Caleb 62 - Family

After a few minutes the twins came out with drinks and, at a gentle prod from me, engaged Sarah's parents in conversation. I wanted to 'talk' to Edgar.

"Hey Edgar," I sent to him gently once more. His gaze, which had been fixed on his toy, turned to me.

"Hello," he sent back, a trace of wonder in his send.

I wondered what to do next. I had little or no experience with children with Autism, hell I wasn't even sure if that was the right term, but I did know that Edgar, no matter whether he did or didn't have it, definitely had power. Telepathy at least.

"You can hear me?" I asked him.

"I can hear everyone," he replied. "Too loud."

That didn't surprise me. I remembered Sarah's reaction when she'd suddenly been exposed to her powers, Edgar had the same powers, but nobody had known.

"I can help with that," I sent, "If you want."

"Help?" he asked.

"Make the noise go away." I sent "So you only hear what you want."

"For real?" He asked.

"You can do it," I replied. "I can show you how. Would you like that?"

He actually nodded.

As gently as possible, I placed the same memories in his mind, as I had into Sarah's. I went much slower with Edgar since I didn't know how suddenly being in possession of knowledge would make him react. He simply sat there looking thoughtful, then he smiled and went back to playing with his toy.

"Is that better?" I sent to him. He nodded again but seemed to have no more interest in conversing with me.

"Edgar?" I tried once more, but he ignored me and continued to play. I patted him gently on his shoulder and then allowed my attention to rejoin the conversation around me.

While we were talking, I wondered what I should do. Should I tell his parents about his power? How would that affect them, affect him? If I did tell them, would that change the way they dealt with him? Should I be talking to someone like Vince Wragge, a man whose family all had Telepathy, to ask for his help in working out how best to help Edgar?

Maybe the more fundamental question was 'did Edgar even need my help'? As a healer, I was always looking for cures, ways to make things better, but when I looked at Edgar, I didn't see someone who needed to be cured, I just saw a happy and loving little boy. I suspect that the 'noise' of having telepathy hadn't done him any favors and wondered if simply showing him how to block out that noise was as much help as I could and should give.

I decided that it wasn't my choice to make. I needed to tell his parent's and let them make the decisions. They were responsible for him, had brought him this far, and obviously loved him, so they had a right to know.

I sighed.

"Carrie," I said, pulling her attention toward me. She frowned when she saw my face.

"Is something wrong?" she said. The note of worry in her voice stopped the conversation between Mary and Brian and he looked at me too.

I paused for a moment, wondering how best to break the news.

"It seems," I said, "that Sarah has two powers. Compulsion and Telepathy."

She nodded. "I know," she said. "Sarah has been watching for others emerging, but it seems that that is all."

I chuckled a little at that but decided not to start down that road.

"I thought," I said. "That those powers had both come from John. Melanie and I are both Multi, although it's possible that some of my powers came from my mother's side. I have no idea about Melanie's mothers' line, so it may be that some of her powers came from her mother too, even if her mother didn't have powers herself."

Carrie looked confused.

"You think that some of Sarah's powers might have come from me?" she asked, and I nodded.

"But why?" she asked. "I don't have powers. What makes you think that?"

"Sarah got her Compulsion from John," I said, "almost certainly. But I suspect that her Telepathy comes from you."

"I don't understand," said Brian. "What on earth would make you think that Sarah's Telepathy came from Carrie?"

"Because Edgar has it too," I said calmly.

Both of them stared at me, mouths agape. I heard a gasp from the kitchen door where Sarah had literally just emerged. I hadn't intended to tell her just yet, but she'd emerged from the kitchen at exactly the right, or wrong, time.

"Edgar has Telepathy?" she asked looking from me to her little brother.

"He does," I said. "And up until about ten minutes ago, he didn't know how to block out all the 'noise' he could hear. You know how that feels. He'd kind of gotten used to it since he's obviously grown up with it, but I'm betting its one of the reasons he's not good where there are a lot of people. Having telepathy would only add to his sensory overload.

"When did you find out?" asked Brian.

"I just confirmed it," I said. "But something happened just as you were leaving on Thursday that made me suspect. I didn't want to say anything in case I was wrong. I needed to be sure before telling anyone."

"So, he's been hearing all that noise like I heard last week?" Sarah asked.

I nodded. "I've just shown him how to block it out," I said, "like I did with you. I don't know how much difference it will make to him, but at least he'll have some peace in his own head now."

Both Sarah and Carrie were looking at Edgar, both with tears in their eyes.

"My poor baby," Carrie said. "It must have been terrifying."

"Don't forget," I said. "That he's had this power since birth. Unlike Sarah -- who was suddenly dropped into the 'noise' - he's grown up with it. I can see why he'd avoid places with lots of people, but it probably wasn't as scary for him as it was for Sarah."

