Caleb 04 - Saturday

"Do you think you can put me down?" she asked. "Gently would be nice."

"Me?" I was astonished. "Am I doing that?"

She nodded. "Visualise your own mind. You should be able to see any powers you are using. Remember you said you saw a link between Harold and Angela? Look for something like that."

I thought for a moment and tried to imagine the powers I was currently using. I saw several threads leading from me. There were two thick, rich, purple threads linking me with the twins, which I took to be the remnants of our sharing. I also saw a thin white thread linking me with Mary. I gently pulled it toward me and she floated back until she was over the bed, and then I cut the thread. She fell onto the bed.

She smiled.

I, however, wasn't smiling.

I had also noticed that there were two other deep purple threads that both disappeared through the wall in the direction of the kitchen. I had a horrible feeling about where they led.

"Oh no!" I said.

"What?" Mary asked looking worried.

"I think we shared with more than just the three of us."

"What?" Amanda asked.

"I have a horrible feeling that our sharing included some people we didn't intend," I reiterated.

"Who?" asked Mary.

"If I'm right, and I hope to hell I'm not, then one of them is your grandmother, and the other is my mom."

Mary and Amanda looked at me, then at each other, and then erupted in gales of laughter.

"It's not funny!" I said, "It's tantamount to rape. How could I?"

"No Caleb, no it's not," Mary said quickly.

"It's the most loving thing you could have done for either of them," Amanda said. "You offered them a gift. You offered for them to share your first time, our first time. They could have refused it. If they are still connected now, then that is a choice that they both made."

"But what about your grandmother? And even if that's the case, how will my dad feel, knowing what happened?"

"Oh, he will be well compensated," Mary assured me. "Your mother will feed off that energy for weeks, and he will benefit greatly, believe me. And Grandmother? I'm surprised she isn't in here asking you for a one-on-one."

"Ooh, he doesn't hate that idea," said Amanda, watching me.

"Oh god, kill me now!!" I said, putting my head in my hands.

Mary took my hands and pulled them away from my face.

"Caleb, please," she said, "you must realize that things are different now. Your powers - our powers - change things. You need to look at things differently now. Sex is just one of those things. You never laid a finger on your mother, nor my grandmother, but I'll bet we gave them some of the best orgasms they have enjoyed in quite a while. Empaths share; it's what we do. It's all done with love, and nobody suffers harm. I know you were brought up to believe certain things, but those things no longer apply."

"But isn't this exactly what we are trying to avoid?" I asked uncertainly. "This descent into hedonistic debauchery and corruption?"

"Well, the second one, of course," Mary said seriously. "But there's absolutely nothing wrong with this 'hedonistic debauchery' you're so afraid of if everyone freely chooses to participate. And I'm surprised you'd think like that anyway. You felt the love, Caleb. You felt all of us - including you! - giving as much as they were taking. Everyone cared about everyone else's feelings and pleasure. There's nothing wrong with casual sex, but this was not that."

"You made an offer, Caleb," Amanda said. "Grandmother and your mom accepted, and your father declined. Everyone made their choice. Everything is okay."

"MY FATHER?" I asked, shocked.

"Of course," Amanda said. "Do you love him any less than your mother? Would you make such an offer to your mother and not your father?"

I opened and closed my mouth several times, trying to sort all this out in my head. Had I just descended into an incestuous relationship with my mother? And tried to do the same with my father? What would they think of me now? My newly-revealed sexuality must have seemed like the ultimate perversion to them in that context.

"You didn't want to, offer to, or actually have sex with either of your parents," Mary said. "Remember, they have been around powers for all their lives. They know how they work, whereas this is all new to you. I am quite certain you didn't blindside them. The only person you blindsided was yourself, and we're both trying to tell you that it's all okay."

"I'm still not sure I'm going to be able to face them," I said.

"Oh, you are going to have some much tougher questions to answer," Mary said, with a worried smile.

"Like what?" I asked.

"Like how you managed to develop telekinesis."

We each grabbed a quick shower and got dressed again, then returned to the kitchen.

