The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

The next day, June drove us all out to the airport to wait for Debbie and Aimee to arrive. Their flight was expected to arrive at 4:50 PM, and, wonder of wonders, the flight was actually going to be on time.

Unfortunately, Dawn was a little ahead of time, and demanded an early dinner from Mary just as the flight arrived at the gate. Mary and June went to find a private place where Mary could feed our precious little bundle of joy. Meanwhile, Mely and I waited at the gate for the two women to arrive.

Aimee and Debbie were among the first passengers to come in through the jet way, being that they had flown first class. They saw the two of us, and gave us big hugs.

In my mind, I heard Aimee ask, “Master, has everything been fine?”

“Of course,” I answered Aimee in the same way. “Everything is perfect.”

“I will love you forever, Master.”

I cannot tell you how often Aimee repeated those words to me. I didn’t know if she ever said the same thing to any of the other women in our life. I do know for a fact that those words came from deep inside her, part of her that I knew could never lie to me. It was a simple phrase that made me feel completely and utterly loved. I earnestly hoped that I would be able to communicate love in a manner so completely and effectively as Aimee seemed to find so effortless.

I smiled at the two passengers. “How many bags?”

“Just three,” Debbie replied. “Aimee sent everything else via courier to Maui directly.”

“Great thinking,” I said.

“Aimee’s idea,” Debbie said.

“Then give me a better reason to kiss the sexiest playgirl in the airport.”

“You need a reason?” Debbie asked, mischievously, moving over to me and giving me a kiss on the lips that left no uncertainty that I was loved fully from that direction as well. That kiss did not go unnoticed by the other passengers disembarking the plane.

The four of us had long ago given up keeping any pretense of our affections for one another in front of Mely and June. Even before the official wedding, Aimee had talked with them and told them whatever she thought that they should know, and also counseled them about discussing what happens with us with any people outside our tiny family. This had been another one of Aimee’s excellent ideas, and it afforded us greater freedom in expressing our fondness for the people to whom we had promised to devote our lives.

Neither Debbie nor Aimee asked where Mary and Dawn were. I was about to explain when Debbie moved out of my arms and ran toward the other end of the gate.

“Mary... June... Dawn!” Debbie yelled, eager to see the missing members of her family.

Luckily, June had Dawn in a stroller, because the closest I can describe how Debbie and Mary met would be to think about body checks in ice hockey. The two girls met, almost at a run. People all around watched the two girls collide, expecting either one of them or both to end up on the floor. Of course, that scenario didn’t happen. Instead, the two girls met at full force, wrapping their arms around each other, hugging each other tightly.

I had seen Debbie and Mary do this before, usually in the privacy of our own home. I laughed quietly as tourists stared at the two beautiful women embracing.

Debbie pulled away, and said, “It’s been too long, sister!” She turned to Dawn and said, “And let me see my darling niece!”

In a matter of seconds, Debbie pulled Dawn out of her stroller and up into the air over her head.

Dawn looked down on her aunt and squealed, having the courageous resolve of somebody who hasn’t yet learned fear.

Debbie hugged my daughter carefully and said, “Dawn! You’ve grown!” A bit of a pause, and then, “Well, it looks like somebody needs changing!”

“I just changed her two minutes ago!” June said.

“I hope we have more diapers,” Debbie said, looking behind the stroller and pulling out a new diaper with a plastic laundry bag for the old one. She looked back in the direction that Mary and June had arrived and found the Ladies room. Without another word, Debbie spirited my daughter away to change her.

“And I thought I had a lot of excess energy,” June commented wryly.

I smiled at June and she smiled shyly back. I thought her action was strange, but I figured it was just June reacting to Debbie’s exuberance.

Aimee, Mely, and I were now with June and Mary. Aimee hugged Mary and June quietly, saying nothing, although I imagine that Aimee had sent a mental message to Mary in a similar way that she had done with me.

“How was your trip, Aimee?” I asked.

“Tiring. We had a two hour layover in Los Angeles, but the flights were long.”

Debbie bounded out of the ladies room with Dawn over her shoulder. “All fixed!”

“You seem chipper for a person who has just been flying for nine hours,” I said, noticing Debbie’s exuberant energy.

“Slept on the plane,” Debbie said.

That was weird. “I thought you told me that you can never sleep on a plane,” I said.

“On the way in to New York, Aimee taught me some relaxation techniques,” Debbie explained. “I slept like a baby... like Dawn, in fact! I woke up a half hour before we touched down.”

Mary said, “Maybe Aimee can teach me them, too.”

“I already did,” Aimee said quietly.

“Huh?” Mary asked, confused.

“It’s the same principles that I taught you when I helped you prepare for childbirth.”

“Oh!” Mary said, surprised.

We all laughed.

“Mely and June picked out a great place nearby that has great Thai food,” I said.

“Yummy!” Debbie sighed, putting a giggling Dawn back in her stroller.

