“The Catalyst” Series
Chapter 01: A Big Step Forward
Into the Great Unknown
Alex glanced up at the early morning light filtering through
the leaves overhead and drew in a deep breath, enjoying the scent of the forest
around him. It was a beautiful Monday morning when Alex, Cate and Gail were
finally ready to set off on their grand adventure. They'd been looking forward
to this for some time, as each prepared for it in their own way. They each felt
apprehensive because they knew that many things would occur that there was no
planning for.
It was true Alex lived in town and thus wasn't technically
within the forest, but the town in which he lived, Shawneetown, or rather New
Shawneetown, resided next to a large national park, and he always felt close to
it. The town had never grown very large, and so it still maintained a lot of
the natural feel of the nearby woods.
Shawneetown was one of the first settlements in Illinois. What is now "Old Shawneetown" was built along the Ohio River and was subject to
repeated flooding, so the residents eventually built a new town which took the
name over from the original. Shawneetown's greatest claim to fame occurred when
a group of the residents went to the local bank for seed money to start a new
town in Northern Illinois. The bank refused, claiming there was no future in
the location they'd chosen. That site later became known as Chicago. That seems
to show the ambitions of many of the inhabitants of the region to the current
day.
These thoughts floated through Alex's mind as he took in the
feel of the familiar surroundings. He'd spent his entire life living in this
quiet little town. His first foray into the wider world was on a recent trip
over spring break to New Orleans. It was during that trip that his entire world
had changed as he discovered that he was far from a typical kid. While
he had been far from exceptional, he'd suddenly found that women were attracted
to him, feeling themselves drawn to him because they felt this 'power'
emanating from him. It turned out he was giving off a previously undetected
energy associated with all life, and that is what these women felt drawn to.
But it was more complex than that. It was only certain people,
and aside from a few strange cases, it seemed to always be women. That was
where his sister, Cate, had come in. While both Cate and he were quite bright
and did well in school, Cate patterned herself as a budding scientist like her
elder sister, Becky. Cate had glommed onto his new abilities quickly,
and provided him with a series of theories concerning it. Since then she'd
provided him with excellent advice, both about his abilities, the science
behind it, and about how to deal with the many changes in his life.
He'd quickly gone from a loner who was uncomfortable with
people, focusing mainly on reading books and playing games with a couple
friends, to a central figure in multiple people's lives. Several women followed
him home from New Orleans, and each looked to him to provide direction to their
lives. That had made him grow up rather quickly.
At their instigation he'd made a stab at dating, as they
didn't want him to miss out on a "normal teen experience" just because of those
following him. That had quickly gone south, as the kids at school soon took
notice of the attitude of those around him. He'd found two girls who seemed to
be able to deal with him without presuming they knew all about him based on
what they'd heard, and they hit it off almost right off the bat. One of his
followers, an older Vietnamese woman by the name of Anh, theorized he was being
led to find kindred spirits in the people around him, and that was why they'd
gotten along so well. However Alex still wasn't sure how he felt about that
particular concept.
His involvement with those two girls, Kitty and Chalise, had
defined the last couple of months. The family of one of the girls, Chalise,
took exception to him, and the situation quickly degenerated when an older
brother physically attacked Alex in his own home while he was on a date with
her. It ended with the family taking out a contract on his life, paid for by
her older brother throwing a professional baseball game for an underworld
bookie.
He'd grown up a lot over the course of these events, but now
he was looking to the future. He'd just graduated high school, and the need to
reach out and help these people who were tied to him meant he had no time for
college or a normal job. Adding to the urgency of the mission, Cate thought he only
had a limited amount of time to find as many people he could 'activate' as he
could.
