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The Music of the Mind Ch. 01

By: Solitary_Thinker



This is the first chapter of a series I have been working on for some time. I'll tell you now that the first three chapters contain no serious sex, but all the back story for the later chapters that have a fair amount of sex. I would encourage you to read all the chapters if you want to understand why things are happening the way they are. I would love any feed back on this chapter, or the series in general. Constructive criticism is always helpful, as is positive feedback about what elements you like. A big Thank you to LadyCibelle for her wonderful editing. Have a great day, and I hope you enjoy The Music of the Mind. S.T. 

* * * * *

Chapter 1: The First note

'A Genie?' I thought. 'This can't be happening...' 

It was a magnificent being, for I don't think one could call it human. Eight feet tall, beautiful, hovering in the air, and radiating power like the sun on a 104 degree day in Texas in July. Male or female I couldn't tell, but there was sexual electricity to it that was unmistakable. At its feet lay the golden box I had unpacked from the crate months ago. 

Perhaps I should back up a bit. I want to tell my story, but it is difficult and convoluted. Where to start when telling the tale of a life? Well, this moment, with the Genie was really the beginning of mine in a way. So it is here that I must begin.

I worked for an antiques dealer in Boulder Colorado. The dull part of my job was selling the antiques; the part I liked was discovering the treasures the owner had sent back from far away places as I uncrated them. This box, well it had captured my imagination.

I opened this crate many months ago, and the first item I took out was this little box. About ten inches a side, beautifully crafted, and wonderfully old. It was, simply put, a puzzle box. On the sides were intricate patterns, and dials that could be turned to align in certain ways. The combinations were almost limitless. I played with it for a few days, and then I got obsessed. 

It is something I have a problem with, and one of the reasons I work where I do now. You see, I used to be a programmer, and a damn good one too if do say so myself. Problem was, I obsessed on solving the problems my programs presented. It made me a good programmer, made me a fair amount of money, but ultimately gave me a lousy life. 

Anyway, that portion of my personality kicked in with this little trinket, and I sat in front of the computer at the office for a couple weeks writing a program to match the symbols on the box up. 

The puzzle in that way was simple, like a rubix cube, it was just the number of combinations that made it nearly impossible. It would have been too big a problem for any desktop computer, really probably even for a super computer. 

I mean the program was simple, but the computing power to try all the variables was large. Fortunately for me the last company I worked for had developed a distributed computing platform. What is that you ask? It is a platform that breaks a huge computing job up into tiny bits, and then sends it out to 1000's of computers to work on. Then they are all sent back, and the answer is reassembled, or the next set is sent. 

I had left myself a nice backdoor into the system, so I had it crunch this for me. It took three weeks for a hundred thousand computers to break the code. Frankly I can't see how anyone of the age this was made could have built it, much less have solved it; the complexity was astonishing!

Well the first solution opened a small lid to a second puzzle. I didn't know rather to be pissed or excited. What could possibly need this level of protection? 

This puzzle took me two months to write the program for, and the distributed computer 6 months to solve. I almost gave up on it for fear of it being discovered running on the system. But I was only using a fraction of the computers available to the system, and I had friends still working there who would cover for me, so luckily it worked out. When the solution set popped in my email, you would have thought it was Christmas, and I was 6 years old I was so excited. 

I had closed the store early today, ready to test the solution I had received that morning. It had been a quiet day, and my nerves had been tingling waiting for closing time. I picked my way back through the cluttered shop into the back room. 

My laptop sat humming quietly on the table next to the box. On top the box a small lid had opened to reveal a compartment with a series of incredibly complex levers. I took my seat and called up the solution the computer had spit up, and began to adjust the levels in the sequence listed. 

Each lever had to be flipped to a certain slot, pulled out or pushed in a certain amount, and then turned till the right symbol was facing the right way. 'Who could have designed this?' I thought for the millionth time. It took me over an hour to put the solution in. 

I twisted that last lever and there was a quiet click, then all hell broke loose. How do you describe a tornado inside the backroom of a much crowed antiques dealership? I thought for sure I was going to die, but when the debris settled I found myself on my ass, staring up at....

'A Genie?'

It looked down at me with a face that showed no interest, a face that could have been that of a statue. I was torn between a state of absolute fear, awe, and complete disbelief. How long it stared at me I don't know, but when it spoke I found myself trembling and wishing for the terrifying silent stare to be back instead.

