Chapter 21: Loose ends

Once I had most everything under control with the other telepaths I had one more important task to complete. My former friends and family deserved to know what had really happened and that Danny and Melody were not missing, but were in fact, dead.

They also needed to be protected.

I called Sam, my former father, and told him I needed to talk with him, Matty and Betty about Danny and Melody. I asked him to ensure Sarah and Jason were there.

I arrived at my old home, knocked on the door and Sam let me in, leading me to the family room. Matty was there sitting on the love seat, Sam sat down next to her. Betty was there also seated in one of the overstuffed chairs. Jason was sitting on the sofa along side Sarah, as lovely as ever but with a suspicious look on her face.

Next to them was April. She was alive - and she was a beautiful sight to see. Seeing her alive and apparently healthy filled me with joy. I wanted to rush to her and take her in my arms declaring my undying love - but I couldn't. I knew that the change I was making within the Syndicate would gain me many powerful enemies. I couldn't put her at risk again.

Love wasn't for someone like me. I couldn't reveal myself to her or to any of the others.

I had given Sam a business card that identified me as being affiliated with the company. He recognized the name as the one Danny had 'worked' for and had allegedly gone postal on. I dabbled just enough to ensure that my age wouldn't be problem for anyone present.

"Before I begin, I need to let you know that anything said here today is confidential and will in no way alter the public perception of what has happened. Now, I want you to prepare yourselves for some bad news." I paused for a few seconds. A brief scan told me that all I was really doing was confirming what they all thought anyway, "Danny and Melody died the night they disappeared." They all reacted in their own way. Jason sat stone-faced with his arm around Sarah who dropped her head in silent prayer. April got a distant look in her eye but said nothing. Matty and Betty began to weep and Sam, through his own grief, tried to comfort Matty. I paused again for several minutes to let them come to terms with my disclosure.

"Before I tell you any more, you should know the truth about Danny." I turned to Jason, "Jason, tell everyone Danny's secret."

He looked at me with shock on his face. All eyes were upon him. All eyes except April, she looked at me. She knew more than Jason, she knew the real truth and she also knew what Jason believed. I guessed she was trying to decide if I had asked Jason to tell what he knew because that was all I wanted the others to know, or if it was because it was all I knew.

Jason told them everything he knew - about Danny waking up in the hospital with mental powers, about his crime fighting and about the other telepaths.

Eyes widened at the revelation. I picked up the story.

"So when April disappeared, Danny suspected what had happened. April was rescued and Melody was kidnapped in retaliation. In trying to rescue her, they were both killed."

Betty had become angry, "what did that little bastard do to my Melody?"

"Now Betty," Sam said trying to calm her.

"Don't you 'now Betty' me, Sam. Your little Svengali brainwashed my baby into doing God knows what and it is his fault she is dead." She stood as she spoke, storming into the kitchen, returning with a can of Coke. She angrily popped the top and sat back down.

"I don't believe that." Sarah said, becoming angry herself. "Melody loved Danny, I know she did."

"He brainwashed her into loving him." Betty snapped.

Sarah was about to argue the point further but I stopped her with a raised hand.

"What are you holding, Betty?" I asked her calmly.

She looked at the Coke in her hand, "It's a coke."

"Why aren't you drinking it?"

She looked puzzled. "I... I don't want to... I don't drink... soda pop..."

"Then why did you get it?"

"I... I don't... you did this?"

"I did to you what Danny did to Melody. He did manipulate her into offering him sex. But just as you went and got the Coke but didn't drink it because you really didn't want it, Danny didn't make Melody do anything she didn't want to. Their love was real. Sadly, if he had done what you accuse him of, Melody would be alive since the rules governing telepaths say that anyone enslaved by one is off limits to another. If she was his love slave, they couldn't have touched her."

Betty sat there and the room was silent for several minutes while everyone let the information sink in. Her face softened and she sat the Coke on the end table and looked at Sam and Matty. "I'm sorry, I know Danny was a good kid. I just..."

"We understand Betty." Sam said, Matty nodded.

"In case you were wondering, the telepaths who were behind Danny and Melody's deaths have been killed. I represent a group that has taken control in this area. We are trying to change the way things are done, less interference with non-telepaths, interactions that are beneficial rather than destructive."

"Where were you before?" Sam asked bluntly.

I needed to word this carefully. I didn't want to lie about this, but I couldn't tell him that 'before' I had been living upstairs. "There have always been telepaths who felt this way, regrettably, it was Danny and Melody's deaths that prompted the action that has been taken. We have decided that it is time we stop being good men doing nothing."

April studied me quietly. She had a look in her eye I couldn't interpret.

"I came here today because I felt you deserved to know the truth." - well most of it anyway.

I also wanted to ensure no telepaths would ever intrude on their lives again. I sat a pile of my business cards on the coffee table.