His sister Cate had observed that he seemed to be aging
prematurely. From graying hair, hair loss, his eating habits, and his overall
health it seemed this energy he felt coursing through him was killing him. She
paralleled it to having the equivalent of a nuclear power plant in the space of
a couple of millimeters in his brain. But the energy itself, since it seemed to
be associated with living things, had its own healing properties. Thus he found
himself in a strange limbo. His body healed quite rapidly, but it was also
degenerating at the same time. This strange dichotomy meant that his health was
difficult to measure, but everyone around him was convinced he only had a short
time to achieve whatever he was meant to. The big question was just how long he
may have, whether it might be weeks, months, years, or even decades, no one had
a clue. But he knew he had a lot to accomplish, and he couldn't waste any time
in doing it.
These abilities he seemed to possess were both simple and
complex. They were simple in that he couldn't do very much with them, but they
were complex in that they didn't seem to follow any established logic. The
energy coming from him couldn't be measured except by those he activated, those
he dubbed 'Seers', named because they were the only ones who could actually see
this new form of energy. They reported that it revealed numerous things as
shown by a glow around people that looked like a multicolored aura, from the
health of a person and each of their organs, to the nature of the person's soul
and even their changing moods. Alex, however, was unable to see any of this.
Alex essentially acted like a catalyst. He triggered changes
in people with a certain, unrecognized genetic trait that allowed them to feel
this energy he produced. He 'activated' them, so they were able to utilize this
energy. They'd found out a lot about what he seemed to do due to his friend
Ryan, the head of the Carbondale Memorial Hospital, who'd examined what he did
to his Seers with a series of MRI scans. However what they'd learned didn't
significantly affect how they behaved.
He also seemed to be able to communicate telepathically with
the people he 'activated', though again it wasn't like you'd typically read
about in a sci-fi story. Basically it was the equivalent of a cheap
walkie-talkie, except it didn't seem to be constrained by either physical
distances or hindered by obstacles. The communications were instantaneous, and couldn’t be explained by traditional wave theories. They seemed to use some other method for transmissions. They were also able to send thoughts,
images, and occasionally physical feelings. Again, it was both simple and
complex.
The women he activated, it had only been women so far,
seemed to have certain properties that made them susceptible to his abilities.
Cate theorized that they had a complex dual gene pairing that gave them this
ability. It appeared these genes existed on the X chromosome, and that having a
single one resulted in a person being a Watcher, so named because they could be
identified by their tendency to watch Alex in fascination from afar. It seemed
they could sense his energy without being able to specifically identify it,
only knowing he held some amazing ability. Those with both genes became the
Seers. They started out being able to sense others' emotions, though they never
understood why. These genes also seemed to only work with women, though there
were a couple of men who were Watchers, but they had extenuating circumstances
that specifically exempted them from this rule.
When Alex met one of these women, the potential Seers, and
they'd meet because they felt drawn to him, all it took was for them to lock
eyes with him to activate them. But of course, it got more complex than that.
Over time, Alex found that stressful events advanced his abilities. One thing
he'd found is that deeply emotional events triggered advances as well. Thus he
learned that when he made love to his followers their own abilities would
advance. The Seers, who normally could only communicate telepathically through
Alex, could communicate with the other Seers without his assistance.
What's more, once he made love with a Watcher, she'd advance to the same level
as a pre-activated Seer, meaning they'd be able to sense emotions in others
even though they still couldn't see what the Seers could.
Which brings up yet another oddity about Alex, in addition
to possessing this energy, he seemed to be able to direct it as it flowed out
of him. His family decided that, simply by being exposed to him over time, his
sister Cate had developed some related abilities of her own, and that both of
them had never been sick with anything that typically affects young children.
But by applying this energy to others who were sick or ailing, he was able to
achieve some amazing medical advancements, although it was quite limited. It
only worked in select cases, specifically when organs lacked the energy he provided.
But it was hard to forecast in which cases his abilities would help someone and
when it wouldn't. What's more, since Alex himself couldn't see this energy, he
had no real idea of how to apply it, thus he needed one of his Seers with him
to direct how to apply it. Alex had been involved in the local hospital helping
out and thereby gaining experience, but it had been a confusing time because of
the highly mixed results.