"That makes some sense," said Brian.

"You've shown him how to stop the noise?" asked Sarah, even though I'd already told them all I had. I nodded.

"Yes," I said. "He should be able to control it now."

"Edgar?" said Carrie, he looked at her.

"Does that feel better?" she asked.

He didn't answer.

Ness poked her head out of the kitchen. "Lunch is ready," she said.

We moved into the kitchen to eat, Carrie taking Edgar from me and holding him on her lap during the meal while he played and ate part of her lunch happily.

"He certainly seems a lot less disturbed by so many people," commented Brian quietly, looking at his son.

We ate in silence for a few minutes until Sarah broke it.

"Trevor called me last night," she said.

"Oh," I replied. "What did he have to say for himself?"

"He wanted me to go and visit him," she said. "He's laid up at home. Apparently, he got banged up a little in the wreck. Nothing major but he's feeling sorry for himself."

"Are you going to see him?" I asked.

"No," she said. "I told him that he acted like a complete ass on Wednesday night and that we were done. I also told him not to call me again."

"You think he'll listen?" I asked. "He strikes me as the kind of guy who expects to be given anything he wants."

"We'll see," she said. "I've blocked his number from my phone, so he can't call me."

"Well," I said, "if he turns up here, we'll deal with it. Other than that, let's not worry about him."

I was in the kitchen clearing up after lunch and Carrie came in.

"What do we do about Edgar?" she asked me.

"I have no idea," I said. "I think your best bet is to talk to Dianna. She may know someone who can help you. I know little to nothing about autism and other than helping him to block out the noise, I wouldn't know where to even start if I were to get involved. I'd be terrified of hurting him rather than helping."

Carrie thought about that for a moment and then nodded. "You're probably right," she said. "Look at me, I'm old enough to be your mother and yet asking you for advice. I don't know what it is about you Caleb, but you make people feel like," she paused as if she was searching for a word. "I don't know, like you can be trusted, like you know what you are doing."

I smiled ruefully at her.

"I'm just stumbling through life," I said. "Like everyone else."

She laughed. "Hardly," she said. "but I get what you mean. We'd best be going. I will take your advice though and contact Dianna. See if she has any ideas."

"If not," I said. "I have another friend who comes from a long line of Telepaths. He might be able to point you in a direction."

"Thanks," she said. "I'll let you know."

She and Brian gathered Edgar up and headed for the door. As he had the last time, he insisted on coming and hugging me before he left. And then he went to his sister and hugged her too.

I saw her eyes go wide and guessed that he'd said something to her Telepathically.

As their car pulled away, I asked her what he'd said.

"He just said bye, and that he loved me." She said, a tear in her eye.

I smiled at her. "He's not the only one." I slipped my arm around her shoulder and pulled her against my side. She laid her head on my shoulder for a moment.

Then she shook stood up straight and shook herself a little.

I'm going to straighten up my room some but after, will you show me how I can remember stuff? I have a lot of catching up to do and I'd like to at least have made a start by the time I start classes Monday.

As I expected, I spent the afternoon and a good portion of the evening working with Sarah on sorting out her memories. I had her 'scan' the first chapter of one of her textbooks and then worked with her to process the knowledge.

We repeated this several times, until she got the hang of it, and by the time I went to bed, she was over halfway through the textbook. I got the feeling that she'd be up most of the night.

When Melanie and I got up the next morning, the light was still on in Sarah's room. I knocked but got no reply. When I poked my head around the door, Sarah was slumped across her desk, her head on her arms, still fully dressed.

"Sarah," I said gently shaking her shoulder. She started awake.

"Go to bed," I said. "You're going to be no use at school tomorrow if you've had no sleep all weekend. Sleep in this morning, then you and I can work on the memories you got from your reading tonight. Then you can have an early night and be ready for school tomorrow morning. Okay?"

She nodded at me sleepily.

I looked at Melanie, and she smiled.

"I'll put her to bed," she said, and I left her to it.

When she joined me on the deck a few minutes later she was smiling.

"She's so excited about going to PSU," she said. "She's adorable."

I laughed. "Looked in the mirror much lately?" I asked.

She grinned at me. "I guess," she said. "I don't think you realise just how much you've changed our lives. Both of us. Yes, Sarah had a nice home, and a good family, but as far as she knew -- she had no hope, no prospects. She was looking forward to a life slinging burgers or waiting tables. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's hardly a little girl's dream, you know?"

I nodded. "I guess I was lucky," I said. "Even with the amulet, I managed to scrape a place in PSU. I was hopeful of getting into law enforcement. I guess the amulet affects some people more than others. Although it affected me, it didn't hit me as hard as it did Sarah."

