Chapter 178: The Rest of the Story

Friday, June 25, 1971

It took a while, but Charli and Leah finally recovered. When they did, the questions started in earnest.

“What did you do to us?” Leah asked.

“Michael calls it sharing our passions, but most of us just refer to it as a ‘mental fuck’,” Anna answered. “It seems to happen when he gets particularly carried away with one of us.”

“Us ... what us?” Charli asked.

“Just remember that you asked for this,” Anna told them. “Like I said, Michael is an Empath, which means he can sense what those around him are feeling. He can also sense any thoughts you have that have emotions attached to them. But Michael’s abilities don’t stop there. He also has the ability to share his emotions back to you. And lastly, he has the ability to connect with more than one person at the same time.”

“Is that how ... how he knew?” Charli asked.

Anna nodded, as I just grinned at them.

“Since you started, you can be the one to explain the ‘no secrets’ bit,” Sandy told her sister. It took a while for Anna’s explanation to sink in. I noticed that Leah was actually standing behind her chair, keeping it between us as she debated subconsciously whether to run or not.

“How much do you know?” she asked. “About us, I mean.”

Instead of answering, I quickly found a very fond and loving memory she had concerning Charli and replayed it for both of them.

Leah was devastated to have her privacy invaded. Her emotions were evident in the normally impenetrable mask she wore for clients. But when she looked to her partner-lover, she saw her staring back with the funniest look on her face.

“Charli didn’t think that you loved her as much as she loves you,” I provided. I wasn’t ready to connect them at this point. Not with all the girls back in New York already connected.

At that moment, by some hidden sign, they both put their personal relationship aside and slipped back into their professional PR modes.

“This all sounds incredible, even if I don’t really understand everything you said,” Charli replied.

“You mean he was sharing his ... his passion with us?” Leah asked.

“Well, his ... and mine, and Sandy’s’, and maybe a dozen or so others,” Anna admitted. “I’m not really sure how many are connected right now in New York.”

“Others?” Leah asked, looking around the room.

“New York?” Charli exclaimed.

Anna didn’t answer right away, again allowing the information to sink in. Finally, Leah looked at her as she exclaimed, “We don’t understand. What others? And where are they right now?”

“Three months ago, an attempt was made on Michael’s life that ended up killing his parents and putting him in a coma for five weeks. When he woke up, he discovered that he had empathic abilities he did not possess before the accident. However, his abilities are far beyond any ever reported. This is why he had such a hard time answering your question about what he is hiding. If the wrong person, or government, were to find out the full extent of his abilities, neither he, nor any of his family would ever be safe again,” Anna explained.

“And once he decided to take you into his confidence, by revealing this to you, he placed you in extreme danger. You have now become an expendable pawn to anyone attempting to get at Michael,” Anna told them. I could sense she was scaring the shit out of them. Hell, she was scaring me.

“However, he has placed himself in even greater danger, by exposing himself to two additional persons, hoping that they will honor his trust, but clearly not extracting any prior commitments or confidences. I do not know why Michael chose to trust you with this information, but I have been with him for almost seven weeks now, as his Doctor, his bodyguard, and ... his lover. I can tell you with absolute confidence that he has yet to err in his confidences.”

“That was beautifully spoken, Anna” Kalani thought.

At the sound of her voice, Charli and Leah both sat up straight, as they looked about the room.

“Your Majesty, may I introduce Miss Charlene Adkins, of Clermont, Florida, and Miss Leah Ahn, of Pomona, California. Ladies, the voice you’re hearing inside your head is that of Queen Kalani, of the Island Nation of Tapato,” I thought by way of introduction.

“It is my pleasure,” Kalani told them. “I look forward to meeting you in person, soon.”

As Charli and Leah stammered, the rest of the girls joined in. I just sat back and watched, not trying to follow all the conversations going on in my head. Or maybe through my head would be more accurate.

By now, connections like this were second nature to me, so I spent my time monitoring the two PR women. It didn’t take long for me to discover that this was actually helping them. In all my years, it had never occurred to me to combat chaos with chaos, but I’ll be damned if it wasn’t working in this case.

“It’s not chaos, Michael,” Hanna told me. “It’s just girl talk.”

“Same thing,” I thought to myself.

“Michael, we need to think about heading out,” Anna reminded me sometime later. I had contributed very little to the conversations over the last hour or so.

“I guess we should start to head back as well,” Leah said. “But I have to ask. Now that you know about us, will you still consider hiring our firm?”

I looked to Sandy and Anna who both nodded.

“My partners agree. We’d like you to handle the public relations for the discovery of the gold.”

While they were digesting that news, I connected with Amy and my sister. “Amy? Nicky? Any objections?” I thought to them. When they replied in the negative, I turned to Leah and Charli.

“I just checked. We’d also like your firm to handle all the Foundation’s public relations, as well,” I told them. “We’ll look at the company’s needs later,” I added.

