Insight
Chapter Fourteen
I slammed face first onto the beach, stunned and confused. The next thing I became aware of was an almost overwhelming pain that radiated from my shoulder. Either the force of the bullet, or the unexpected impact with the ground, had knocked the breath out of me. Panic surged inside me as an ocean wave swept over my head. I struggled to turn over in an attempt to get my face out of the water, instinct taking over rational thought. However my body didn’t seem to be getting the message. I still couldn’t breathe, and stars began to float across my vision. As darkness crept in on me I felt something batter with desperate impotence against my shield. It was Jess, through her second stone, attempting to enter my mind. With the final seconds of awareness I managed to alter my shield, thereby allowing the link between us to initiate. Then, as unconsciousness washed over me, I realized that I still held the beautiful little shell in my hand.
When Brian dropped to the ground it took us a moment to realize that something was wrong. Then we heard the distant sound of a gunshot and saw blood spreading into the salt water as little waves washed over him. Each of us reacted differently. My nurse’s training took over and I pushed aside my emotions and fears. I would deal with them later. Crouching down, I lifted Brian’s head out of the water and quickly inspected him. The blood was flowing from holes on his front and back, just inside his shoulder and slightly below the collarbone. Although it was a bad wound, it looked like it was high enough that the bullet had missed all vital organs. But he was losing blood quickly, and that could kill him. I needed to stop the flow but we didn’t have anything with us that could staunch the wound. The four of us were dressed only in bikinis. Brian was wearing a shirt. That would work, until we could find something better, but how could I get it off of him?
I glanced up and observed the other women. Ashley was crouched in a defensive battle stance. She scanned the beach for danger, seeking either a means of escape or a place for us to hide. Jess had fallen to her knees beside Brian and was screaming uncontrollably. In a flash, I realized that her empathic senses had overwhelmed her. “Jess, block out his emotions like I showed you!” I yelled. But she was already so deeply tied to Brian that she couldn’t hear me. I would have to worry about Jess later.
I turned toward Isabella. She was standing tall and straight, her tiny fists clenched at her sides. Uncontrolled rage twisted her stunning features into a terrible grimace. I heard a whispering and hissing. Looking toward the sound, I realized that beach sand was twisting and flowing like windblown snow for thirty yards all around us. It was responding to Isabella as she sought in vain for a target on which to unleash her rage.
“Isabella!” I called. She didn’t reply; her hearing overwhelmed by her fury.
“ISABELLA!” I yelled again. She turned to look at me, her eyes wild and unfocused. “Come here quickly, I need your help.”
Giving Isabella something to do seemed to return some sanity to her eyes. Kneeling down beside me she said, “what?”
“I need you to pick Brian up out of the water and rip his shirt off. I need to use it to stop the blood.” I answered.
Isabella looked at Brian’s limp form. Suddenly it lifted until it hovered several feet above the water. Then his shirt tore apart with invisible hands, ripping from top to bottom.
“Well done,” I said hurriedly.
Ashley interrupted me. “Isabella, can you whip that sand up to create a screen between us and them? That will make it harder for them to target us.”
Isabella looked at the sand thoughtfully. Then, some thirty feet away, the sand began to flow with more purpose. Within seconds a dark whirling vortex of sand covered the entire width of the beach, from water to palm trees.
I picked up Brian’s shirt and asked Isabella to rip it in half again. Then I wadded each piece and held it tightly against the bullet’s entry and exit holes. The fact that his body was suspended in midair granted me easy access to both sides of the wound. As I accomplished this, I heard Ashley snarl fiercely. Jess continued her incessant screaming as she knelt beside Brian, cradling his head against her chest as he hovered before her.
Glancing up I asked Ashley what was wrong. “I can sense them now, they are about a mile down the beach, but they are moving very quickly. They must be in vehicles.” She growled. The whirling sand stopped me from being able to see down the beach, but Ashley’s talent was not effected.
“Can you stop them telepathically?” I suggested desperately.
“No, not when there are that many, or that far away,” she snapped. “Only Brian could do that. We need to get off the beach, now!”
“But where to?” I asked. “They know where we are, and can easily track us with their clairvoyants or ghosts.”
