Chapter 12: Sisters and Other Challenges

Alex stared at the web page on Reggie's phone, considering what it implied before handing it back to the young intern who ran it back to Reggie. The man, having no idea who he was, didn't consider stopping to get Alex's response.

Alex looked at Reggie, who'd alerted him to the situation, standing on the stage above him. Reggie shrugged his shoulders, indicating he didn't know any more than Alex did at the moment. Alex looked for the familiar comforting form of Cate to discuss this newest problem with, but instead saw Melinda and Becky helping Rachel and Cynthia. They seemed to be having an easier time of it now that Alex wasn't there, but he wondered whether Cynthia was still being difficult.

Becky, glanced up at him, silently asking if he needed assistance. Alex waved her off, realizing she was needed where she was. He'd discuss it with them that evening, if not before. Right then, it was probably better he dealt with it himself before subjecting anyone else to the news.

'Anything you'd like to share?' Patricia asked, causing Alex to turn around, seeing her on the stage with the other band members who were busy watching the new girls and gossiping about what they'd just seen.

'It seems we've attracted the attention of the media again, ' Alex told her.

'So what's the status: is it going to cause trouble? Are you going to need to leave town in a hurry? If you do, it'll disrupt everyone's plans and screw up Winona's confidence.'

'It's hard to tell, it's an indirect attack, ' Alex explained. 'They're linking me to someone in the media, but I don't know if they have any personal details about me.'

'One of the people you healed?' Patricia guessed.

'Yep. Mr. Herskowitz, the studio head.'

'I'm guessing it's from the obvious source?' she asked.

'Yeah. Clearly you've been keeping up on the details of my life. I've got no proof yet, but I'm guessing it's Dr. Ice. He wasn't pleased when I refused to treat him.'

'You actually refused to treat someone?'

'Not so much refused as I was unable to. However, I wasn't terribly charitable in how I presented it to him. I found him offensive and pushy, and unfortunately I retaliated in kind.'

'Well, you need to make those decisions and deal with the fallout as they occur. He was the one pushing you for a favor you couldn't deliver. Anyway, I'd better be getting back. The band's about finished discussing you.'

When Alex turned back around, preparing to rejoin the others, Gini stepped up by his side.

"Anything I need to be concerned with? I recognize that troubled look and I need to know if we should be anticipating something."

"No, not at the moment, at least. We've been noticed by the media again, but we won't have to worry about it until the paper comes out in the morning. That'll give us a chance to make plans."

"Unless, of course, they corner you for either a last minute quote or some candid surprised reaction photos," Gini warned.

"I doubt it," Alex replied, feeling confident in his interpretation of events. "They wouldn't have released the information if the story hadn't already been approved, and I doubt they'd have done that if it wasn't already put to bed. No, we should be OK until others have a chance to respond to it. The fact the reporter didn't try to contact me indicates they don't know who I am or how to find me."

"OK, I'll take your word for it. But if things start to go wrong, give me an alert and I'll get you out of the area in a hurry," Gini offered.

"Thanks, but I'd rather not attract any more attention. Running away would generate more questions than ignoring the situation would," Alex answered before heading back to the stadium floor.

As he approached the others, still talking amongst themselves, they glanced up at him.

"We were just explaining the details to Rachael and her sister," Melissa explained.

"Good, I figured I was more of a distraction than anything else. The information is the same whether I explain it or someone else does."

"That may be," Rachael answered, trying to look at him directly, "but you're the one who did this, and thus you're the one I owe my allegiance."

"Hey, you don't owe me anything," Alex argued. "I didn't do anything. This is a genetic anomaly which has probably existed for thousands of years. It's simply been waiting for someone who could trigger it, but it's no more personal than pure random chance."

"Now look who's deluding themselves," Becky interjected. "Everyone is convinced you didn't just fall off a turnip truck and end up with this power. Either God, Anh's spirits from another world or some other force hand-picked you for this. That's what these women perceive through their new abilities, and it's what the rest of us believe. So get over yourself."

Alex couldn't help but smile in response. As much as he liked to take the pressure off and assure these women they weren't obligated to him, they had no problem disabusing him of that notion and they had a point. He could try to distance himself from it, but they were still his responsibility and he needed to lead them. They needed his guidance so they could learn how to cope with these new abilities, and pretending they didn't wouldn't help anyone.

"Maybe you should try talking to Gini," Alex suggested to Rachael. "She can give you a better explanation of what you're experiencing than anyone else."

Gini cocked her head at him, not comfortable handling these kinds of tasks, but he maintained his position, wordlessly letting her know he was insistent. Shrugging, she took Rachael aside. As Cynthia started to follow, Alex motioned for Melinda to head her off.

"Why don't we give them some privacy," Melinda suggested. "They'll probably want to discuss this in private, so they can relate what she's seeing. We can discuss what it all means. Since I've been trailing Alex and everyone following him for some time, I suspect we have a few things to commiserate about."

That seemed to placate her, so with one last worried glance at her sister, Cynthia let herself be led aside, although she never took her eyes off Rachael.