Now it seemed that he had a mission to his life: to try to
find as many of these women as he could, both the Watchers and the Seers, so
that he could build a community that would survive him and that hopefully would
be broad enough to provide for a functioning genetic base after he was gone.
But the other thing he needed to accomplish was to produce offspring. Since he
seemed to be the first person with these unique talents, it was important that
he produce an heir that had the same abilities, otherwise all he had accomplished
in finding these followers would be lost once he passed away. Sure, these women
could all pass on their genes, but without someone to activate their children
they'd never gain the abilities that Alex had activated in them. Everyone's
hope was that he would not only produce an heir like himself, but that he might
be able to produce a hybrid, a female with the same abilities as him, that
could both see and manage the energy flowing through her.
Alex and his women classified the people around him into three categories,
actually four if you got right down to it. The first type was the Seers.
The second type consisted of the Watchers, while the third were the normal
people that surrounded them. To hide what they were talking about from prying ears,
they'd refer to these people as 'type 1s', or 'type 2'. The type 3s, or those without any abilities that chose to follow him due to their own feelings, were further divided by a subset that Anh described as fellow spirits that seemed to be on a parallel journey to his own. These seemed to share more
than just a passing interest in Alex and his abilities. They hadn't settled
on a name for those as yet, though.
Now Alex turned and faced those collected around him, ready
for him to begin this next step on his journey. For Alex was going to hit the
road, traveling cross country trying to find and help as many people as he
could, helping them understand who they were, and to activate whatever
abilities they may have. It was a big mission, and one that was vital to each
of them.
The people standing around him now were here to see him off,
since he could only travel with so many. He'd decided to travel with only two
others. One was Cate, his sister, his lover, his confidant, his most trusted
advisor and his main scientific specialist. The other person was his personal
bodyguard, an ex-policewoman Seer who'd dedicated herself to watching over him,
since he seemed unable to keep from attracting unwanted attention to himself.
The others were his closest followers, his immediate family
and his two girlfriends who had made sure they came by just to see him off. Each
regretted letting Alex go off on his own, each remembering the kinds of risks
he'd likely be facing out there on his own, as the occurrences of a few weeks
earlier clearly demonstrated. Besides, none of them knew just how much longer
he had, in any event, thus they each realized this could very well be the last
time they'd ever see him, so they made their farewells that much more emotional.
Alex worked through each of his girls, moving in largely
chronological order from the newest, Nikki, to the earliest, Shaniqua. Each
gave him a tearful but positive goodbye, each knowing they'd be in constant
communication with him even though they'd be separated by hundreds or thousands
of miles.
"It's especially difficult saying goodbye to you, Nikki. It seems like I just found you again, and I'm already saying goodbye," he told her.
The story of Nikki, his 'lost girl', was well known to
everyone who knew Alex well. She was a girl he'd passed on the highway on his
way back from New Orleans. He'd accidentally activated her when they'd locked
eyes while passing over a narrow bridge. Unable to find her, her existence
continually wore at his own sense of responsibility, as he felt himself
responsible for each of 'his' girls, and he'd unintentionally abandoned her
when she needed him the most. However, through a series of difficult steps,
she'd eventually tracked him down and located him, returning as his own
prodigal son. Thus he felt it especially difficult letting her go again now.
"That's OK, Alex. I'm doing much better now. You've given me
a home, taught me what I need to know, and given me my own mission. I'll be
fine as long as I have my fellow sisters, although I'll miss you terribly and
you'll always be close to my heart while you're gone." Each of Alex's followers
called each other Sisters, again as a way of discussing their relationships to each
other without calling attention to themselves.
He simply hugged her tight before moving onto the next girl,
Brooke Knowles. Actually there were several girls absent from this sendoff.