“Our only hope is to run and hide.” She answered, exasperation making her words choppy. “I can deal with them in smaller numbers, if we can manage to separate them somehow.”
Suddenly I felt something pull deep inside me, drawing heavily on my power. The world flickered in and out of existence. Everything went white for a fraction of a second, a mere blink of an eye. Then it all came back again. Ashley whipped around, looking for the source of this strange new attack.
“What was that?” Isabella cried out, fear causing her voice to sound high and strained. Then the world flickered again, and again, causing a kind of strobe light effect. Everything appeared to move in a jerky, robotic manner. There was a sound like a mighty rushing wind that drowned out even the noise of the sand vortex, and the flickering speed up until it was flashing several times per second. I began to feel nauseous. Now the whiteness during the flashes was replaced by repetitive images of some other place. But it was flickering too fast for me to make any sense of it. Suddenly I realized what was happening. “Isabella! Ashley!” I screamed, “come here NOW!” Although they did not understand what was going on, they heard the urgency in my voice and obeyed quickly. “Put your hands on Jess’s shoulders!” I yelled, reaching out and following my own advice.
The flickering grew faster and faster, causing us to feel dizzy and disoriented. Then, without warning, everything went white and stayed that way for what felt like an eternity. Finally, our vision was restored. The howling wind and flashes ceased suddenly.
I felt an intense, icy cold against my bare skin, but ignored it. I glanced around quickly to see if everyone was ok. Jess still cradled Brian’s head, but Ashley and Isabella were peering around, disoriented and confused. Wet and dressed only in bikinis, we were standing in over a foot of snow. A bitter wind howled through a forest of pine trees and lashed our skin with a thousand little knives. Off to my left, about 40 yards away, was our old cabin. Realization dawned on me. The flashing images had been of this place. Jess had teleported us back to Idaho. “Girls, we need to get into the cabin before we, and Brian, go hypothermic.” I said.
Jess was still completely zoned out, seemingly unaware of where we were or what she had just done. Ashley ran ahead of us to open the door and look for some blankets. “Isabella, can you lift Jess up too?” I asked. I had to keep pressure on Brian’s wounds.
“Yes, I can still draw power through Brian, even though he’s unconscious.” She replied.
Jess, still kneeling, lifted smoothly into the air as Brian rose even higher, and we moved quickly toward the cabin. When we reached it, Ashley was struggling with the door. It was either locked, or frozen shut. “I can’t budge it,” she groaned as she threw her shoulder against it.
“I’ll get it.” Isabella said. Suddenly the door flew off its hinges, blasting into the cabin. “Oh, uh, sorry!” Isabella said, “It must be the adrenaline.” I was impressed. Our shared power made her much stronger, but multitasking with telekinesis had more to do with mental acuity than brute strength. And keeping Brian elevated throughout the dizzying jump we had just made must have required tremendous concentration.
Inside the cabin was not much warmer than outside, but at least there was no wind. There were plenty of blankets for us to wrap ourselves in, but the clothes and food we had left when we fled were gone. Ashley set to work getting a fire started while Isabella tried to put the door back on. Jess had stopped screaming and was sitting on her haunches. She rocked back and forth and stared at Brian’s unconscious form. He had lost a lot of blood already. Enough that I was worried he would not be able to recover.
I grabbed some tools from the kitchen and set to work stopping the blood. Soon Ashley had a large, roaring fire going and the room quickly warmed. She fed a final piece of wood into the blaze and turned to look at me. I met her eyes and raised a hand to my head, tapping my temple lightly. Understanding flashed in her eyes and almost immediately I heard her voice in my head. “How is he?” she asked, unmasked concern reflecting in her thoughts.
“It’s not good,” I replied. “He has lost a lot of blood.”
“Can you help him?” She asked again.
“I’ve stopped the blood and stabilized him,” I spoke in my head. “But I can’t do much more for him here. Without a hospital and a blood transfusion I don’t think he stands much of a chance.”
At this news Ashley’s mouth thinned in distress. “Then we need to get him to a hospital. Jess can teleport us.” She stated matter-of-factly.