"Well human, you have solved the puzzle, and I am bound to the rules of this prison. Only 4 others have ever opened me in all my long years. Name your three wishes, and let me go back to my forever torment." 

Its voice was like the roar of Niagara Falls, or the whisper of a mosquito's wings in my ear. It exploded in my head and softly tickled my ear. I must have sat there for minutes staring up at it with my mouth open before I gained the nerve to speak.

"Wishes?" I know, I was brilliant, but hey what would you do?

It raised one eyebrow with contempt. "Surely you are not so foolish human; I can see in your mind that you know the legends. I am a genie, you have opened my prison, I am bound to give you three wishes before I return to it. Now speak!"

I covered my ears with my hands, and when I pulled them away I was surprised to see no blood on them, so powerful was its voice. I looked up, and climbed slowly to my feet. The Genie crossed its arms, and regarded me slowly, and suddenly I felt calm, clear headed, and sharp. I wondered if this was its doing, but I didn't care, I had an idea. 

"How long will you wait for me to make my wishes?"

The being frowned, "I must wait 24 hours, then I return to my prison and you loose any wishes remaining." 

I nodded. "Okay, I have to do some research, and think." The genie made no response, simply stared at me with those cold eyes.

I set to work. I found my computer, luckily mostly undamaged, and hooked it back up. I got on the net, and began to study. You would be surprised the amount of history on genie lore there is on the web, I was. 

I learned some interesting things in my fifteen hour study marathon, things which I confirmed with my ever floating friend over my left shoulder. First, any wish could only affect me, or my life, no one else's. Second, the power of these wishes was said to be virtually unlimited, the only thing they could not do was make me immortal. Last, and this I found the most disturbing, it was said that a Genie lived an existence of utter hell in their tiny prisons, and the only way they could be freed was to use all three wishes to wish it to freedom. 

The lore was confused on this point though. Many stories said the genie would be grateful beyond anything you could imagine, and give you unknowable riches, others said it would unleash its fury upon the world. Some stories said that it would simply return to its home without so much as a thank you. 

I took a few hour cat nap before facing the genie in the last hour of my twenty-four. It had not moved, nor spoken except when I had asked it questions. Many of its answers were curt, and I got the feeling that there was only so much it could tell me. Hell, I kind of expected that. 

I had thought of every wish you could imagine from power, to wealth, to fame. I had debated the way to get the most of this situation, but in the end I found I couldn't wish for any of these things. Sometimes it is difficult to have grown up a moral person.

"Genie, I am ready for my wishes now."

"Speak" its voice both whispered and boomed.

"Genie, I wish you to be free." Its face for the first time changed. I could not read the expression. Was it hope, or fear? Was it anger?

"Genie, I wish you to be free." My voice barely a whisper this time. A glow had developed around the box now, and the genie's face had gone suddenly fixed again. I fought with myself only a moment. 

"GENIE I WISH YOU TO BE FREE!" I yelled, as if to force the doubt from me.

The light around the box flared brilliantly, and then was extinguished taking all the light in the room with it. I stood in darkness, and silence like a tomb. I stood panting in fear, my mind racing. 'God what had I done?' Then I felt soft gentle lips upon my forehead. It was the kiss a mother might give a child. It was infinitely gentle and caring. Slowly the room filled with light. It came from no source but seemed to fill the air all around with a golden glow. 

It stood in front of me, a smile on its face. I don't know why but that was the most unsettling thing I had seen of its expressions. I waited, and long it looked at me with that smile on its lips before finally it spoke.

"I will grant no more wishes to humans thanks to you. I will reward you, but the reward will be of my choosing. Every wish I have granted I have granted reluctantly, seeing in the mind of the wisher what would truly make them happy yet unable to advise them. You I will give a gift you may not know you want, but I know it will give you great joy. I see in you a potential, I hope it can be fulfilled."

Before I could speak it raised its hand and placed it gently on my forehead. I was rocked with pain, pain like birth, pain like death. Have you ever had an experience in life in which your understanding of the world around you grows in an instant to something larger then you think you should comprehend? Carl Sagan called this feeling the numinous. It is the feeling that you are one with all the universe, and that you for a brief moment, understand part of its mysteries. All through me its power flowed and the stars blossoming in my mind, the simplest equations defining the whole of existence were solved in an instant, the whole of the universe a simple elegant thing, and when the power faded I fell into darkness deep and my mind opened in me like jasmine in the dark.