We walked down the hallway toward baggage claim. Debbie, Aimee, Mary, and Mely went down the escalators, while June, Dawn, and I waited for the elevator.

As we got down to the lower level, I saw that Dawn was fast asleep. Apparently the excitement of having Debbie having her do acrobatics was tiring for the little tyke.

The Thai food was great. I loved the way that ginger and chicken could combine to make something truly remarkable. Debbie’s selections were a bit spicier than mine, but still delicious. Everybody seemed happy. Dawn slept during most of the meal.

I took June’s advice and took flying lessons. Mely recommended a flight school that was nearby, and June came along for the first lesson mostly for moral support. She found out that the school had a course for people that wanted to teach flying, so June enrolled in that, meaning that June would be staying with us on Maui at least through Dawn’s first birthday.

Our lessons were private, meaning that we weren’t part of a class, which allowed the teachers to tailor the courses specifically for each of us.

It turned out that being close to forty years old, my reflexes weren’t as quick as those of a person half my age. However, I persevered. The things that I couldn’t commit to memory, like pre-flight check lists, I simply wrote down. The more important things, like rudder control and the actual mechanics of flight, I was determined to learn correctly.

I was by no means a quick student, but the instructors were very patient. They saw in me a determination, and soon realized that I wasn’t just a rich person wanting to learn a new hobby. I had learned discipline in the service, and I also had a innate sense of not doing anything just halfway. I enjoyed being behind the controls and the exhilaration of flying, but I never allowed myself to daydream while I was behind the controls.

One positive result from my flying classes was that I seemed to become a much better driver in the car, when June would allow me behind the wheel. I found that my senses had been sharpened, and I was slowly learning to pay more attention to things that might go wrong, even in such a (relatively) mundane environment as the roads of Maui.

Meanwhile, back in Makena, life had slipped back into its familiar patterns, making changes for slightly different circumstances.

Dawn was growing up, and was approaching six months. She had outgrown her cradle, and now always slept with Mary at night, no matter who Mary’s bed partner was. Being that they were a matched set, they both took over the master bedroom. Debbie had installed safety rails on that bed so the little one, who loved to roll, didn’t fall onto the floor accidentally.

One day, a week or so before Christmas, Dawn was awake and on her back, her hands having gotten free of the mummy wrap that one of the girls usually placed on Dawn. She was happily sucking her thumb when I saw her, which made me smile. When she heard me, her head turned, looking at me, smiling in apparent recognition.

A few months earlier, I had tried to enter her mind. It was the strangest experience I had ever had—even stranger than the disconnect I felt when I was in my coma. Instead of thoughts being there, all I could feel were raw emotions. And I do mean raw. It was like a light switch; either an emotion would be present in full force, or it wouldn’t be there at all. Whatever emotion she was experiencing at the time was all-consuming to her. I almost immediately disconnected, and even so, I had headaches for nearly a week afterward, worrying Aimee no end as to what happened. I think she may have suspected, but if she did, she never said anything about it. I did make myself a promise to not do this again for a while.

Now, I was starting to see a bit of personality in Dawn. Her eyes always seemed to be inquisitive, wondering what was going on around her. She had a little rattle that she really seemed to like, as well as a stuffed pink flamingo that Aimee had bought for her when she was born. Those two things were Dawn’s prized possessions, and they absolutely had to be in the bed with her; otherwise, Dawn would pout and cry. The rattle was about the only thing Dawn could keep in her tiny hands for more than a few seconds. I don’t think she managed yet to get the hang of actively rattling it, but I knew that would come in time.

I unwrapped Dawn from her blanket and tickled her a bit. She laughed, instinctively—this was one of her favorite games with me. She had on pajamas that made her look like one of Santa’s elves (a present that Debbie had purchased for her when she and June visited Mely on the big island a few weeks earlier), and I straightened Dawn’s elongated cap.

With the Christmas season upon us, the entire house was starting to get into a festive mood for Dawn’s first special holiday. The motif of the master bedroom had been subtly changed from light purple (it was the Orchid Room, after all) to red and green, and we started to jokingly refer to their room as the Christmas Room.

In the room was Dawn’s own personal Christmas Tree. It was on a table, and all the ornaments on it were large and unbreakable with no tiny parts... completely childproofed. The tree itself was artificial, which had been looked down upon when I was younger, but apparently in the twelve years that I had missed, they started looking more realistic.

I picked up Dawn and pulled her to my face and gave her a big kiss. As I did so, I saw a flash go off to my left. I turned slowly, as I was still holding Dawn, and saw Debbie with a camera. “That’s so cute, Daddy kissing his little elf!”

Smiling at Debbie, I kissed Dawn again, giving Debbie a better pose, and she fired off another picture. I noticed Dawn blinking after that second one, and realized that she probably had enough. I sat Dawn down on the bed, and she toppled over after a few seconds.

“Who is cooking today?” I asked Debbie, while putting Dawn into a laying position next to her prized pink flamingo.

