Chapter 60: Sisters

Cast list – (as suggested by Theswiss)

Caleb, Jules, Ness, Mary, Amanda, Gracie, Dana, Josh, Louise, Dean Cheryl – if you don’t know who these people are by now – What the actual fuck?

Melanie – Caleb’s half-sister – he found her on the street outside a diner.

Sarah – Caleb’s other half-sister. 18 years old just finished school.

E (Ephraim) – Caleb’s half-brother 20 years old and at PCC (NOT PSU)

Brian and Carrie – Sarah’s parents.

Edgar – Sarah’s little brother.

Connie – E’s girlfriend.

Tom Pritchard – HOA Nazi Neighbour.

Gerry the Gulfstream Pilot

Arnie, Son of Danny the flight school owner – Arnie is 17, just shy of his 18^th birthday.

Dianna – The twins’ grandmother – you should know this.

Maggie Caleb’s great great grandmother – weren’t you paying attention?

John – Caleb’s uncle – who turned out to be his biological father.

Brian, Sarah’s dad, looked at me, a mix of fear and anger in his eyes.

“What did you do?” he asked, angrily.

I ignored him for the moment, and Compelled Sarah into sleep. I had no idea what was going on, but whatever it was, having her screaming the place down, wasn’t helping. I had visions of a SWAT team raid on our house called in by Pricktard. Any excuse!

Sarah slumped back, her eyes closed.

“What did you do?” asked Brian again, getting more agitated.

“I sent her to sleep,” I said. “I don’t know what happened, and until I do, she’s best off out of it. Give me a moment to check her over and find out what happened.”

He glared at me for a moment, but Carrie slid her arm around his waist. “Brian,” she said. “This wasn’t Caleb. You saw him do exactly the same to Sarah as he did to E and Melanie. This has something to do with her powers. Let him figure it out.”

Brian looked at Carrie, and then nodded reluctantly.

Since she was asleep, I couldn’t really ask Sarah what the problem was, so instead, I took her memories of the last few minutes. It took me a second to assimilate them, and I winced.

“No wonder,” I said. Brian and Carrie both looked at me, nervously.

“What?” asked Brian.

“It seems,” I said, “that Sarah is a Telepath. Or at least that’s one of her powers. I suspect she’ll have Compulsion as well, but we’ll figure that out later. She’s quite a sensitive one too by the look of things. Imagine suddenly being dropped in the middle of the stadium on the day of the Super Bowl. Imagine the noise. My Telepathy isn’t as powerful as hers seems to be, but if I drop my shielding, I can hear people from up to a half mile away. She just got overwhelmed is all.

“Now I know the problem, I’ll show her how to block them out, so she won’t hear them.”

I figured the easiest way to do that, would be to simply give her the memories of how I’d managed to block out all the extraneous minds. My Telepathy had come on slowly, and so I’d had the opportunity to figure things out. I shuddered to think how I would have coped had what happened to her, happened to me.

Once I’d given her the knowledge I sat beside her on the lawn chair, taking both her hands in mine.

“I’m going to wake her now,” I said.

I released my Compulsion and her eyes opened. Immediately they widened and I saw panic start to spread once again as the noise assaulted her.

“Sarah,” I said firmly. “Block it out. You know how, just quiet them down.”

I saw her open her mouth to say she didn’t know how, but then the realization hit that she did, and I saw the relief in her face as she put her blocks in place and her mind was quiet again.

She took a shuddering breath. “That was awful,” she said. “Who were all those people? I could hear screams, shouts, people talking muttering and mumbling. It was like I was being haunted.”

“Well,” I said, “it seems that you have Telepathy, and you are quite strong with it too. What you were hearing was everybody, I guess, within about half to three quarters of a mile radius. Not their deepest thoughts, but their surface thoughts. Do you remember me saying that people are shouting out their immediate thoughts all the time?”

She nodded.

I shrugged. “You just needed to learn how to block them out,” I said. “I’m sorry I had to Compel you, but I didn’t know what was going on and I thought the kindest thing to do would be to let you sleep until I figured it out.”

“And how did I know how to block them out?” she asked. “I’d never have figured that out, not with all the noise.”

