Chapter 1: Immaculate Impressions

It’s my pleasure to present the story of the founder of our sisterhood, and how the movement came to be. Unlike most leaders, he never sought his position, but when faced with a challenge by fate, rose to the call, drawn by unknown forces and was shaped into the man he became. Accompanied by his sister, who remained his closest ally throughout his struggles, he created this secret society which led to thousands of us today, arranged across the globe. We are now reshaping the future of mankind, as well as helping tens of thousands through our extensive medical outreach, earning a grudging recognition from the world at large.

More than anything else, this story emphasizes how we, those emboldened with carrying on his legacy, should face our futures, and handle our daily struggles.

My mind drifted vacantly as beautiful scenery floated by; vast expanses of misty twilight waters, brownish marsh grass with the occasional shore birds, small fishing boats, pelicans drifting by on the breeze. I was looking forward to the coming week, but I was having trouble concentrating at the moment. I was excited about what we’d encounter, and while the sights were impressive, they couldn’t seem to hold my attention. The Big Easy’s reputation for exotic sights, restaurants, music and women all fought for my attention. I had a feeling I’d have a great time and it would have a significant impact on my life. Having grown up in a small town without much excitement, I was ready to be in a large city teeming with people for the first time.

I glanced to my right and observed my sister Cate, who sat studying one of her various popular science books. Not that science is ever terribly popular, but her nose was buried in a mass market science book regarding DNA theory or something. My sister was a cute kid, not really beautiful yet, still a bit awkward and bookish. She had somewhat chubby cheeks with a nice shy smile and a gentle sprinkling of freckles across her cheeks and nose. She also had a really big, heartwarming smile—but by far her best feature was her eyes, which were large and round with an incredibly penetrating stare. She was never very social ... neither of us were, but in my case I was simply shy. In her’s she was always too busy studying.

Our parents, Frank and Linda Jennings, were typical parents, always watchful and ready to comment or respond to whatever we did. Well, maybe they weren’t so typical after all. My father was tall with a little paunch and a receding hairline making inroads into his scalp on both sides leaving a little island of hair in the center of his head. He had a long hooked nose, a strong chin and forehead, none of which I particularly shared. I’d describe him as kind and generous, but also a firm bearing and foreboding looks.

Fortunately, Cate and I got our looks from our mother’s side. She was beautiful when younger, and although she’d grown a little plump over the intervening years due to sampling her excellent cooking, she still retained her classic beauty. She had the same curly hair we inherited which frames the face so picturesquely, with a bit of a pudgy nose which curves up, beautiful little dimples and, also like us, long, curving lashes. Like my sister, Mom started off small breasted but grew to a fairly ample chest, providing lots of cleavage when she wore a low-cut dress, so at least she gave my sister hope for the future. Cate was flat—there’s no other word for it, she just didn’t have much of a chest. Not that I had an issue with it, she looked good with her slightly chubby cheeks, freckles and small chest. She presented a nice total package which worked well; that is, it would have if she’d used it instead of hiding behind books all the time.

As for myself, I’m Alex Jennings. I have the curling hair, freckles and broad nose of my mother and sister, though I don’t have the winning smile Cate does, but I try. Unlike her, I have really heavy eyebrows, but then again, maybe she just plucks hers in secret. I seem to be unique in the family for my eyebrows. I’ve also got a bit of my father’s strong, pointy chin. Mine is actually more pointy than strong, which is why I still claim it isn’t my father’s. Otherwise I’m slim, not skinny and definitely not built. I joined my school’s Gymnastics and Tennis teams, but mainly just to join something, not because I’m athletic. That’s another thing we both inherited from my mother, more interest than skill.

Cate and I attend Eldorado High School in Southern Illinois, a little Podunk community located beside a large national forest which keeps it from being developed, keeping the community small. Cate is a Junior and 16, with a brand new driver’s license, whereas I’m a Senior, in my last year and just a month and a half away from my 18th birthday. I guess I’ll celebrate a big birthday when it occurs, being officially a man and all, but it’ll still be a while before I can legally drink. Cate is actually more than a year and a half younger than me, but the combination of my birthdates and her being so bright meant she’s only a year behind me in school.

