Communication and Observation

Jeevan led me into the kitchen of his house where his wife Meena was, as usual, cooking something. I’d never been in their house when Meena was not actually cooking, and the smells, and comforting warmth, helped to ease my mind a little.

Meena looked at me and placed a lid on the pot she’d been stirring. She crossed to room to me and put her arm around me.

“Come,” she said. “Sit. Jeevan, get Caleb something to drink.”

To his credit Jeevan was already ahead of her, and within a few seconds I was seated at their kitchen table with a cup of tea in my hands.

I’d never really drunk tea before this. I’d just never really tried it. It was sweet and milky. I’m not sure I’d go out of my way to have it again, but it was pleasant enough, and the warmth of it helped settle me.

“Now,” said Meena seeing I’d settled somewhat. “Tell me.”

I realized at that moment that it was Meena that I’d actually sought out. I loved Jeevan as a brother, but Meena, despite her lack of powers, had always been so astute and incisive. She’d also never been afraid to give me a metaphorical slap upside the head and literally tell me to get my head out of my ass. I knew, since I didn’t feel that I could trust my own emotional judgement at the moment, that I would be able to trust hers.

Jeevan sat beside her and smiled at me. I did feel his power gently supporting me as I spoke.

“I don’t know if you heard,” I said. “But last week, I shot and killed someone.”

Meena looked shocked. They hadn’t heard. I don’t know why, but it had never occurred to me to tell them about it. Since Maggie and Jeevan were only just barely on speaking terms, despite his help to her contacting power users, she wasn’t going to be the one to keep him updated.

“What happened?” asked Meena.

Gradually I explained everything. I told them about seeing the car, checking the plate. I sidetracked into the issues with Arnie and his dad, probably telling them far more than was fair to either party, but at this moment I had no thought for anything but unloading.

I went on to describe what had happened the previous week and how I’d come to shoot and kill Green.

I stopped then, looking at the pair of them. Waiting for their reaction, for their condemnation of me as a killer, a murderer. Instead Meena just reached forward and took my hands in hers.

“You did what was right,” she said in a soft voice. “Show me Kirsty?”

“What?” I asked.

“Give me your memories of the little girl whose life you saved.” She said. “Show me your memories of her.”

I searched through my memories of Kirsty. Of the little limpet who’d clamped onto my leg that first morning we’d met and grinned her mischievous grin as she stared up at me. Of all the times I’d seen, and held, her while she went to sleep both before and after the shooting.

Meena smiled as she assimilated those memories.

“She is a beautiful little girl,” she said. “And already I can see the love you have for her.”

“What?” I asked. “She’s my neighbors child. She has nothing to do with me…”

Meena laughed.

“You still don’t get it do you?” she asked. “You’ve been so busy working out how to protect others from your Empathic attraction, you never even realized that it has exactly the same effect on you.”

I looked at Jeevan, no doubt a puzzled look on my face. He smiled.

“Empathy is about emotion,” he said. “Yes, if people stay around you long enough, they will begin to fall in love with you, but have you not noticed just how easy it is for you to fall in love with them too?

“Empathy is all about building relationships. You can and will fall in love a lot, and when you feel love from someone else it will have a profound effect on you. Children especially will trigger your protective instinct. They will feel it, and recognize it. You will find yourself as a ‘child magnet’ where children who would normally act shy or reticent with strangers will simply accept you and feel secure, comforted, and protected by you.

“In a normal power user, that will trigger your parental instincts, to nurture and protect, and to look after the child. If you spend any significant time with them, it will soon turn into love for that child.”

Things clicked into place. How Edgar and Kirsty, both of whom would not tolerate strangers but for different reasons, were quite contented when they were with me. I could see just how easily this power could be abused. I grimaced.

“Ah,” said Jeevan. “I see you realize the dangers of empaths now, especially around children. A wild empath who has those kind of predilections is a very dangerous person indeed, and must be stopped at all costs. You, however, are not such a man. You are a kind, caring, and loving. You would never harm, nor see harm, come to a child. Which brings us back to the issue at hand.”

“You see,” said Meena, “you weren’t protecting strangers. You were being driven by an instinct that is stronger even than that laughingly called ‘maternal instinct’. Your instinct will always be to nurture and protect children no matter what. And it is not a bad thing.”

“I could have used my TK though,” I said reiterating the argument against lethal force.

“No,” said Jeevan. “You couldn’t. Your concentration had been broken by your Compulsion failing to have an effect on the man. You didn’t have time to re-focus on a different power, and stop him. Not to mention, you were STILL holding compulsion on the other two, since I am sure you had had no time to lock in their compulsions.”

I shook my head.

“So,” he said. “I completely concur with Maggie. If you’d tried TK, even if it HAD been able to work on him and that is by no means certain, I doubt you would have been in time to stop him shooting you. That would have then released the other two from your compulsion and the family that you’d gone in there to save would have been lost. Not to mention, you would have lost your own life. Think of how your girls and siblings would feel if you’d died in there that night.

“I have come across some people where no powers effected them, and I could no more tell you why powers have no effect, than why powers effect them in the first place.”

“I know, very well, how much you value life and how difficult what happened must be for you. I remember Maud and your feelings about her. Sometimes, though, we are left in a position where we are presented with two equally bad choices. You were between Scylla and Charybdis and you had to make a choice. You chose right. You chose to protect the innocent and those you loved. Even then you didn’t intend to kill, but you accepted that it might be the outcome. It was possible that he would have survived the shooting. You put him down and then stopped. You did not go and administer a coup-de-grace.

“What you did was measured, appropriate, and correct,” he said. I could feel his power flaring as he said it, and I knew he was ‘pressing his point’ as he made it. Interestingly I didn’t feel any resistance to his power from Tatarabuela Gonzales. Perhaps she agreed with him. Whatever the reason his power slipped through my shields with ease and settled on my mind. He wasn’t using Compulsion, only Empathy, but even that was enough to profoundly affect my thinking on what had happened.

Even though I knew he was using power, I felt better on hearing his words. He was telling me exactly what Maggie had told me, and what Dianna had told me. I recalled Jane talking to me as she placed her daughter in my arms. I remembered the protectiveness I felt toward the little girl, of how determined I’d been to make sure that no harm came to that innocent child.