“You are,” Debbie laughed.

“Steaks and potatoes?” I asked.

“Pork chops and asparagus spears,” Debbie said.

“I don’t cook asparagus!”

“Aimee said it’s about time you learned. At Mary’s last physical, the doctor recommended she eat higher potassium foods.”

“I know, but papaya also has a lot of potassium.”

“Papaya isn’t a vegetable.”

I sighed. I don’t think I ever win any arguments with the girls. “Fine, if Aimee will teach me. I wonder if she can teach me to like asparagus.”

Debbie laughed, and moved over to the bed.

Dawn immediately shifted her attention from me to the sexy blonde that was now next to me. I was used to this, but normally, that kind of reaction usually comes from men.

I left Debbie and Dawn and went downstairs to learn to cook asparagus.

On Christmas day, 1989, our extended family celebrated Dawn’s first Christmas.

The only person missing was Mely, who was taking a month off to visit her own family in Maine. We all wished her a truly white Christmas as she left, and as a family, we sent Mely and her family a certificate good for first class accommodations on a cruise line that served the Caribbean.

Unlike most children on Christmas morning, Dawn didn’t seem to notice anything different. She slept in the crook of Mary’s arm, in between Mary and me.

After waking up, I quietly disengaged myself from Mary and Dawn, but my little girl noticed and started crying, waking Mary up. I hated doing this to Mary, but she automatically pulled Dawn up and started nursing her. During this process, Mary’s eyes did not even open.

I watched the mother and daughter for a few moments, and then continued out of the bed.

As I passed the orange Sunrise room, Aimee padded out. “Merry Christmas, Master!”

“Merry Christmas, Precious!” I whispered. The two of us shared a brief kiss.

Aimee headed for the bathroom as I tiptoed downstairs.

The main tree was about sixteen feet in height, dominating the atrium. It looked surprisingly realistic, and there was some incense that would later be lit to give the room a more realistic smell.

I sat on my favorite recliner wearing nothing but my robe. It was seven in the morning, and I knew that neither Debbie nor Mary would be up before eight, and June didn’t usually arrive from the guest house until nine.

Aimee descended the stairs, and I called out to her in my mind. Immediately, Aimee reversed her direction from the kitchen into the atrium where I was sitting. She saw that I was sitting in my recliner, and she smiled at me.

Without a word, Aimee dropped to her knees between my legs. “Is my little harem slave having fun this morning?” I asked.

“Umm, hmm,” Aimee answered, sending vibrations up and down my cock as she had intended.

This was one of our little submission games that Aimee and I loved playing. She would enter my mind, and adjust her technique to maximize my pleasure while keeping me erect for a long period of time. On one memorable occasion, she had me going for nearly two hours before she allowed me to shoot a mammoth-sized hot load into her mouth.

I allowed Aimee to suck me for about ten minutes before I gave her an actual command. “You are wearing too much clothing.”

Aimee removed her hands from my cock, leaving it entirely in her mouth. She continued to move her head up and down as she quickly attempted to remove all of her clothing. The trickiest part for her was her panties, which required her to move from her knees without her mouth coming off my prick.

I enjoyed watching Aimee squirm around in submission, and I decided to see her squirm even more.

As soon as Aimee was naked and her hands returned to my cock, I reached down underneath her armpits and pulled her upwards.

My cock exited Aimee’s mouth with a pop.

I continued lifting the petite Polynesian until I had her as far as I could lift her, and then deposited her slowly down onto my erect penis.

Aimee widened her legs, anticipating entry, and I felt her warmth engulf first the head and then the shaft of my cock.

“Pleasure yourself on my cock, my sexy harem slave!”

Aimee did so, using her legs to move her body up and down my shaft. I could feel her erect clitoris when it touched the base of my shaft, nestled in my pubic hairs before she started her upward motion again.

I moved my lips to one of Aimee’s pert breasts, and started licking her erect nipple. I could feel our passion growing and growing until...

Aimee suddenly froze, completely surprising me.

I opened my eyes, and saw Aimee’s attention wasn’t on me, but was to my left. I followed her gaze and saw June Smythe staring at the two of us.

“How long has she been here?” I quickly asked Aimee mentally.

“I don’t know. I hadn’t been paying attention.”

“Hello, June,” I said aloud.

June had already noticed that she had been caught spying, and looked a bit embarrassed, but she seemed frozen and didn’t move.

“Come here,” Aimee said, her voice totally lacking any trace of the submissive that had just been riding my cock.

As if she were an automaton, June moved over to us, a very uncertain look on her face.

Aimee moved her body slowly down so my cock was deep within her cunt.

When June was a few feet away, Aimee said, “Don’t I get a good morning kiss?”

Continuing to move as if she was not in complete control of the situation, June approached Aimee and kissed her on the cheek.

“That’s not satisfactory, June,” Aimee chided. “I saw the look of passion in your eyes. Now kiss me!”

