Chapter 1

Dave eagerly stepped out of the car and went through a few stretching exercises to loosen up, since he hadn't been able to move very much recently. The Adams family started their road trip at midnight to take advantage of the light traffic. His father had worked the graveyard shift the previous night, and was still in that rhythm. So staying awake hadn't been problem for him, and only short refuelling stops were made until eight-thirty.

They finally arrived in Edmonton after a harrowing sixteen hours. If his dad hadn't had such machine-like stamina, they couldn't have made the trip in one day, even with his mother eventually taking over to drive the rest of the way.

Their arrival had been noticed, and moments later his youngest cousin came barrelling out the front door of her home, wearing a smile that had grown more brilliant over the course of a year. He hadn't seen her since the previous summer, when they all attended the World Scout Jamboree together in The Netherlands, and a spark of lust shot through him as she bounded across the front lawn, towards the driveway. She was still incredibly slender, but her tight tank-top and mini-skirt revealed that her figure had further gained some womanly definition, and she had to be a solid B-cup now.

She reached Dave first, hugging him and planting a quick kiss on his cheek before rushing off to his father, mother and Ed. Frank was asleep in the car, but Erica soon spotted him and stalked over to his relined seat. Then, in the blink of an eye, she had straddled his lap and was tickling him furiously.

Frank woke up with a hoarse squawk and cocked his fist back to deliver a vicious punch, probably thinking that he was being picked on by one of his older brothers. But he regained his awareness just in time to realise that it was Erica, and chose to tickle her back instead, eliciting shrieking laughter from her in response.

Dave grinned. Those two weren't nearly as good at hiding the sexual tension between them as their older siblings had been. Maybe that was the case because the tension was still unresolved. Ed and Dahlia had opened up to each other before their thirteenth birthdays. Frank and Erica hadn't had the chance to do so because there hadn't been a joint Christmas holiday celebration the previous winter, but Dave didn't think that was the reason.

Ed was even more emotionally advanced for his age than Dave was, so he had more easily been able to deal with the feelings his raging hormones were giving him. Frank, on the other hand, was the most normal of the three brothers when it came to the emotional maturity of teenaged boys, and he was remarkably inept when it came to dealing with girls.

Having heard the front door creaking again, Dave turned around and saw his divinely beautiful cousin Dahlia leaning in the doorway. She was clad in a tight crop-top, under which she obviously wore no bra since her nipples were clearly visible, and a pair of Daisy Dukes. It was an incredibly arousing sight, and Dave felt little uncomfortable with getting this excited. Part of that discomfort stemmed from the fact that he knew she was Ed's girl, which made her off limits even in his imagination.

The other part stemmed from the fact that—if he was brutally honest with himself—he though she was prettier than Iris, and even his Aunt Veronica and cousin once removed, Acacia. If he had to paraphrase it with a hundred point grading system, ninety-five was the minimum goddess score and the three older women would all score above that far as looks went. They each lost one point for being too tall, another for lacking the X-factor needed for perfection, and a varying number of points for other minor issues. But Dahlia wouldn't grow to be as tall as they were, and the exotic combination of her shiny raven locks and violet eyes decorating her delicate features made her the goddess of beauty among other goddesses.

He hoped Iris would never ask him if he though Dahlia was prettier than she was, because he wouldn't be able to lie convincingly enough to fool her. He had told her that Veronica was a smidgen hotter than she was, but she hadn't been offended by that. Veronica wasn't potential competition, after all. But hearing that a girl within his dating range was prettier could elicit a different reaction, even though he only loved Iris.

Dave thoughts were interrupted when Dahlia started gliding towards the driveway. The way she moved couldn't be described as mere walking, for it was far too graceful, and probably the by-product of her classical ballet and rhythmic gymnastics training. He shoulders were drawn back and her chest pushed forward, presenting her gravity defying boobs to those lucky enough to witness them.

Ed met her halfway, and she threw her arms around his shoulders while he wrapped his around her middle and lifted her up. She then wrapped her legs around his hips, and half a heartbeat later they were locked in a deep kiss, seemingly trying to lick each other's tonsils.

Seeing them like that caused a dull ache in Dave's intestines. He hadn't seen Iris for almost a year either, and mail and phone calls were a poor substitute. He craved her touch and smell like a junkie craved his next fix, and he missed the feel of her legs wrapped around him as he thrust his cock into the welcoming warmth of her pussy, although he hadn't gone without sex in their year apart. His reputation had followed him to his new, more challenging high school through a girl who had also transferred from his former school.

He had a new fuck buddy before Thanksgiving. Clara was a really cute girl of mostly Ojibwa-Cree ancestry. Keeping to the agreement that it was only for the school year, they parted amicably on the last day of school, though Dave had to admit he missed her a little. She was a tigress in bed, the shower, on the kitchen table, living room couch, or anywhere else they chose to have sex. She was wise beyond her years, nature loving, and gifted with great common sense. In short, he remembered her fondly because her personality and Iris' were so similar.