Somewhere inside, I felt something uncoil, some tension release.

Meena looked at me.

“There’s more,” she said. “Isn’t there?”

Wearily I nodded. She motioned with her hand toward my tea.

“Have some more tea, and then tell me.” I took a sip from my cup. The taste was growing on me.

I went on to describe the issues I’d had at school. How Daryl had been thrown out of my Ethics class, and then gone on some kind of revenge spree, apparently getting up a petition to have me expelled from school.

“They didn’t know what had gone on,” I said, “only that there had been a shooting, and I was involved. A rumor started that I was having an affair with Jane, and that Chris had brought a friend to help him get revenge on me, and that I’d shot and killed the friend. He fabricated stories that I’d either managed to pass it off as self defence, despite the fact I was sleeping with Chris’ wife, or that I’d managed to hypnotize the police into letting me go. Even now, I can’t believe that anyone would fall for such rubbish, but it seemed that they did. Every single one of my hypnotherapy clients either cancelled or were no shows, and the petition was gaining signatures.”

I sighed and finished my tea.

“I went to school this morning,” I said, “determined to not be forced out by idiots, but got the shock of my life when Chris and Jane came to my class, carrying Kirsty, and told my entire class what had happened. They told everyone how they’d been in WitSec, and why, and how I’d saved all their lives. After they left, I was then asked if I’d tell my side of the story. At that point, I didn’t feel like I had a choice.

“I challenged the professor after the class, to tell him that I’d have liked some warning of what was about to happen, and he told me that Mary had set it up, and he’d assumed that she’d discussed it with me.

“Apparently she did discuss it with all my other girls, and Dana too – who had helped her get in touch with the Professor. I got mad with her and with my girls that they had done this behind my back and without including me. Even now I’m not sure if it was the right thing to do, and I might or might not have agreed to it. They just never gave me the chance, and kept it from me, because they thought I might say no, and that they knew better what was right for me.”

Meena scowled.

“I don’t think,” she said, “that you are unreasonable to be upset that they did that without consulting you. It’s the scale of your anger that is the problem, and you already know that yourself, which is why you came here rather than go home and vent at them, yes?”

I nodded.

Meena looked at the clock.

“Mary should be finished school now?” she asked. I nodded again.

“You need to talk to her,” she said, “but perhaps not alone. Luckily, I seem to have cooked a lot of food again. Perhaps your girls could be tempted to come for dinner?”

“How can you do that at such short notice?” I asked.

“I’m always cooking,” she said. “If we don’t eat it, Jeevan takes it out into the community.”

“Then are we robbing someone of their dinner?” I asked.

“Not at all,” she said. “We just supplement the local soup kitchens. They expect us when they see us, and are grateful for it, but nobody relies on what we provide. It’s just a little extra variety sometimes. Whether we go today, or tomorrow, nobody will suffer for it.”

She looked at her husband. “Call Mary,” she said. “Invite them over for dinner.”

Jeevan picked up his phone and left the kitchen to make the call. Meena simply sat holding my hands across the table.

“My poor boy,” she said softly. “You always seem to be in the middle of things, don’t you?”

I grimaced. “It would seem so,” I said. “Dean, Jules’ and Ness’ dad, calls me a trouble magnet. I can’t really argue the point.”

“You know,” she said, “don’t you, that your actions in that house, in shooting that man, were justified? His death was unfortunate, but it was the BEST outcome anyone could have hoped for given the situation.”

“The best outcome would have been that he surrendered,” I argued.

“He made his choice and must stand before his God and justify his actions,” she told me. Then she grinned at me. “Not that you believe in such I assume?”

“Not really,” I said. “No.”

“They will be here shortly,” said Jeevan, returning to the room. Sarah is bringing her boyfriend too.”

“Goodness,” said Meena “I need to cook some more. Caleb, will you lend a hand?”

I smiled at her diversionary tactics, but pitched in. We prepared even more food.

As we worked, we talked.

“You realize,” she said to me, while I was busy chopping some onions, “that you do bear some responsibility for Mary and your girls not talking to you about this?”

My instinct was to vehemently deny this, but I waited for her to say more.

“Why do you think Mary didn’t ask you about this?” she asked me.

“Because she knew I’d say no,” I responded.

“Exactly!” she said. “Do you think she might have asked you about it if she’d thought that you might have a discussion about it, and perhaps that you’d listen to their reasoning, and maybe, just maybe, be persuaded?

“One thing you will NEVER have to worry about with your girls, is that they will work against what they perceive to be your best interests. I know you had some worries initially regarding being controlled by the FBI and whether the twins were on your side or not, but I believe that you’re way past that, yes?”

I nodded, finishing with the onions and wiping my hands.

“Then the reality of any discussion with your girls would simply be a difference of opinion. You know that none of them would ever want to harm you, nor you them. They would never set out deliberately to hurt you. If they do something that does hurt you, it’s because they don’t understand fully the situation and, if that is the case, then it is probably that you have not communicated well enough that they are aware of how you feel.”

“So it’s all my fault?” I asked, feeling a little victimized.

She laughed at the look on my face.

“Of course not,” she said. “Communication is something that we all have to work at. Even Jeevan and I, after all the time we’ve been married, still have to work at it. The only reason you managed to get Jeevan to share was that you finally got him to listen to me, to what I was telling him. He’d previously refused to talk to me about it and, because of that, he was hurting me, which I know was the last thing he’d ever want to do.

“It is both easier and more difficult for you. Easier because of your power and shared connection, but more difficult because there are so many more of you.”

“How’s that going by the way?” I asked. She flushed a little but smiled.

“Let’s just say that my eyes have been opened,” she said.

I grinned at her. “I’m happy for you,” I said, and I meant it. I called Jeevan brother, but he was closer to me than that, and I loved this tiny, sometimes fierce, Indian woman. I would say like a mother, but I realized with a guilty pang that I actually had more feelings for her than I did for my own mother.

“Fry those onions off in a little oil please,” she said pointing to a frying pan, and I moved to comply.

While we’d been cooking and talking, Jeevan had been simply sitting and watching us work. He had a half smile on his face as his wife counselled me. I could feel his power gently washing over us both. I would have to have words with Tatarabuela Gonzales. She was managing my defences and seemed to be allowing him free rein to affect me. I realized however that I needed it, I needed to come to terms with the events of the past week, or it would destroy me. I trusted Jeevan completely.