They began peppering me with questions and I fielded them as quickly as I could, but I was aware it was time to leave for the airport.

“Do you ladies need a lift to the airport?” I asked. “Unfortunately, I have to return to New York tonight. We could continue this conversation at least that far.”

“We’d appreciate a lift to a hotel near the airport. We were not able to get a return flight for tonight, Charli said. “We hope to catch an early flight tomorrow.”

I looked to Anna, who nodded her consent. Then I invited the ladies to join us on our flight to New York, explaining that we were taking a private jet back to New York tonight.

“That would certainly give us time to talk some more about what you want to do about the gold,” Charli said, accepting the offer of a ride.

“Do you always carry a sword?” Leah asked me a little later, as we walked to the helicopter sitting on the lawn in front of the Reception Building.

“I’ll tell you the story sometime,” I told her knowing there wasn’t time to get into it now.

The helicopter flight made conversation difficult, but when we boarded the Gulfstream at the private airport near Pueblo, the four women immediately took the front seats that faced each other, and began discussing the best way to handle the gold. At least that’s what I thought they were discussing, though I seemed to overhear my name coming up frequently. I grabbed one of the seats further back.

Shortly after we took off, I closed my eyes and erected my shield to block out their thoughts. I’d had enough female chatter on the brain for one evening. Unfortunately, I had forgotten I still had the sword in my hands.

The next thing I knew, we were on approach to New York when Leah screamed!

Leah’s scream got everyone’s attention. It just so happened she had one of the aft facing seats, so she was looking right at me when I suddenly re-appeared.

Sandy quickly figured out what Leah had seen. “That’s what he did on the train!” Sandy exclaimed, as if it explained everything.

“Michael!” Anna barked. “Quit horsing around. You scared Leah.”

“I’m sorry. I dozed off with it in my hands, so I guess when I put up my shield, it just sort of happened,” I said. I realized that I was whining like a teenager as I said it. I must not have gotten my nap out.

Leah’s eyes were still wide and locked on me. So I grinned at her as I erected my shield again.

“Sumimasen! Korewa nandesu ka?” Leah cried. (“Excuse, please. What is this?”)

“Michael! Quit messing around,” Anna warned me, slightly more serious this time.

“Aw-w-w, I was just cutting up with ‘em,” I whined again. This time I was trying to sound like a teenager.

“That’s the first time I’ve ever heard you speaking Japanese,” Charli told her. “Are you okay?”

“Did you SEE him?” Leah asked.

“What did he do? Make faces at you?” Charli chided her partner. “Remember, we’ve already seen him naked.”

“No! You didn’t see him? He wasn’t there!” Leah tried to explain.

“How could I see him if he wasn’t there,” Charli asked as she leaned into the aisle to look at me. I decided to help Leah out by quickly installing my shield as she watched. Then I removed it again.

“Holy shit!” Charli exclaimed. “Did you just...?”

“THAT’S what I was trying to tell you, he’s magic,” Leah proclaimed.

“Okay, Michael. Put it away. I think they’ve seen enough for one day,” Anna said sternly.

I smiled and nodded, then put my shield in place once again. I know ... I was feeling contrary.

“Boys!” Anna said exasperatedly to the other women. Then she sighed as she added, “Sometimes, I just don’t know what we’re going to do with him!”

“I know what I’d like to do with him,” Sandy told them. “But after last night, I’m still a little sore.”

This time Charli and Leah laughed with Anna and Sandy. I dropped my shield and stared lecherously at Anna, because Sandy’s back was to me.

“The problem is, I can’t cut him off, not with twenty-something others waiting,” Anna told them. “So I just don’t know how to make him mind!”

“Twenty-something women? There’s no way he can...” Charli started to ask.

“NO!” cried Anna and Sandy at the same time, as they looked at me beseechingly. “Don’t ever challenge him,” Anna told them.

“But how can he make so many women happy?” Leah asked. “He’s just a boy.”

“Uh-oh!” Sandy exclaimed. “You shouldn’t ... have said that.”

Anna just looked at me and sighed, as I connected everyone I could quickly locate, that wasn’t driving or anything like that, and then began feeding them my passions. I didn’t bother to connect Anna. Soon, you could see the arousal on Leah and Charli’s faces. Anna quickly recognized that I hadn’t included her and pouted for just a moment before she began grinning at Leah and Charli.

I let it go on this time, and only cut it off after the two public relations women had each experienced an orgasm. Most of the girls I had connected had enjoyed one as well.

Leah’s eyes were squeezed shut, her arms folded across her chest, as if protecting her sensitive breasts. I filed that little tidbit away for future reference. Charli had slid down in her seat, her skirt creeping above her waist and her hand between her legs. As she slowly righted herself, she looked first at Leah, and then to Anna and Sandy.