Chapter 18: Night of Reckoning Part 1

"So, what do you hope to accomplish by this?" asked Brett, as he talked to Devin over his cell.

"Think of it as a controlled burn; a fire that is set for a purpose, but in a controlled environment, with the understanding it will result in something positive."

"Well, Suzanne and I have responsibilities to care for Sadie for the next couple of days, but I guess Tom and Carrie are in and Kyle and Tara too, right?"

"Yeah. Hopefully with me and Rachel it will be enough."

"Speaking of Rachel, didn't she warn Ranna about Prescott?" asked Brett.

Devin sighed, "Yeah, but apparently the asshole had said some bad things about Rachel to Ranna and now she doesn't trust Rachel."

"I'm still confused as to why you don't tell Derek."

"Rogesh doesn't want Sandra to find out and have Ranna get into trouble with her. He made me promise not to tell Derek."

"We both know that 'Sandra' is now 'Sandy'. She and Derek would be worried."

"I know, but we don't have authorization to tell Rogesh, Ranna, Kyle and Tara yet," said Devin. "I feel like I'm stuck in the middle."

"Well if there is any trouble, you need to make sure that Derek knows. He and Sandy are double dating with Connie and Dean Flynn tonight. They might be able to help."

"OK, if we have to, but I'm begging you not to tell Tom! Please swear to it. I promised Rogesh and Tom will tell Carrie who will tell Sandy..."

"OK, but I don't like this Dev."

"I know. Neither do I."

"Are you serious?" asked one voice, in the boy's room.

"Yeah," grinned another.

"And you are saying we can 'tap that'?"

"Hells yeah! Pauly P.'s gonna set it up."

"Shit, I can't wait!" said another voice. "Same place?"

"As always," said the original speaker.

At lunch Derek's cell rang. "Hey, you miss me kid?" came the voice of the stranger.

"It has been almost a week."

"Well you've been kind of busy, so I wanted to give you some room. I hear you're helping out at St. Agnes soup kitchen tomorrow."

"How did you know..."

"Do you really need to ask that question?"

"Yeah, I'm an asshole for even thinking it," deadpanned Derek, causing the stranger to laugh loudly into the phone.

"Damn, you're witty kid. Anyway, speaking of St. Agnes, we have a friend in common?"

"Who?"

"Tara Broome. She's a really good worker and starting to look more comely, due to yours and Sandy's efforts..."

A feeling of panic came over Derek at the mention of the sweet sophomore's name. "Sir ... please don't..."

The stranger sighed. "Derek, don't get your panties in a twist. She's only sixteen. Besides, I don't mess with girls as nice as Tara. She reminds me of one of my best friends in school. Anyway, the girl isn't even a Catholic and she volunteers at a soup kitchen at a Catholic church. That tells me all I need to know about her. She's an amazing kid."

"How ... OK, not asking."

"You're learning," laughed the stranger. "Listen Derek. I'm not a bad guy. Really, I'm, not. I was for a little while, I admit it. I was pissed off at the world and once I got my powers, a lot of bad things happened to people who had been bad to me. I thought I had lost my humanity and then someone came into my life and reminded me that I was a person. I'm still not perfect as you've seen, but I'm trying to make amends."

"But don't you have a harem?"

"Yeah ... but as I told you I'm whittling the numbers down. Since we spoken, I've let two more go so I'm down to only six?"

"Six?"

"Yeah, don't be too harsh on me. At one point I had nineteen. The sad thing is I'll be lucky if I can whittle it down below what you have now."

"Why?"

"Remember I said that some will want to serve, even if given a choice?"

"Yeah."

"Well I have three like that and two others who are really into me and each other."

"What about the last one?"

"She's the reason I've changed. She's the love of my life."

"Would she go if you let her?"

"I think she loves me and while I haven't been actively controlling her since a week after we met, there is a chance ... I know ... don't go all Sting on me..."

"What?"

"You know, 'If you love someone set them free... ' I can't ... I need her..."

"Hey, I'm not judging."

"You're just saying that because I could make you dance like a puppet."

"No. I understand how you feel. I really love all of my girls; especially Sandy. I have no idea for sure what will happen, but I know one thing."

"What?"

"There will be a really good chance that I won't have at least one of them come September and the thought of that makes me really sad," said Derek, as he did his best to not to display his emotions as he was in public.

"You know, it's not too late."

"What?"

"To reclaim your powers after September."

Derek sighed. It would have been very easy to agree, but he knew he could not. "Thanks, but no thanks."

Then it became the stranger's turn to sigh. "Kid, I wish I had your maturity when I was your age ... hell, I guess I could use some of it now I suppose. You know what?"

"What?"

"I can't rescind the whole three times a week thing, but I can amend it. From now on the women just need to have some kind of sexual contact within the group not just with you..."

"Thank you."

"Let me finished," warned the stranger before continuing. "It still has to happen three times a week and the penetration rule, involving having sex with you once a week, is still in force."