"We were just about to explain the whole boostin—"

"No, don't," Alex insisted, cutting Becky off. "Her sister is already having enough trouble with this. If she thinks I'm taking advantage of Rachael, she'll be even worse. She'll learn eventually and we can always work the details out between us privately, but there's no need to rush the issue since we're going to be here for several more days."

"I don't know," Becky countered. "If it were me, I'd want to know so I could do it as soon as possible. These women are pretty insistent, and you're as likely as not to get yanked away again. This might be her only chance."

"Still, I don't think we should be forcing it on Rachael. I can discuss it with her tonight after she leaves her sister behind, then she can think about it overnight."

"Which means you're planning to spend the night with me?" Becky asked with an arched eyebrow. "Honestly, Alex, both Melissa and I are here for a long time and we know enough about what's involved to know how important it is. We don't mind taking a back seat when it's necessary. Besides, from what Cate describes, it's not like we have to do without. You've been pretty good at incorporating her even when you entertain several others."

"No, actually it means we're going to need to have a planning session tonight. There are a few things coming to a head tomorrow, and we need to figure out how to handle it."

"Ah, I figured something was up. Want to discuss it?"

"No, this is too public and we're too likely to be distracted. We can easily put it off until later, but when we do discuss it, we should concentrate on the issues."

"Again, I don't think you'll have any problems there," Becky replied. "We both know what's fun, what's important and what's essential. While I've been waiting for my chance, it's not essential it take place tonight."

"That's good to know; now what's the deal with Cynthia? She seems to be fairly aggressive. Is she going to be an issue?"

"I'm not sure. She seems to be pretty protective of her sister, which is odd given she's the younger sister."

"Not really, just look at Cate and me," Alex offered.

"There is that," Becky acknowledged, "but still, I'm not sure if it's you or something in either Cynthia or Rachael's past. Chances are, we'll only find out by discussing it with each of them and getting the full story."

"In that case maybe it's better if I made myself scarce. As I said, I can discuss these topics with Rachael any time, but I'd rather not cause problems between her and her family."

"Speaking of her family, we discussed the familial issues concerning female relatives. It seems they've got another two sisters, a mother and father and a brother in the immediate area."

"Good, let's see if they can bring them by tomorrow and we'll see if anyone else in the family has the same abilities. I'm intrigued one sister has full Seer abilities while the other has none. I'd have expected Cynthia to at least be a Seeker if something blocked her full activation. This is the kind of thing Cate would eat up."

"Hey, don't downplay my analytic abilities," Becky protested. "Give me a chance to come up with some theories of my own."

"OK, in that case, it sounds like I'd best give you your space. If I stick around, Rachael will never be able to concentrate and Cynthia will be watching me the whole time. I think I'll get out of here for a few hours."

"Just make sure you take Gini with you," Becky reminded him. "If something is worrying you, I'm guessing you're likely to run into trouble."

"I'm not expecting any problems, but it's always a good idea to keep her nearby. I was hoping we could let Rachael and Gini talk more, but if I were to take off, Gini would never let me forget it. Yeah, I'll wait, but I think we need to treat these two delicately."

'Alex?' a mental voice he immediately identified as Emily McDonald's, his main contact in LA, hesitantly asked. As soon as he heard her voice, his first thought was that the police had contacted her, but he restrained his panic long enough to listen.

'Yeah, Emily, what's up?' Alex responded, keeping his eyes on the road and his hands firmly on the wheel. He was on his way back to the hotel, and he knew he sometimes got a little spacey when speaking telepathically.

'I've got someone I want to introduce you to. We've decided she'd be the best person to run your new church in San Francisco. She's a full Seer, even though you've never met her. It seems you accidentally activated her when you were last here, and she somehow managed to locate us by following me one day after noticing my brighter aura. We wanted to use her since you could talk to her whenever you need, without her being able to identify you if push ever comes to shove.'

'Wow, it sounds like you're already several steps ahead of me. Yeah, I've got no control or awareness of those spontaneous activations. But you should know I'm always glad to speak to any of you.'

'That's just the thing, Alex. She's looking for you to do more than just explain what she needs to know to get by. She's starting up an organized church in your name and she's going to need a theology to base it on. You really need to sit down and come up with some principles everyone can follow. At the very least, something which sounds vaguely religious so we can tell anyone snooping around it's legit. We've all been after you to come up with this stuff for some time, and I think now's the time to ... excuse the language, but shit or get off the pot. This has now moved beyond you. It's become a bona fide religion on its own, without your involvement, and you need to start treating it as such.'

'Yeah, I guess you're right. So is this girl ready to speak now?'

'No, I was just calling to let you know you're on a deadline. So how long until you'll be ready?'

'I was going to tell you I need some time to put it together, but honestly, I think I'll come up with something more specific if the pressure's on. Let me think about it tonight and have her contact me tomorrow.'

'OK, I'll pass the message along. Her name is Victoria, by the way, ' Emily informed him.

'All right, hopefully I'll be ready to talk to her tomorrow.'