The doorbell rang. Jeevan got up to go answer it, but Meena told him to sit. “I need to have a talk with the girls,” she said. “Can I leave the final preparation to you?” she asked. I knew where we were at with the dinner, and so I was happy to finish things off. I nodded.

“Good,” she said exiting the kitchen, and presumably taking the girls into the living room.

Twenty minutes later, dinner was ready and Meena hadn’t returned. I decided to ask Jeevan if he’d go tell them, he smiled at me and complied.

The door opened and Mary entered, looking at me, where I was ladling food into serving dishes. Ness entered after her and immediately came over to help. By the time everyone had filed in and all the food was on the table. Meena looked around with a satisfied glance.

“Excellent,” she said. “Please, everyone, sit and eat.”

We took our seats, Mary sitting to my right, and Jules to my left. Amanda was opposite next to Ness. Melanie, Sarah, and Arnie sat further down the table. Arnie looked a little uncomfortable. Jeevan, of course, sat at the head of the table and Meena took position at the other end.

“Nothing is particularly spicy,” said Meena, knowing Jules wasn’t a fan of hot food. Jules nodded her thanks.

“Is Yasmin not eating with us?” I asked.

“She’s staying with Callum,” said Jeevan. “They are figuring out if they can live together. It’s always an adventure moving in with someone new, and so it’s good to have a trial run to see if you can tolerate all the little bad habits of your new partner before you tie yourself to them for life.”

“Like not allowing them red meat?” asked Arnie, glancing at Sarah. She looked puzzled for a moment before realizing what he was referring to.

“That’s not even true!” she complained “Ness only said that because…”

We all laughed, and then had to explain the joke to Jeevan and Meena who both also found it amusing.

After dinner I got up to help clear away, but Meena stopped me.

“Why don’t you and your girls go into the living room to talk,” she said. “That is, after all, why you all came.”

“I’ll help,” said Arnie. “That conversation is a family thing.”

“You are family,” said Mary, Amanda, Jules, Ness, Melanie, Sarah, and I. All in perfect unison.

“Now that was just super weird,” Arnie said, to cover his embarrassment. “Did you guys never see the ‘Village of the Damned’?”

I laughed. “I did.” I said. “The book was better.”

“It was a book too?” he asked.

“Midwich Cuckoos,” I said. “John Wyndham, but that’s not really important right now. You weren’t involved in what happened to bring us here, but you are family. I think it’s important for you to be a part of the discussion. Maybe it will stop you and Sarah making the mistakes that we have?”

“Okay,” he said dubiously.

We followed Meena into the living room, leaving Jeevan in the kitchen, making a start on cleaning up.

We all sat down and Meena looked from me to Mary.

“Caleb,” she began, speaking to Mary, “came to see us today because he was angry. In fact, he was more than angry, he was enraged.”

Mary’s eyes widened.

“He recognized that his rage was unreasonable,” Meena went on, “disproportionate to what had gone on, and caused by the events that happened last week. He came to us because he didn’t want to bring that rage to you because he loves you. Now he is calmer and the rage has gone. Caleb, will you tell your family what upset you today?”

“I got blindsided,” I said, “by Chris and Jane coming into my Ethics class and telling everyone what happened last week. After they left, I was asked to tell my side of it, and I felt unable to refuse. After the lesson I went into the cafeteria and Jules asked how it went, which meant that she knew it was going to happen, I figured out Dana had been involved in setting it up, and I realized that all of you guys either were involved in setting it up, or knew it was happening, and not one of you thought to run it by me.

“Even now I’m not sure of how it’s affected the situation. We’ll find out over the next couple of weeks I guess, but the point isn’t that it happened, it’s that you did it without involving me in the process, and deliberately kept it secret from me.”

Mary took a breath. “That was my fault,” she said. I shook my head.

“No,” I said. “It wasn’t. Any one of you could have asked me about it. For most it would take but a thought, but you all agreed to keep it from me. What’s more I kind of understand why. Meena told me it would happen and her predictions came true.”

“I did?” Meena asked a little puzzled.

“When I got mad at Gracie and Dylan being allowed to come and stay after she got out of hospital,” I said, “you said that it could come back to bite me, and it seems like it has.”

“No,” said Melanie. “It wasn’t that. We could see how much you were hurting after what happened. Then people stopped attending your hypnotherapy sessions, you had to leave the Ethics class, and some asshole started a petition to get you removed from school. We…no, I, thought that you had more than enough to be dealing with.

“We thought it would help the situation for you at school.”

“We all knew,” put in Jules, “that if we’d asked you, you would say no. You’d say no because it would mean that Chris and Jane had to tell their story in public, and that would be traumatic for them.”

“Mostly,” said Amanda, “we kept it from you because we are cowards. We could have asked you, persuaded, cajoled, and argued with you to allow us to do it, and I think that we could have done so. But none of us wanted to do that. You’d been through enough and the last thing we wanted to do was to put even more on you.”

“My dad sometimes says,” said Sarah, “that it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. We all agreed that this would, in the long run, help the situation at school and we were scared that you would refuse to discuss it. We thought that you would nix the idea out of hand. We knew that you’d probably be upset about it, but hadn’t figured on your anger coming on the back of the events of last week would escalate as it did.”

I was surprised when Arnie pitched in.

“You’re the head of the household,” he said. “You try to protect everyone else in the household from everything that’s going, even me. You saved my life at least twice in the plane crash,” he held his hand up when I started to speak.

“We were headed directly for a tree trunk,” he said. “I remember that. I thought we were lucky to have twisted at the last moment, but now I know it was you and your powers that prevented it. Also Sarah told me that the plane would have fallen out of the tree and not lodged if you’d not used your powers again. A fall from that height would have likely been the end of us both.

“Then you took over responsibility for my dad and his problems. You take on everyone else’s problems, but don’t allow your family to share the load. What happened to you last week was the biggest thing that could possibly happen to anyone and you barely spoke about it to anyone, just carrying on and trying to protect us all from the fallout.”

Finally, Mary spoke.

“None of us have any excuse,” she said. “Not me, Amanda, Jules, Ness, or Melanie.” She looked at me, “or you.” She finished.