He had got along well with her with her family too. And her slightly creepy great-grandmother, who had once been visiting when Clara brought him over in the Christmas holidays, had been a little too enthusiastic about his relationship with her great-granddaughter. Seeing it all as a big joke, Clara later told him the old crone had urged her to have his kids because he supposedly had some kind of gift.

Dave had laughed along with Clara, but a few days after his fifteenth birthday, it seemed the crone would have the last laugh. Computers and other appliances sensitive to electromagnetic fields began to malfunction when he drew too close. He also began to attract and repulse objects made of magnetic materials, and, as if being an electromagnet wasn't bad enough, he also became an electrostatic generator. After rendering his mother unconscious with an involuntary discharge, they dressed him in inside-out suits used by electrical workers to keep the electrical charges out. In his case, they had to keep the electricity in.

It took him almost a month to gain control of these odd manifestations, during which time his parents kept him at home under the pretence of a head trauma relapse. They agreed with Dave insofar that his problems were best kept under wraps until they worked out a way to have him discretely examined, and the blabber-mouthy Frank was coerced into keep the secret with horrible threats from his parents.

There had been a few recorded and verifiable instances in history where other people were described manifesting these abilities, but there was no mention of any of them being able to control it. Dave could attract and repulse magnetic objects at will, send sparks flying between his fingertips or power a light-bulb after a little concentration, or completely suppress the electric and magnetic emanations. It wasn't nearly as impressive as what certain comic book characters with magnetic powers could do, but it was enough to render the comic book loving Frank green with envy. And to make matters more frustrating for Frank, he still wasn't allowed to tell anyone about Dave's abilities.

Dave wondered how Iris would react when he told her. He had wanted to tell her immediately, since she had been extremely worried upon hearing his father's cover story. But the fear of rejection held him back. What if she didn't accept him anymore? What if she realised that he could be a danger to her and any children they had? He could control himself most of the time, but when he got angry or upset the magnetism and static electricity tended to flare up very strongly.

He heaved a sigh. Iris was the open-minded type, and he was probably worrying over nothing. But he still couldn't banish that nagging bit of doubt in the back of his mind.

"You made great time, Alan. I wasn't expecting you for at least another hour," Dave heard his Aunt Michelle say. She must have followed her daughters out while he had been lost in his fearful thoughts, and she was already hugging and kissing her younger brother in greeting.

"I shaved off some time by going just over the speed limit in Manitoba, gambling that the cops didn't post a rookie who'd fuss over someone going two kph too fast on an empty road. Once we'd crossed into Saskatchewan, I had Dave unpack and fire up the radar detector, and then we did some real damage," Alan said, wearing a self-satisfied grin.

"Why must men always indulge their inner outlaw?" Michelle asked, rolling her eyes.

"It's the way we're wired."

"Is that your professional opinion, Mr Neurologist?"

"I'm not in any shape to offer professional opinions. I didn't sleep very well in the car. I could use another nap before dinner."

"The downstairs guest-room is yours," Michelle said. Then she sauntered over to Dave and gave him a long hug that wasn't very aunt-like and consequently stirred his loins.

She was almost as well-preserved as the women on his mother's side of the family, and could easily pass for a fit woman in her early thirties. She definitely didn't look like she would turn thirty-nine in October, and though she wasn't in goddess category, she was significantly above average, with a low waist to hip ratio and full, round breasts.

She had passed her wholesome and cute facial features to Erica, and Dahlia had received her raven hair, violet eyes, and the unexplainable light olive skin his father also shared. At least, it was unexplainable in his father and Michelle. Unlike Dahlia's African and Native American blood, they had no ancestry that could justify that Mediterranean tinting, and both resembled their father too much to be the children of a swarthy milkman.

"Hmmm, you've grown quite a bit, haven't you? I'll have to stand on my toes," she said as she did so, delightfully dragging her boobs along his lower chest and gaining just enough height to give him a nipping peck on the jaw that left that patch of skin tingling.

Dave couldn't control his cock's rise, and he berated himself from having postponed his masturbation session. If he had gone ahead with it, he would have been able to control his cock a lot better right now, and his aunt wouldn't have felt his reaction.

"For me? How flattering," she murmured, before breaking the hug and greeting his brothers and mother. Then she looped one arm through her sister-in-law's and gestured for everyone to follow them inside with the other.

"So Bryan went on ahead to Jasper?" Angelica asked

"Yeah, he went ahead with our equipment, and he'll have set everything up by the time we get there tomorrow. Oh, and could we ride with you? That monster my little bother owns can legally carry eight passengers, right?"

"It is not a monster," Alan said gruffly. "And if you're going to ride with us you'll have to take over my driving shift. I've had my fill of long distance driving for a while."

"I thought you said you could out-drive most truckers," Angelica teased.

"I was wrong. A twelve-hour hospital shift isn't nearly as tiring as a twelve-hour drive," Alan said, and promptly yawned after finishing the sentence, as if saying it out loud had reminded him of his fatigue.

"Poor baby," Michelle said. "You'd better go have that nap."