“I gave you the knowledge,” I said. “Then when you woke, and needed it, it was there for you. Now we know that you have Telepathy, shall we see if you have Compulsion as well?”

She bit her lip for a moment and then looked at Louise.

“Is it okay?” she asked.

“Sure,” Louise said, smiling warmly at her.

“What do I do?” she asked me.

“Just concentrate on Louise,” I said, “and think of what you’d like her to do.”

Sarah’s forehead creased and after a moment, Louise stood and went into the kitchen, returning a moment later with a glass of water. She handed it to Sarah.

“Thank you,” Sarah said, taking a grateful sip.

“How did that feel?” I asked her.

“Kind of weird,” she said. “It kind of made me feel ... powerful.”

“And there’s the lure of the powers,” I told her. “You can see how easy it would be to get into the habit of abusing them, of abusing those around you. Like I said to E and Melanie, try not to get stressed over the next couple of days, and not to lose your temper. We know you have two powers, let’s see if you develop any others.

“Now, let’s take a break for a while. I, for one, need a drink.”

I left Sarah on the lawn chair, with her parents, and went into the kitchen.

“Will you be showing us how to use our powers like you did Sarah?” asked Melanie, who’d followed me in.

“Some,” I replied, “but not all. Your powers, and how they work for you, may be different than how mine work for me. I’m what Jeevan calls ‘a dreamer’ which means I imagine an outcome and my powers do the figuring out how. Other people use their powers differently. If I just dumped my memories into you about how I used my powers, it might confuse you, and make it that you have to work harder trying to unlearn the knowledge I gave you. Also, we don’t know you have the same powers as me. Since I don’t have PK or CK, I can’t really show you my memories of using them, if indeed those are two of your powers.

“Finally, having the knowledge is not the full picture. You still have to train with them. For example, I could give you the memories of a world champion power lifter, and you could know the technique for lifting heavy weights. No doubt your capacity to lift would be improved, but you still wouldn’t be able to lift very heavy weights until you trained your body.”

Melanie nodded. “That makes sense.”

“I also think you should start to learn a martial art, like I did,” I said to her. “It helps to discipline your mind, and also gives you options other than using your powers. Remember we are watched closely and almost any use of our powers, particularly Compulsion, will be challenged.”

“Okay,” she said. “Will you teach me?”

“To start with,” I said. “But I think it would be good for you to go to Kevin’s Dojo too.”

The kitchen door opened, and Brian walked in. Melanie looked at him and smiled. “I’ll see you back out there,” she said to me, before going back into the yard, closing the door behind her.

“I just wanted to say I’m sorry,” Brian said without preamble. “I saw Sarah in distress and...”

“And you acted as any dad would,” I said smiling at him. “It’s perfectly understandable. Everyone is concentrating on the new power users, on Melanie, E and Sarah; but few are thinking about how this is affecting those around them. It’s a completely different world, that you have to get used to. Everything you knew about life, all your rules, morals and norms are being, or are about to be turned upside down. When did you find out about powers?”

“Carrie told me about them before we got married,” he said. “She wanted me to know what I was taking on with Sarah. Sarah was just under a year old when Carrie and I met. I’d just mustered out and believe it or not we met in a Wal-Mart. Sarah was bawling for some reason and Carrie was trying to calm her, while getting her groceries, and she looked frazzled.

“She’d dropped something on the floor and was trying to soothe the baby, and pick up whatever it was she’d dropped. I asked if she needed any help, thinking she’d ask me to pick up the dropped stuff, but instead she just thrust Sarah at me and said ‘Hold her for a minute.’

“Sarah was stunned into silence at being given to a complete stranger, and she just stared at me. That was when I fell in love, with Sarah. When it was time for her to go back to her mother, she didn’t want to. She cried and cried and so I ended up following Carrie around, while she shopped, carrying Sarah. Sarah eventually fell asleep in my arms, and I was able to load her into her baby seat in Carrie’s car. Since I’d not been able to do any of my own shopping while I was there, Carrie invited me to have dinner with them ... and you can guess the rest.

