Chapter 5: New life

As Nya and I got into a normal day routine, I called Mr. Hanes and let him know that I had settled into a normal life and was back in school. He told me that he was still worried about his goddaughter Fae Brenner. After the contact that I had been able to arrange, she hadn't been in touch again. I promised him to look into it.

I made a connection to Fae and felt that she was crying. Gently I nudged her mind and she startled. Softly I said, Hi Fae, it's me, Mindcontrol. Your uncle Pat asked me to look you up again. What is wrong?

Oh, hi there. It is nothing, really. I was being stupid, is all. Answered Fae.

I didn't quite believe her and subtly looked a little further. You just have been beaten up by your boyfriend for spilling some beer on his pants? Why do you put up with that? The fucker should be punished for doing something like that. I'll come by to get you out of there.

No, really. It was all my fault. answered a bawling Fae.

Barely 10 minutes later I got out of the public transportation near her location and quickly went to her. Fortunately she had been living close by. She didn't open the door for me, but said through the closed door, "You shouldn't have come here. I'm all right."

I simply opened the door lock with my telekinetic power and got in. Her cheek was bruised and she had been crying a lot. She sniffed, "Please, don't do anything to him. It was my fault. I didn't look where I was going and spilled beer all over him."

"You shouldn't be getting beer for him in the first place. You're not his servant. Now please, come with me. This isn't a good place for you to stay." I was right about that. The place was kept tidy enough, but the walls were riddled with fungi and the paint was almost none existent on any wall or door. The bed was made up well, but it was a single bed and there was a rug on the floor with signs of someone sleeping on it. I could easily make a good educated guess who was sleeping there.

I had just urged Fae to pack her things, which wasn't much anyway, when the door slammed open. A big beefy guy stood in the opening. "Who're you?" he asked angrily.

Calmly I replied, "I'm Dan, a friend of Fae. She's coming with me."

"No, she's not. Tell him Fae, you want to stay here."

I didn't even look at Fae; I knew she would have done everything that he told her. Instead I opened my shield a little and he projected his thoughts like a light house. I was pissed at seeing someone that only cared to have his personal maid around. He was fearful that she would leave and he would lose a whipping dog and servant. He was already thinking of taking it out on her later. I didn't even need to be a telepath to see what his intentions were for me. He was going to hurt me and damage me just a little or maybe even a lot.

I lifted him with my telekinesis and moved him over my head. Then I slammed him into the ceiling and said, "Stay there for a while."

Fae had already finished packing and with a fearful eye shuffled past me to the door. I told her, "Please wait for me outside while I have a few words with him."

Fae did as I asked and I closed the door after her. I dropped the asshole back to the floor and as he recovered from the fall I moved in closer. I whispered in his ear, "Don't you ever try to contact her again. If you even see her, turn around and run. She doesn't need anyone like you around. If you don't do what I ask, I'll come looking for you. I'll make you think you're a cute little puppy who'll do anything for a treat. And I do mean anything! Now, don't try anything stupid like ambushing me with friends or something. You can't ambush a telepath!"

With that I opened the door telekinetically and strode out, slamming the door shut behind me. Fae was waiting in the hallway as I had asked. She nervously asked me, "What did you say to him?"

"I just told him to leave you alone. He agreed to that, so you're free to come with me. I really do want you to come with me. Please don't embarrass me by refusing."

Fae as always wanted to please people around her, so she agreed to come with me.

As we arrived home, Nya was looking at me with surprise and wonder. I told her, "This is Fae Brenner. She's the god daughter of my former teacher. I rescued her from a SHAME experimentation center and thought that she could find a life of her own, I was wrong. I'd like her to stay here and have a job as a maid and such. She's my friend and I hope she'll be yours as well."

Nya was really set off by my explanation and said while ushering Fae into the kitchen away from me. "Hello Fae, I'm Nya. This way please, let's talk in private."

I didn't like it that the girls were scheming behind my back, but I didn't want to intrude or violate their privacy. So I just got back to my studies. Though I could learn everything I could by just reading a professors mind, I somehow found it stimulating to just read the textbooks and compare those to what I learned from the professors. I didn't look too deep into their thought, just enough to pick up on their knowledge and absorb it. Some of them were quite loud with their thoughts and I had to work hard on blocking the personal stuff out.

An hour later, both girls joined me again in the living room. Nya started, "Daniel? I think you made the right decision on getting her out of there, but you should have been more subtle. Did you beat up the ex-boyfriend?"

I answered truthfully, "No, I did not. I only told him what would happen if he ever got near Fae again."

Nya looked at me as if she could read my mind, which was preposterous, since no one, not even Trance could do that. "Fine," she said at last. "So, you want to hire Fae as a maid? Did you even stop to ask her if that is what she wants?"

I looked down feeling embarrassed, "No, I didn't. But that is something that she likes to do. I have learned that from her mind. I didn't mean to intrude, but she projected it so fiercely that I can't help but pick that up. Don't tell me that she minds, she'd love to work here as a maid."

Fae answered this time. "That is true, but I would have liked for you to ask me. I would never turn you down of course, but please can you ask me nicely? I already had too many people taking advantage of me."

"Yes you have, I'm sorry." I said apologizing to her. "Please accept my apology. Fae, would you consider accepting a position as a maid here in my house? I would pay you a good wage and room and board as well."

Fae was about to say something but Nya cut her off, "You're saying I'm not good enough at keeping the place clean!"

I sighed, "No Nya, that's not what I'm saying. Sometimes you're too far entangled in your painting and I'm too busy with my studies that the place could use someone tidying up. Besides, you don't like to cook that much, and neither do I. Fae, can you cook us a decent meal?"