“We are connected as intimately as it is possible. We can and do share thoughts, feelings, emotions, fears, hopes, and dreams. And how do we use this most precious of connections? We use it as a sex toy, we share orgasms with it.

“It just goes to show that even power users, with every advantage, can be dumb. But we’re young, and we’re going to make mistakes.” She took my hands in hers. “I’m sorry. I really am. For all the reasons already spoken, and others besides, I thought that we needed to do what we did, the way we did it. I was so wrong, and I promise I’ll never make that mistake again.”

I squeezed her hands in mine.

“I’m sorry too,” I said. “Even when I was doing it, I recognized that I was pushing you all away. Pops even warned me against it, but I did it anyway. I’m sorry I did that, and I’m sorry you had to make such a decision, and that you felt you couldn’t talk to me about it.”

“Are you still mad?” asked Ness in a rather small voice.

“No,” I said. “Talking with Jeevan and Meena has helped a lot. It’s going to take me some time, I think, to get my head around what happened, but it’s coming into perspective. I have decided, though, to quit my hypnotherapy business at school. I think it’s time that Sarah and Melanie took over. You can schedule the sessions between you, I’ll give you my memories of how I treated people. You should have no problems. It’s up to you if you want to do it. It is a good way of training your Compulsion though, and you can learn all kinds of other stuff too.

“For now, I’m going to keep my external clients, although eventually I’d like to hand them over to you guys too.”

“Are you going to start going to classes then?” asked Mary, “When you’re not going to the range?”

I shook my head. “I’m going to step up my flight training,” I said. “I still have a lot to do, and I want to get everything done before I go to Quantico.”

We sat and chatted for a while longer in Jeevan’s living room. I didn’t notice when Meena slipped out, as we reconnected, and it was only when Jeevan came in a little while later to ask if we’d like drinks that I noticed she’d gone.

I looked at my watch – it was almost ten o’clock.

“We really should be going,” I said. “I think we’ve imposed on your hospitality for longer than we should.”

“Nonsense,” he said. “We’re always happy to see you.”

I stood up and embraced him. “Thank you,” I said. “I’m not sure how I would have coped without you and Meena.”

“It is of no concern,” he said. “We are family, and we care for one another.”

“All the same,” I said, “thank you.” I turned to Meena, who had entered the room, having obviously overheard what I was saying. “…And thank you,” I said as she enveloped me in a hug.

“Any time,” she said. “Remember – talk to each other?”

I nodded as we separated, and the girls each hugged Jeevan and Meena in turn. Arnie looked a little awkward when it came to his turn. Jeevan shook his hand.

“It was nice to meet you again,” he said. Arnie smiled and nodded.

Outside Arnie was talking to Sarah.

“I’m going to head back,” he said. “By the time I get back to yours, it will be time to leave in any case. I have an early lesson in the morning. The weather at weekend set us back.”

She smiled and kissed him. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Getting tied up in family drama can’t have been much fun for you.”

“It was fine,” he said. “I’m happy to have been included. Family is not just about the nice stuff. If we can’t be there for each other when things go wrong, then what’s the point?”

She kissed him again. “I love you,” she said. and he smiled.

“Good,” he said. “Because you’re stuck with me.

The girls each said goodnight to Arnie, either hugging him or giving him a peck on the cheek. When it came my turn to say goodnight, he grasped my hand.

“Are you okay?” he asked me.

“I will be,” I said. “I have an amazing family behind me.”

He nodded. “I know I’m the youngest of everyone,” he said, “but if there is anything I can do to help, I’m here.”

“Thanks,” I said. “That means a great deal.”

He nodded at me and then got into his car, heading home.

Jane was pacing in her backyard when we returned home, Kirsty in her arms. I could see Kirsty was tired, but simply wouldn’t settle. Both of their eyes lit up on seeing me.

“Would you mind,” Jane said, holding her daughter out to me. Reflexively I took hold of the child, walking slowly up and down the yard, murmuring to her as she settled her head on my shoulder. It probably took about five minutes, but it seemed much quicker, and the toddler was breathing evenly, fast asleep in my arms.

“We need to start getting her used to going to sleep for you and Chris,” I said softly as I handed her daughter back.

“If you have any ideas,” Jane said. “I’m all ears. We’ve tried everything but drugs. When she’s determined not to sleep nothing short of medication will put her down, and I’m not medicating a toddler, no matter what the doctors say.”

“Let me think about it for a little while,” I said. “It’s obviously not organic, or I wouldn’t be able to get her to sleep. It’s something else, and we need to work on it. You might not know this, but I’m a licensed hypnotherapist and I have some ideas on how to fix this.”

“You want to hypnotize her?” she asked, looking shocked.

“Not quite,” I said. “You can hypnotize children, but she is probably a little young to be truly hypnotized. However, I think her problem is that she’s picking up on your feelings. You have both been wound up like springs for the last year, and I’m sure that’s affecting her.

“I think we can overcome it, but it’s going to require getting both you and Chris more relaxed so she can relax.”

Jane bit her lip. “That kind of makes sense,” she said. “I’ll speak to Chris about it. I don’t know how he’ll feel about it.

“No pressure,” I said. “Let me know.”

She took her daughter into their house and closed the door behind her.

I sat in the yard for a little longer, enjoying the quiet, before taking myself off to bed.

Once more I slept well, dreamlessly. I wondered if the girls had had anything to do with that, which then reminded me, I needed a word with Tatarabuela Gonzales.

“Nice to see you again,” she said, as we sat in our illusion room. I’d gotten up at my usual time and had told Melanie and Sarah to practice their martial arts for a while. I needed to do something else.

“And you,” I said. Smiling at her. “Although I do have some questions.”

“You already know the answers,” she said. “Do you really need me to spell it out for you?”

I raised an eyebrow at her.

“Why am I here?” she asked. “And I don’t mean here in this illusion, I mean why am I here in your head in the first place. What is my purpose.”

“To protect me,” I said, “from outside influence, and possibly heal me if I get hurt.”

“Almost right,” she said. “You should have stopped at ‘To protect you,’”

“Should I?” I asked, flatly.

“You know it,” she said. “I’m here to protect you. And if protecting you requires me to allow someone you trust, to help you when you’re struggling, then I’m going to do that too.”