Dianna and my mother were both sitting at the table, looking like they had run a marathon. My father was sitting at the head of the table, giggling like a schoolboy.

I looked at him in surprise as he came over to me and hugged me.

"What?..." I began.

"Thank you, Caleb," he said "I'll admit I was a little surprised at the offer, but I have always been more of a physical rather than a metaphysical person. I hope you don't feel I passed on it for any other reason."

Dumbly, I shook my head. I hadn't even been aware I had made the offer. In some sense, I was actually relieved he had not been a part of it.

"Besides," he added, "It's always so much fun watching those two twitching like landed fish, and I know that your Mom will want..."

I held up my hand, not really wanting to hear the end of that sentence. He turned to the twins.

"Thank you to you girls as well," he said, putting an arm around each of them.

They both grinned back at him.

My mother stood and walked over to me. I cringed, waiting for I-don't-know-what to happen.

"Caleb, thank you," she said, embracing me gently. "I have not shared like that for such a long time. I know that was your," she looked between the three of us, "all of yours, first times, and I was honored to be included. That hasn't happened since... well, for a long time. Thank you so much." There were tears in her eyes as she went on to embrace both the girls.

She left the kitchen and went outside for some reason.

"I didn't tell her that it wasn't deliberate," Dianna said. "She thinks you did it out of love, and I suspect that, if you had realized it was possible and had had some more time to adjust to your new life, you probably would have offered it voluntarily - maybe to even more people than just the three of us.

"Let's go into the parlor while I can still think," she said, regarding her two granddaughters. "I have not felt anything like that since your grandfather was alive. Any time you feel like sharing, please feel free, and if you want to share more directly, I would be happy to."

She leered at me, and I acutely recalled the twins' lecture about how 'hedonistic debauchery' was not frowned upon, in and of itself.

"Oh, by the way, which one of you did the spanking?" she asked.

"Amanda did the first one to motivate me," I answered, "and Mary did the second, to motivate Amanda, although I think there was a hint of revenge in there too."

"It was good, but you need more. Once is only enough to shock. To really get into it you need to...."

"We'll take that under advisement," I interrupted, not really wanting to discuss this with the twins' grandmother.

"Grandmother," Mary said.

Dianna stopped talking and looked at Mary, the note of formality in her voice shifting the room's whole vibe.

"Share with me," Dianna said, and I felt their powers swell and connect. I was starting to recognize things now, and I was certain that if I had wanted to, I could have joined their connection.

Dianna's eyes went wide. "Compulsion, Empathy, Telekinesis. That's three. In multiples, there are never odd numbers. So, there is a fourth. Could be pyro or cryo, or even true telepathy. I don't think I can train him. I can give him the basics, but he needs something more."

While she was talking, I was watching her and the girls. Now that I had identified them, I could see their powers wrapped around each of them. There was a constant link between the twins, and I could still see the thick lines linking the twins with me. The other, lesser lines between me, my mother, and Dianna had faded now, and I assumed that the thicker lines would just take longer to dissipate. They didn't seem to have weakened yet, though. I made a mental note to check again later.

I was also starting to appreciate something else. There was something about each of them. It was like seeing something, but without using my eyes. The images just arrived in my brain. Each of them had what could only be described as an aura. Once I spotted it, I couldn't not see it.

"What are you looking at?" asked Mary curiously, seeing that I was looking from her, to Amanda, to Dianna.

"Your auras, I think," I replied, still looking between them.

That caused a red spike in all three of the auras.

"Judging by that red spike, I take it that is not a good thing?" I asked.

"Auras are personal," Dianna said, "and I mean personal to the observer. Simply put, because you take red to not be a good thing, that's probably in the ballpark. You just need to remember that another aura reader's colors might be very different. Never assume anything if you're only told what color they saw."

"Red means danger to me," I said, "so tell me, why would you think it dangerous for me to be able to see Auras?"

"It isn't in and of itself," Dianna said, "but the fact that you have figured them out, without us having had to help you see them, shows that your powers are expanding at quite a rate. The worry is that they will expand so fast that you will be swept along, not be able to maintain your sense of self, and become corrupted by them."