The reason I was staring at drifting pelicans and fishing boats along the water’s edge was we were nearing New Orleans, where we would spend our Spring Break. ‘We’ being Cate, my parents and I. We were the only kids still living at home, so the trip was kind of a send-off for me. My other sisters were away at college and unable to join us. They told me they’d allow me this trip if I did well in my last year of high school, and I’d crushed it. Yep, it’s true, I was off to college and out of the ol’ homestead. I had images of scantily-clad coeds prancing around campus in my little head. Whether the reality was true or not, I really didn’t care, as the mental images kept me in a good mood, even though I spent most of my time reacting poorly to my parent’s inquiries.

Cate had been invited along because she always does well. She’s really bright, at least in a bookish way, and she has a decent sense of intuition to go along with it which helps her solve whatever ungodly problems she’s working on. I say ‘ungodly’ because I can’t understand most of the things she gets into in her Advanced Studies classes. Plus, quite frankly, I’m not much of a ‘god fearing’ soul.

Now don’t get me wrong; my parents are decent sorts, and they certainly tried to teach me to be respectful and to pay attention in church. But, aside from the hundreds of scandals following the church around like a lost puppy, I just don’t buy the premise of the whole enterprise. That’s right; I don’t accept the whole concept of a soul. I’ve never seen any indication of one, no rational evidence of its existence. The best that’s offered is a couple of folk reporting seeing a ‘light’ when near death, but it’s hardly evidence, and just means the optic nerves start to fry when starved of oxygen. I’m being facetious of course, but still, you get the idea. And basically, once you’ve given up on the simple concept of a pre-existing soul, the rest of religion’s premises just dissolve in the wind. If there’s no soul, then there’s no possibility of eternity, no paternal entity watching over us, no ultimate good or evil scheming behind our backs. Nope, the only good or evil needed is right where it’s always been, sitting inside of us, waiting for an excuse to get out.

Of course, that’s not exactly a popular sentiment; especially in small town, middle America. Most Americans are offended by anyone who disagrees with them on anything, and saying you don’t believe in what everyone else assumes without doubt, questions everything they believe in. For as ‘All American’ as they like to proclaim themselves to be, they sure don’t seem to believe in ANY of the basic American values. No, I don’t mean the modern American values of profits, fear and being agreed with, but the ‘old values’ like freedom of expression, religion and personal options.

In case you haven’t noticed, I tend to take after my sister in being a bit of a brainiac. I don’t do it intentionally like she does, but I read extensively and did well on my verbal SATs without really studying, so I tend to drop big words at the drop of a hat. But when I call Cate a ‘brainiac’ I really mean it. She’s incredibly smart and studies hard. She’s effectively skipped a year but instead of jumping ahead she takes a combination of high school advanced placement courses, a couple of courses scheduled by the school at a local college and a self-study Internet course.

Quite frankly she’s obsessed. She fashions herself as a scientific scholar, always researching, doing projects or trying to figure things out. I guess we can blame our older sister Becky for that. Becky’s several years ahead of us, working on her post doctorate as a medical researcher. Cate decided early on she liked the subjects Becky was studying and it fit in with her idea of ‘interesting’ college plans, so she sees herself as a researcher as well. Why she decided to remain behind is beyond me. After all, neither of us has many close friends, and we both spend all of our time behind books waiting to get beyond high school.

“Well kids,” my father’s voice issued from the driver’s seat, startling me from my reflections, “we’re here. Get your stuff and let’s get organized.” We quickly cleaned up all of our crap from the backseat and stowed it wherever it would fit as we took in our surroundings. The hotel was an old one, apparently recently redone so it was nice but still ‘quaint’, with rough brick walls, only a couple of blocks from the nearby casino—not that I expected us to be able to appreciate such facilities.

Our excitement at finally being at our destination led to an involved discussion as to what was on the agenda. Since it had taken so long to get here, we knew most of the activities would take place the next day. In order to beat the spring break traffic, and get a few extra days of vacation, our parents let us skip school on Friday, so we were arriving before things got too busy. However, since most schools have given up on the idea of officially celebrating Easter, Cate and my spring break wasn’t anytime near Mardi Gras, so the crowds shouldn’t really be a big deal anyway.