I regarded her, wanting so much to argue with her, to tell her that it wasn’t her decision to choose who to let through my shields. She smiled at me, softly as I got the point. She wasn’t making any decisions. I was. She was in my mind. Yes, there was knowledge there that I hadn’t had before she’d ‘moved in’ but she wasn’t a complete and distinct entity. She was effectively my own subconscious, with a little of the original Tatarabuela added in for guidance and experience.

“Now he gets it,” she said softly. “I wondered how long it would take.”

“I thought…” I began

“Most do,” she said. “Think rationally about it though. How could I actually be a fragment of the real Tatarabuela Gonzales? I’d be spread so thin now that I’d barely register.”

“I thought you were a copy,” I admitted a little ruefully.

“I suppose that could have worked,” she said. “But she had no idea how to create that. All she did was to bundle up here memories and experience under the guise of an entity. Remember this was originally created for children. Most Power Users will eventually develop their own ‘defender’, but it takes a long time. Most are well into their second century before it arrives.”

“So who am I speaking to now?” I asked.

“To you,” she said with a grin. “It’s the third sign of madness.”

“Third?” I asked.

“The second is finding dark hairs on your palms.” She explained.

I glanced at my hands.

“And the first,” she said gleefully, “is looking for them.”

I laughed. “I’m an asshole,” I chided her, and she laughed.

“Nicely done,” she said. “Way to insult your ancient ‘fairy godmother’ without insulting your ancient ‘fairy godmother.’”

“So if you are me,” I wondered, “why do you look like you?”

“Because you thought I was her, and not you,” she explained. “I’m not responsible for your anthropomorphic illusions. You are. You might have noticed I look a lot like how you would imagine the Abuela Gonzales might look if she grew very old.”

I shrugged.

“So, now I know,” I opened, “does that mean you’re going to disappear?”

She shrugged. “It’s up to you,” she said. “I could be her, or you, or Kermit the Frog if you want. You choose how to manifest your subconscious. You might find it makes it easier if it’s someone that’s not you. That way lies madness.”

I nodded, then concentrated for a moment. Years fell from her. By the time I was done, she looked very much like Maria, her great…something…grand daughter.

She smiled at me. “Good choice,” she said.

Melanie and Sarah were practicing their katas when I emerged from the illusion. I joined them, and then we all went for a run. I chose not to enlighten them to what I’d figured out – I thought it would be better for them to figure it out for themselves.

I went to the flight school and spent some time talking with Danny. Arnie was giving flying lessons all morning. We discussed my training and how we might step up the pace. I booked in more flight time in the gaps that he had for the next week. Friday, Ness had gleefully informed me that morning, we were finally going to get our cooking lesson.

“If you fly all this,” Danny said, “then you will be ready for your check ride. I could book a slot for you the week you come back from your vacation. I’d suggest Wednesday or Thursday, so you could get a couple of hours in the air earlier in the week, and then maybe the morning of your check ride.”

“Sounds good,” I said.

“I’ll get it booked,” Danny finished.

“Hi Caleb,” said Arnie coming in through the office door. “Aren’t you supposed to be taking your FBI test this afternoon?”

I looked at my watch and cursed. I had twenty minutes to get to the FBI office.

Seventeen minutes later, I walked through the door and up to the reception desk. Rosie smiled at me.

“Cutting it a little fine?” she asked.

“I got sidetracked,” I said.

“Fourth floor,” she said. “Agent Drey is proctoring you. I think you know him?”

I thought back. Daniel Drey was the agent who’d done the ‘mind reading’ with me all that time ago. That was where I’d first met Daisy.

I got out of the elevator and walked down the corridor.

“Just in time,” said Agent Drey. “Come in and take a seat.”

I went into an office where a computer was set up.

“I need to see some ID,” he said. I showed him my driver’s license and he took a photo of it with his phone.

“I have to submit that to show I checked,” he told me. “Take a seat.”

I sat in front of the computer. He explained the test and the conditions and controls. That took about fifteen minutes.

“Any questions?” he asked. I shook my head.

He nodded his head. “Then begin,” he said.

I clicked on the button to start the test.

I started to read the first question.

Logic Based Reasoning.

Answer the question below based on the following paragraph.

A percipient witness a.k.a an eyewitness, is one who testifies….

Just under three hours later, I clicked my response to the last question and sat back in my seat. I stretched my back.

I’d actually quite enjoyed the testing. The logic based reasoning made sense to me. The figural reasoning reminded me strongly of the IQ tests I’d enjoyed taking as a kid. Even though my scores hadn’t been particularly stellar, I’d always done alright. I’d found the puzzles easier than I remembered though. I wondered at that, and then realized that I’d not taken an IQ test since I’d lost my amulet. I found the situational judgement questions obvious. I wondered if I was missing something. Surely, they couldn’t be that simple. The answers seemed like common sense.

The next two sections, the personality test and the preferences and interests’ section, I found a little frustrating. I always disliked personality tests since they always asked you to answer a question without giving you all the information, or ask you to choose between two equally desirable, or undesirable, statements. Also, they tend to ask the same questions over and over, just worded slightly differently. I presumed that was to ensure you didn’t try to fool the test by answering how you think they might want you to.

“How was that?” Daniel asked me with a smile.

“I’ll let you know in an hour,” I told him. He laughed.

“You’ll get an email once your results are in,” he said. “I’d tell you to go home and forget about it, but I know that you won’t be able to do that. Good luck, and I hope to see you back here for phase two in a little while.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I hope so too.”

I was just climbing into my truck, when Ness’ voice blazed into my mind.

“CALEB!”

“Ness?” I answered her. “What’s wrong?”

“I think I just saw someone kidnap a kid from a school,” she responded.

“You think?” I asked. “Can you send me the memory?”

I felt her concentrate, and assimilated her memory.

I saw her driving down the road, past the school. A man had walked up to a boy who looked to be about six years old. The teacher who was with the group of students, waiting for parents, looked at him and he smiled at her.

I saw a cloud of dark energy wash over the teacher and the boy, and then the man took the boy’s hand and led him off down the road. The teacher just stood there completely ignoring what had just gone on. The man and boy got into a dark sedan parked a few paces up the street and, after a moment, drove away.