"I'm counting on a certain set of twins and their grandmother to help me make sure that doesn't happen," I replied.

"And we will do our utmost to help," she said, "but I think we might need a little more help than what we currently have on hand."

"I still have University," I reminded them.

"Yes, we understand that," Dianna said, "but I think we can make some arrangements. Also, you will find that with your powers unlocked your memory will be much better and you will understand things more easily.

"For today, there are a couple of things I want to do. Firstly, we need to deal with Harold's memories. I would like to deactivate them if you will let me. It won't remove them, but it will sever their links to your emotional centers. That way, they cannot affect you. I won't lie to you, Caleb. Now that I have a better sense of how powerful you are, and how quickly you're growing into that power, I strongly recommend that you allow me to do so."

"But if they don't affect my emotions, doesn't that mean I'll be able to view them without the feelings of disgust and horror that I do now?"

"That's the point."

"But surely, then, if I can do that, then what would prevent me from doing some of the things he did? If I can detach it in such a way from emotion, am I not in danger of repeating it?"

She considered me for a moment. "It would require malice aforethought, as they say in the law, for you to deliberately detach your emotions from bad acts you were about to do. These memories are not your memories. You can feel a much healthier amount of disgust just 'knowing,' as normal people do, what Harold did to his victims. Believe me, law enforcement is full of normal people who have to retire because that normal amount of disgust overwhelms them. You would not be losing much - only enough, I think, so that you'd be able to sleep on your own again.

"The only other way is removal," she continued, "and that will make you as sick as a dog for hours. It will feel like someone took a blender, threw your brain in, blended it without the lid on, and then poured what's left of it back into your skull."

"And if you do nothing?" I asked.

"Then there is a chance they will haunt you in your dreams," she said. "That would be terrible for a normal person, but in your case, it could be much more dangerous. Imagine if a sleepwalker had superpowers."

"If the girls have suppressed my dreams," I asked, "how do we even know if that happens?"

"Do you want to take the chance that you will spend your nights re-enacting the horrors that Harold perpetrated on all his victims, including your friend Angela?" she asked.

"Maybe that won't happen," I said. "Have you come across this before?"

She shook her head. "Nobody was dumb enough to take a brain dump from a degenerate psychopath," she said acidly. "Honestly, what possessed you to do that?"

"I'm sorry," I said, starting to get annoyed, "I missed ALL the lessons that you gave me growing up regarding the safe use of my powers. Oh, wait! There were none. I guess I should apologize for wanting to check if Harold had anybody chained up in his basement that I needed to go rescue, too."

We glared at each other for a long moment, and then she sighed heavily.

"You can be a dick when you want to be," she said finally.

"Try not being such a bitch and perhaps I might not want to be so often."

The twins sat to one side, wide-eyed. Dianna and I continued to glare at each other.

I noted her aura had disappeared. I wondered if she was suppressing it deliberately to stop me from reading her mood. I took a gamble.

"Are you going to stop pouting now and teach me, or do you need me to spank you first?"

Suddenly her aura flared back into visibility. It was a deep, rich purple, like velvet, and it immediately made me think of arousal.

I raised an eyebrow at her, and she chuckled.

"Dick!" she said without rancor. "That would never have happened if I hadn't just gotten caught up in your playtime.

"If you want to keep his memories intact and try and deal with them yourself then we can try it for a night," she agreed. "If you have a bad night tonight, we can talk again in the morning before you head back. For now, there are a couple of things I want to show you. The first is how to defend yourself against a mental attack."

To be honest, it was a bit disappointing: build a wall and make it impenetrable.

Being a bit of a Trekkie, rather than a wall, I imagined shields. I saw in my mind the icon of the starship Enterprise as the shields were raised, the forcefield surrounding the ship, protecting it from external threats.

I felt Dianna pressing at my shield, and she nodded. "Nice," she said.

Then I had another idea. If a shield worked, then what would happen if I imagined not only a shield, but also a cloaking device, such as the Klingons or Romulans used?

"Okay, again," Dianna said. "Put up your defense, and let's see if I can breach it. I will be putting pressure on, but I'll back off as soon as I get through."