Dad firmly told us that while we could stay out until 10 p.m.—I guess he thought our staying any later would only lead to our sneaking into a bar for a drink. Besides, I suspected he and mom wanted to do exactly that, by themselves. That would leave Cate and me on our own in the hotel fairly early. We decided easily enough to spend our first evening here feasting ourselves on wonderful Cajun cuisine, and then Cate and I would simply wander along the avenues watching street performers and listening to the sounds emanating from the various bars.

After dinner we just wanted to quietly walk off some of our recent excesses. My parents had bid us adieu, surreptitiously retreating to a nearby pub in the naïve belief Cate and I wouldn’t suspect what they were up to, so that left us on our own as we started to wander towards the hotel. While there was still a lot of activity in the streets, most of the real activity, and the people, were in the various bars playing variations of Jazz and Blues. We could enjoy them, and we did, but it was kind of like enjoying the music of a loud radio at a stoplight; it’s just a bit hard to focus when you’re wandering from one storefront to the next.

At one point Cate nudged me with her elbow and asked, “Hey, haven’t you noticed any of the looks you’ve been getting since we arrived?”

“What looks?” I replied, dumbfounded.

“From the women down here,” she clarified as she gestured at the crowd surging around us, no one seeming to take the slightest note of me.

“Are you crazy? No one ever looks at me,” I protested, spinning around gesturing to the crowd ignoring me. “I’m the most invisible person at Eldorado High School.”

“That may be, but ever since we got here you’ve been getting looks from various women. I’ve been watching them. You may not have noticed, but a girl always notices when the guy she’s with keeps getting looks from other girls.”

“Really?” I asked, challenging her. “You’re my sister, you’re not supposed to care who looks at me.”

“That may be, but it’s kind of an inbred trait,” she explained with a shrug, even as she continued smiling at me. “Females are always aware of every other woman’s interest in someone they’re close to, even if it’s only a close physical proximity.”

“So who’s been looking at me then?” I challenged her.

“I’m not going to point them all out to you,” she said, rolling her eyes in exasperation. “First, it would be rude to do so. Not to mention having you staring at them after I did would be weird. But the best part of this is for you to start noticing them on your own. It shouldn’t be hard, there are plenty of them checking you out.”

“Now I know you’re kidding. I don’t think anyone has ever given me a second look, including the few I’ve asked out on a date.”

“I know, I’m shocked too,” she replied, smiling impishly. Adopting a more serious tone, she added, “At first I noticed a few people staring at our car on the way here, but I kept noticing they weren’t looking at the car, me, or at Mom or Dad. They were each looking at you and it was always women. Granted, many of those looking weren’t all attractive young high school girls, but still.” She pitched her voice lower and leaned in, whispering conspiratorially. “It’s gotten worse while we’ve been out walking the streets. At the hotel, on the way over here, in the restaurant and while we’ve been wandering, you’ve been getting a series of people glancing meaningfully at you. I know you’re too shy to ever do much about it, but if you could get over yourself and recognize what’s going on you might actually find yourself a cute spring break girlfriend or something,” she concluded as she circled the conversation back to a teasing mode.

“Yeah, as if,” I scoffed. Still, I was intrigued, and I was already scanning the people around us, trying to perceive anyone who might be taking note of me. I even tried to stand up a little straighter and walk a little more ‘manly’. While it wasn’t Mardi Gras, the streets were still crowded since it was a warm and lush evening and a perfect Friday evening for a night on the town. As a result there were a lot of potential female observers to consider. I tried to guess what someone interested in me would look like.

“Don’t be so obvious about it,” Cate hissed, amazed at my obtuseness. “Just act casually. You don’t want to scare them away.”

“Hey, scaring attractive people away is my specialty. If these women down here aren’t scared by my natural looks and personality, then they aren’t likely to be scared by a simple glance.”