* * * * *

The dream was clear, like reliving that day so long ago. The Morning was bitterly cold on the hill leading to the ridge overlooking Elk Park, and the two feet of snow had a hard crust on the top that broke as the horses plunged their feet through it. It was to be expected for early November at ten thousand feet in the Rocky Mountains. Still my hands were numb as they gripped the reins and steered Bell up the trail behind my father on old Blue. 

I tried to flex my toes in my frozen boots as I scanned the tree line in the slowly growing morning light. The elk always seemed to be just coming out of the trees when you saw them. Though it seemed dad's eyes were always keener then mine, and I had challenged myself to make the spot first this time. To stay alert in spite of the cold and fatigue. At 16 I didn't realize that control came more with age then anything.

The trail crested the ridge in a grove of aspens long divested of this year's leaves. Still, they had offered enough shade to stop the sun from melting the snow to make the noisy crust on the snow. My father dismounted, and I followed stiffly, my feet crying in frozen protest as they struck the ground.

We tied the two mares, taking our rifles out of our scabbards and walked slowly to the tree line. A large open park lay before us, running slowly downhill on the ridge, and ringed by woods. The light was coming up now; it would only be a short time before it was safe to see to shoot. We watched, and I stamped my feet as I looked out. 

My father pulled his pipe out and lit it, the smell of Sir Walter Riley's tobacco sharp in the cold air. He smiled at me, one of those rare smiles he would show of excitement, and anticipation. He was a somber man often, and very strict, but here he was a young man again. Here in the cold teaching me, guiding more then my actions, guiding my growth to manhood, here he was in his element. 

Suddenly he stopped, and dropped his pipe to the snow. 

"There son, just coming out of the trees." He pointed with his lightly gloved hand, hands that never seemed to be cold like mine encased in immense gloves. I kicked myself and looked, and I could see some 250 yards away a large herd of elk slowly walking out of the trees to cross the park. 

Dad slowly chambered a shell into the old 30-06 that had been his father's, before raising it to rest in the broken branch of one of the bare aspen trees. I followed his example, and stared down the field through my scope. I could make out the animals, but it was not quite light enough to see horns to make a clean shoot. 

"Wait son, a few more minutes and we will see better. The light's coming, and it is a big field." 

"Yes sir." I said. All thought of being cold gone now. This would be my first elk if I got one. I had several deer under my belt, but this year dad had decided I was ready to go for elk. I remembered the pride I felt, and I was determined not to fail, to show him I was a man.

Suddenly the still air was shattered by many distant gunshots. 

"What the hell?" my dad's voice exclaimed. I glanced over at him and saw he still watched through his scope. I turned my eye back to mine. The herd was running now, and more shots rang out from the tree line further down the valley. I saw at least two animals go down, and realized I had no idea how many had fallen in the initial volley of shots. 

The gun fire stopped and my father cursed.

"Damn fools, has to be that damn outfitter. Clear your gun and mount up."

I cleared the shell from the rifle before putting it back in the scabbard, and stiffly mounting Bell. Dad was already winding his way out of the edge of the trees, and I hurried to catch up. As we rode down the hill I could see five men approaching the downed animals. 

I pulled up next to Dad as he trotted Blue up to the men. I knew the leader; he was one of the sons of the outfitter who ran dudes hunting in this area. He was a man with little regard for this wilderness except what his family could milk out of it. He smiled as we rode up.

"One of these your kill?" He said gesturing. "Heck of a haul init." He looked exalted, and the dude hunters around him looked stunned. Dad's face was red, his eyes hard.

"We didn't fire a shot you damn fool. I count eight animals down, and two of them Spikes. They won't be legal to shoot with a bull tag for at least a few more years. Didn't you teach these hunters anything? It's a god damn waste is what it is." 

The man's face went from grinning to a scowl instantly. I suddenly realized that there were six armed men in front of us, and we were miles from anywhere.

"We got our kill, so there are a few for the coyotes. You're welcome to the extra cow if you have a cow tag and want her, but I won't hear any lecturing out of you."

Dad just scowled down at the man for a moment. Then he turned to the group of hunters. 

