Chapter 13: Little Lost Sheep

We set off for home with me slowly negotiating through traffic while Cate called our parents and Chalise called Kitty to relate everything that had happened. While they were busy I gave my girls our schedule, so they'd know when to expect us. We had only gone a little ways, just passing the Scott Air Force Base exit, when we suddenly saw a car in the far lane of the divided highway honking its horn and flashing its lights.

"Quick, Alex, pull over," Cate insisted. I put my blinker on and pulled over as quickly as I could. The two sides of the highway were divided by a wide median which was frequently filled with trees, so it was lucky we even saw the car.

"Do you think—?" I started to ask.

"Damn right I do. Get your ass in gear and get over there," Cate said, encouraging me to react. I put the car in park and got out, yelling to Cate to pull around and meet us on the other side. But then I saw what was required to cross over the median. It was muddy and wet from a recent rain and there was a fence preventing me from crossing over.

I waved to the figure standing by the car, who waved back. I could tell it was a young woman who seemed to be trying to get my attention and not simply a motorist having trouble. I tried to pantomime that we'd try to catch up with her and to give us time. Having no idea if she got my message, I climbed back in the car and slowly pulled back into traffic. The idea was to simply drive a little ways then turn around and double back, however, not being familiar with this section of road I had no idea of how far away the next exit was. I figured the best bet would be to find the little access roads the police used to cut between the divided roads, but you have to drive fairly slow to make the turn once you've found it. So we were creeping forward, seeing neither an exit nor any cut-throughs.

"Do you think she'll wait?" Chalise asked nervously.

"Probably, since she seemed eager to catch me. The potential Seers are pretty dedicated in their attempts to reach me, so I doubt she'll leave due to impatience. But I don't want to dawdle either. The last thing we need is a police car to stop to assist her, only to find she doesn't have any mechanical problems."

"Just keep driving," Cate told me. "I'll watch for cut-through access roads and Chalise can watch for an exit or a sign telling how far away it is. That should free you up to focus on getting there as fast as you can."

I took her at her word, but there was only so much she could see from the back seat so I still couldn't drive much faster. We'd wasted quite a bit of time searching vainly for some way to turn around, still not finding any indication of one, and we were all growing frustrated. I was still anxiously trying to watch both sides of the road when something caught my eye in the rear view mirror. Looking up, I saw a car rapidly gaining on us, speeding like its tail was on fire, weaving back and forth passing cars as it advanced.

Fearing a potential drunk driver, and not being able to pull off on the right-hand side of the road, I moved as close to the edge of the passing lane as I could. The car rapidly advanced and started flashing its lights, signaling it wanted me to pull out of the fast lane, so I tried to pull over even more, giving them plenty of room to go around me. Instead they pulled right up behind me, coming up to me so rapidly I was afraid they were going to smash into us. Once they reached us they rode tight against my bumper. I started to swear at this inconsiderate drunkard when they start honking their horn. It was then I made the necessary connection.

Since I couldn't very well stop with them riding my tailgate, I rolled my window down so I could wave out the window as I slowly reduced my speed. I finally pulled off the road on the left, the pursuing car also pulling up close behind me. Quickly shutting the car off and unbuckling my seatbelt I jumped out of the car, not even bothering to grab the car keys. I just hoped this wasn't a drug fuelled carjacking.

As I got out a frazzled looking young woman exited the car behind me and immediately started running towards me as if her life depended on it. She started shouting something, but before she could formulate much of a coherent sentence we made eye contact. Instead of jerking back, like most of the others had when I'd first activated them, her forward momentum caused her to stumble and she started to pitch forward. The woman fell hard, sliding on the combination of grass and gravel. I ran up to her but she quickly scrambled forward, crawling the last few feet to me.

"Oh God, oh God," she yelled as she clutched me. I knelt by her and she quickly climbed up and grasped me tightly. "I never thought it would happen," she cried to me. "I didn't think this day would ever come!"