That was part of the relationship Cate and I had. We would frequently tease each other, I guess like most siblings do. Ours was usually a bit more sexually inspired than most, but it was something we started early and we always cloaked it in clever comments or smart word plays so our parents couldn’t easily object. In fact, we’d eventually won them over and now, as often as not, our parents were as likely to make a ribald, off-color joke at our expense as we would of each other. We all knew it was in good fun and we didn’t mean anything by it—we were close enough to each other we knew how we felt about each other. At least I hoped we did.

Walking further, I was a lot less conspicuous in the way I was glancing around, trying to catch anyone showing an interest in me. I did begin to notice quite a few who seemed to be more than a bit entranced by me. Most would glance away, embarrassed when I’d return their stares, but a few would steal second or even third glances afterward. I tried smiling at a few but usually got weak, unsure smiles in return. Mostly they just seemed shy and uncertain, so I wasn’t about to force the issue by walking up to one and starting a conversation.

Continuing along, with me still trying to catch anyone watching me, we suddenly heard the sound of hurried footsteps behind us.

“Please Sir, please stop. I’ve got to...” came an abbreviated greeting from behind us.

Turning, I saw an attractive older black woman. Older being relative, I guess. Being a teenager, I considered anything over twenty-five as ancient! Anyway, she was rushing up to us out of breath from running. She was relatively light-skinned, her hair fairly fine and styled in a short, ironed-hair bob. She was slightly heavier than most of my thin classmates, but not as heavy as the other, inactive kids around the school. All in all, she had some relatively nice curves. However, she was on us before I could observe anything else about her.

When our eyes met she stopped abruptly and her head jerked back like someone slapped her. Her knees seemed to weaken and she weaved like she might collapse. I leapt forward, always the perfect gentleman, even if no one offered the least bit of appreciation for such behavior. (Well, aside from Cate and my mother, that is. They both seemed to think women should fawn over me because I was such a gentleman, but I guess women had their own idea on the subject.)

I tried to catch her but she put her arms out, waving them back and forth. “No, no,” she stated as she wavered unsteadily before us. “I’m Okay. Just give me a second to get used to this.”

I glanced at Cate, and her mystified shrug told me she had no more idea what this woman was referring to than I did. For some reason she was shielding her eyes and wouldn’t look directly at me, although she kept glancing at everyone and everything around us. She’d look at someone and stare, wide eyes for several seconds without regard to what they’d think about such behavior, before she’d shake her head and look at the next person in a similar manner. I was beginning to wonder just who this person was, what she was doing, and even if she’d been speaking to us when she’d called out a minute ago.

“I ... I just need a few seconds to adjust. I don’t really know what this gift you’ve given me is, or what it means. I knew you would affect me and my life in a very personal way, but I had no idea you’d give me the gift of visions,” she stated.

This time it was I who had to shake my head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Ma’am,” I protested, “I haven’t ever seen you before. There’s no reason I would have done anything to you, and I’m not the kind of person to give visions to someone I don’t know,” I added, hoping a little humor might ease the situation a bit.

She immediately stepped forward and dropped to her knees right at my feet, throwing her arms around my legs. I would have stepped back defensively, as one normally does when one invades their personal space, but had no way to do so with my legs entrapped. She didn’t look up at me but started wailing instead.

“Master, Master, please. What can I do to serve you, Master?” this crazy woman started crying to me. Now I knew she was crazy as a bat, and I was beginning to have my doubts about all the others who’d been staring at me recently.

“Uh ... What?” I brilliantly responded, completely befuddled by the onslaught. I couldn’t move and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, or simply run away.

“Master, Angel, Saint; I don’t know what you are, but I’m here to serve you. You’ve opened my eyes and let me see a completely new world; I never imagined it could be so beautiful. You’ve got to tell me what to do with it!” she insisted, pleading glancing up at me, but without ever meeting my eyes, mostly simply looking down at my feet as she continued to cling to my legs.

I wanted to yell at her to cease and desist, but before I could even think of stating such a sentiment in the middle of the street she visibly flinched, never letting go of the tight hold she had of my legs.