Jennifer Pickford, a cancer survivor he'd helped overcome an 'incurable' form
of bone cancer, had gone on to help on a mission of her own, although he
planned on meeting her in Utah as he traveled west.
Then there were Ruby and Clara, two people he'd discovered
in St. Louis but who had proved a disappointment. Ruby was 83 years old and
suffered from an advanced case of Alzheimer's, while Clara had proven to be
untrustworthy, since she couldn't separate Alex from her own preconceived
notions of him, and had anticipated he'd only react in certain prescribed ways.
Alex had quickly distanced himself from her for everyone's good, while still
hoping to assist her by trying to give her a mission and objectives of her own.
There were also several followers that attended the nearby
Southern Illinois University (SIU). They included both Molly Bishop, a law
professor, and Diane Lane, who hoped to write the next philosophical novel,
both of them Seers, as well as numerous Watchers and fellow type 3s.
Brooke was an EMT he'd met in New Orleans. She'd used her
abilities to become one of the premier EMTs in New Orleans before her
activation, and since then had found she could do much more than she ever did
before, although she had less chances to use her unique knowledge due to the
lesser population around Carbondale where she now worked.
Before he could reach Brooke, her two kids, Josh and Suzy, who'd been waiting quite patiently, ran to him and gave him their own hugs. Josh
idolized Alex simply because he was a likable guy who played with him, when he
thought he was surrounded by women, a situation that was made worse now that
his mother was surrounded by all the women that surrounded Alex. Suzy, however,
was another Watcher, and thus thought that Alex was not only wonderful, but
also knew that he possessed enough power to do both amazing and terrible
things. However she loved him almost as much as his other 'girls' did.
"We love you, Alex, take care of yourself. We'll miss you,"
she told him. "And maybe when you come back I'll be old enough for you to make
me one of your girls."
"We'll have to see, Suzy, but somehow I doubt I'll be gone
quite that long," Alex replied humorously.
"Well, if you don't do it soon, mom says it may never
happen," she pouted.
"Hey, don't hog Alex," Josh told his sister. "Don't stay
away too long, Alex. There are already way too many girls around here, and you
keep adding more."
"Well, I'm sorry about the number of women, Josh, I'll have
Chalise ask her brother if he can stop by and play ball with you sometime while
I'm gone," Alex offered. "If not maybe you can play with Brian," he said,
referring to one of his recent friends from school. "He probably needs to
practice throwing, since he used to throw like a girl."
With that Brooke moved up and eased her children aside so
she could hug him herself. Her easy smile a little tilted with the emotions of
the moment.
"Take care, Alex, we're all concerned for you. I know you
don't believe in him, but go with God and listen to whatever Anh's spirits tell
you. If they tell you to duck, you'd better do it," she said with an easy laugh
that hid her terrible longing to accompany him.
"I'll do that. I guess I've messed up a couple of people's
belief systems between my atheism, Anh's spirituality, and the fates that seem
to conspire against me for their own amusement," he answered equally as
lightly, but neither one fooled the other. They both knew how difficult this
parting was.
The next to envelop him in a hug was Rebecca, an emergency
room nurse who he'd met when he'd revived a heart attack victim who had been
down for over 30 minutes in New Orleans. Though she tended to feel intimidated
by the other Seers, she'd found her ability to work with them and do her job at
the hospital enhanced when Alex boosted her own abilities. Now she could
forecast when something was about to happen, when someone was going to get
upset, and she felt she shared a lot more with her sisters now.
"Make sure you take all those Band-Aids that Ryan gave you, I'm sure you're going to need them," she teased, referring to the joke birthday
present that Ryan Moore had given him.
"I know its worthless saying it, but try not to worry about
me. I'll be out on the street, so hopefully my enemies won't be able to keep up
with me. I can't see anyone taking offense when I'm only in town for a day or
two, so maybe I can avoid any troubles for a while," he told her.
"Alex, you've never been able to avoid trouble.