There wasn't much I could say until she calmed down, so I just patted her back trying to comfort her. I was sure she was bruised and cut from her fall, but she didn't seem to be cognizant of that fact. Her language was making me nervous, given the trouble we'd already had today with one religious fanatic.

"I can't believe I finally found you," she cried against me. "I've been looking for so, so long. I thought I was insane; I—"

"There, there," I comforted her, holding her in my arms, letting her cry herself out a bit. I noticed Cate and Chalise came up on either side of us and stand watching us. She had her face buried against me, so I couldn't look at her to try to evaluate her or consider her responses. I was gently cooing to her, trying to get her to calm down when her words finally permeated my slowly processing brain. She said 'finally found you'. I pulled back and held her away from me.

I didn't recognize her face but I was struck by her looks. She was the first girl my age I'd run across; pretty but clearly frazzled, with blond hair but with black roots showing her dye job had been growing out. Thin ... no, more like frail. She looked like she'd been neglecting herself for some time. Her hair was a mess, her clothes wrinkled and dirty, and she had bags under her eyes from not sleeping. In short she looked like a mess. A pretty mess, but still a mess.

"What do you mean 'finally'?" I asked her. "Isn't this the first time we've met?"

"God no," she cried, "I first saw you when we were... ," and suddenly everything fell into place. This was my long lost girl, the one I'd first encountered returning from New Orleans. The one I'd been worrying about ever since. I immediately pulled her to me and held her like she was going to disappear from my life once again. She continued to cry and mumble things, but I couldn't make much sense of what she was saying I was so happy to finally have her in my arms.

I found tears streaming down my face I was so overcome with happiness to have my lost girl in my arms once again. However, my joy wasn't to last long.

"Uh, Alex, we can't stay here," Cate told us, leaning over my right shoulder. "There are cars zipping past us, it's unsafe and we're attracting a lot of attention."

I pulled back, looking my lost girl over again, and then I helped us both to our feet.

"She's right. We need to get off the road. Let's get back on the highway and we'll stop at the next exit and find a place where we can sit and talk."

The girl didn't seem to be ready to let me go, still clutching at me as I slowly pulled away. She brushed the hair the passing cars whipped across her face back with one hand while clutching me with the other. "Chalise, could you travel with her, just to help keep her steady?"

Normally I'd let Cate talk to any new follower, but I wanted her with me to talk over this situation before I finally talked to this girl. I was afraid of possibly overreacting, and I needed to distance myself a bit, since I was feeling almost as distraught as she appeared to be.

Everyone seemed to be working together. Chalise took the new girl and led her back to her car as Cate led me back to mine. Glancing back, I got in, buckled up and started the car. Once Cate climbed in beside me I pulled back into traffic followed by the accompanying car.

"So, what do you think?" I asked Cate.

"Did you recognize her?" she asked me, a little lost.

"It's the lost girl. I didn't recognize her since I never really saw her initially, but I'm sure of it now. She looks like hell, though."

Cate seemed to consider this. "I wondered why she was looking so desperate. I guess being left alone must have worn on her quite a bit. We'll have to see how she's dealt with it. It will help us evaluate how to handle a situation like that in the future. I'm afraid a repeat wouldn't be unexpected."

"No, that one incident continues to haunt me. But she looks like shit. I can't wait to hear her story. I wonder what's happened to her, but all I want to do is just hold and comfort her. I guess I'm just trying to make up for not being there for her all this time."

"You've got to be careful," Cate advised me, laying a comforting hand on my arm. "She's going to need you to be strong and in control. If you seem to be as bad as she is, she'll fall apart. You need to be firm to give her the control she needs to pull herself together. Just try to distance yourself a bit and think about what you are going to tell her."

"That makes sense," I said, but my thoughts were already with the girl driving behind us.

'How are you doing?' I asked her mentally, reaching out to her now that I knew who she was.

'What the... ? Oh, you're speaking to me in my mind? I'm ... I'm fine I guess. I'm much better now that I've found you.'