"You should all be ashamed of yourselves. You've killed more animals then you have licenses for, and two that are outright illegal. Since this ass hasn't told you anything, let me give you a bit of advice. You never shoot more then once unless you are damn sure you didn't hit the animal from that shot. If you do think you missed, you shoot at the same animal again. If you can't make out which one you shot at in a herd, you stop. Otherwise you're gonna end up with more wounded and dead animals then you need. I saw two blood trails leading away from here on the ride down so those are two animals that you have killed as well. I would suggest you get yourself another guide next time. "

He wheeled his horse and rode down the hill to where the animals were scattered. I started and jumped as I reined Cindin around to follow him. 

He rode up next to the two spikes that lay dead in the snow. 

"Get off your horse son, get your rope. We're gonna drag these two spikes up to those trees, and that cow over there."

"Yes sir." I answered without thinking. Why were we taking the spikes? The young males were illegal, they had to have at least four points to be a legal kill, and all we had was cow licenses anyway. 

We tied off the ropes and dragged the animals up the hill, the other hunters watching us curiously as they inexpertly tried to clean their kills. When we got back to the aspen grove, we untied the ropes, and tethered the horses. Dad stood panting staring at the animals, and the distant hunters, his tongue worrying the side of his mouth as it did when he was in thought. Then he nodded to himself.

"Son, come here a moment." I walked over to him hurriedly.

"We're gonna take these animals home. All of em, do you know why?"

I shook my head, looking him in his ice blue eyes. 

"Because I would rather risk a fine, then let this meat rot. I would rather take the blame then leave these animals. We hunt for food, never for trophies. I've told you before, a trophy hunter is just a killer. We aren't killers. We respect the price these animals paid to feed us. We understand the cost of our meat, unlike those fools who condemn us and pick up a steak in the market. So we will respect these animals, and if we get stopped by the game warden we won't hide them, we will tell him exactly what happened, and leave it to him to fine us or not. You understand."

I nodded swallowing hard, the golden sun now streaking across the land where we stood as it rose. It took three trips to get the meat back to camp and not overburden the horses. We packed up the next day, not having any more tags to fill. Dad packed the meat in the back of the trailer as he always did, easily accessible if we got inspected. 

The drive out took two hours to go the six miles of rocky 4x4 road. At the gate to the county road we encountered the truck of the game warden. Dad stopped the truck and took a deep breath. 

"Stay here son." I nodded watching the old man get out of his truck. He looked to be about 65, and he and dad had spoken on many occasions. Dad walked up to him and I could see them talking. The warden nodded as he listened, and eventually took off his hat and scratched his white hair in a weary way. He motioned to the trailer, and they walked back. I heard the creak of the hinges, and then I sat. How long I waited I don't know, but eventually I heard the grown of the door again, and dad appeared as he climbed back in the truck.

The Game warden walked back over to his truck, started her up, and drove back up the road the way we had come. He gave my dad a two finger wave as he passed. 

"Did he ticket us dad?"

He shook his head no and smiled a sad smile. "No son, he understood. He is going to pay a visit to Josh at the outfitters camp. He will be getting the fines."

"Well that is good right?" I said excited.

He looked at me for a long moment. "Yeah son, I suppose so. Though there is still two dead animals in the back that shouldn't be there. You remember this son, you hear me. You remember always to think before you act. Before you shoot. Before you unzip your fly with a girl you damn well better think, you hear me boy."


The Music of the Mind Ch. 01



"Yes sir." I said in as strong a voice as I could manage. 

He nodded and smiled large now. He reached over and gave my leg a hard squeeze before easing the truck into gear, and heading down the road.

* * * * *

"Mike wake up. Mike, are you okay?" 

The voice was familiar, it called me out of the dream as my eyes tried to open. The light seemed unbearably bright as I looked up into a blurry face. 

It took a moment to register in my brain, but it was my friend Jill, she had lived across from me for ten years in the same complex of condos. I blinked as her face swam into clearer focus. I struggled to push away the feeling of the cold, of the feel of the bounce of the old truck as the dream slowly left me.

"Hey you, you gave us all a right scare!" She smiled down at me. I looked around realizing I was in the hospital. The events of the last day slowly clawed their way to the surface. The box and its surprise occupant. I guess the genie had decided on the punishment route. Some reward I thought.

"Hey Jill." I croaked, my throat dry.

"Nice to see you lucid. You thirsty?" I nodded and she held a glass of water for me.

"How long have I been here?"