'You'd better be, because we're not going to pull any punches. If you say you'll be ready by tomorrow, then I'm going to count on it. By the way, this isn't just for Victoria to feed to the press. You've got people hungry for this information. We've heard from some gang bangers in San Diego—where we don't have a presence—who are interested in our religion. So far we've managed to fend them off by setting them up with rehab and job training sites, but they're interested in knowing what we stand for and what we can tell them about you. It seems word of your deeds is spreading pretty far on their own, even without the media's help.'

'Thanks. That doesn't add much pressure, ' Alex deadpanned, rolling his eyes. 'I'll try to keep that in mind.'

'Anyway, good luck. I'm interesting it hearing it myself. The next time you hear from me, I'll introduce you to Victoria, ' Emily warned.

'Great, ' Alex thought to himself. 'I've managed to put this off so far, but I know as soon as I lay out any principles everyone will treat them as absolute gospel. If I say anything which can be misconstrued in the slightest, I'll end up with yet another overreaching abusive religion trying to shove it's dictates down the throats of any and all nonbelievers.'

"OK, that's simple enough. Basically you don't know what the paper is going to report, but where does that leave us?" Becky asked, leaning forward with a worried expression. Despite Alex's attempts to dismiss the potential damage, the room was stressful as everyone considered their options. "How should we handle it tomorrow?"

"Yeah, that's what I'm most interested in," Gini said. She and Alex had slipped away like he'd planned, minimizing any conflict with Rachael's sister. Instead they'd driven a short ways off, grabbed a burger and a couple of milk shakes and sat watching the scenery, far from anyone likely to stumble over them. Alex had appreciated the rare bit of solitude, but felt guilty about it nevertheless. Rachael was disappointed when Alex departed, but according to Becky and Melinda, Cynthia was glad for the reprieve, thinking she'd gotten Rachael away from his influence. No one else had discovered him and the time alone in quiet contemplation of his options was good for Alex. It allowed him to avoid the many distractions. However, as soon as he'd met the others back at their hotel room, the questions started. Alex sequestered his sisters in his room, telling Winona he needed some time alone without explaining what was up. They each wanted to know exactly what had happened, and what he planned to do.

"As I said, I doubt they actually know who or where I am, otherwise they'd have contacted me for a comment."

Gini frowned, looking unconvinced. "I'm not sure I'd discount their ability to figure it out," Gini cautioned.

"Yeah, if they start poking around it'll get people talking and won't be long before someone connects it to your 'Angel Alex' from New Orleans," Melinda reminded him.

"Still, while they may make that association, they won't connect it to me personally, so I don't think it'll be a problem."

"Except for all the people you've been showing off for lately," Becky suggested. "Any one of the people at the stadium the last few days: the singers, the workers, the technicians, any one of them could come forward and publicly link you to it."

"Still, there are literally thousands of—"

"There may be thousands of Alexes," Becky stressed, cutting him off, "but there's only one currently performing miracles in the very city they're building a new temple dedicated to Alexandria in. It doesn't take a huge leap to make the obvious connections."

"She's got a point, Alex," Melissa added. "You've got a lot of fans, but anyone who's been hanging around in the background could identify you, and they won't be as dedicated to protecting you."

"So what about it, Gini?" Alex asked, rounding on the big woman out of frustration at being ganged up on. "You're our head of security? Do you think I should run away; scurrying from the scene?"

"I'm just your bodyguard," she said, sitting back in her seat. "Gail warned me not to discount your intuition. If you think it's better to stay, then I'll do whatever I need to protect you."

"That goes for all of us," Melinda said. "You decide what to do and we'll trust your judgment. We're just trying to lay out the potential issues."

"You're right, it may come to nothing," Becky said. "But you've also got to consider things could get spin out of control quickly. If we stay, then we at least need some contingency plans."

"Don't worry, I've always got contingency plans," Gini quietly informed the others. "I've been plotting how to escape from people for years, and now that my panic attacks are gone it's finally proving useful. Besides, both Gail and her best people are giving me constant advice."

"OK, I think we're safe for the moment," Alex announced, finally taking a stand and deciding their official approach. He was tired of running away and hoped it would blow over this time. But in either case, he was determined to face the troubles head on. Running away never solved anything, as the problems continued to dog you well after you made your escape. "We'll stay since we still have so much to do. We've committed to working with Winona, and she'll give us the ability to reach a lot more people. We're better off sticking with our strategy. If we run, we'll have to scrap all our plans for the next several months."

"Sounds like a plan," Gini said, standing up and heading into the kitchen, satisfied the issue had been settled.

Alex turned and regarded his sisters, seeing if they had anything more to add.

"Was there anything else?" Melinda asked, guessing there was something Alex hadn't shared yet.

"Yeah, it seems that now I've got an official religion on my hands, I need to put together the tenets my followers are going to live by."

Gini's laughter echoed from the kitchen as she poked her head out to gloat. "See, you can't escape it. Everyone wants to hear the wisdom of your words, even if you don't feel very wise."