Chapter 49: Repercussions

Authors Note:

I haven’t got anything so say other than to thank Dr Mark for all his help, advice and editorial expertise and you guys for following and supporting the story.

PM

“WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!?”

Maggie was screaming at me down the phone. We had just landed following a ten-hour flight from Barcelona, driven back to the house, and were unpacking our bags. I had phoned her to check in, following her request that I do so.

I simply hung up the phone.

Ness looked at me. “Sounds like she’s pissed at you,” she said a wry grin on her face.

“You heard that?” I asked.

“We all heard that,” said Dean who was over the other side of the kitchen making coffee. “You hanging up on her isn’t exactly going to smooth things over though.”

“I’m not going to be screamed at,” I said, “no matter who she thinks she is. I still don’t work for her, but even if I did, I wouldn’t stand still just to be abused.”

“She is your Matriarch,” said Mary. “And you did swear an oath.”

“Show me where it says that I swore to allow myself to be abused,” I said.

My phone rang again, I looked, Maggie. I answered.

“DON’T YOU FUCKING...” I hung up again.

Dean grinned at me. “You must love trouble,” he said.

Ten minutes later, my phone rang for a third time. This time it was Dianna.

“Hey Dianna,” I said.

“Maggie just called me,” she said. “She’s more than a little pissed. You hanging up on her didn’t help.”

“Yeah, well that’s just too bad,” I said. “If she wants to have a conversation, I’ll talk to her. If all she wants is to scream at me then no. I’m not her whipping boy, and the more she behaves like she owns me, the less likely it is that I will, in fact, join the bureau. I’m not putting myself under her command if she behaves like a spoiled little brat every time something doesn’t go her way.”

“You certainly stirred things up in Spain,” Dianna responded. “You said you wouldn’t act against the Everson council.”

“I said I wouldn’t pursue a legal case against them,” I said, “and I haven’t. I have taken no action at all. But I didn’t sign a non-disclosure agreement either. I was talking to the Matriarch of the Gonzales line – someone I wouldn’t have even met had it not been for the Eversons telling people I was travelling - and she found their behaviour so appalling she made her own mind up about it. I actually acted to mitigate the situation and got her to talk to you. Otherwise they were going to ostracise the Everson family without any consultation with them. Furthermore, she told me that all the families in Europe would follow suit. I do admit that I didn’t know what effect that would have though.

“Just for your information, she invited me to move to Spain. She said I could be a naturalized citizen there within 24 hours if I wished. The girls too.”

Dianna gasped. “You’re not considering it?” she asked.

“If I were,” I said, “screaming at me over the phone would not be a good way of changing my mind.”

“She’s royally pissed,” Dianna told me.

“Poor thing,” I said. “Why isn’t she royally pissed about the seventy odd years she spent as a slave to the Everson council? Why isn’t she royally pissed about them enslaving her entire line? And why isn’t she royally pissed that they have been doing their damndest for the last five hundred years to make our line extinct. If she isn’t going to protect the line, then who is? She’s supposed to be the FUCKING MATRIARCH!!!”

I had wound myself up into a rage, and I felt Mary’s hand on my arm. I stopped and took a breath.

“Sorry,” I said “I shouldn’t be yelling at you, or even at all. I’m sorry Dianna.”

“I get it,” she said. “I do, really. But there are bound to be repercussions. Did you hear what the Gonzales Matriarch is demanding?”

“No,” I said. “I wasn’t on the call and we didn’t discuss it afterward.”

“She is demanding that the entire Everson Council step down,” she said. “Maggie can stay – as a representative of your line, and only because she was, herself, bound. But the three others are to resign their positions by the end of the month. Failure to do so will result in the ostracization of our line from the Gonzales line. The knock-on effect will be that all the families in Europe will join in, as will the South American Spanish-speaking families. It is likely that one or more of the families Stateside will also join in when they find out about the binding. Our entire line will become pariahs.”

“I’m sorry, Dianna,” I said. “I had no intention of making trouble but I cannot say that I’m sorry that they are being held to account for their actions. They were despicable and had I not been able to counter them, even now, I would be enslaved by them as would my entire family. They deserve everything they get.”

“But what of the rest of my family?” asked Dianna. “Do they deserve it?”