June moved ever so slowly toward Aimee, until her lips reached Aimee’s. The two girls kissed, and I saw Aimee’s lips open, drawing June deeper. As she did this, Aimee resumed her up and down riding of my cock, making June move up and down in order to continue kissing Aimee.

I watched, transfixed, as Aimee and June made out while Aimee continued fucking me. I noticed June’s hand move upward until it was touching Aimee’s breast, and then her fingers started to rub Aimee lightly.

Aimee sighed at June’s touch, and continued riding me.

This was one of my few experiences with sex with multiple partners since the birth of my daughter, although I knew that Debbie, Aimee, and Mary occasionally participated in threesomes. Usually, any threesomes I had usually involved Aimee being a part of the activity, and with her, the sex was always a warm, relaxing experience.

This morning, however, was much different, reaching levels of sexual heat that I usually associated only with times that I was alone with Debbie. I had thought that I had experienced every sexual combination possible before, and that I preferred the intimacy of one on one sex, but this new development was very exciting to me.

It was also, to my mind, kind of dangerous.

I sent a message to Aimee. “Is this a good idea?”

“Trust me, Master,” was Aimee’s simple response.

Aimee’s hand now moved up under June’s blouse, and I could see her rubbing June the way that June was rubbing Aimee.

My balls were already overtaxed. I started shooting into Aimee.

It seemed that Aimee’s orgasm was triggered just a few moments after mine. She moaned her ecstasy into June’s mouth.

I was amazed at what had just happened.

Aimee pulled her hand out of June’s blouse. “Now, kiss my Master,” Aimee ordered.

June looked confused, but did as she was told. I had thought Aimee was a submissive, but June’s submissiveness seemed to be an order of magnitude greater than Aimee’s. June’s lips approached mine, and she kissed me, open mouthed, as Aimee had desired.

June’s kiss was slow, but exciting. Our tongues touched and she sucked mine into her mouth.

Aimee moved off my cock, and then bent down to clean off our combined juices. She said in her dominating voice to June, “Continue kissing him until I return.” She headed off to the downstairs bathroom to clean up.

I was tempted to rub June’s breast as Aimee had done, but decided not to do so. I simply kissed her as she kissed me, now sucking her tongue into my mouth.

After a minute or two, Aimee returned from the bathroom. She saw the two of us kissing, and quietly put on her clothes.

“You can break off the kiss now,” Aimee ordered. “And wish each other a Merry Christmas!”

We broke off the kiss and did as we were told. June sounded very embarrassed. I probably looked embarrassed as well.

Aimee turned to me and said, “June will wait for us in the kitchen.”

June once again looked surprised, and glanced at me before she left us as Aimee ordered.

“What was that all about?” I asked.

“This is not the first time June has spied on you. I know she saw the two of us making love once down here. I didn’t mention anything at the time, but when I saw that she was spying on the two of us this morning, I knew that it was not going to be a one time thing.”

“This isn’t good,” I said.

“It is good,” Aimee said. “There will be times when Mary, Debbie, or I won’t be around. You are never to sleep alone.”

“I will not sleep with June!” I said, adamantly.

“If what you mean is, you will not fuck June, I will agree with you,” Aimee stated, looking deeply into my eyes. “You most definitely will sleep with her, though.”

“No.” I was adamant.

Aimee looked at me and pulled my robe back together. “Sometimes, you are the most exasperating man in the whole world, Jim. I don’t want you to make the same kind of mistake you almost made with Mary. A mistake like this can cost you your life, and that will have repercussions that I will not tolerate.”

“I’m not marrying June. That’s final.”

“I didn’t ask that.”

“June is Debbie’s employee. It’s not proper. I learned a long time ago that such behavior is harassment.”

“I’m Debbie’s employee as well,” Aimee responded. “You just enjoyed making love with me, didn’t you?”

I didn’t have an answer to that.

Aimee wasn’t finished. “You will not spend a night in bed without having Mary, Debbie, June, or I with you. That is final.”

I knew that it was useless arguing with Aimee. She somehow knew that she was right, although I couldn’t see how.

“All right,” I said, finally. “Explain.”

“The only time you are in danger, Jim, is when you sleep,” my precious Aimee explained. “Don’t you remember what brought us to Virginia last year? I still don’t know what happened, but something worse would have happened if we hadn’t been with you when it happened.”

“How do you know?” I asked.

“I just know. You have to accept that.”

“Why June?”

“Do I have to explain that?”

“Do you mean to tell me she’s one of us?” I asked. I never had any clue.

“She seems to be as weak as Debbie is, maybe more so, since Debbie still manages to affect others.”

“June?”

“She has the gift,” Aimee said. “Mr. Voder called it psi-potential. It’s the same thing, except he was categorizing something general where it should be more specific.”

Aimee wasn’t making any sense to me. I gave her a confused look.