Ness followed.

“I’m on my way to you,” I sent. “Did you call police?”

“My phone in in my bag,” she said. “I don’t want to lose him.”

“Okay,” I told her. “Stick with him, but drive carefully. Try not to spook him and concentrate on your driving. The last thing you need is to get into a wreck because you are so busy watching him.”

I called Dianna.

“Hey Caleb,” she said. “I…”

“No time,” I interrupted her. “Ness just witnessed a child abduction. She’s following the car, and I’m on my way to her.”

“Tell me what you know,” she said.

I told her what school the boy had been taken from, the make and model of the car, and its license plate which I’d been able to get from Ness’ memory.

“Where is she now?” she asked.

I asked Ness her location. She told me that where she was, and that she still had the man in her sights. He didn’t seem to have noticed her and wasn’t in any hurry. He seemed to be heading toward the Mall. I wondered about that.

After I relayed the information to Dianna she said, “He’ll probably have a change of vehicle in the parking garage at the mall. That way, if he’d been seen by anyone, he could escape since law enforcement would be looking for a grey sedan and he’s in a different car entirely.”

“Makes sense,” I said. “I’m only about five minutes away. Is there anyone nearer?”

“I need to initiate a response,” she said. “I don’t know how long it will take us to get there. I’ll be sending local enforcement also. You’re the guy on the ground so do what you think is appropriate, but be careful. Are you armed?”

“No,” I said. “Since I was going into the office, I left my gun at home.”

“Okay. If police are on scene, then leave it to them” she said. “But if you can take him down safely, then do what you do.” She hung up.

I considered where Ness was, and sped up a little trying to reach her as quickly as possible. There was frustration as I got caught by a stopped school bus and was unable to make any headway until it had moved off.

Eventually I turned right and could see Ness’ car further down the street. I sped up again to catch up to her.

“I’m coming up behind you,” I told her. “Where is he?”

“He’s just pulling into the parking garage,” she told me. I looked at the entrance and noticed the tail end of a dark sedan disappearing into the entrance.

“Stay there,” I told Ness. “Let me pass you and then follow.”

“Go,” she returned. I pulled around her, and into the entrance to the parking garage. As I pulled in I could see the grey car about half way down toward the ramp up to the next level. I extended my attention and scanned his mind.

“He’s a user,” I told Ness. “An Empath.”

“Oh,” she said. “Then I was wrong?”

“No!” I almost snarled at her. “You were spot on. He’s a wild, using his powers to….” I stopped there. I didn’t want to elaborate. Instead, I examined his mind a little. He had no shields and no concept of other power users. The child was quiescent in the passenger seat of his car, overwhelmed by his powers. From what I could tell, he lived out of state. He was heading for a second car that he’d left parked on the top floor. Once he’d changed vehicles, he’d head for the freeway and back to his home.

He glanced down at the boy strapped in next to him and ran his hand up the boys leg. He felt himself stiffen at the contact. He wondered if he had time to have a taste. If the parking lot was quiet enough, he might risk it.

I both regretted and was glad that I wasn’t carrying my weapon, having left it at home while going to the flight school and the FBI office. I regretted it because I had an almost irresistible urge to put several bullets between this guys eyes, and was glad, because I might not have been able to restrain the impulse.

I seized his mind and Compelled him to stop his car, put it in park, get out and lie down on the ground.

Ness pulled up behind me, and got out of her car as I got out of my truck.

“Go take care of the boy,” I said. “He’ll be scared and confused.”

She nodded to me, went up to the passenger side of the vehicle, and opened the door.

I walked around to where the driver was face down on the concrete. He was lay spread eagle on the concrete. I had to resist the impulse to plant my boot between his legs.

“Caleb,” called Ness from the other side of the car.

I made sure that the guy wasn’t going to go anywhere then walked around to her.

“How is he?” I asked.

“He won’t move,” she said. “He seems kind of out of it.”

I rolled my power over the boy, seeing the residue of the Empathic effect the man had had over him. I gently pushed it aside with my own, wrapping the boy in safety and security. He blinked. Then he looked at Ness.

“Hi,” she said to him with a smile. “What’s your name?”

“Noah,” he said. “Where’s my mom?”

“She’ll be along,” said Ness.

He looked around, still seated in his kidnapper’s car.

“Whose car is this?” he asked.

“It belongs to a bad man,” said Ness. “Tell you what. Why don’t you come and sit in my car until your mom arrives?”

I heard a car honking behind us. I looked up and saw a man who apparently just wanted to get into the parking lot for the mall. We were kind of blocking traffic.

I walked over to him.

“Sorry,” I said. “There’s an issue here. Can you go around?”

He looked up at me, and I could see the challenge in his eyes. I didn’t even try to suppress the urge. I Compelled him to simply drive around the obstacle, and find himself a space on one of the upper floors. He left the scene.

Six more cars passed us before a police cruiser pulled into the parking lot, lights on. It pulled up behind Ness’ car and two officers emerged. Both of them were female. I walked over to them.

“You Agent Stott?” one asked as she approached. I showed her my credentials.

“I’m not an agent, just a consultant,” I said. “The boy is in my fiancée’s car there, and the guy who took him is on the floor on the other side of his vehicle.”

One of the officers walked towards Ness’ car, and the other followed me to where the kidnapper was still face down on the floor.

“What did you do to him?” asked the officer.

“I asked him nicely to stay there,” I said. “He decided to comply.”

The cop gave me a strange look before telling the kidnapper to put his hands behind his back. He complied instantly. She cuffed him and read him his Miranda rights. She sat him up, and told him to stay where he was.

Meanwhile an ambulance had arrived and two EMT’s were walking towards the boy, presumably to check him for injuries. Shortly after, Dianna arrived with an agent, with two more agents following.

Dianna walked over to where I was standing with the kidnapper and the officer. I gave her Ness’ memory of what she’d seen.

She flashed her credentials to the officer.

“Special Agent Everson,” she said taking charge.

Now that Dianna had arrived, I went over to where Ness was standing by her car. The EMT’s had taken the boy to their ambulance which was too tall to enter the parking structure, and so was parked outside. The officer that had originally gone to the boy had accompanied them.

I slipped my arm around Ness’ waist, and felt her trembling a little.