"As a precaution against any further retaliation, I want each of you to take one of these cards. You need to watch each other closely. Stay in contact often. If there are any odd changes of behavior, unexplained disappearances or gaps in memory you need to call me right away."

I stood. "I am afraid that after I leave, though you will remember everything I have told you, you will find it impossible to discuss it except amongst yourselves. I don't like doing this, but it must be this way."

I walked out, with a lump in my throat and an ache in my heart, leaving them to live out their lives in peace.

I was halfway to my car when a voice stopped me.

"It's you, isn't it?" April said, softly.

Her voice froze me in my tracks. I again had a powerful urge to rush to her and take her in my arms. I wanted her. I needed her desperately. I swallowed and tried to control my voice.

"I'm not who you think I am." I stated flatly without turning. I couldn't bear to look into her dark sensuous eyes; I didn't think I could resist the powerful urge to hold her.

"Yes, you are. I would know you anywhere. I prayed you would come back to me. Don't leave me again, Danny."

I couldn't do this without facing her. She had earned that much. I steeled myself to what I must do and turned. "My name is Wesley. And I am involved in something very dangerous. If Danny were here, do you really think he would risk having you end up the way Melody did?"

"I can take care of myself." There was desperation in her eyes. "There has been nothing but emptiness since I lost the two of you. Danny... or William... or whoever you are... I need you."

I continued to look into her eyes. They were frantic, pleading. I turned back towards my car.

"My name is Wesley." I stepped to my car and opened the door. The door was suddenly ripped from my grasp and slammed shut. I spun to face her; she was still standing almost ten feet away.

She had used telekinesis.

"I said that I can take care of myself." She said as tears began to fall.

My mind whirled. Had she been a latent? The beating she took... But her telekinesis was far too powerful... When I tried to heal her... my consciousness had tried to take over her body... the powers were transferred into her... When I pulled myself out they must have remained... But I still had my powers... Of course, the transfer of power didn't necessarily mean that the power left the old body... the point should have been moot... the old body was supposed to be dead.

So April had just as much power as I had. That meant she was very powerful. She 'could' take care of herself...

I no longer held myself back, I stepped towards her opening my arms and she rushed into them. She hugged me tightly. Not an embrace of lust, but one seeking comfort and love. I hugged her back the same way.

"I missed you so much," she managed, between sobs.

"I missed you to sweetheart." I whispered burying my face in her hair, drinking in her scent.

When we broke our embrace I looked into her eyes. "So, what do we do now?"

"I'm not letting you out of my sight." She said, "Give me two seconds."

She ran back to the house, Sarah was watching from the porch. April spoke to her. Sarah seemed to argue with her, but April turned back to me, Sarah tried to grab her arm but April pulled free and ran back to me. I led her around to the passenger side of the car. As she was getting in I looked up to see Sarah studying us. I wondered what she thought, but was loath to invade her mind again. It tugged at my heart to have to leave her in the dark, but it was for the best. I knew I would never see her again.

We drove away. She sat quiet for several minutes.

"I have so much I want to ask you." She finally said, "But first I need to know what happened to Melody." She was somber and staring straight ahead.

"She was killed."

"You know what I mean, Danny. What did those bastards do to her?"

"Call me Wesley, and there's no reason to go into it."

She turned to me, her voice rose angrily, "The reason is because I love her and I tried to stop them... to protect her... and I failed. Now, God Damn It, you tell me what they did to her - no, you share your memory of it with me. Send it to my mind. What did you see when you found her. And don't try to change anything, I deserve the truth."

I looked at her. We had shared a mind for a short while and she would know if I tried to send her a false image just as I knew that she was serious about knowing what had happened. She needed the truth just as I would have needed it. By trying to keep it from her, whom was I really trying to protect?

So I did it. Finding the memory was easy. It was burned into my brain. Even without my perfect fucking memory it would be forever burned into my brain.

I sent it to her. She gasped.

"Oh my God!" She sobbed, "Those fuckers!"

I pulled into a parking lot and took her in my arms and let her cry.

"I should have fought harder... I should have made her run out the back... Oh God, Melody... How could anyone do that to her?"

"Shhh..." I rocked her in my arms, "It wasn't your fault, April. I saw how courageously you fought; you couldn't have done anything else. There were too many of them." Her crying lessened after a long while. Then I felt her stiffen.

"You said those responsible had been killed. It was the guy who kidnapped me that did that to her wasn't it?"

"Yes, his name was Bob."

"Tell me how he died."

I sent her that memory as well.

After seeing the images in her mind, she sat quietly thinking for several minutes. Then she gave a nod.

"Good."

Rule number two, Larry - don't piss off April.

I pulled back out onto the road, April stayed under my arm.

"I also want to know what you did to me. You saved me that night. Somehow I know you did. And I know you had to do something desperate in order to do it. I have some... very odd memories - memories that don't seem to be mine. Is that how I got this... power?"

I thought about what to tell her. She already knew about the Jinni and my wishes. I decided that I would never again lie to someone I loved.