'Look, don't get distracted. You need to maintain control until we can find a place to stop. We don't need to lose you to a traffic accident after all this time. Is Chalise looking after you?'

'Yeah, she's trying to tell me that everything is going to be OK. Are you—' she started to go on.

'Look, let's not talk now. Focus on your driving and we'll talk at the next exit, ' I told her, trying to speak steadily enough that she'd take it as an authoritative command.

'Yes, sir, ' she answered. I thought that was the best response. If she thought she was doing something for me, she'd focus on something other than her own desperation.

"There," Cate called out, pointing ahead of us, "there's a sign for the next exit. It has several restaurants. We should be there shortly."

I tried to calm myself as I made the exit and drove up to a little diner. The other car pulled to a stop beside mine and Chalise and the new/old girl got out. She looked beseechingly at me, but I just willed her to be strong and proceeded into the restaurant. Cate was right. It wouldn't help either of us to have her fall further apart than she already was.

I led us all inside while trying to maintain a strong exterior, despite wanting to cradle her in my arms. I got us a little booth in the corner. It was hardly private, but at least we wouldn't attract too much attention and we could talk and relax a little. I helped everyone get seated and settled. When everyone started talking at once I hushed them and calmly ordered us something to drink as the waitress brought us our menus. As the girls looked at what to order, I turned to my little lost girl, who strangely didn't even pick up her menu, just looked nervously at me.

"Now go ahead and tell us your story." She took a deep calming breath and began.

She seemed more collected now. She still looked frazzled and disheveled, but she was maintaining her bearing and appeared to be concentrating better. I thought that was an improvement over her earlier behavior, when she was threatening the lives of everyone around her.

"I first saw your face appear to me weeks ago. I was coming back from a week's vacation with a couple of school friends. I just turned and glanced out the window of our van as we were passing through Memphis and only caught a fleeting glance of you, but just that was enough to completely shatter my previous life." She took another moment to gather herself before continuing.

"We were all high and I immediately assumed my friends had given me something I didn't know about, and I was just suffering the effect of whatever they spiked the pot with, seeing lights coming from everyone. I screamed and demanded they let me out, but they said there was no place to stop so they kept driving. Finally I carried on so badly they stopped and I jumped out with just the clothes on my back. So I was abandoned on the highway without a clue where to go or what to do. I knew if I stood on the side of the highway I'd be in trouble if a passing Highway Patrolman noticed me, so I flagged down a passing car to give me a lift as far as the nearest exit.

"I was afraid to get into their car because everyone was glowing with a bunch of different colors, but I was getting desperate. Somehow I managed to get home and then things just got worse."

"Where were you going and where was home?" I asked.

"Well, we all came from Tennessee State University in Nashville, and that's where we were returning to. We'd been to Dallas for our Spring Break and, well, we'd been partying pretty hard." The drinks had arrived by now and she took a long sip of water before resuming her tale, hardly even noticing who had brought it for her. Cate started to order, but I asked the waitress to give us a couple more minutes, thinking we'd be there for some time talking and I wanted to give us plenty of time. When the new girl continued, she glanced at the retreating waitress, but I didn't make any immediate connection I was so occupied with her story.

"When I arrived at campus, late and looking like the dog had dragged me in, everyone was concerned, especially when my so-called friends told everyone that I'd gone wacko and jumped out of the car."

"Pardon me," I said, interrupting her. "This is fascinating, but before you continue, who are you?"

"Oh, sorry about that. I'm still quite frazzled. I could use a little food if I could get some, I've been trying to get by on my own wits for a while now, and so far my wits haven't quite been panning out.

"My name is Nicole Gordon, though everyone calls me Nikki." We all proceeded to introduce ourselves. By then I'd flagged the waitress and I quickly ordered some food for Nikki, since she looked like she was starving. I kicked myself for not having noticed how malnourished she looked, but I can be fairly dense at times when I get focused on something. When the waitress left again she resumed her story.