“Are you okay?” I asked her, pulling her tighter against me.

“That was scary,” she said. “I was so worried I’d lose him in traffic. Or that I’d made a mistake and was causing a fuss over nothing. He definitely took the boy, its not like he’s his estranged dad or something, right?”

“No,” I said. “You don’t want to know what he had in mind for the boy, but you can be assured that you saved that boy from a horrible fate.”

She looked up at me. “He’s a power user?” she asked. I nodded.

“An Empath.” I said, “It’s weird. It was only yesterday Jeevan told me about how dangerous wild Empaths could be if they were predators and, less than twenty-four hours later, you spot one.

I looked over and saw that an agent was searching the kidnapper, prior to putting him in the rearmost SUV. I walked over.

“You’ll need a collar,” I said quietly, having ensured that nobody else was near enough to hear. “He’s a power user.” The agent looked at me, and then nodded. “Also he has a change of vehicle on the top floor, a blue compact I think.”

The agent picked up a set of car keys that he’d placed on the hood of his SUV as he’d searched the suspect.

“Thanks,” he said. “That might give us more information. From what I saw from his car here, it’s a rental, rented under a false ID. Perhaps his other car might give us more information about who we’re dealing with.”

I went and rejoined Ness, who was standing with Dianna.

“I’m going to have to take statements from the both of you,” she said. “First though, I need to take that boy back to his mother. I’m sure she’s out of her mind with worry. I sent officers to her house to tell her we’d recovered him, but she’s not going to be happy until he’s home. The EMT’s have checked him over and he’s fine.”

She glared at the man seated in the back of the rearmost SUV.

“He didn’t do anything that we can tell,” she said to me, “unless you know different?”

I shook my head. “He touched his leg only,” I said. “Nothing more. Fortunately Ness spotted him in time. He had ideas of ‘sampling’ him here in the parking lot if he thought it was quiet enough.

Dianna grimaced. “Fuck” she said, then looked at Ness. “I can’t say how proud I am of you right now. You saved that boy, if not his life, certainly a lifetime of suffering and mental trauma.”

Ness looked at the older woman, a slight blush on her face. “I didn’t do anything,” she said. “Caleb stopped him.”

“Caleb wouldn’t have had the first idea that anything was wrong,” Dianna said, “if you hadn’t had your eyes open. I also saw that you could see his power working. You’re training your Empathy?”

Ness nodded. “I can’t do anything with it, but I’m hoping to at least be able to raise a shield. I didn’t know it would enable me to see others using powers.”

“You did really well,” Dianna repeated, and hugged the younger girl who had a mix of pride and embarrassment in her expression. I smiled at her.

“Can we go?” I asked.

“I’ll need to get statements from both of you,” Dianna said. “Can call around later?”

“Dinner at seven thirty?” I asked and she grinned.

“Perfect, and make it something special,” she told me. “It’s not every day that you pass your Phase 1 test.”

I looked at her perplexed for a moment.

“My…” I began.

“Check your email,” she said laughing, and moving off to give orders regarding securing the vehicles.

I pulled out my phone and did as suggested. She was right. I’d had an email to say that I’d passed my Phase 1 test and that the FBI would be in touch regarding the next phase of the recruitment process. I showed it to Ness.

She grinned at me and threw her arms around me.

“Now I’m proud of you,” she said. “Let’s head home. I’m going to cook you a celebratory meal.”

It took a few minutes to extricate our vehicles from the parking garage and we headed back to the house. I’d already shared my memories of the afternoon’s events with the rest of the girls, via the connection, and they were waiting for us to arrive home, so they could congratulate us both.

On the drive home, though, I had a call to make.

“Hey, Pops,” I said as he answered the phone. “You’ll never guess what your youngest daughter just did….”

I grinned to myself after I finished the call. Knowing that he and Cheryl would call Ness as soon as she got home.

The front door of the house was open when we arrived. Ness pulled onto the drive and I pulled into the garage, choosing to exit via the closing garage door rather than use the door into the kitchen. I joined Ness and the rest of the family where they were gathered around her giving her hugs and showering her with praise. She grinned around at them and tried to divert attention to me by announcing that I’d passed my test for the FBI. I too got hugs and kisses. Then Jules approached Ness, her phone in hand.

“It’s for you,” she said. handing her the phone. I saw Ness take the device, a puzzled look on her face.

“Hello?” she said. “Oh, hi Mom…” she began but was cut off as Cheryl started talking excitedly down the phone at her. I couldn’t hear what was said, but I could hear her voice. I grinned at Jules, and she at me, having successfully ambushed her little sister.

“Let’s go inside,” I said.

We entered the house, and I went into the kitchen, to make a start on dinner. Ness, it seemed, might be tied up for a little while talking to her parents.

After a while Ness joined me in the kitchen. She was flushed but seemed pleased.

“You okay?” I asked. She smiled at me.

“It’s kind of embarrassing,” she said, “having people keep telling you how proud they are of you, but…”

“It’s not a bad feeling?” I suggested smiling at her.

She nodded.

“I am proud of you,” I said.

“As we all are,” said Amanda. The rest of the family nodded their agreement.

“We’ve not seen Caleb’s memories of what he saw from that man,” said Mary. “He refused to show us. He said that we were better off not seeing that kind of thing. But I can see from his aura how bad it was, and you saved that little boy from that horrible man. You should be very proud of yourself.”

“I’m just glad I spotted him,” said Ness, shuddering slightly. “I don’t even know why I decided to go that way today. It’s not my normal route home, but I just fancied trying a new route. I was getting bored driving the same way all the time.”

“We’d better get dinner sorted,” Ness said. “Dianna will be here soon, and expecting to eat.

I laughed at her diversionary tactic and we continued with the preparation. We were interrupted again by a squeal from the living room.

“Come look!!!” came the shout from Sarah.

Ness and I went into the living room where the local news was on the television.

We caught the end of the news report.

“…Police say that if it wasn’t for the quick thinking of a young lady, driving home, who spotted the abduction, called police, and followed the kidnapper’s car until police could catch up, things may have ended very differently.

“The identity of this heroine is unknown, but one of our reporters spoke to Noah’s mother to see if she had any message for the person who saved her son.”