“When things started getting serious between Carrie and I, she told me about John, about powers and how Sarah would probably have them. She showed me Sarah’s ‘birthmark’ and told me what it was. I was also visited by Maggie, who explained things more fully and warned me what would happen if I were to tell anyone about powers and power users.

“To be honest, I’ve been dreading her twenty-first for years. I’ve been scared that coming into her powers will change her, and I’ll lose my baby girl.”

I shook my head. “Judging by what I saw from Sarah, that’s never going to happen,” I told him. “She loves you more than I think you realize, and she would be devastated if your opinion of her were to change because of what her powers are going to make of her.”

“Dean told me about what you did,” he said suddenly.

I smiled a little wryly. “Which part?” I asked. “Dean and I have been through a lot.”

“He told me how you saved both his girls,” he said. “He told me how you wouldn’t entertain Ness until she was of age, despite her ‘advances.’ He told me that you were a good man, who he’s entrusted his daughters to, without a moment’s hesitation.”

“For a while,” I told him, “my relationship with my own parents went through a rocky stage. Dean and Cheryl became like my second parents, closer even. Even now that my Mom and Dad and I are back to where we were, Dean, Cheryl and I are still very very close, and they both seem to have adopted the twins as well, and they will, no doubt, take on Melanie, although they only met her yesterday.

“I will look out for Sarah, whether she lives here or not. I’ll train her as much as I can, and where I can’t personally train her, if she has powers I don’t, I’ll find someone who can. That’s always assuming that you don’t tell me to stay away.”

“And if I do?” he asked.

“Then neither she nor you will ever see me again,” I said. “Dean is going to organize his accountant to pay her tuition and we can discuss her expenses and allowance before you go. I’ll have to hand her off to Maggie for her to organize training for her powers, and also for her supervision.”

“You’d do that?” he asked.

I shrugged. “If that’s what SHE wants,” I said. “Then yes. Your opinion is important, but not as important as hers. No doubt she will be guided by you though.”

“The thing is,” he said, “I don’t think that is what she wants. She’s excited to get to know you, and has talked about nothing other than moving in here to start school. She even made an appointment with the dean at PSU for Monday to talk to him about starting there. Will knowing you help or hinder her application?”

“Help,” I said. “I hope. The dean knows who I am. As does the Student Counsellor. I’ve helped her out with a couple of patients, with my ‘Hypnosis’. Perhaps that’s something Sarah could continue to do – to earn herself some spending money, if she wants. Not that she needs to, but it would be a good way to train both her Compulsion and her Telepathy, which is why I started doing it in the first place.

“I’ll likely get Melanie involved too.”

“What about E?” he asked.

“He could,” I said. “But you need something more than Compulsion to be really effective. We’re going to have to find other ways for him to train his Compulsion, if it turns out to be his only power.”

“Why is all this falling on your shoulders?” he asked. “Surely it’s up to the...” he paused trying to remember “ ... the council?”

“For E,” I said. “You are right. He was due to have his amulet removed in no more than a month in any case. They would have had to take him on. Melanie and Sarah, though, are different. Melanie wouldn’t have had hers removed until next year, and Sarah another three years. I kicked up such a fuss about the amulets and being lied to all my life – that the council decided to stop using them, and Maggie told me I could take Sarah’s amulet off, but that I would then be responsible for her.”

“And didn’t you think that we should have been consulted about it?” he asked.

“Sorry,” I said, “but no. As Norms you have no idea what it’s like to have powers, to have to live with them, to have to come to terms with the fact that everything you’ve been brought up to believe, all your morals and ethics, do not really apply to you. You get hit with this at exactly the same time as you get your powers.

“This was an archaic system put in place by a family who started out with good intentions, wishing to protect Norm society from being abused by those with power, but as they say; ‘the road to hell... ‘

“In the end it was just about control. For them to keep control of us. That control is no more. And now ALL power users in the bloodline are having their amulets removed, and are being taught about their powers, and what they mean to them. No other bloodline in the US, or in the world even, used such devices. They were, and are, an abuse.

“How upset was Sarah that she didn’t get into PSU?” I asked.

“Devastated,” he said. “She worked so hard.”