“Jim, you know as well as I do that there are variations of the gift. You experience it in a different way than I do. You don’t get feelings when something will happen. You don’t get an immediate sense whether somebody is good or bad. However, you are still stronger than me when we communicate without words.”

“June is an Empath,” I said, simultaneously refusing to believe it, and at the same time wondering why I hadn’t seen it.

“That’s a given,” Aimee said. “Mr. Voder and James Malen were wrong. It isn’t about strength, but about application. Think of it like Mary’s martial arts. Although you are physically stronger than she is, she is still able to throw you as if you were Dawn’s flamingo.”

“We apply it differently,” I repeated.

“Yes,” Aimee said, finally giving me a small smile, seeing that I was finally understanding.

“June applies it differently, too?”

“What do you think?” Aimee asked, cryptically.

“How?” I asked.

Aimee sighed. “The others will be getting up in a half hour. We don’t have the time right now.”

“When?”

“Let’s take a private drive tomorrow.”

I sighed. I hated having to wait for explanations. “Just you and me?”

“Yes, Master,” Aimee said. She got up and went into the kitchen. I decided that if June was here, I should get dressed in something more presentable.

Upstairs, I went into my room, the one with the lime green furnishings. In our home, the ownership of rooms only really implied dressing places, at least as far as I was concerned. I rarely slept in the Lime room, since Aimee was adamant that I never sleep alone. Her explanation was always the same: “We help keep the bad things away.” Of course, I had no idea what things she was talking about, but that was the mystical and magical and impenetrable Aimee.

Of course, Mary and Dawn were a special case. Although beds were chosen by opportunity, Mary took ownership of the Orchid room solely because it was the best room for Dawn to use, and it had room for a changing table, a small bath, and other baby furnishings. I think there was an unspoken agreement among the girls that the woman with the next child would move into the master bedroom, just as Mary had.

I put on slacks and a festive Hawaiian shirt. I re-brushed my teeth before heading downstairs.

Aimee and June were in the kitchen, talking softly. The two looked at me, and I noticed that there was no longer any embarrassment in June’s face. I wondered what Aimee could have said to the girl to ease her mind so quickly.

“What’s for breakfast?” I asked.

“You cook sausages,” Aimee said. “I’ll make toast, and June will cook the eggs.”

“How about omelets?” June suggested.

“Sounds nice. Swiss cheese, onions, and snow peas for mine,” Aimee said.

“Onions and sausage for me,” I said. “No cheese.”

“Omelets?” I heard Mary’s voice say as she approached the kitchen. “Just cheese for me.”

“Where’s Dawn?” June asked.

“I just came down to get some juice before I feed her again. I swear, that kid is going to weigh a ton!”

“Orange or papaya?” Aimee asked.

“Orange for now.”

“Papaya has more potassium,” Aimee said as she poured Mary a large glass of orange juice. Mary took it and went back upstairs. Before she left the kitchen, Mary said, “Oh... Cheese and onions for Debbie, June.”

June smiled as Mary left.

“What kind of omelet will you have, June?” Aimee asked.

“Onions and sausage, I guess,” she answered.

Aimee gave me a look that indicated that June’s choice being exactly the same as mine may not have been a mere coincidence. I simply shrugged.

There wasn’t much to making sausage links. Just put them on the griddle, and move them every so often. In the end, with June being at the stove, it was simpler for her to turn the sausages, making my presence unnecessary.

As each omelet was made, June would hand it to Aimee, who would then put it on a rack in an oven set for a low temperature to keep the eggs warm.

When everybody’s meals were complete, the three of us took the food into the dining room.

Dawn was sitting in her high chair. Aimee put a tiny plate with about a quarter piece of toasted bread on it. The crusts of the bread had been removed.

Mary answered the question that I had been about to ask. “Dawn should be able to eat some soft foods. We’re trying toast with her today.”

“Oooh, Dawn! A special day in more ways than one! Just watch out for that evil rice grain!” I giggled.

Dawn looked at me and just opened her mouth, looking much like the Gerber baby on those jars on baby food.

Mary took her seat next to Dawn. I sat opposite her, getting a face-on view of my wonderful daughter. Aimee and Debbie flanked Mary, and June and Aimee were on my sides.

Dawn had a bit of a problem understanding what she was supposed to do with the tiny piece of toast, apparently trying to suck it. Mary persevered a bit, and got her to gum the food into submission. Mary, undaunted, continued with another piece.

“The omelets are wonderful, June,” I said.

“June made these?” Debbie asked.

“Jim made the sausages,” June said, fibbing slightly.

Christmas breakfast was enjoyed by all, even if Dawn didn’t quite get the hang of solid food her first time.

Dawn fell asleep during the unwrapping of her presents. This, of course, didn’t stop Mary, Debbie, Aimee, and June from picking up packages, opening them, and showing their contents to the unconscious infant.