“I don’t know,” I answered hesitantly. “Look at the state she’s in.”
“There really isn’t any other choice. We are in the middle of nowhere without a car and without proper clothes. There is no other way out of here. And if you are right about Brian, we don’t have much time.” Ashley stated forcefully. “By the way, how did she do that? Even the most powerful porters can only transport something the size of a small suitcase along with themselves, but she ported all FIVE of us!”
“It’s the rings,” I murmured. “Brian left the connections open. We can still share power through him even though he is unconscious. Didn’t you feel her draw all that power just before the flickering started?”
“Yeah, but it still seems incredible. Now I guess we know why the Counsel wants her so badly. An unregistered teleporter would be...no, IS a huge asset. She just possibly may be the only teleporter in the world without an explosive GPS chip in her head.”
“What are we going to do?” Isabella broke in, interrupting our mental conversation.
Ashley broke off the telepathic contact and took a deep breath. “Brian needs medical attention that we can’t give him here. Without it he will most likely die. Not to mention that the Counsel will send someone to check the cabin as soon they get a report from our attackers.”
Jess continued to rock back and forth, oblivious to everything but Brian. “Cindy, can you help her?” Ashley pleaded.
I crouched down beside Jess and gently laid a hand on her shoulder. Physical contact made influencing feelings much easier. I sent wave upon wave of soothing, calming emotion toward her. It took a few moments, but soon Jess stopped rocking and leaned into me. When she had finally calmed down enough, we explained the situation to her. I continued to bolster her emotions, enabling her to handle everything we were throwing at her. There was no time to be tactful.
Jess was shocked when we told her that it had been her who teleported us. She had no memory of how she had done it. All she remembered was that she had desired to go back to the cabin, where we had spent so many good days together. She didn’t know any hospitals either, and a porter had to have a clear mental image of the place they wished to go. I asked Ashley if she could copy an image of the hospital where I used to work from my mind. It was a simple process. However, once Jess had the image, she had no idea how to initiate the teleport. After several failed attempts Ashley entered her mind and assisted her.
The transition was much smoother this time. Like the first time, Jess pulled deeply on our shared power, but the jump only took six or eight flashes and was much less disorienting. This time, the knowledge of our destination allowed me to recognize the flashing images of the hospital. Even so, we all sighed a deep breath of relief when we suddenly found ourselves standing in one of the less frequently used private emergency rooms.
Ashley stepped quickly to the door, closing it quietly while Isabella settled Brian gently on the gurney. I sprang into action.
“Ashley, I need you to take Jess and get me some supplies.” I commanded. Giving Jess something to do would help her reassert some self-control. “If you can turn the nurses and doctors we could really use their help, and we wouldn’t need to worry about them stumbling upon us.”
Ashley and Jess slipped out the door. Within minutes nurses began to rush in with supplies, and soon two doctors followed. Brian was hooked up to several different monitors and they were getting ready to start the blood transfusion when his heart stopped. The monitor let out a piercing, high pitch scream and nurses burst into action. Under normal circumstances, I would have been one of them. However, now I had reached my emotional limit. I stepped back, shaking and horrified as I watched the familiar routines unfold around me.
Brian did not respond to the defibrillator, nor to the adrenaline they injected into his heart. Panic began to rise up in me. I began to feel light headed and dizzy, and realized that I was hyperventilating. Closing my eyes, I tried to slow my breathing. I could tell, from firsthand experience, that the resuscitation was taking too long. Something surged up inside me. I don’t know if it was fear, desperation, or something else, but I dove forward. I shoved nurses aside and placed my hands on Brian’s chest.
“BEAT!” I screamed, willing his heart to begin beating again. More power than I had ever felt before flooded into me and I poured it right back out again, through my hands. With my empathy I could sense Brian’s body in intimate detail.
“BEAT!” I cried again, directing all that power into his still, silent heart.