“I’d really like to meet her,” said the mother, “to tell her how grateful we are. She saved my little boy and brought him home safely to his family. From what the FBI agent said, she wasn’t old enough to have children of her own, but maybe one day, when she does, she’ll be able to appreciate just how huge the gift that she gave to us is.” The woman looked directly into the camera.

“Whoever you are,” she said. “Thank you.”

I saw Jules give Ness a side hug. Ness looked up at her older sister, who smiled down at her sibling.

The camera cut back to the studio.

“If any of our viewers have any information about the identity of the heroic young woman involved,” the anchor woman said, “we’d love to speak to her too. Anyone with any information can email the studio on…”

She gave out the email address.

Ness and I went back into the kitchen.

Dianna was late. She arrived after eight.

We’d already eaten, but had saved her a plate, keeping it warm for her.

Her face was grim when she entered.

She sat down at the table and began to eat. While she ate she talked.

“Your perp came from Idaho. Nampa, west of Boise. The car he’d stashed in the parking lot was his own vehicle and registered to his home address. The Boise office raided his home. It’s going to take a while to sort out, but he had two other boys locked in his basement, and there was evidence of others there too. We suspect he’s been doing this for some time, and disposing of the boys once he’s done with them.

“It's going to take a good while to get to the bottom of it all.” She looked at Ness and then at me. “Not only did you save that boy today, but you stopped a serial predator. Both of you should be very proud of yourselves.

“For obvious reasons,” she added looking at me, “your involvement in this has been kept completely out of the limelight, although the parents of the boy have asked if they can meet you,” she directed this to Ness. “I’ve told them that I’d ask.”

Ness shook her head. “I didn’t do anything,” she said.

“You did more than most,” said Dianna. “You saw something you thought was suspicious, and you acted appropriately, most likely saving that young boy’s life and probably many others.”

“But Caleb…” began Ness.

“I already told you,” Dianna insisted. “Caleb wouldn’t have even known if you hadn’t spotted it.” She looked at me. “Obviously you did good,” she grinned, “but no more than we’ve come to expect.”

I grinned back at her. “Put it on my file for my application.”

“Don’t worry,” she responded. “It most certainly will be.”

“Oh,” I said surprised. “I was kidding.”

“I’m not,” she said. “Stuff like this will do you no harm at all. Also, your use of powers, and the restraint you showed, has been fed back to the family council. They are also incredibly pleased and proud of you, both.”

I grimaced, realizing that I’d not spoken to my parents for an age, even after the shooting, I’d avoided it.

“I presume they heard about the shooting?” I asked.

Dianna nodded.

“They wanted to speak to you, but I advised against it,” she said. “You needed time to come to terms with what happened. I have to say you are looking much more stable now than you did. Talking to Jeevan seems to have really helped you.”

“It did,” I said realizing that one of the twins would have spoken to her about it.

“I’m glad,” she said. “Mary said that you’ve decided to quit your hypnotherapy business?”

“Only at school,” I said. “Those ungrateful fuckers can go screw themselves. I’m thinking that Melanie and Sarah can pick it up in a while once they are ready. I don’t need the training any more.”

“I can’t say as I blame you,” she responded.

Dianna finished her meal, and then took our official statements. Ness’ was fairly easy, since all she really needed to say was that she’d seen the abduction and followed until help arrived.

Mine was a little more complicated since we had to hide the use of powers, but between us all we came up with a plausible story that covered the eventualities. It didn’t hurt that nobody other than us saw power use. I did confess to Dianna my use of powers on the drivers who I’d directed past the scene, but she shrugged.

“Crowd control,” she said. “Perfectly reasonable.”

It was past ten by the time that Dianna left. I contemplated going to bed but, when I glanced out of the window, I saw Jane pacing up and down her yard with Kirsty in her arms.

I went out.

“You okay?” I asked. Jane looked relieved to see me.

“Help?” she said holding Kirsty out. Kirsty, predictably held her arms out to me.

“Let’s try something different,” I said. “Is Chris around?”

Jane nodded.

“Will he come out?”

Jane walked to her kitchen door and called Chris. He came out.

“I’m more than happy to help out with Kirsty,” I told the pair of them. “But I don’t think it’s what you all need. Would you be willing to try something?”

They both nodded. Kirsty started whining, still holding her arms out to me.

“Take a seat,” I said to them, indicating a two seater in their yard. They did, Kirsty still on Jane’s knee.

“Now,” I said. “I’m just going to try a relaxation technique on you two. Hopefully you being relaxed and unstressed, will mean that Kirsty will also be relaxed, and able to sleep. That’s my theory. I’m not going to hypnotize any of you, just get you to relax okay?”

They nodded again.

I started talking to them in a low voice, using general relaxation techniques, getting them to loosen up, and let all their muscles go slack. At the same time I rolled my empathy over them, a little at first but increasing the intensity until they were both boneless under the torrent of safety, security, and relaxation. Kirsty was fast asleep in Jane’s rather slack embrace. I made sure she wasn’t going to drop the child.

“How was that?” I asked, a few minutes later.

Chris started a little, having actually come close to dozing off.

“That was amazing,” he said, looking at his daughter, currently fast asleep on his still very relaxed wife’s lap.

“Jane?” I asked.

“Hmmmmmm,” she said, “that was wonderful. And Kirsty is fast asleep. Chris, will you take her up, I’m not sure I can move.”

Chris stretched for a moment, before standing and collecting his daughter.

“Don’t fall asleep there,” he warned Jane. “I’m going to bed once I tuck this monster up.”

“I won’t,” Jane said shaking herself a little.

Chris went into the house.

Jane held out her hand to me. “Help me up?” she said.

I stood and took her hand, assisting her to her feet. She pulled herself up and, before I knew it, she was pressed against me, her face only inches from mine.

Before I could move, she closed the distance, put her arms around my neck, and pulled me into a kiss. She pressed her body even harder against me, and gently but insistently probed at my lips with her tongue.

I took me a moment to remember where I was and what was going on. I gently disentangled myself from her.

“I think you need to go up to bed,” I said. she smiled at me.

“You and I need to talk,” she said running her hands down my arms, until she was holding my two hands in hers.

“We definitely need to talk.” She repeated, before turning around and taking herself into her house, closing the door softly behind her.