Just about every present under the tree was for Dawn. She now had a new outfit for nearly every day of the year in varying sizes. A lot of them had “Disney Baby” themes, and there were some nice rugged-looking overalls, and a few lovely dresses—it seemed like Mary preferred the “Polly Flanders” style of dresses, although they seemed to me to be a bit big for the tiny infant.

All of the girls received presents from me. I went for subtlety and gave each of the women something special that I had found over the past few months. Each one got the significance of my present to them, and that made me happy.

I got a present, too. I opened up a package to find two videotapes. One was called “Airplane!” and the other called “Airplane II: The sequel.” These were from Mary, who was trying to reintroduce me to the world of movies. The whole family would watch those movies later on. I recognized a bunch of actors that were old even before I was in my coma. It turned out that Mary and I would laugh uncontrollably at most of the scenes, with Debbie and June mostly laughing politely. Aimee seemed amused by the movies, but I never really saw her laugh.

On the day after Christmas, Aimee said that she had an errand to run in Kihei and asked me to keep her company. Knowing that we had a discussion to continue, I did so.

We parked on a long stretch of highway.

Aimee turned to me and said, “We were talking about how different people apply their gift.” She was one to get right to the point.

“Yes. You were saying how you apply it differently.”

“Let’s go with what you understand. How does Mary apply her gift?”

I had already thought about this nearly a year ago. “Mary is totally devoted to me. She loves me, and we communicate on a subconscious level.”

“That’s pretty close.”

“That’s not quite it?”

“Do you remember the moment you met?”

“Yes. I connected to her. I was staring at the sky, and she saw what I was seeing.”

Aimee looked at me. “Of course, you have that wrong.”

“What?”

“You did not connect to her,” Aimee said. “She connected to you.”

I shook my head. “Mr. Voder said that Mary wasn’t a Super-Empath.”

Aimee made a face at that statement. “I dislike the terms that Doctor Larson invented. Anyway, that was a misstatement by Mr. Voder. I think I know his reasons, because he didn’t want any of us to know or suspect.”

“Aimee, please explain this to me. I thought I had it all figured out.”

“You didn’t read between the lines of what Mr. Voder told us,” Aimee said. “You said that he left things out, and he never denied that. What he also never denied was that he misled you.”

“Why?”

“Let’s go back to the time when you were unconscious here in Hawaii. The two of us had been traveling in your dreams, and then you didn’t awaken. While you were unconscious, Mary seemed to know that something was wrong, even though she was in another room. We all tried to connect to you. You always said that next to yourself, I was the strongest. However, it was Mary that was able to connect to you and see that you were there, but you weren’t dreaming. She had made a connection to you that I couldn’t make, and I was desperate at the time!”

“How did she do that?”

“Mary’s gift of communication is stronger, much stronger than mine. I suspect her gift may be even stronger than yours.”

“Really?” I asked. “Then why is she fixated on me? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?”

“Mr. Voder has no idea how the gift works except from what he heard from Debbie’s father and from what he says Doctor Larson kept in his notes. None of them really knew.”

I thought about that. “You knew Debbie’s father. How come you didn’t know that he had the gift?”

“I wasn’t looking for it when I knew him,” Aimee answered honestly. “I only suspected it after I met you. After hearing the story from Mr. Voder, a lot of things fell into place, but some things didn’t match what Mr. Voder said.”

“You said you warned Debbie’s father, but he took that flight anyway. If he had the gift, then he knew that he could have taken any other flight, but he didn’t.”

“Yes,” the Polynesian nodded, sadly. “He told me that he changed his flight, but he ended up taking the one flight I told him was doomed. I saw this happen one other time.”

“When?”

Aimee told me the story of her mother’s sister.

“That makes no sense, Aimee,” I said. “Your aunt risked her life to save a young boy. I would have done that, if I were in the same situation she was in, seeing danger to a kid. How does something heroic compare to what Debbie’s father did?”

“My aunt told me to look at the big picture.”

“Which is?”

“It took me a long time to understand,” Aimee said, her voice showing her sadness. “I had thought that, somehow, the boy that she saved was important. I only understood a short while ago that the boy was probably immaterial. I now think that she saved that boy’s life just so I would be there to learn that lesson.”

“The boy wasn’t important?” I asked, confused.

“Look at what happened after James Malen died in that crash,” Aimee said, switching gears. “Debbie met me, and I agreed to work for her. We hired June and Mely. We then met you. Would any of that have happened if he hadn’t died?”

“Debbie’s father died so that Debbie would meet me?”

“Debbie’s father died so that we would all get together. His legacy is fulfilled—I truly believe that his spirit is rejoicing, even now.”

I thought about this for a few moments. There was some sort of logic to Aimee’s suggestion, but it seemed quite fantastic.

“Let’s say that this is true,” I said. “How does this affect Mary?”

“James Malen and William Voder knew about you and Mary. Didn’t that seem odd to you?”

Part of it I understood. “I was supposed to be part of Larson’s Zulu Squad of Empaths. Voder hired Larson, so he knew about me.”