"When I started telling my 'supposed' friends about seeing visions and how everyone had colors coming out of them, they called my parents. My mother and father drove up from Spencer, my home town, and took me home where they had me immediately examined.

"The shrink I saw put me on these drugs that made me feel terrible and didn't do any good. They make me feel like I'm in a constant daze and it's hard to focus. I'm unable to feel any normal emotions, I'm slow to respond to anything, I look dopey all the time and I immediately started putting on weight."

"There's nothing wrong with you," I assured her authoritatively. "I want you to stop taking those drugs immediately. What drug was it?"

"It's called Risperdal, the latest drug for schizophrenia, which is what I was diagnosed with. It costs a hell of a lot, too."

I sent a quick message to Allison. 'It's likely the same thing that Ricky Atkins was taking, ' she responded. 'One of the antipsychotic drugs, ' Allison told me. 'I'll try to research it and find out about it, though.'

"Again, you don't need it," I explained to Nikki. "There's nothing wrong with you, but you can't tell anyone else about what you can see; they won't understand and will just try to 'fix' you to make you 'normal' again. You are no longer normal. You've become very, very special and unique in the world, but you're also no longer alone."

"So it's not all in my head?" She asked, and I shook my head. "May I ask you what you are? And why you chose me? And what is supposed to happen now?" I just grinned at her before remembering she wouldn't be able to see my subtle smile.

"Well, that's a few questions, but let me start. First of all, I'm simply Alex. I'm just a 17-year-old high school Senior with no special religious significance. As for why I 'chose' you, we share a particular genetic feature that gives us some advantages that no one else possesses nor will understand. I didn't so much 'choose' you as I simply encountered you, at which point I 'activated' your abilities. Normally when I do that we try to have a little more control, but I didn't expect it. I was in the middle of the Highway and we accidentally made eye contact while going in the opposite direction. I simply had no idea where you might be or how to find you. We circled back and drove all over trying to locate you, but clearly had no success. I've felt terribly about not being able to help you ever since."

"That's true," Cate spoke up. "He was devastated when we lost you. He's been haunted ever since." Our 'Lost Girl' looked up at her as if seeing her for the first time.

"Uh, Cate, you don't seem to be ... uh..."

Cate laughed. "No, I'm not an angel or anything like that. Both Chalise and I are normal; I don't share any of your abilities. I'm Alex's sister and I've been helping him with the theoretical concepts," my sister explained.

"And ... you're in high school as well?"

"Yeah, but don't worry, you're not alone; we've got a growing group of similar people. It only seems to affect women; even Alex doesn't have the ability to see auras like you do. However, Alex is special in that he's the only one who can trigger those with this potential, making the hidden capabilities active."

The waitress brought our order, or rather she brought Nikki some food that I ordered for her. It was clear she hadn't been eating regularly the way she dug into her plate. It made me feel terrible that she'd been suffering so much because I'd been unable to assist her as I should have, not to mention that I'd been so slow to pick up on the fact she was starving and unable to afford to eat.

"So I don't have to take those silly pills anymore?" Nikki asked between bites, still nervous about the topic while eating with two hands she was so hungry.

"No, Nikki, they're useless for what affects you. I'd simply tell your parents that your problems went away on their own. Actually, just tell them it turned out to be a simple eye problem and you saw an Optometrist who wrote you a prescription for new contacts, and you'll no longer need to see your shrink or use his useless pills anymore. The advantage of that is people don't notice if you are wearing contacts or not."

"You seem to be reacting a bit slowly," Cate observed, "Hopefully that's also a symptom of the drugs and it'll improve over time." Nikki looked at her a moment as if slowly parsing her words.

"What you're seeing is a form of life energy," Cate continued to explain slowly, giving Nikki time to absorb her words. "It shows several things, like emotions, health problems, basic personality and temperaments. We'll teach you what we've learned and how to apply it. We've got one girl, Allison, who's really taken the lead in identifying what all the various colors mean."