“If your council has ANY honor at all, “I rebutted. “They will step down and ensure that the rest of your family does not suffer for their actions. Other than you and the girls, I do not know any other members of your family, so I cannot say what they do, or do not, deserve. What I do know is that my family did not deserve any of what was done to them, nor did I deserve what they had planned for me.

“Everyone seems to be mad at me. I didn’t do this, THEY did. Take it up with them. Look Dianna, it’s late, and I’ve just spent ten hours on an airplane. I’m tired and probably not in the best frame of mind to discuss this. Can we talk tomorrow?”

“Sure,” she said. “I’ll try and calm Maggie down. I’m not sure how successful I’ll be though.”

I sighed as she hung up the phone. I felt like it was bedtime, but it was only just after lunch. Jet lag was kicking my ass. I needed to sleep.

I drank the coffee that Dean had made and went out onto the deck to join the rest of the family. They were all out there, all as knackered as I was. Gracie hadn’t been home when we arrived. I wondered idly where she had gotten to, but she was a grown woman and capable of looking after herself.

I decided to try and stay up until as close to my normal ten pm bedtime as I could. I didn’t want my sleep pattern to get completely messed up. I was confident that my bladder alarm was up to the task, and I didn’t want to spend days reacclimatizing to the time zone.

“What’s next on our agenda?” asked Jules. “We have three weeks left of the break. What are we doing with it?”

“This is going to sound really stupid,” I said, “but hear me out. Why doesn’t Ness, and whoever else wants to go, fly back up to the ranch with Dean and Cheryl. I, and whoever else, will drive up in my truck. Then when it’s time to come home we can bring Ness’s car and anything else that she wants to bring. It will save a shitload of cash in shipping as well as the cost of flying us back.”

Ness looked at me like I’d grown an extra head.

“But why drive when the jet is so much faster?” she asked.

“Because the jet costs a shitload of cash to run,” I said. “And we’ve just spent a queen’s ransom dancing all over Europe in it. I...”

“Caleb,” said Dean. I looked at him. “I appreciate the thought,” he said. “But honestly, it’s not a problem. Let’s stick to plan A – If you’re coming up with us, then we’ll all fly up. Then when it’s time for you to come home, you’ll fly back. Shipping for Ness’s car and other stuff isn’t a big deal.”

I sighed defeated. “I just...”

“I know,” said Dean. “And believe me, having someone actually care how much things cost,” he gave both his daughters a side eye at this, “does make a difference. The second we can’t afford it, believe me, I’ll let you all know.”

“Besides,” he added with a grin, “I just heard I might have a new investor in the farm.”

I hmphed. “If he finds out how frivolously you spend your money,” I said, “he might reconsider.”

Dean grinned at me.

“So,” he said, “now that that’s settled, are you coming up to the ranch for a couple of weeks before you go to your parents?”

I grimaced. “I’m not sure the reception I’ll get there,” I said, “especially after what happened. I’ll bet Maggie has been venting at them about it too.”

“Play it by ear,” said Dean. “Let’s have a day to collect ourselves and maybe fly up on Tuesday?”

I looked at the girls who all nodded.

“You coming too?” asked Dean to Josh and Louise.

“Is that okay?” asked Josh. “I’ve heard a lot about the ranch and I’d love to see it.”

“He’ll have you working,” I said. “It’s not all unicorns and pony rides.”

“I can work,” said Josh, almost defensively.

“Excellent,” said Cheryl “We’ll go up Tuesday. I suspect Caleb is going to be busy tomorrow in any case.”

She wasn’t wrong.

I woke at my usual time. After my normal morning routine, I went to the dojo. I wasn’t sure if Kevin would have been expecting me but, since he said he trained at that time, I went anyway. Kevin was indeed there and was pleased to see me.

“I’m only here today,” I said, “and maybe tomorrow. After that I’m going up to Dean’s ranch for a couple of weeks and then to my parents. Things should get back to normal once classes start again.”

We spent a couple of hours on the mat sparring. It was a lot of fun and I think we both enjoyed it. Since I had assimilated all of his fighting knowledge, I was able to predict what he was going to do, but I still hadn’t fully developed the reflexes and muscle memory I needed to be able to counter him. It was not all bad news for me though because he couldn’t always counter my moves, particularly when I switched styles quickly.