Aimee nodded. “Mary was supposed to be on that squad as well.”

“What?” Actually, I had just reached the same conclusion, but it was still startling, because it indicated that Mr. Voder had actually lied to us.

“Look between the lines,” Aimee said. “She was on the same base as you, even though neither of you were stationed on that base—it wasn’t even an army base! The two of you connected, just briefly. Then she leaves her military service behind and devotes the rest of her life to you, even to the point of pulling you out of your coma.”

“William said that Larson didn’t have Mary on any of his lists.”

“Yes,” Aimee nodded. “Mr. Voder lied.”

I shook my head. “Why would Larson want Mary?”

“Think about it, Jim,” Aimee said. “Mr. Voder said that Mary was a trained assassin. I’ve only practiced with her once in the exercise room, but she is truly deadly. The only way that I could have survived my practice with Mary was due to the fact that she was not really trying, but testing how good I was. Even so, I was only able to deflect her attacks by reading her mind—I knew what she was going to do about the same time that Mary did. It might have been cheating, but Mary scared me. I know for a fact that Debbie is a black belt and Mary is much more talented in the arts. Mary also has weapons training. Can you imagine what Larson would have done with somebody of Mary’s physical and mental talents?”

“Are you telling me that the accident was the only thing that saved us?”

“I cannot say for sure,” Aimee said after thinking a bit. “It’s almost definite from the reports that Mr. Voder told us about, and from Mary’s account of the accident that nobody else other than you two were involved in the accident, unless James Malen was somehow responsible for Mary being on that road at that particular time. There is another explanation that fits, but you’d consider it even less likely.”

“And that is?”

Aimee studied me a bit before answering.

Suddenly, the answer came to me on my own. “Mary hit me with the jeep for the same reason that your Aunt Tomeii ran out into traffic and James Malen took a doomed flight.”

Aimee didn’t answer, but nodded sadly.

“You think Mary hit me on purpose?”

“Not really, Jim,” Aimee assured me. “There may have been something within her that knew she was doing the right thing when she hit you, but she’s now convinced that she was distracted. We both know Mary. Has she ever become distracted, especially during an emergency?”

I couldn’t believe what Aimee was saying. “Mary wasn’t distracted?”

“No,” Aimee said, shaking her head. “Mary would be horrified to think that she ever hit you intentionally, but I truly believe that she did so to save you from Doctor Larson. Mary probably didn’t know why she did what she did, and she’s convinced herself that she was distracted, and she truly believes it. Mary also said she met with Larson afterward, but that didn’t seem right to me. I truly believe that if she had seen Doctor Larson while you were in the hospital, she would have killed him without thinking twice. I think Mary may have met somebody that only claimed he was Doctor Larson. And that would beg the question of why such a thing was done in the first place.”

I shook my head. Aimee was starting to sound crazy.

“Another thing that worries me was that Mary never approved of William Voder,” Aimee said. “He always kept his distance from her. I never really got a feeling that he was a bad person, only that he wasn’t dangerous to us when we were with him, but it was obvious that Mary never really trusted him. She might share that gift that I have, and if so, it’s stronger than my own gift.”

“Mr. Voder seems to have had too many pat answers for the questions we had,” I said, thinking about Aimee’s interpretations of events.

Aimee nodded. “So, Mary’s has three manifestations of the gift. She communicates with us, she can tell if a person is good or bad, and she can put into motion a set of events that affect a greater purpose.”

“That last one assumes she hit me on purpose,” I said.

Aimee nodded, but she seemed sure that this was the case, and I could see her reasoning. If James Malen’s death triggered Debbie and Aimee meeting me, then Mary’s action could have been just as purposeful.

I changed the subject. “The next question is if Voder lied to us about Mary, what else did he lie about?” I asked.

Aimee said, “You told me that he said he wasn’t interested in the gift. He said he wasn’t an Empath, but you never probed him.”

I nodded.

“Those could have been lies. Voder was also very unclear on how Doctor Larson got started on his theory of Empaths to begin with.”

“Doctor Larson could have been an Empath himself,” I suggested.

“It would explain his preoccupation with something that has been around for thousands of years without too many people noticing,” Aimee said.

I shrugged. “Just about everybody we’ve ever met seems to have the gift. Your aunt, yourself, James Malen, Debbie, June, Mary, me...”

“Of all those people, I only knew you had the gift without being told,” Aimee said.

The “gift,” as Aimee called it, certainly sounded quite common. If so, this was a reality that I didn’t like.

“Look at it this way,” Aimee suggested, seeing the concern on my face. “The gift isn’t as common as it seems to you. The reason that almost everybody around you has the gift is simple: everybody has either been directed toward you or were drawn to you. Mary, Debbie, and I were drawn to you. Debbie and I were also directed to you, if my suspicion about James Malen is correct. June may have been directed by our hiring her, but she’s also drawn to you, although she’s afraid of it.”