"You'll do that for me?" she asked, as if shocked anyone would help her, much less believe what she was saying. She glanced at each of us, although she had to shield her eyes slightly in order to focus on Chalise who was sitting beside me.

"Not just me," Cate responded. "We live with several others like you. We call them 'Sisters' because you're all related by your specific abilities. You form a group called 'Seers', named because you can see this energy that Alex radiates. There's another class called the Watchers, because they don't have enough of your ability to actually see the energy, but they can tell that Alex is important in some way they can't detect. Thus we identify them because they watch Alex like scared little field mice watch a hawk flying overhead. You'll meet all these people soon. Alex?" Cate prompted me.

I contacted Allison, quickly explaining what was happening, and then patched her into Nikki so she could explain some of what we'd been telling her from a personal experience. Her eyes grew large at the unexpected experience.

"Allison's already talking to her," I explained to the other two girls. We waited until Nikki refocused on Cate, alerting us she was back with us, at which point Cate went on.

"We're on our way home now. We live in a remote area called Shawneetown in Illinois. We'll introduce you to everyone once we get there. You can tell the Seers by the extra bright aura about them. That's because Alex allowed them to draw more of this life force you all see around you."

"How'd that girl, Allison, I think she said her name was, how'd she talk in my head like that?" Nikki asked me.

"That's another ability Alex gave you," Cate carefully explained. "He allows you to communicate with him telepathically. You'll also learn that his abilities seem to grow occasionally, and we recently learned how to allow you to use this ability without going through him. But that will take some, uh, some additional steps," she said somewhat obliquely. Chalise couldn't help but giggle quietly, causing Nikki to glance at her. She leaned over and whispered in her ear, which just caused her eyes to open large once again.

"Can I at least finish eating first?" she asked, causing us all to break out in laughter.

"Don't worry," I told her. "We've got plenty of time. I'm more anxious to learn more about you. You've been my responsibility since we first make that initial eye contact, but I managed to lose you. Now we have to make up for lost time. I've got to learn about you, and you've got to learn about me. Plus there are a few others for you to learn about as well. Say hello girls," I told her just as I got everyone to say hello to her at once. She practically dropped her fork at that.

Once again I didn't monitor what they were saying to her, wanting to give them their privacy to speak freely, but I noticed several different emotions cross her face and thought maybe I'd best intercede.

"I'm not sure what they just said, but don't take anything they say about me too seriously. All the Sisters give me much too much credit. I'm just a young man not yet graduated from High School," I told her, and she spun around and stared at me.

'Does that mean you can read my mind?' I heard clearly in my mind.

"No, I can't read your mind. We're talking telepathy. You choose what to communicate with me," I told her out loud, though I did it quietly. 'Try thinking something to Anh. She's Vietnamese, but speaking telepathically you bypass any language constraints. They can speak with you directly, but you'll have to contact them by going through me. It sounds more difficult than it is. Just try it and you'll find it's pretty easy, ' I explained, mixing speech and telepathy together for effect.

'Don't listen to him, Nikki, he's a dreamboat and he seems to always amaze us, even without his amazing abilities. And don't worry if you want to communicate with us; he doesn't listen in when we all speak together via him. He has this thing about privacy, so don't let him catch you gossiping about anyone, ' Anh warned her.

Both girls noticed that Nikki and I had stopped speaking, despite Nikki's continued emotional responses.

"Now, that's just mean. How are we supposed to know what you're saying?" Chalise complained.

"I'm sorry, sweetie, but I was just doing it to show Nikki her new capabilities. We'll speak normally from now on."

"OK, Nikki," I told her, deciding we'd given her enough surprises for now, and that we needed to get this show on the road if we were going to be home in time for dinner tonight. "I think we've given you enough to think about. Let's get back on the highway and head home. I'll ride with Chalise, and Cate can ride with you so she can fill in any details I forgot to cover. Don't worry, though, you can say anything you want to me mentally, or to any of the other girls as well." With that we finished up and I paid for Nikki's quick meal as she quickly scarfed the rest of her food. I made sure to pick up some snacks she could eat in the car, and some sodas for the rest of us as we made our way back out to the cars.