I was in the kitchen making breakfast when Maggie and Dianna arrived.

“Morning,” I said amiably. “Breakfast?”

“No thanks,” said Dianna. “Caleb, can we talk?”

“Sure,” I said. “Ness, will you take over please?”

Ness, who had been sitting at the table waiting for her breakfast, nodded and replaced me at the stove. I took Dianna and Maggie into the living room and closed the door.

I took a seat and waited for them to do the same.

“What was the fucking point,” growled Maggie, “of that charade in my office, if you intended to go and stir up trouble like that?”

“I didn’t intend to do anything of the sort,” I said. “I didn’t even know I would meet any power users in Europe. It’s likely I probably wouldn’t have if the Everson Council hadn’t told everyone I was coming.”

“It’s an international agreement,” said Diana, “to notify each other when Compulsion power users travel.”

I shook my head. “So, the prejudice doesn’t stop with you guys,” I said. “Good to know.”

“Caleb, please,” said Dianna. “We didn’t cause this.”

“Didn’t you?” I asked sharply. “Really? Did the ever so righteous Eversons not have a hand in creating that agreement in the first place? I’d be very surprised if they didn’t instigate it. But that aside, they DID start the chain of events that has now come home to roost. So why am I the one getting the fallout from this? I didn’t cause this. They did.”

“The Everson Council has stepped down.” said Maggie. “They had no choice but to do so. It goes without saying that the entire bloodline is royally pissed at us and, more specifically, at you.”

“Boo-hoo!” I said. “They did wrong, they got caught. They were lucky that losing their council seats was the only punishment they got. Tell me, if I had held someone in slavery like they did, what would I be facing?”

“You made your point,” growled Maggie. “I wish you’d spoken to me before acting though.”

“I didn’t act,” I said. “I Healed a young girl of cancer and met her family. It came out in conversation.”

“It’s going to cause a lot of problems,” she said. “We don’t yet have the network of families so we relied on the Everson’s council to communicate with the other families. Now that is gone, it’s going to take us some time to get things up and running again.”

“I can give you the Matriarch of the Gonzales family’s number,” I said. “And I’m sure she’d be happy to put you in touch with others. Also, I have Colin Goode’s card, the guy from the UK. Besides, won’t the outgoing council brief the incoming one?”

“I doubt that Zacharia will be briefing anyone,” said Dianna. “He is incandescent with rage. Ezra and Matilda are not pleased but seem to have accepted their position. The trouble will be finding replacements.”

“What about you?” I asked Dianna. “As the matriarch shouldn’t you have been on the council in any case. So, with you and Maggie that’s two – all you need to do is find two more.”

“The Eversons have cut ties with us,” said Maggie. “So, I’m no longer on their council.”

“Cut ties?” I asked. “What does that mean?”

“It means that we are no longer working together,” said Dianna. “I’m no longer on your council, Maggie is no longer on ours. All projects on which we collaborated are now in abeyance until the new council is appointed, and then they will make their own decision as to what happens.”

“And how does it affect us?” I said to her. “You and me?”

“Technically, I’m not supposed to be talking to you,” she said. “I need to make the twins aware of the Council’s ruling too.”

I scratched my chin thoughtfully. I sent the twins the memory of the entire conversation and asked them to join us.

Amanda and Mary came into the living room without knocking.

“No,” they both said in unison before Dianna had even opened her mouth. “We will not obey the council’s ruling.”

“And if you do,” said Mary, a tear in her eye “then I, we, will consider that we no longer have a grandmother.”

My eyes went wide, as tears burst from Dianna’s.

“No” I said “you can’t...”

“Caleb,” said Amanda, “this is wrong. What they did, for generations, was wrong. They got caught and, out of spite, are trying to hurt you the only way they know how; by coming between you and us.”

“Well, it’s not happening,” said Mary. “And the Grandmother I grew up loving and respecting would not stand for it either. She would stand up for what was right, fair, and true, and not bow down to them.”

Mary turned her gaze from me – to Dianna. “So,” she said, her demeanour firm. “what’s it going to be Matriarch? Are we still your granddaughters?”

Dianna stood and walked over where the twins stood. “You will always be my granddaughters,” she said. “I already told the council that I would not be obeying their ruling. I was bound to inform you of it though.”

