Thirteen

Sally slowed down as she approached the house. Her confidence had ebbed away slowly, the closer she got. She was feeling more and more self-conscious; her mother seemed to have an uncanny knack of figuring out exactly what she had done, whenever it was the last thing that she wanted her to know. She felt extremely reluctant to have to try to explain what she had done, and why. The more she thought about it, the more she began to realise that she couldn't explain it. It didn't fit any of what she considered normal behavior for herself, never mind what her mother would consider to be normal, or acceptable, behavior.

As Sally approached the kitchen door, with dragging feet, the door opened. She looked up and was surprised to see the face of Syl'fair looking out at her, rather than that of her mother. An intense feeling of relief washed through her and she smiled at Syl'fair.

"Hi Sally," Syl'fair greeted her, "your mother is taking a nap and your brother is working out. I thought you might like to chat."

"Yes please," Sally responded with relief, "that would be nice."

She walked through the door as Syl'fair stood back, and sat at the kitchen table. Syl'fair pulled a chair around close to her and sat down. Sally stared into Syl'fair's eyes for a few moments, try to fathom who and what she was behind the veneer of her brother's platinum blonde sex-goddess. For a brief moment, she saw a flash of something that was completely 'other'. It was so fleeting that Sally almost doubted she had seen it.

"Do you want to talk about what happened in The Grove?" Syl'fair asked suddenly, startling Sally.

"What do you mean," Sally asked, blushing furiously, "nothing happened."

"You don't have to be embarrassed Sally," Syl'fair tried to reassure her, "there's nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed about. I knew you were watching, and I could feel your desire."

"You knew?"

"Of course. I told you before that I could feel people's desires. Don't you remember?"

"I didn't think you meant that," Sally said quietly. She sat with her head bowed for a few seconds until she felt Syl'fair's arm across her back. Suddenly it was too much for her and she started crying.

Syl'fair reached out and pulled Sally into a hug, stroking the back of her head as her tears soaked her chest.

"I know that these feelings can be overwhelming, especially at your age when your chemical balance is so precarious. Don't worry about it, just cry. It's good for you."

"I don't know what I feel about anything. I'm so confused," Sally sobbed and Syl'fair just held her tighter and continued to stroke her hair and murmur soft sounds of comfort.

Roy wasn't sure what was different, he just knew that something was. His workout had started out going the same way it usually did, with the usual doubts about whether it was making any real difference. By the time he had started his second circuit of his program. He started feeling the difference. Normally by this time he would be sweaty and tired, do half the number of reps for each exercise so that he could ensure that his form was correct in spite of his tiredness.

Today though, he found that he could maintain perfect form and do the full number of reps, without worrying about his tiredness. He could feel that his muscles were tired; there was no doubt that he was working them, but he definitely had more energy than usual. He finally figured out that it must be the feedback energy from Syl'fair that was making the difference.

When Roy finished the second circuit, what was normally the end of his workout, he stood in front of the mirror and took a careful look at his body. It took a few seconds for his expectations of what he was going to see to match up to the reality in the mirror. Roy was shocked; he could see a difference; a definite change had taken place between the start of his work-out session and the end.

Roy examined himself closely in the mirror, and while he didn't suddenly have bulging muscles, it was quite clear that his body had changed. He could see that his waist was narrower and his chest and shoulders broader. He flexed his biceps and he was amazed to see that the muscles there were clearly defined and, if his eyes weren't deceiving him, larger.