What's more, you keep giving your enemies more chances to hurt you. You need to
be more proactive in your own defenses. Hopefully Gail can do some of that. Just
pay attention to what she says, OK?"
"Sure, sweetie, anything you say," he answered, giving her a
last squeeze.
Anh stepped forward and held him lightly. She was older than
the others, and had earned a reputation for being wise and having a unique perspective
on things.
"I'm not as worried about you, Alex. The time we shared has
been good. Even if something bad happens to you, we'll continue to share your
spirit, and when we each die we'll once again join you. Just be sure your
kingdom in the spirit world is big enough for all your new girls."
Alex chuckled, and acknowledged he'd immediately get all the
spirits working on an extension as soon as he got there. Next he enveloped Allison, the former escort from New Orleans who had become such a central figure in their
recent research into the girls' visions. She'd used her interest in medicine
and her plans to get a medical degree to research what she could about the
patients' auras she saw. She had learned a lot and had shared it with the other
women, helping each deal with their visions better. It had also earned her the
profound respect of the administrator of the hospital, Ryan Moore.
"You take care of yourself, Alex. I deal with enough death
and dying in the hospital. I don't need you adding to it. But also don't hold
back when it's needed. We know that you often have to make difficult decisions,
and luckily you've always chosen well. Even this last time, when you purposely
put yourself in front of an assassin's bullets, turned out to have been the
right thing. We understand this but, as you can understand, it's difficult for
us to cope with. Also, don't forget to spread some of your love around on the
trip and save the rubbers. We need you to produce some babies, and we can't
wait for everyone to feel comfortable with the idea. People have been having
babies sooner than they expected for thousands of years, and it hasn't stopped
the species yet."
"I'll do that, Allison. I'll also try to make deposits in
each city I stop at. Dr. Lovett has provided us a list of clinics we can use
along the way, so if anything happens to me hopefully you can all survive as a
people," he told her gently.
"It won't be the same without you, Alex, but we appreciate
that you'll be looking over us after you're gone," she told him with another
kiss.
Natalie came to him next. Poor Natalie, she'd been amazingly
helpful, doing a wide variety of tasks and finally proving herself a
resourceful planner for the organization they were building, but she always
felt herself inferior to the rest of Alex's girls since she was only a Watcher.
Alex had never considered her that, since he'd first pulled her into his
extended family that first morning to demonstrate to his family what he shared
with Shani. To him, she'd proven herself over and over again.
"I'll miss you terribly, Alex. Please don't let anything
happen to you, as I firmly intend to have a couple of Watcher children with
you. I'm also anxious to see if having my abilities boosted to pre-activated Seer
status will mean I can now have a couple of Seer children. You'll have to come
back and get me pregnant in order to prove that theory."
"Don't worry, Natalie. I'm going to stick around as long as
I possibly can. I know how much each of you depends on me, and I couldn't
possibly leave you all on your own." Natalie seemed to brighten hearing this
simple affirmation from him.
"And don't worry about the trip. I planned it all out for
you, including scheduling many of Patricia's Watchers' families to meet you
along the way, so you should have many friends to rely on. You'll finally see
just what an excellent planner I am, and I plan on turning both the Angel
Vision Foundation and your Sorority around by the time you get back," she
assured him.
"Hey, I didn't realize it had gotten so far behind since
we've just started it. Just try to not make it too successful, after all, we're
trying for obscurity here, not to appear in Business Weekly," he gently teased
her as he kissed her silent tears away.
Finally it was Shaniqua's turn. Shani, as she called herself,
was a 28-year-old Jamaican-American who was Alex's first follower, and who
first introduced him into this strange world he now found himself in. It was
also her good sense and fierce loyalty that helped him through his many
difficult periods.
"I'll miss you more than most, my dear Shani. You were the
first, and I'll remember you to the last. Watch over the others for me, will
you. Many of them may be older than you, but I still consider you to be the
more mature one with the youthful energy required needed to run herd on them
all. They need that, especially while I'm gone."