"What about family vacations over the summer?"

"We'll revisit this arrangement in a few weeks. My best guess is that the reason for the punishment is over, so maybe by then we can come up with a different timeframe or other rules for conditions to be met. Still, a deal is a deal, so this has to continue in some form until September."

"OK. That's fair," conceded Derek.

"Well, you're a good kid, Derek. I'm proud to think of you as a friend."

Derek smiled to himself. Despite his fear and initial distrust, he couldn't help feeling somewhat warm towards the man who had helped change his life so positively. "I know I haven't really said this to you before, but thank you. Even though my life has been chaos lately, you've helped me learn some important things about myself and given me my Sandy back. I'll always be grateful to you for that."

"You've helped me too, kid. You really have been reinforcing what my lady has been telling me. You're helping me to keep my humanity and I won't forget that." said the stranger with emotion. "By the way, I think that I should warn you about something."

"What?"

"I can't give you specifics, but one of your friends may be in danger tonight. A group of your friends will try to intercede and they may be successful, but they might need help."

"Can't you tell me who..."

"No. Since you have powers, I'm not supposed to help you directly. This is the best I can do or I might get into trouble. You don't want to see that do you?"

"No, of course not."

"Good. I can give you a piece of advice."

"What?"

"Know where your friends are tonight. Call several of them and make them tell you where they are. If you do this, you may be able to avert trouble."

"Thanks. I will."

"Oh and Derek?"

"Yes?"

"I spoke to your Principal, Mrs. Hanson. She told me I should expect you and your friends at the soup kitchen at nine tomorrow morning."

"What?"

"I'm the volunteer lay coordinator for the outreach program."

Derek marveled. "I guess you really are a good person," he laughed.

"I try to be. Well you'll see me and my Harmonica there at nine sharp."

"You play the harmonica?"

The stranger laughed, "In a manner of speaking."

"Hey baby. What kept you?" grinned Sandy, noting that there were only fifteen minutes of lunch left.

"Just talking to an old friend," said Derek, with a wink, noting that Connie and Dean were sitting across the table from her. "Hey Connie and Flynny."

"Hey Derek. We were just talking about plans tonight," grinned Connie.

"Yeah, we have an away game at Eastwood High, but should be back at school before 6:30," observed Dean.

"You pitching?" asked Sandy.

"No. I threw six innings on Tuesday at King of Prussia. Coach is saving me for Monday."

"So instead you get to watch Marco's dazzling pivots from first base," laughed Derek.

"You know why he pivots so gracefully?" laughed Sandy.

"No?" asked Connie.

"Because he and his twin sister, Sharon do ballet."

"No!" laughed Dean.

"Well, it makes sense. Sharon is a cheerleader and she really has improved with her flexibility and gracefulness. I guess it helps Marco become more nimble, according to Sharon," offered Sandy.

"Yeah, playing second requires great footwork. You really need to be able to pivot tightly to avoid sliding base runners. Very often this puts you in awkward throwing positions. I get that a bit, playing short, but Marco has it much harder. I'm sure ballet probably helps him," agreed Derek.

"So you're not going to tease Marco?" asked Connie.

"Oh no ... we're still going to tease him," laughed Flynny and Derek nodded as he laughed.

After a few minutes more minutes of chit chat, all four got up to go to class. "Hey, Turner, you going to Spanish?" asked Connie.

"Yeah, Martin, give me a sec." replied Sandy. "So what's up," she whispered to Derek.

"Spoke to our 'friend'. He warned me that one of my friends was in trouble, but couldn't say who."

"Some friend."

"No, I guess he has rules about interfering. Anyway, he suggested on keeping tabs on them all tonight."

"I'll start up a phone tree. I'll make everybody check in with someone periodically," stated Sandy.

"Good idea, Babe," he said as he leaned in and gave her a quick kiss, before watching her walk off with Connie to their Spanish class.

"Rogesh, I just wanted to say I'm sorry for accusing you for being jealous and I really appreciate you helping me get together with Paul tonight," smiled Ranna.

"As, I told you right along, I just want you to be happy, Ranna," he said before pausing. "I do need to know where you two will be going, though."

Ranna looked a bit suspicious before he added, "Just in case your parents ask or call."

"True," she admitted. "Paul told me he was taking me to the movies."

"Dev, me, Kyle and their girls were thinking of going to the movies too."

"Just promise me you won't talk to us or even get too close," admonished Ranna.

"OK. Just don't be surprised if you see us there."

"OK."

"Dude, I heard about tonight. I'll be back from my game at about 6:30."

"That should give you plenty of time to meet up with us. Mike and Rich will be there too with the van."

"Yeah, they both told me earlier."

"Anyway, I'll need to work on her for a little while. She thinks that I'm taking her to the movies."

"When you're really heading for 'The House Plant' around the corner."

"Yeah."