"If you get through, you mean," I countered, grinning at her.

"Ready?" Dianna asked.

I heard the command in my head: "So'wI' yIchu'!" That's Klingon for "Raise the cloak!" I was, in fact, more than just a bit of a Trekkie. I imagined my mind shimmering into invisibility.

My 'Cloak' failed to engage. I sensed that there was something in the way. I examined my mind, and saw that those two broad purple lines still connecting me and the twins, effectively preventing me from using it. Irritated at my failure, I slashed at the links. My cloak engaged.

Immediately I heard the twins scream, a primal noise of pain and loss. I wanted to help them, to find out what had caused them to cry out like that, but I had also been hit by a sense of loss and abandonment so profound I could hardly breathe. My shields collapsed. There was a hole in my heart where the twins had been. I had not even known that they had occupied that space, but then they'd been violently torn out of me. It wasn't mere absence, but an ugly, jagged, gaping wound. It brought uncontrollable tears to my eyes.

Then I felt Dianna bring her own power to bear, surrounding us, comforting us, and bringing us back together. I felt the twins once again in my mind and my panic and loss subsided. I felt their arms around me and we held each other tightly, sobbing in relief that once again we were whole.

"I'm sorry," I sobbed, clutching at the girls "I'm so sorry." On some level I understood that my cutting those links had caused what had just happened; I just didn't understand why. Weren't they just the remnants of our earlier sharing? Was it that they needed to fade naturally? Had I been too precipitous in my irritation and caused some kind of psychic backlash?

My parents had entered the room, presumably summoned by the screams. Dianna indicated that everything was under control, and they should let her deal with it. Reluctantly, they withdrew.

It took a while for us all to settle down again, and the twins held onto me, wanting the physical reassurance of my presence. I did not object. I needed to feel their presence every bit as much as they seemed to need to feel mine. I was still shaking slightly when I finally managed to turn my attention back to Dianna.

"What happened?" I asked, my voice by no means firm.

"I have a suspicion," she replied, "Will you let me see it from your perspective? I should then be able to explain."

I nodded and felt her in my mind.

She gasped, and I saw tears in her eyes.

"I never thought I would ever see it," she said quietly. "I'd heard stories, but I never even dreamed that it would happen."

"That what would happen?" I asked. "What did I do?"

"Caleb," she said, "when you, Mary, and Amanda took each other's first times this morning, it bound you together - more certainly and surely than any marriage. And of course, it happened with twins. My oh my."

"I don't understand," I said, "what do you mean, 'bound?'"

"Caleb," she said, "you must understand that these powers have been around for generations. Hundreds of years. Over that period, they have evolved, and people have learned how to manipulate them using rituals.

"Most of the skills and rituals have died out," she continued, "mostly because they were total nonsense. We are no longer living in the Middle Ages; we live in a scientific age. But, just like some ancient herbal remedies actually did work, I suppose some of those rituals did too.

"I'd heard of one, decades ago. It was originally designed as a marriage ritual. The idea was that the betrothed couple would each give their first time to the other whilst sharing. It was supposed to form an unbreakable bond between the pair - so much so that they could never bear to be parted.

"I never attributed much to the tales, thinking they were myths, but it seems that you did something quite like that - though, thankfully, not so extreme that you can't be physically separate. In giving yourself to Mary and Amanda, and them giving themselves to you, you are now bonded.

"Those lines you saw were the bond, not just a remnant of your sharing. When you blocked them, you did something akin to cutting off your own arm. It really shouldn't be possible to do that in the first place, but the power of your imagination seems to have few boundaries. What you saw, and felt, was the result. I am not sure of the effect on any of you should that disconnection become permanent. I would fear for your sanity, for your very lives."

My chest tightened and I felt physically sick. I felt, more than heard, a litany of accusations in my head. They weren't coming from some outside source. There were no red or black lines pumping venom into my head. They burned just as badly as any psychic attack possibly could.

Reckless. Stupid. Arrogant. Dangerous. Unstable. Selfish. Insane.

I couldn't breathe. I had to get out of that room, out of the house.