“BEEAAT!” I wailed in despair, tears streaming down my cheeks. Someone placed a trembling hand on my arm. Through tear-blurred eyes I saw Ashley, who was also crying, trying to tell me that Brian was gone. Suddenly I felt something twitch under my hands. Had it been my imagination? I continued to pour the awesome flow of power into Brian, returning my attention and senses to his body. Then suddenly, with abrupt vigor, his heart burst into desperate action, beating hard and strong. Elation filled me. It had worked! But I couldn’t stop. The wild power raging through me seemed to have a will of its own. It flooded down my arms and into Brian’s body, directing itself toward the gaping, ragged wounds in his shoulder and back. After several seconds the blood stopped oozing from the hole. Then, before incredulous eyes, the shattered shoulder bone began to repair itself. Bone fragments seemed to melt and flow back into the bone and the wound tightened and closed. Abruptly, the flow of power ceased, leaving me feeling weak and hollow.
The room descended into deathly silence. Everyone’s eyes focused on Brian’s shoulder, and then slowly lifted to my face. We had just witnessed the impossible. I had just DONE the impossible! Ashley, ever the pragmatist, was the first to shake off the astonishment. She quietly moved to the door and began adjusting the nurses’ and doctors’ memories. The man on the table had come in with a mild concussion, nothing more.
One by one the medical staff left the room and returned to their duties. The four of us women stood silently together, relief and disbelief battling each other for supremacy. The tremendous expenditure of power had left us all feeling weak and drained.
“H.. how did you do that?” Isabella asked finally.
“I honestly don’t know!” I answered in a hushed voice. “I... think it has something to do with my ability to sense what is wrong with people. But with all the extra power from you guys I was able to do much more.”
“Why is he still unconscious?” Jess asked fearfully.
I stepped forward and lay a hand on Brian’s chest, extending my senses. His heart beat strong and proud under my palm. “His body is fully healed,” I said. “But his blood level is still really low.”
I inserted an IV into his arm and soon the transfusion was flowing.
We sank down into the arm chairs, exhaustion beginning to overwhelm us now that the adrenaline was leaving our bodies. Isabella looked around at us and started to giggle. The rest of us looked at her curiously. “What’s so funny?” Ashley asked hotly.
“Look at us!” Isabella said.
Realization dawned on the rest of us, and we burst into uncontrolled, tension releasing peals of laughter. We were all barefoot and dressed in bikinis!
I gradually became aware that my mattress was really narrow and quite hard. Finally, when I opened my eyes I was disoriented and confused. Where was I? A hospital! What was I doing here? Then the memory rushed back to me. Somehow the girls had managed to haul my ass off that beach to a local hospital. Panic surged, we had to get out of here before the shooters found us! I sat bolt up in bed. Cindy, Jess, Ash, and Isabella were sound asleep, squeezed together on two other gurneys that had clearly been brought in for their use.
Something was obviously not right here. The hospital intercom buzzed to life, “Dr. McMillan to the ER, please. Dr. McMillan to the ER.”
I look at my shoulder. There was blood all over me, but the bullet wound was gone. Wait, that announcement had been in English! Now I was well and truly confused. The bullet wound was completely gone, there wasn’t even a scar, but I was still hooked up to an IV. The announcement had been in English but I could see that the women were still wearing their bikinis from the beach. I needed help figuring this one out, so I sent out a tendril of thought and woke up the four women, MY four women.
When Jess saw me sitting up she squealed and leapt towards me. Tears streamed down her face as she gave me a long, powerful hug. Soon the other women joined in, their eyes watery and voices wavering with emotion. Over the next fifteen minutes their story unfolded like a fantasy novel come to life. It all boiled down to two amazing things: Jess was a teleporter, and Cindy had healed me. Now we were back in my hometown, without money, clothes, or transportation.
Jess was exhausted, and it wouldn’t be right to demand more of her. So, instead of asking her to teleport us, we convinced one of Cindy’s nursing friends to drive us to our old home. Twenty minutes later we pulled into the driveway of the dark house. A hidden key granted us easy entrance. We didn’t dare stay here long, but we needed some warm clothes. Another fifteen minutes later we piled back into the car and had Cindy’s friend drive us a hotel and rent us a room. I promised to pay her back. I just had to get cash from the men who were safeguarding it in Mexico. During this entire time Jess stayed as close to me as she could.