"You're right, Alex. This is the first time we'll all be on
our own without you. We've never addressed it, but we've long suspected that it
was your abilities that allowed everyone to get along so well. Now we'll test
that theory and see if, without you, we all start bickering and fighting with
each other. I'll keep notes on this experiment for Cate, recording each and
every slight I encounter, just so it will be properly documented," she said,
teasing him, but her words rang true. No one yet knew the true extent of his
many abilities. They'd never answered that first question of his father's about
whether he may actually be influencing the decisions and attitudes of those
around him.
After his girls, his two older sisters, Melinda and Becky, came up as a pair to hold him. Alex had had an interesting time with the two
of them as well. Becky had long served as an inspiration for Cate, and she had
fulfilled that role in helping Cate refine her theories about Alex's abilities.
But it was Melinda that had caused the biggest trouble in the family. Despite
knowing how close Alex and Cate were, Melinda had taken a spare moment to
become somewhat intimate with Alex. Although Alex told her he'd give her time
to be sure she was serious about it, thus preventing anything from happening,
Melinda had made the mistake of telling Cate about it.
Cate had blown up, refusing to speak to Melinda for a long
time, but moreover it forced her to examine her own feelings for Alex. She
realized that while she wasn't jealous of Alex's other women, or of his two
girlfriends, she couldn't stand aside while Alex fooled around with their
sister. She also realized that Alex meant a lot more to her than she'd ever acknowledged
before. It was that very night they started an intimate relationship with each
other, although it was several weeks until they finally had intercourse after a
wonderful night when Alex had taken her out on a special date night all their
own. Something that was special because it was so hard to arrange in this small
town they both had spent their entire lives in.
But Cate had finally forgiven Melinda when she eventually
demonstrated that she was honestly interested in Alex's future. She did so by
initiating a sorority drive at her school as a way of bringing likely Seers and
Watchers together so Alex could deal with them. That initial idea had
blossomed, and it had produced the Angel Vision foundation that was currently
sponsoring a couple of sororities at different schools, each dedicated to
helping not only Alex's Watchers and Seers, but also in assisting other girls
learn to trust their own judgment about men as well.
"We may not be as separated for as long as the others, Alex, since we've been talking with Cate about visiting you occasionally. Despite how many
miles away you are, it's still not that far away by plane," Melinda informed him.
"Still, it'll be hard having you gone. Although we weren't
that close to you and Cate, you've recently become the focus our lives, just as
you have everyone else's," Becky said. "I'll continue Cate's experiments while
she's gone. I plan on getting the mice sick with a variety of things to see how
they respond to it. I'm also going to try to run a partial genetic scan on you
and the girls. I want to document you, at the very least, and I want to see if
I can find any common genes in the girls."
"And I'm going to continue working with Natalie on the sorority so we'll be ready to start it in the fall," Melinda added. "It'll only
be on a trial basis its first year, essentially to make sure the girls don't go
wild, but I'm pretty sure we can ride herd on them."
"Good, I'm glad the two of you will have plenty to keep you
busy in the coming weeks," Alex replied.
"Oh, don't worry about that," Melinda said. "Everyone is
still working on our loft and with organizing the Angel Vision Foundation.
There's a lot to organize."
Next up were Alex's parents, Frank and Linda Jennings. They'd largely been shuffled aside in all the excitement over the past several
weeks, but they were so proud of what their son had accomplished and what he
represented they couldn't have been more pleased. They knew what he was doing
would have far reaching implications for thousands of lives. That is, assuming
he had enough time to finish what he was attempting to do.
"Stay safe, Alex, and listen to Gail. She's there to look
out for you," Frank told his son. "And I know I don't have to tell you, but
watch out for your sister as well."
"Don't worry, Dad, I don't think you could find two people
more dedicated to each other than Cate and I are," Alex assured him.