Both girls threw their arms around their grandmother burying their faces in her shoulders. There were tears.

I looked at Maggie.

“So,” I said. “What now?”

She sighed wearily. “I don’t know,” she said. “I’m sorry I yelled at you. It just all came tumbling down. We’d had almost a month where things seemed to be settled, everyone seemed to be getting along, and then the shit hit the fan, bigtime. I know it’s not your fault, it’s not my fault either, but it sure as hell is my problem.”

“Did they all know,” I asked.

Maggie looked at me. She nodded. “They all knew. Every one of them knew about the oath and the binding. I wish it were otherwise, but it was not.”

“We need to look after our own line,” I said. “The Everson’s Council brought this on themselves and are suffering the consequences. It’s up to them to dig themselves out of the mess they got themselves into. Our job, is to make our line strong again.”

Maggie sighed again and nodded.

“I have connections with the Wragge family, and obviously the Gonzales family,” I said. “Perhaps we can start there? Maybe Jeevan would help me and put me in touch with others.”

“Any contacts you can get to speak with me would help,” she said. “As I said, I know of them but all communication was done through the Council. It’s only now, that the binding has gone, that that even strikes me as strange. They were isolating us.”

“And trying to push us out of existence,” I said. “Abuela Gonzales knew it from all the way over there in Spain.”

“Shit,” she said shaking her head. “I don’t deserve to be on our own council, let alone matriarch.”

“Were you matriarch when you were bound?” I asked.

“Of course not,” she said. “I was just twenty-one...”

“Then you have nothing to blame yourself for,” I said. “You were controlled just like all the others. I also think that you did your best to warn me albeit within the constraints of the binding.”

I picked up my phone and dialled.

“Colin Goode,” he answered.

“Mr. Goode,” I said “Caleb Stott.”

“Oh, are you back in the UK?” he replied. “I wasn’t aware.”

“No,” I said. “You’ll be pleased to know that I’m back stateside and well out of your hair. But I do have a favour to ask.”

I explained the issue, and then after a few moments passed my phone to Maggie, who spent nearly an hour talking to him. Dianna, the girls, and I went into the kitchen and had some breakfast while we waited.

Maggie came in some time later. Not exactly beaming, but certainly looking happier. Ness, without even breaking stride, placed a plate on the table and indicated toward it. Maggie sat down and began to eat.

“That was very productive,” she said between mouthfuls. “He’s given me the contact details of all the UK families and a half a dozen more across Europe. He had already heard the story and was happy to help. He was pleased to hear that the Everson Council had stepped down and asked me to get the new council to contact him when they were appointed. He was also very complimentary about the way you handled your little issue when you were over there.”

When Maggie had finished eating, I called Abuela Gonzales. She was pleased to speak to the matriarch of the Stott line and gave her contact details for a number of other families across Europe and also in South America.

Vince Wragge, when I called him, was happy to talk to Maggie and share his contact list with her also.

“I’m all tapped out,” I said. “That’s every power user I know other than us.”

“And each one of them,” said Maggie, “either thinks they are in your debt, or at the very least, thinks highly of you.”

“He’s just so adorable,” said Jules putting her arms around me from behind.

Maggie laughed. “He’s a pain in my butt,” she said, “is what he is.”

“Use more lube,” was Louise’s instinctive response. Her hand flew to her mouth, and she turned a nice shade of red, when she realised what she had said and to whom.

“Noted,” said Maggie dryly, arching her eyebrow at Louise.

“Actually,” I said, picking up my phone, “there is one more.”

“Bhaiya,” Jeevan as always sounded delighted to hear from me.

While he wasn’t a member of a US bloodline, he knew people from almost every bloodline in the US who were either Healers themselves, or knew through other Healers. He wouldn’t give Maggie their details, but promised to pass her’s along and ask them if they would be willing to call and speak to her. He indicated that each US bloodline would be wise to establish a relationship with the new Stott council. Less than half an hour after we finished our call, Maggie’s phone rang. It didn’t stop ringing for the rest of the day.

I wasn’t quite sure why she hung around with us all day, but I wasn’t complaining. It meant that Dianna was around, since they had travelled here together, and the twins got to spend some time with her. I was also quite enjoying talking to Maggie. Ness seemed to be warming to Dianna, even going so far as to allow her a hug at one point, the reason for which I wasn’t close enough to ascertain. She also chatted with Maggie in the brief periods when the older woman was not on her phone.