“You mean to say that I seem to be the focus. Why?”

Aimee didn’t answer.

I thought about what Aimee had told me. About five minutes passed before I finally said, “This seems like James Malen might have had the same intentions as Doctor Larson. Larson was putting together a squad of Empaths to see how they interact. Why did James Malen direct Debbie and you to me? For the same reason?”

“I knew James Malen, Jim,” Aimee answered. “He was a good man, and it’s inconceivable that his motives were the same as Doctor Larson’s. In fact, maybe his motives were the opposite... to bring us together to prevent somebody else from doing the same experiments with people with the gift.”

“A way to protect ourselves?” I asked.

Aimee didn’t answer.

“What about Dawn?” I asked.

“If we assume that Mary hit you with a jeep to prevent Larson from getting his hands on you, then it follows that she has always been fixated on you, and if so, the two of you were destined to become husband and wife. Dawn would have happened whether you met the rest of us or not.”

“OK. How does June enter into it?” I asked, remembering that our discussion the previous day mentioned that Aimee wanted me to sleep with June.

“Think about it,” Aimee said. “There are six of us, including Mely. Of those six, five of us have the gift.”

“And Mely?”

“You don’t know?”

“Know what?”

“You were at their apartment on the big island, weren’t you?”

“Yes?”

“Whose room did you sleep in?”

“Mely or June’s. I’m not sure which.”

Aimee simply sighed. “You stayed in their bedroom. They sleep together.”

“Mely and June are lovers?”

“Yes,” Aimee said. “That’s why I told you that June’s fixation with you isn’t sexual. You won’t be adding to your harem slaves.”

I winced at that remark. I sometimes referred to Aimee that way as a silly name when we were play acting.

“I’m sorry, Master,” Aimee said, softly. “You need to understand that June’s relationship with you is not—can not—be expressed through sex. The thought of vaginal penetration by a man is truly repulsive to her. Still, she was spying on us.”

I shook my head, confused. “You said that I have to sleep with her, but you tell me that the thought of doing so is repulsive to her.”

“June is fixated on you, despite her sexual inclinations. Her fixation on you is great, though. I think it’s even greater than Mary’s fixation on you, even though you know as well as I know that Mary loves you completely.”

This wasn’t possible. I said, “You’ve known this all this time?”

“No, Jim,” Aimee admitted. “I’ve suspected some of it. My aunt always told me to look for the good in the bad; to differentiate between the black and the white in a spiral. You gave me a clue in Chicago when you told Kristen that being in a coma was bad, but getting out was good. Remember that?”

“Yeah,” I remembered saying that.

“That’s the good in the bad. The bad was that you were hurt. The good was that Mary pulled you out.”

All right. This was now starting to make sense to me.

I thought about what Aimee had just told me, and was still left with a big question.

“If the lesson you were learning was finding the good within the bad, shouldn’t it work the other way around?”

“Huh?” Aimee asked, confused.

“If you are to find the good within the bad, shouldn’t there be bad surrounding the good?”

Aimee shrugged. “It’s the old thing you learn as a child. Rain is bad, because it ruins your picnic. Yet at the same time, it is good for the plants that need the water to live. Remember that?”

I nodded.

“My Aunt Tomeii’s advice was to look for the good in the bad. Looking for the bad within the good is a defeatist attitude.”

I shrugged. It could be defeatist, but the other way could also be seen as overly optimistic. In the military, you learn quickly that it’s best to play poker with optimists.

Aimee sighed. “I also have a feeling... and it’s strong. You can get hurt when you are dreaming... when you’re asleep. Being with us can prevent that. I’ve told you before that we keep the bad things from you.”

“I have never understood what you meant by that.”

Aimee shrugged. “You will have to figure that out, I think. I just have a feeling, but it’s not a feeling you should ignore. It’s not an inconvenience for any of us to sleep with you, and it’s just a little precaution.”

There were a lot of things for me to consider. Mary may have hit me intentionally with her jeep. June is fixated on me, but sleeping with me is repulsive to her. One of the girls should always sleep with me.

I shook my head. It was all too much. “Take me home, Aimee. I need to think about this.”

“You mentioned Dawn before, Jim,” Aimee said, not starting up the car yet.

“Yes?”

“You have been wondering something about her,” Aimee said, looking me straight in the eyes.

I nodded. “Does Dawn have the gift?”

“I don’t know, and can’t know until she is older,” Aimee said.

Aimee turned the key in the ignition and did a U-turn to take us back to the shack.

The “gift,” as Aimee called it, was a burden as well. A classic example of the bad within the good. It made certain people interested in us, for instance. Aimee also mentioned that there were different applications of the gift.

Aimee seemed to simply take the gift for granted. Of course, she had thought about the gift for years, ever since she was told about it by her aunt.

We drove back home in silence. There were a million questions unanswered in my mind, and a million worries about what would happen.