We settled into our room and one by one the women took showers. When it was Jess’s turn she looked back at me from the door, not saying anything, at least not with words. Then she turned and went into the bathroom. Cindy spoke to me in a low tone. “Today was hard on all of us,” she said. “But it was far worse for Jess. She was connected to you empathically when you were hit and when you blacked out. Then she couldn’t break the connection without my help. It took a huge toll on her emotionally. I think she could use some time alone with you.”
That is the way of empaths. They are always looking out for the people they care for. I heaved myself off the bed and walked to the bathroom, closing the door behind me. The air in the small room was heavy with steam. Stripping down, I discovered that a large mole was missing from my upper thigh. With a towel I wiped the condensation off the mirror and saw that all of my moles and scars had vanished. “Huh!” I said out loud as I pushed the shower curtain aside and stepped in. I slid my arms around Jess’s delicate shoulders, drawing her to me as I joined her. She responded immediately, wrapping her own arms around my waist, laying her head against my chest and holding me tight. Her body trembled slightly and I realize that she was crying again. Not knowing how to help her I just held her close and waited.
Soon the sniffles stopped and she lifted her head to look up at me, placing one hand on my chest. I smiled at her and leaned down to kiss her. The kiss began gently, but it must have awoken something in her. Soon her lips grew eager and hungry. Her hand slid down my chest and stroked my semi-erect cock. I lifted my hand and fondled her right breast. It felt different. Stepping back I looked at her carefully. Her stomach was still hard and flat, but her breasts were beginning to swell as hormones flooded her body. They were noticeably larger, but they were also fuller and harder than before. This caused her dark little nipples to strain forward and slightly upward. She looked amazing! I leaned over and sucked a nipple and pink areola into my mouth. She moaned and threw back her head, continuing to slowly fondle and pull on my shaft. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her close, lifting her feet off the shower floor. I reveled in the feel of her slender, tiny body in my arms. Her hard, firm breasts and nipples crushed into my chest, creating a wonderful contrast with the willowy softness of the rest of her body.
I wrestled her higher and she wrapped her legs around my waist. Holding her with one arm curled around her back I reached underneath her and guided my iron hard rod into her soft, tight womanhood. I closed my eyes and gasped as her warmth enveloped me, sliding eagerly down over my straining shaft. It felt like warm velvet and hot butter. Finally, I was buried all the way into her with her pussy pressing firmly up against my pubic bone. My free hand traveled over Jess’s skin until it arrived at her left breast. I began to massage and fondle it, pinching her nipple occasionally. Jess lowered her face to mine and our open mouths latched onto one another. Her tongue pushed between my teeth and began to explore.
Then she began to writhe and twist in my arms, grinding her vagina against my pelvis. Something about this motion set my blood on fire. The feel of her delicate body squirming in my arms, and her swaying nipples brushing against my chest, affected me like a drug. I could feel my cock rubbing against the inside of her vaginal canal. The overall effect was breathtaking.
It only took a few seconds before I began to feel the faint stirrings of an orgasm. Hastily, I linked our minds. The pleasure of a shared climax was always far superior. As usual, joining our minds heightened both our physical and emotional pleasure. The tingling in my shaft grew stronger. I could feel the rush of pleasure flowing through Jess as though it were my own. Our skin began to tingle all over and we suddenly rocketed into an orgasm. Jess’s cunt clenched around the base of my dick, spasming. My body entire body clenched, and then convulsed. The end of my shaft felt as though it was tearing through its own skin. Cum gushed out of me in rhythmic, throbbing pulses. As the overwhelming sensations began to subside, a shiver shot through both of our spines at the same time. We began to breathe again in heavy, panting gasps.
We clung to each other for a few moments. Jess wrapped her arms around my neck and rested her head on my shoulder. Then I gently lifted her off my cock and lowered her to the floor. I was physically spent.
Jess rinsed off and stepped out of the shower first. I moved into the spray of water and began to soap up my body. Feeling cool air rustle past my ankles I looked up. There stood Isabella, smiling shyly. She had her hands clasped behind her arresting, naked body. The sight of her large, full breasts and hard nipples caused my dick to begin to stiffen again. It was going to be a long, but enjoyable night.