Fae smiled brightly, "Sure, I'd love to cook for you. I have so many recipes I want to try!" Her face darkened a bit, "Biff wasn't interested in trying out my cooking. He only wanted beef or chicken with fries."

Nya put her arm around Fae, "We'd love to sample your cooking. I do hope you're prepared to get some constructive criticism."

"Welcome to our household, Fae. I'll let your uncle know that you're safe and you can even talk to him for a while. Please feel free to make yourself at home here. We have no secrets from you and I hope you have no secrets from us."

After welcoming her, I called Mr. Hanes, and after briefly updating him, I gave the phone to Fae for her to have a long talk with her uncle. I retreated into my bedroom and Nya followed me there.

The next morning I woke up with a lightly snoring Nya sleeping at my side and the faint smell of bacon and eggs being fried wafting into the bedroom. I put on a robe and was about to go into the living room / kitchen, when the door opened. Fae was standing there with a bed tray loaded with dishes of scrambled eggs with bacon and freshly squeezed orange juice. She looked disappointed at me being up. "I wanted to surprise you both with breakfast," she said.

I took the bed tray from her. "You did, however the smell woke me up."

"Didn't you read my thoughts on wanting to surprise you?"

I shook my head. I had an inhibitor installed in the bedroom, so I could sleep without having to put up a passive shield first. It was taxing me a bit with pushing against my powers, but this specially made inhibitor was only keeping the telepathic chatter down to a gentle murmur like waves crashing to a beach. It didn't affect my telekinesis or my teleportation. I said reassuringly to her, "I have something installed here that keeps me from reading thoughts." I didn't tell her that I could still read her if I wanted to, but she didn't need to know that.

"Oh, okay then. I hope you like what I made, enjoy." She said with a smile reappearing on her face.

"I'm sure we will, thank you so much, Fae."

As I turned towards Nya, I found her staring at me and the closing door. "This will need some getting used to," she said smiling.

I didn't say anything, but put the bed tray on the bed between us and enjoyed a nice breakfast with her.

Like I did every day since I settled into our new apartment with Nya, I started the day with exercises and that meant not only the physical training in the gym. I also teleported some distances after I lifted several heavy objects with my telekinesis. I wanted to get more proficient and get some stamina in using my powers. You never know when it might come in handy or even be necessary. I wasn't training to be a superhero mind you; I just liked to be prepared.

Arriving at the university I winced against all the loud thoughts people were broadcasting around me. I stopped for a moment to put up one of my heavy shields. I had been practicing my shields a lot and it paid off now. I was looking forward to studying again, however sometimes things didn't go fast enough for me and I just wanted to rip the information out the professors head. I knew that it was against the code of ethics of Telepaths and that I could get into a lot of trouble with it. It wasn't that I was too afraid of being attacked over it, but I promised Sanura and Trance to hold myself to the code of ethics as much as I could. I did have to atone for my past deeds, so I had vowed to be a good upstanding citizen.

As I neared my locker I noticed a blonde girl approaching. Well, it was hard not to. She walked with a flair like she owned the place and most people got out of her way whenever they could. I knew she had a reputation of getting everything and everyone that she wanted. I turned my attention to my locker and telekinetically unlocked it. Not only was it good practice, it saved me some time as well. Just as I opened my locker, I heard a throaty voice, "Hi there handsome. My name is..."

I interrupted, "I know who you are, Ivana Betancourt. Don't bother to ask me anything, I'm not interested." I really meant that, I had heard stories about her from some of the other students. She was a real bitch who used others for a day or so before tossing them like yesterday's newspaper.

I felt her furious thoughts as she broadcasted it so loud that I could have picked it up on the other side of the planet. Sometimes being a high power telepath takes its toll. It took a lot of power into my shield to block that. I ignored her and rummaged around in my locker. Finally she said, "Fine, see if I care."

She strutted away, and I closed my locker and watched her go before turning around towards my class.

During lunch Ivana tried again. She sat down at my table and purred, "I'm so sorry. I hadn't realized that I was coming on too strong. Can I please have a talk with you? What is your name?"

"Daniel. Why are you interested in me?" I said getting directly to the point.

"Oooh, you are direct aren't you. Well, you look so different from those immature boys around here. You act so sure of yourself. I've never seen anyone so relaxed and in control of his life as you."

"Thanks," was all that I said.

She wasn't deterred though, "And that hair, how did you get to be so white? It looks totally cool. Please tell me how you got it like that. Did you have it painted?"

I snarled at her, "Go to a mental hospital and have yourself committed and tortured for a few years. Maybe your hair will be white as mine."

I got up and walked away from her, but couldn't help overhearing, "Well, I've never..."

'No, you would never have been in such a situation. All you know is money and your petty problems of not getting your way', I thought.

I managed to evade her the rest of the day and was about to go home. Just as I was about to set off, I saw some of the student jocks harassing some nerd. They were about to start pounding on him, so I planted the thought in several of them that there was someone behind them.

They looked around and the others followed suit. Then I played a little more with their minds. It wasn't very hard to do. I just made them forget that they were harassing the nerd. He saw his chance and took off. Fearful of being chased he ran very hard, but the jocks had already forgotten all about him. I knew I shouldn't be playing with people's minds like this anymore, but this was for a good cause. That young man didn't deserve being pounded.

Trance? Can I have a quick chat? I broadcasted my thoughts towards Trance.

Sure, what's up Dan? came the answer quickly enough.

Just wanted to let you know that I messed a little with the minds of some student jocks at college. They were about to beat up a nerd student. I made them forget about him. He escaped on his own during that. Was that okay for me to do? I know I shouldn't mess with people's minds, but I had to do something.