“And how much responsibility does the amulet bear for her not making it?” I said. “Up until mine was removed my GPA was a solid 3.4 and I worked my ass off. Now I’m cruising and my GPA is 4.0. I’ll grant that I have figured out how to use my powers to help, but that only just assists with memory. My comprehension, logic, and problem solving are improved incredibly by not having that mental anchor weighing me down.

“You wait, I’ll guarantee that if she puts half the work in that she did in school, her scores will rocket.”

He sighed. “I suppose you are right,” he said. “Although, from this angle you seem to have taken a decision about Sarah that perhaps was not yours to make, you were fighting a larger battle that needed to be fought.”

“Let me ask you,” I said. “I guess they told you about the amulet, about how it was necessary to keep both you and Sarah safe until she was able to control her powers. Did they tell you that it would affect her otherwise, make it difficult for her at school, cause her to have to work much harder to achieve less?”

He shook his head.

“I’d have been dead against it,” he said. “She was already wearing it when I met her. It seemed a reasonable precaution.”

“And I’ll bet they didn’t tell you about the oath either?” I asked.

“They did say,” he said, “that there was a traditional oath to swear to the council when she reached twenty-one.”

“Not exactly an oath,” I said. “Or at least it wasn’t.” I went on to explain the nature of the old oath and the binding. He looked sick.

“They were going to do that to her?” he asked.

“They’ve been doing it to us for generations,” I said. “I managed to end it.”

“Why you?” he asked. “What makes you so special?”

I shrugged. “I can’t answer that,” I said. “They tell me that I am the most powerful user that they’ve ever seen, although I don’t have a full set of powers, I’m still more powerful, even than those who do. My amulet failed before they were ready, and I came into my powers early. Because of this I had time to figure stuff out. If it hadn’t, I’d likely have been bullied into taking the oath as they took off my amulet and I’d be as much a slave as all the others.

“Fortunately for me, the amulet failed, and I had time to discover my powers, and consider what was going on and what I was going to do about it. By the time I was twenty-one, I’d found out what the oath was, and there was no way in hell I was going to accept that.”

“I don’t blame you,” he said.

“So,” I asked. “Is Sarah moving in?”

He sighed. “Every instinct is screaming at me to keep her as far away from you, and this place, as possible,” he said. “Yet if half of what Dean says about you is true, then I can’t think of anywhere, other than at home, that she’d be safer than with you. I could issue all the usual – ‘if you hurt my daughter’ – warnings, but there wouldn’t be any point. Again, if half of what Dean says about your powers is true, I doubt I’d be able to carry any of them through.”

“That didn’t stop Dean issuing the same threats,” I chuckled.

“He’s a jarhead,” he said. “They don’t care whether something is possible or not, if they decide to do it – they’ll go for it anyway.”

I laughed. “You might be right at that,” I said.

The back door opened, and Sarah came in. “Are you coming back out?” she asked us both. “We’re all waiting for you.”

Brian looked at me. “Did you get your drink?” he asked. I shook my head, and pulled a beer from the fridge.

“Want one?” I asked and he nodded.

I passed him a beer and grabbed an extra few just in case anyone else wanted more, then we went back out onto the deck. Dean and E both accepted fresh ones, everyone else declined. I left them on the table in case anyone changed their minds.

“Okay then,” I said to the three new power users. “The first thing you need to learn, is how to shield yourself...”

I’d decided that simply dropping knowledge into their heads was a bad idea. It would work for certain things, but there was a good reason why my trainer had chosen not to do that with me for everything, and had spent time training me the old fashioned way. I did suggest to all of them that they should learn a martial art, to help them with their mental discipline, and to Melanie and Sarah that they needed to work on their physical fitness. Neither was overweight or particularly unfit, but I knew just how hard using powers was on the body, and the fitter they were the easier it would go for them.

We worked until Ness asked me for assistance making dinner, and for a couple of hours after we had eaten and cleared up. By the time E, Connie, Sarah, and the rest of her family were ready to leave, they were all capable of building a reasonable shield. I hadn’t told them all of my secrets yet, but they would all be able to keep wilds out with no problems whatsoever. All they needed to do now was to practice, and ensure that they could keep them up, even when they were asleep. I also told them about playing a video game, and why. Sarah’s parents gave me a sceptical look but I ignored it.