I looked at Melanie. We were both practicing Kata's as we talked. But she stopped when she saw me watching her.

"What?" she said.

"I can't imagine," I said, "what you went through. For the last year and a bit, I've been kicking up a storm about how bad my childhood was, how wrong it was that I was lied to, how I found out about powers so late, and then there's you. You were badly treated, really badly treated, repeatedly, and yet look at you. You're beautiful, inside and out.

"Nobody would or could blame you for being bitter, or angry, about what you had to go through, but you just don't seem to have those emotions in you. I don't understand how you are as you are, considering what happened to you."

"I am thankful," she answered softly. "Every morning I wake up, I thank whatever fates brought me to you and each night, before I go to sleep, I do the same. How can I be angry and bitter? Look at my life. I have food to eat, a beautiful place to sleep, and a family around me who I know love me as much as I love them.

"Being angry about my past would only spoil my enjoyment of my present, and I don't want to waste a single moment of my life worrying about what was. I just want to enjoy what is. I understand why you were angry about your past. But, in a way, your present is different than mine. What happened to you in the past is causing you issues in the present. Or at least it was. Mine isn't. Nothing from my past matters any more, it's gone, and can't hurt me. So why should I be angry about it?"

I walked over to her, and pulled her into a hug, kissing the top of her head.

It was after ten when Sarah finally surfaced. She bounced into the living room showered and dressed. Ness offered to make her some breakfast but she declined, opting to just grab some cereal and then wait until we had lunch.

I was sitting on the deck with my laptop, writing a paper for my Law professor, while the rest of the household were busy with their own assignments. Only Gracie, who was sunning herself on one of the lawn chairs, was not working.

Sarah sidled up to me, trying to emulate Ness' 'puss in boots' looks.

I raised an eyebrow to her.

"Did you want something?" I asked.

"Can you help me sort my memories?" she said. "I think I got to the end of this book last night, although I don't quite remember at what point I fell asleep.

"Sure," I said closing my laptop. I had two hypnotherapy sessions in the morning, although one was with my new famous client, so I'd be able to finish the paper while the other napped.

I went to sit up so she could join me on the lawn chair, but she beat me to it and simply climbed into my lap, as she'd seen all the other girls do.

She looked up at me and noticed my look of surprise.

"Oh" she said blushing a little. "I thought you wouldn't mind."

"I don't" I said. "You just surprised me is all. If you're okay and comfortable there, then it's fine by me."

She settled back down, laying her head on my shoulder.

"Ready?" I asked. She nodded.

I spent the next couple of hours guiding her in sorting her memories. I left her on the lawn chair and went to make lunch.

After lunch I continued with my paper while she continued to sort memories. I was happy and prepared to help if she needed it. She seemed to have gotten the hang of the technique so I left her to it. I knew that the more she did it herself, the faster her brain would learn the process and start to take over.

Melanie was in the living room playing Wolfenstein, and annoying me by being far better at it than I. She'd not yet managed to get her 'bars' visible. Although she'd been gently training her TK, I didn't want her to start anything serious until she had those and could see when she was out of energy.

Since Sarah didn't have TK, I was less concerned about her running out of energy. Telepathy didn't seem to use that much, at least the kind of things I did with telepathy didn't cost that much energy, and I doubted she could get in too much trouble, energy wise, with her Compulsion. I'd get her to do it eventually, but it wasn't quite so important for her as it was for Melanie.

Over dinner I asked Sarah how far she'd gotten and she told me that she was about two thirds of the way through clearing her short term memory. The reading she'd done the previous night had become very fragmented as she'd become more tired, as a tired mind is much more easily distracted.

"Take that as a lesson," I said. "You're having to work much harder now, for trying to force things last night. If you'd gone to bed, and read more this morning, sorting the memories would be much easier."

"Sorry daddy," she said, much to the amusement of the other girls.

Even so, Sarah took my advice and went to bed at the same time as I did, in her own room, of course.

As I lay in my bed, staring at the ceiling and waiting for sleep to take me, I considered everything where I was with regard to everything I needed to do. I was, once again, juggling a multitude of things, from training myself and my powers, taking flying lessons, training Melanie, and now I'd taken Sarah on. In all of my considerations, I assumed that I wasn't going to get involved in E's training in any way, although I doubted I'd get away so lightly on that front.

I sighed heavily and settled down to sleep.

My eyes snapped open, as my phone vibrated on the nightstand. Using TK I picked it up and glanced at the screen -- knowing what I'd see.

It was an alert from the security system. Someone, wearing dark clothes and a balaclava, was kneeling between the cars on our drive.