“I understand,” she stated in a sorrowful tone, her head bowed as she knelt before me. “I won’t embarrass you,” she continued more quietly this time, “just tell me what I’m supposed to do.”

“Excuse me, miss,” interrupted Cate, kneeling down beside the distraught woman. “I think you’re mistaking my brother for someone else. He’s never met you, he’s never been here before, and he’s never given you anything or done anything for you.”

“No, no, I can see who, or rather what he is. There’s no mistaking an Angel. I could feel his presence from blocks away. He’s the one who awakened my vision. The one who’s changed my life.” She continued to rant, although more quietly than before while still tightly grasping my leg in one arm while gesturing wildly to my sister with the other.

Pausing to take all this in, my sister remained quiet despite the anticipated response, but before the odd woman could start ranting again Cate placed her hand under her chin and lifted her face to examine it. The woman let her do so; shifting her head away from me and squinting, as if it were painful to look at me.

“You look fine,” Cate stated to the woman in her typical analytical style, examining the woman like a bug under a microscope. “Your eyes aren’t dilated and you’re speaking sensibly enough, despite the things you’re saying. I’m not sure what you’re imagining about my brother, Alex, but he’s just an average kid here on vacation. He hasn’t done anything to you. If you can discuss this rationally we’ll humor you for a bit, but...” she let her voice trail off with the implied threat we’d only entertain her for so long before we’d either leave or call for help.

“Alex!” whispered the strange woman at my feet, as if amazed by my very name. I quickly glanced about, feeling nervous as I noticed a quickly amassing collection of onlookers.

“Yes, that’s Alex and I’m his sister, Cate. Please, can we help you up? I’m sorry, but kneeling at my brother’s feet, calling him ‘Master’ in the middle of the French Quarter is, frankly, kinda freakin’ me and everyone else out.”

“Oh! Oh, I’m sorry,” the woman replied, suddenly struggling to stand, all without moving away from me. Instead she shifted her hands from my legs to my hips to stand without backing up.

“I have no desire to cause either of you any trouble. I just had to find you. I was at a dinner with a few coworkers and we were preparing to leave when I felt you nearby. I don’t know how, but I knew just where you were, despite my being indoors and you’re being blocks away, I could track you as you moved away from me. I followed as quickly as I could, afraid I’d lose track of you. It helped that I could feel you and didn’t need to actually see you, but with all the traffic I was afraid I’d lose you.”

“Yes, yes,” stated Cate in a calming, almost purring voice, attempting to placate the deranged woman standing beside me, “that’s all very nice. But who the hell ARE you?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. That was so rude of me. My mother would be ashamed; to behave so badly, especially before someone so important.”

“I’m not import—” I began, feeling a bit overwhelmed at all the talk of my being her master and a possible angel. It was very unnerving.

“My name is Shaniqua Sharp. That’s ‘Shaniqua’ with a ‘q’. I’m sorry to embarrass you, but I just didn’t know how to address someone like you. You’re too magnificent for words,” she finished, almost whispering the words, eyes still downcast, almost closed as if she were ashamed by my wonder or some other nonsense.

“Please,” I responded, finally managing to gather my wits enough to respond. “Let’s get out of the street where we can discuss this. I’m certainly not an angel. I’m just an average high school student on spring break with his family.” I was watching a one-man band walking by, loudly playing cymbals, blowing a horn, playing the harmonica and a guitar. Yet HE was attracting less attention than we were!

“Do you happen to know of any place nearby where we can talk quietly?” Cate inquired.

“Yes, yes I do. Follow me and I’ll show you.” With that she disengaged herself from me and set off like a woman with a mission, stopping a dozen steps away to make sure we were following. We both hurried to keep up with Shaniqua with a ‘q’ as she led us down the crowded street, away from the curiously gawking crowd which had formed around us. I noticed several women staring at me now, but had no way of knowing if it was a result of the scene or whether they thought I was cute. Guess there’s no worrying about it now.

She led us to a small courtyard which housed a combination coffee/shake shop and we squeezed into the back where all the tables were taken, but positioned us so we could stand along a counter. The music from the nearby Jazz clubs reverberated through the walls, but it wasn’t so loud you had to shout to be heard. We gathered ourselves, though no one took the effort to think about anything as pedestrian as getting something to drink, we were too fascinated by the recent strange events to go anywhere.