“I’m going to speak to Maggie,” I said to E as he and Connie were preparing to leave. “I’m going to ask her about a trainer for you. I could do it but finding time when we are both available, especially since you live a little way away might be problematic. Since you were due to ‘emerge’ anyway around about now, there must have been some arrangements in the works for you.

He cocked his head to the side a little. “I thought that you were going to train me?” he said.

“I will help,” I said, “but there are other considerations too. If, as looks likely, your only power is Compulsion, then hanging around with a bunch of Empaths, might be uncomfortable for you, and Connie. I definitely want us to keep in touch, and be a part of each other’s lives, but I don’t want to cause you guys any issues with our lifestyle.”

Connie looked at me. “You think we’ll get sucked in?” she asked, E sniggered a little at the double entendre.

“Sadly,” I said, “yes. Our Empathy does have an effect on people around us, making them less inhibited and more likely to want to get intimate with us. It’s not something we can control, nor is it something irresistible, but it’s definitely there. I’m just concerned about your relationship with each other if something were to happen. E has power and can shield himself against it to some degree. You, Connie, don’t, and would be more vulnerable.

“I see,” he said. “Speak to Maggie then about my training, but at the same time, don’t be a stranger. I’d love to keep in touch with you, Sarah and Melanie.

“You have a very strange family dynamic,” said Connie looking up at me. “But they, you, are all really nice people. It would be a shame to lose touch.

There were handshakes, and waves and hugs for Sarah and Melanie from both E and Connie. Connie came and hugged me too.

“I feel it,” she said quietly as she embraced me. “You are definitely a dangerous man, Caleb Stott.”

I smiled at her gently as I disengaged and stepped back.

“Goodnight Connie,” I said as she slipped her arm around her boyfriend.

“So,” Sarah said after E and Connie had left “When can I move in?”

“That’s up to you,” I said. “Your dad says you have an appointment with the dean on Monday, I presume your mom and dad will be taking you to that?”

She nodded.

“Then let’s see what happens at that appointment.” I told her. “Once you have a start date for PSU we can arrange a time for you to get your stuff moved in. I could come over with my truck if all your stuff won’t fit in the car. What about your boyfriend?”

“My boyfriend?” she asked looking puzzled.

“Are you going to bring him over and introduce him?” I asked.

She pulled a face.

“Is it really bad that I hadn’t even thought about him through all of this?”

I laughed. “Not really,” I assured her. “There has been so much going on in your life. Does he even know that you are planning on going to PSU, or moving in here? Does he even know about powers?”

She shook her head.

“He’s on vacation with his folks, due back mid-week,” she said. “His folks are not overly keen on me. We were at school together, but he was always much brighter than me, and his parents don’t think I was good enough for him. Also, they are quite rich, so the poor dumb girl isn’t good enough for their little boy.”

“You’re not dumb,” I assured her. “You’ll see that when you start studying. As a Telepath I can show you a way to make sure that you remember anything and everything you ever read, see, hear or learn. I barely attend classes anymore, but I have a GPA of 4.0.”

“Can you come on Monday too?” she asked after a moment. “I’m scared that the Dean will look at my scores and tell me I’m not good enough to go to PSU.”

“What time is your appointment?” I asked.

“Eleven,” she replied, and I nodded.

“I’ll meet you outside his office,” I said, glancing meaningfully at Mary, who nodded. She’d have to rearrange one of my hypnotherapy appointments, but that wouldn’t be a problem.

“I don’t get it,” said Ness as we were relaxing on the deck after Sarah and her family had left. She was sitting on my lap, with Jules, the twins were either side of me. Melanie was sitting on the deck, her back against my legs. Cheryl and Dean Josh and Louise were sitting with us. Gracie and Dana had retired to their room.

“What don’t you get?” I asked looking down at her.

“We all agree that John is an asshole, yes?” she said. I chuckled.

“Okay,” I said. “We’ll stipulate that.”

“How is it that you all turned out so well then?” she said. “You turned out amazing, as did Melanie, E seems like a really nice guy, and Sarah is lovely. You would have thought that one of you would have inherited his character flaws surely?”