"Yeah, unless you count each of your girls, your other
sisters, your other followers or your two girlfriends. Not to mention all those
schoolmates of yours," Frank countered.
"Never mind your father, he likes to distract himself with
details," Linda told her son. "I'll miss you, Alex. It feels strange saying
this, but find as many young women as you can, take a bunch of them to bed and
leave me with a whole passel of psychic grandbabies. Then I want you to promise
to come back again so you can start all over again. Got it?"
"Yeah, Mom, I got it. Did you ever think your house would
have gotten as crowded with new people as it has the last three months?"
"No, I certainly didn't, Alex. You've really made an impact
on many people, both your girls and everyone else. Anyway, don't forget to
call," she told him, kissing him goodbye. "Remember, those of us who can't
talk to you telepathically still like to hear from you."
They both moved on to telling their youngest goodbye as Alex said goodbye to his two girlfriends.
Kitty and Chalise had seemed an odd pair when Alex first told them to talk to each other when he asked them both out on dates at the same
time. He told them he had an unusual background since he'd returned from summer
vacation to New Orleans, and he told them they should talk to Cate, his sister,
and each other to compare notes, but warned them both not judge him on what
everyone else was saying but to do it based on his actions. They'd done that,
and found not only that they both fell in love with him, but that they found
new best friends with each other and with Cate as well. Since then they'd
formed a unique threesome, foursome if you counted Cate, though they were
always so careful about not showing any familiarity between Alex and his sister that that portion of their relationship was often hidden.
They both hugged him tightly and gave him long French
kisses, trying to wrap in as much last minute lust as they could.
"We'll both miss you, Alex," Kitty told him. "Mom and Dad
have told me they'd help me pay to come visit you part way in your trip, so
expect some company. I think we can swing a ticket for Chalise as well. Until
then we're going to go to work for the foundation. We still have to get the
accounting in order, file paperwork, and clean up the building you bought, as
well as make plans to handle all the women you're going to be sending us as you
meet them along the way."
"Yeah, and like your mother said, don't forget that new
smart phone of yours," Chalise told him. "We know you can't talk to us whenever
you feel like it, but we expect nightly phone calls to tell us what happens to
you along the way. We'll pass the word along to everyone else. Everyone is as
excited about this as you are, Alex, and they each want full details about it."
"And it has to be said, don't worry about who you have to
make love to along the way," Chalise continued. "We realize it's a big part of
what you do, and we trust you to only do it with people you trust and who you
develop a personal connection with. Also, don't feel guilty if you go and
change over the summer. If you fall out of love with us, we just ask that you
don't just dump and forget us. Whatever happens, we're wrapped up in your life
now, and even if we simply remain friends, we want to be a part of your life
from here on out. And like you told Cate, we'll be a part of your mission even after
you're gone."
"Hey, hey. That's enough of that. I'm not dumping anyone.
You know I don't like to have to make love with as many women as I do, but it's
hard to avoid. They each need me, and I need to do it to boost their abilities
as well as to include them in their new lives. But that doesn't mean the two of
you will mean any less to me. If I could stop everything right now and spend
all summer with you and attend college with you in the fall I would. But it's
apparently out of my hands. It seems the fates have decided I have a specific
role to fill, and as they usually do, they do it in the most difficult and
excruciating way imaginable. Those damn spirits," Alex swore playfully, playing
on Anh's recurring spiritual explanations of his recent life.
"Don't worry," Kitty insisted. "When next we see you, we'll
do our best to wipe off the smile all those women you'll meet in the next month
will put on your smug face. But most of all, do us proud, Alex. Continue as you
always do and stay safe. You can't achieve much if you don't stick around."
With that they hugged him once again and backed off.
That covered everyone that was currently gathered around the
departing trio. Alex watched as everyone said goodbye to Cate and told Gail to
watch over them both, then the three of them climbed into Alex's new old car
and set off, wondering whether they'd ever see their home again, and if so,
under what circumstances.