Eventually Maggie sighed as she disconnected the last call.

“That’s all of them,” she said. “In one day you managed to put me in touch with every known powered line in the US ... and several from elsewhere. I’m going to have a lot of work to do, but at least they’re talking to me.”

“Jeevan did most of the work,” I said.

“But you got Jeevan to help,” she said. “He would never have done that for me.”

“He is my brother,” I said. “We do things for one another.”

Maggie looked at her watch. “My god,” she said. “It’s nearly four. We need to get going.”

“Are you sure you won’t stay for dinner?” asked Ness – who had cooked lunch for them.

“Much as I would love to,” said Maggie, “I can’t. Cuthbert will already be cursing me up and down. I’ll bet I’ve missed a lot of stuff he had planned for me today.”

“Give him my regards,” I said with a grin.

“I’m sure he can’t wait to see you again,” she replied with a small smile. “I still catch him thinking about that sometimes.” She stood up.

“Ness,” she said, “thank you for breakfast and lunch. Both were delicious. Caleb. Thank you. It’s been a rough couple of days, but I’m sure we’ll come through it. Do watch your back though. The old Everson Council still has friends. They may decide to come after you.”

“They’d better not,” said Dianna, “or they’ll have me to answer to. Council or not, I’m still Matriarch.”

“And still on our council,” said Maggie, “unless you no longer wish to be.”

They left together after Dianna had given hugs to all the girls, Ness included. Maggie merely nodded to the girls, and to me, before going through the door.

“Well,” said Dean, “that could have gone a whole lot worse.”

I agreed.

The evening passed in amiable conversation. Gracie still hadn’t shown her face, but still I wasn’t concerned. We were not her keepers. I did, however, decide to send her a text.

_Hi Gracie, just checking in. We’re heading up to the ranch tomorrow so if we don’t see you, it’s probably going to be another 3 weeks until we’re back.

_OK, See you then.

Short and sweet. I wondered if she’d found herself a new man. I grinned at that thought. I hoped, whoever he was, he wasn’t another Dylan.

The next morning, we packed up our stuff and headed, once again, for the local airport. Gerry was waiting for us and the Jet already opened up and ready for us to board. We took two cars which we parked in the private terminal parking lot, rather than the hangar this time, and carried our luggage onto the jet.

We carried all of our baggage onto the aircraft and stowed it. Gerry, for once, just sat and waited in the cockpit for us to get everything stowed. Once we closed the door, I heard the engines spool up, and we started to move.

“Someone’s in a rush,” Dean snipped at him, having not been seated when the jet began its taxi. Gerry, as usual, ignored him.

We were in the air in a few minutes and settled in for the hour long flight. Amanda, as usual, squeezed the life out of my hand as we took off, but eased up once we were levelled off and everything had settled down. As usual Dean and Cheryl were seated up front, while the girls and I occupied the central seats. Josh and Louise sat further back. Jules immediately started to read, Ness stared out of the window, obviously bored, and the twins and I simply sat enjoying each other’s company and chatting.

“Who wants coffee?” asked Ness, looking for something to do.

“Sounds good,” I said as I went to get up to help her.

“Sit,” she said imperiously. “I’ll do it.” I grinned at her. I guessed that she figured that making coffee for everyone would take up more time if she did it alone. We had spent a lot of time on the jet over the last few weeks, most recently, and least favourably, on the nearly ten-hour flight back from Spain only 2 days ago. She was done with it. It was definitely preferable to driving for ten hours, but the flight was still not an enchanting experience for her.

She made drinks for Dean and Cheryl, and then took ours and Josh and Louise’s orders.

“Don’t forget Gerry,” I said.

“I told you not to spoil the hired help,” called Dean grinning, fully expecting Gerry to, once again, flip him off. There was no reaction. Perhaps he didn’t hear or had his headset on. I couldn’t see more than his shoulder from my position.

Ness made the drinks, handed us ours, and Josh and Louise theirs, before going up into the cockpit to give Gerry his.

“CALEB!” she yelled.