“It’s an old argument,” Cheryl said, “Nature versus nurture. Are people’s characters genetically inherited from their parents, or is it their upbringing that matters?”

“You could possibly claim that for me,” I said, “And Sarah. Possibly even for E, although I haven’t met any of his family. But poor Melanie lost out on both fronts, and yet she’s still wonderful.”

Melanie rubbed her hand up and down my leg, acknowledging my words.

“I’m sure there’s probably enough material for a doctorate research study in the four of us,” I continued, “but perhaps it is nature. Perhaps John is the aberration. We all inherited Stott DNA, and maybe Nathan, my dad, shows our true characteristics.”

“Maybe,” said Ness thoughtfully, leaning her head on my shoulder. “Sarah’s boyfriend sounds like an asshole.”

I laughed at that. “How can you even say that?” I asked.

“If he lets his family look down on his girlfriend,” she justified, “Then he’s an asshole.”

“He’s still a kid,” I said. “He can’t help his parents’ behaviour. Why don’t we reserve judgement until we meet him?”

“I suppose,” she said.

I stayed out on the deck for another half hour, then decided it was time for me to go to bed.

I was in the shower, when I felt the wash of cold air on my back. I smiled. I wondered when she’d pluck up the courage to try again, it seemed that tonight was the night.

I turned to see Melanie standing behind me. She was naked, of course, having joined me in the shower. I took a second to look at her. She was stunning. If you were being really picky, you could possibly say that she was still a little on the skinny side, I certainly wasn’t into the ‘anorexic’ look, but she had filled out beautifully in the time that she’d been with us. Her dark hair fell to just below her jaw, and framed her beautiful face. I’d been surprised, given how tough a life she’d had, that she didn’t have more marks and scars on her body, but the few that had been there when I’d first found her, I’ taken care of, and now her skin was flawless.

She flushed a little as I looked at her.

“Well?” she said, twisting her hip slightly as if she were about to perform a twirl for my inspection.

“Beautiful,” I murmured. “You are, perhaps, the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

She snorted. “Liar,” she said without heat. Then she paused. “But thanks. A girl likes to feel appreciated.”

“It’s not a lie,” I said. “You are beautiful, and not just physically. I meant what I said earlier. Given what happened to you there would be plenty of reasons for you to be angry at people, or at life, but you’re not at all like that. I honestly don’t know how you managed to turn into such a wonderful person. I’m just so happy to have found you.

She looked up at me. “Really?” she asked. “Are you really happy to have found me?”

I frowned a little. “Why would you even ask that?”

“I guess I just need a little reassurance from time to time,” she said. “You have four beautiful, wonderful fiancées. I can hardly compete with them.”

“There is no competition,” I said. “We all love you, and you are just as beautiful as each of them.”

“You love me?” she asked, a little wistfully.

I looked into her eyes. “Yes,” I said with conviction. “I love you.”

“Then show me,” she said pulling me to her, and pressing her wet, slippery nakedness up against me.

I held her for a moment, but then gently pulled away. Melanie opened her mouth to say something but I beat her to it.

“If you truly want me to show you how much I love you,” I said, “then I will. If you’ll let me?”

Melanie looked puzzled for a moment, but as I manoeuvred her under the shower and began to wash her hair, a look of understanding dawned on her face, and she smiled at me.

I spent the next twenty minutes exploring her body, with my eyes, hands, and occasionally lips and tongue under the auspices of washing her. After I washed and rinsed her hair, I turned her around and away from me and soaped her back and neck, massaging her under the spray of warm water. She moaned in appreciation of the attention as I worked my way down her back. I cupped the now almost perfect cheeks of her ass, massaging them and sliding my fingers up and down her cleft gently circling around her ass. She shamelessly pressed back against me trying to get my fingers to penetrate her, but I wasn’t ready for that yet.

Once I’d finished her back, I turned her around and started on her front, gently but firmly washing her chest and stomach, paying more attention to her breasts than was strictly necessary. She had filled out well and they were an almost perfect B cup, without a hint of sag, her pink nipples standing proud in the centre of her puckered areola.