I took a moment to regard this woman who barged so unexpectedly into our lives. She was relatively young, clearly an adult but apparently only in her mid to late 20s or early 30s. I certainly wouldn’t mind being seen with her. She had full lips, a noticeable gap between her front teeth and fine straight hair. But she had absolutely beautiful skin with extremely fine pores which made her skin look like creamy silk you just wanted to run your hands across. Cate had nice skin, the key word being ‘nice’. There wasn’t anything wrong with my sister’s skin, but it simply didn’t shine like this woman’s did. She also had large, deep-set eyes which showed a keen insight and seemed to reflect an inner truth and honesty, though I was sure I just imagined it because how do you see inner truth and honesty?

“So, you say you felt drawn to my brother despite never having seen him before?” Cate asked.

“Yeah, it was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced,” she explained. “Somehow I just felt this strong, powerful presence and when I stopped I could feel exactly where it was in space and distance from me, even though I was indoors and couldn’t see anything beyond the nearby walls.” She continued, without needing any prompting, apparently discussing my other-worldly properties seemed like a fascinating topic for them to discuss. “Then, when I neared and called out, you both stopped and, in the moment when our eyes met...” Her voice trailed off at this point as if she were lost in the memory of it, despite its having just occurred.

Cate and I were dying to hear what triggered this strange event, so Cate prompted her. “Then what happened?”

“I thought it was a dream at first, a vision or something, but it wasn’t. It was a revelation—an epiphany like they tell us about in church. The moment our eyes met I saw this blinding flash and suddenly the whole world changed. In an instant I saw the world in ways I’d never witnessed before. I saw colors and images I never imagined. Everything was in new colors. I guess color is a bad word, but I don’t know how else to describe it. It’s like describing a beautiful musical score to the deaf, or a wonderful perfume to someone who can’t smell. It completely filled my soul with wonder and I knew my life was forever changed.”

“Please,” I quietly begged, “let’s not get carried away. It can’t be that wonderf—”

“Oh no,” she quickly replied, briefly turning to face me before quickly averting her eyes again. “If anything my words are only a poor imitation of the wonders my life is now filled with. It’s as if the blind could see. It’s like Helen Keller must have felt when she suddenly understood those motions in her hand were concepts. It’s like you’ve spent your whole life with only five senses, never knowing you were missing anything, then someone gives you a sixth and suddenly the world is brand new. You can’t get enough of this new thing, yet don’t know anything about it.”

“Whew,” I whistled, overwhelmed by the intensity of the whole presentation.

“I’m curious Shan ... Shanita?” Cate asked

“No, no, it’s Shaniqua, spelled with a ‘Q’. ‘S’, ‘h’, ‘a’,...” she went on as she spelled out her name. Finally my sister got it.

“Shaniqua? That’s right?” she asked again, pronouncing it slowly. Cate hated to get basic things like pronunciation wrong.

“Yes, that’s very good,” Shaniqua replied, though I thought to myself, no, it would have been good if she had heard it the first time, but luckily I didn’t say anything. However Shaniqua shyly lifted her downcast eyes, smiling at me as if sharing some intimate secret with me.

“So when Alex first looked into your eyes you started seeing these ... colors?” Cate asked hesitantly, still not able to wrap her mind around the idea and asking for a more definitive statement from her subject, again reacting more like a scientist in her lab than a girl taking to an adult woman.

“No, colors doesn’t do it justice,” Shaniqua explained. “It’s like I’m seeing the energy inside of things. As far as I’ve been able to figure out, and it’s only been a few minutes I’ve been seeing these things, it seems to surround everyone and also a smaller glow around plants and other things. I expect it’ll show up with animals as well. It seems to reflect a some sort of life energy. Except each is unique, each person has a different glow, a different color if you will, but surrounding this central glow there’s this constant dance of colors. I have no idea what it signifies, but it’s fascinating to watch. This is all new to me and I don’t know how to describe it.”