The sound of panic in her voice had both Dean and me on our feet in an instant. Dean, being nearer to the front was beside her before me, and blocked my view of what was going on in the cockpit.

I stood back and waited to find out what was going on.

Dean turned around. “Something’s wrong with Gerry,” he said. “He’s just staring into space.”

“Can I see?” I asked, stepping back to let Dean and Ness get out of my way, and then I entered the cockpit.

Gerry was seated in the pilot’s seat. My first thought was to check our situation. I looked at all the instrumentation and noted that we were on our pre-planned flightpath. I also confirmed that the autopilot had control of the aircraft. As far as we were concerned everything was as it should be. Everything, that was, apart from our pilot.

Gently I examined his mind.

My stomach roiled when I discovered what had happened. Someone had gotten to Gerry and interfered with his mind. They had left some kind of ‘timebomb’ in his head, so that once we were airborne, he would enter a catatonic state. Knowing that I would be on board, and that I would probably be able to undo that, they had removed all of his flying knowledge. Their idea, apparently, was that we wouldn’t notice Gerry’s condition and continue to fly until we ran out of fuel and crashed or, since we didn’t have a pilot on board, we would crash while attempting to land. Either way, evidence of their interference would be obliterated, and the deaths ruled accidental or written off as pilot error.

I searched his memory to see who had done this to him. They’d been cautious, wiping his memories of their interaction, but they slipped up. It was brief, but they had approached him while he was in his car just before he had arrived home. For an instant he had seen the car in his rear-view mirror as it approached. In the drivers’ seat was a blond haired blue eyed boy and, in the passenger seat, Zacharia Everson.

“Bastard,” I cursed.

Once more I looked at the instrumentation. We had about thirty minutes flight time left. I could leave the autopilot in charge of the aircraft for a little while longer.

“Help me get him out of the seat,” I said. “I don’t want him near the controls, just in case there are any other surprises waiting for us.”

I unbuckled Gerry’s harness and, using my TK, pulled him out of the seat. Dean guided, making sure I didn’t bounce him off any sharp surfaces as I levitated him back in the main cabin, and into a seat, where we buckled him in.

I left him in the care of Mary and Amanda. I went back into the cockpit and slid into the left seat.

I scanned the panels and instrumentation. Everything looked familiar and I knew I could fly the plane, theoretically at least. I hadn’t had so much as a single hour of stick time on any aircraft, let alone a fifty million dollar, twenty two ton, twin engine jet.

Dean entered the cockpit and slid into the right seat.

“Can you fly this thing?” he asked.

“Technically,” I said, “yes. I need to get a feel for it though.”

I put on the headset and keyed the button for the intercom to the cabin.

“I need you all to sit down and belt yourselves in,” I said. “I need to take control of the plane while we are up here and see how she feels. It may get a bit bumpy, I’m sorry.” I released the button and turned to Dean.

“We need to let Dianna and Maggie know what happened,” I said, “Just in case. We’re about thirty minutes out, so I’ll make the call. Then I need to spend a few minutes getting a feel for the controls. I’m also going to have to call ATC when we get close and tell them we have an incapacitated pilot.”

“Hold off on that,” he said. “Speak to Maggie first. Then see how you feel flying. Then let’s make the decision.”

I nodded, and pulled my phone out, calling Maggie.

“Caleb,” said Maggie. “I thought you were going up to the ranch.”

“We are,” I said, “but there’s been a bit of a hitch.”

I explained the situation, how Gerry had been attacked by Zacharia and another member of his family, and how he was now unable to fly the plane.

“I can have a pilot on the line with you in fifteen minutes,” she said. “Hang...”

“Maggie,” I said, “that won’t help. I took all Gerry’s flying knowledge just after my birthday. You know the twins bought me flying lessons. Gerry was good enough to let me have everything he knew. I just haven’t had any actual experience. Technically I know what to do. I just need to get a feel for the bird.

“I just wanted you to know what happened, just in case.”

“In case?” she asked. “In case my ass. You get that bird on the ground in one piece and that’s a fucking order!!!”

“Yes ma’am.” I said smiling wryly.

The autopilot beeped and the plane began to bank. We’d reached a waypoint. Once we reached the next turn, it would be time to start our descent.

“I have to go,” I said. “I’ll call you once we’re on the ground.”