As we headed out, Nikki edged closer to me and pointed to Chalise, not quite having worked out everything we'd told her yet.

'She isn't like us?' she asked. Apparently, despite Cate having said she was 'normal', Nikki was still confused about everyone's role in our little pantheon.

"Her name is Chalise, and you can always ask her yourself. But take your time and study her aura, then study the women you'll meet when we get home and tell me, but she's my girlfriend. Well, one of my girlfriends at least."

Chalise turned at the mention of her name and ended up smiling, once she figured what we were talking about.

"Don't worry about insulting me," she assured Nikki. "I'm sure you're still getting used to this and I'll give you some time to adjust."

Nikki quickly apologized, but appeared deep in thought as we all climbed into our cars, thinking about everything we'd told her. I hoped she'd be all right traveling with Cate, but I wanted her to know that I both respected her judgment, and expected her to maintain her balance. As we were buckling up I turned to Chalise.

"So, was that more of what you were expecting?"

"Hell, yeah," she responded enthusiastically. "I'd heard everyone talking about her, even though no one ever wanted to address her directly, so both Kitty and I had been wondering about her. It's amazing how you quickly take control and give everyone a role to fill. They seem to respond to you right away. Well, everyone except Clara, I guess," she said, amending her previous comment.

"So, you're afraid of losing girls, you don't like rumors, you want everyone to be treated fairly, and you accept responsibility for everyone even though you don't like it. Is there anything else I should know about you?" Chalise asked me with a slight smirk.

"Yeah, I dislike being forced to screw total strangers, I'm afraid of what having everyone treat me as if I'm special will do to me, and I have a tendency to dump smart-alecky girlfriends."

"Yeah, I can see why you'd worry about that," she said, focusing on the most important issue and ignoring the rest. "I think that's why all your girls tease you so much, it's a way of reminding themselves that you're still just a kid and have human foibles. Although they'd do anything you ask, I think it gives them a better perspective, which allows them to watch out for you."

"You realize you've been around Cate too long," I told her. "You're beginning to sound like her. 'Foibles'? When did you start dropping words like that?"

"Hey, I can drop foibles into a sentence if I want. I just don't get much of a chance to. Besides, it's not just Cate who likes to drop big words," she cautioned me. She suddenly started pulling her cell phone out.

"What's up?" I asked.

"I'm going to call Kitty and tell her about Nikki. She'll be excited and will want to meet us at your house," Chalise replied.

"My house? What makes you think either of you will be there? I was planning on dropping you off."

"Oh, pshaw, you're doing no such thing. It's out of the way and an interruption. If Kitty can stay for a while I plan on getting what I couldn't last night, and if she can't she can give me a lift home."

"Pshaw? You switch from foibles to pshaw? Your vocabulary might be improving, but your cursing needs some serious work. How the hell are you supposed to make a scene during an orgasm if the worst you can say is pshaw?" It was nice to tease about something so light, since it contrasted so much with what I was facing otherwise. It provided us both a nice release.

"Ha, you give me something to curse about and I'll curse a blue streak. But so far about all you rate is a tired old phrase like pshaw," she responded, and we both started giggling.

We were almost home when I noticed I needed gas. I assumed that Nikki did too, if she was spending money on gas like she was on feeding herself. I informed her of what I was doing as I headed for the nearby service station. I pulled into an empty pump and was unfastening my seatbelt when I heard a commotion behind me. Opening my door I observed Cate coming up behind Nikki, arguing with her.

"Shouldn't we be doing that? We should be helping him, shouldn't we? He's too important to be doing that. He should be being driven around."

"It makes him feel better to do things for himself," Cate told her. "He appreciates it. It helps keep him grounded. Doing little things like that and opening doors for people is a big part of how he operates."

Nikki stood there in frustration, barely able to control her hands as they observed me putting the hose into the car and began pumping my own gas. I simply smiled at them.