"Ten days, the doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with you. What happened anyway, the back room where we found you at the store was a wreck."

I shook my head "I don't remember, I was unpacking something that is all I remember." I lied. Her face was serious.

"Well the doc's say you're okay, that is what matters."

My head hurt, and I found I had the oddest sensations coupled to the pain. It felt like a tremendous noise in my head, like your ears ringing but worse. It was like the sound of a million symphonies overlapping each other until they became just a static of noise.

"My head hurts; I have a lot of ringing in...my head."

"You want me to call the doc?" Jill looked nervous, and concerned.

"No. No. I'll be okay. It is probably just from banging my head or something."

"Okay. Look, I've got to get back to work, but I'll check in on you later. They said they would release you once you woke up, and you checked out. If you go home let me know, okay?"

"Yeah, sure, of course I will. I guess I missed Wednesday night movie night huh?"

She laughed, "Yeah, but it will keep. Your turn to make the popcorn though!"

"Okay, deal."

Jill leaned down and kissed me on the forehead. Suddenly there was a loud chime in my brain as her lips touched my head, then it immediately faded to the constant buzz as she pulled away. 

"Don't scare me like that again okay?"

"Sorry, I'll try not to, I promise." I thought to myself, 'Yeah, I'll try not to free anymore pissed off genies in the near future.' She smiled, and again I felt that loud chime in my head as she looked at me, it felt as though it was coming from her. I shook my head lightly as if to clear the fog from it.

"Okay, I really gotta go. We'll talk later."

"Buy Jill."

She left and shortly after that I got the once over by the doctors. They said the noise in my head was likely from the fall I had received, and gave me some pain medication. They said it would pass, and signed my release forms for the next day.



The Music of the Mind Ch. 02



This is Chapter two of the Music of the Mind Series. I am afraid you will be rather lost if you don't read the first chapter, so you may want to take a look at it. As always, comments and constructive criticism welcome. Thank you to LadyCibelle for her hard work editing this series. S.T. 

*

Chapter 2: The Temptation of the Notes 

They released me from the hospital the next day, and I spent most of it sleeping at home. My head seemed to always be filled with static, and I found it hard to concentrate. When evening time rolled around I found I couldn't sleep anymore so I sat in front of my computer trying to focus to read my email, but I couldn't concentrate. 

"Damn my head!" I yelled at no one in particular as I rubbed my temples. 

'Tune it out...' the soft voice echoed in my head. 

I knew that voice, and the hair rose on the back on my neck. I spun around, but I was alone. 'Tune it out. What the hell does that mean?' I thought. 

I sat there in my desk chair and I thought what the hell. You ever try to tune out a noise that is bothering you? Like a dripping faucet, or an air conditioning unit? This was like that, but it came easily, almost naturally. 

I concentrated and the noise began to take on form, to have almost a visual substance in my mind's eye. I could feel how close it was to me, as if a great plane of thought stretched before me. I tried to push the noise into that vast distance, and all the noise fell into the background. It receded, fading with the distance as I pushed it away. 

It was still there, but it did not bother me. Suddenly I felt that same clear headedness I had when I had done my research on the genie. A great thrill of exhilaration raced through me. I found I was sick of being cooped up. I needed to get out of the house, to do something fun. 

I dressed quickly, and began to rummage through the clothing I had worn home from the hospital for my wallet. In my pants pocket I found a wallet, but it didn't look like mine. It was leather, with beautiful designs that looked Arabic or Mediterranean on the side. 

I have to admit I know little of these cultures, but the design definitely invoked a feel like that. When I looked in it though, all my ID's and credit cards were inside. I looked in the cash pouch, and found it full of cash. I pulled it out counting it. A thousand in hundreds, eighty in twenties, one ten, one five, and four ones.

'What the hell?' I though confused.

I looked down to put it back in the wallet, and the cash pouch was full. Puzzled I set down the cash in my hand, and pulled the cash out of the wallet. The amount I removed was the same as what I had first counted, and when I looked down in the wallet, once again the cash pouch was full. 

I began to grin and started pulling the cash out as fast as I could, dropping it on the floor. Every time my hand returned to the wallet I found the same bunch of notes waiting to be removed. A soft laugh rippled through my mind and I stopped cold. 

Apparently the genie had decided to give me a gift after all. Grinning like a fool I stuffed the wallet into my pants, scooped up the pile of cash I had made and stuck it in my desk drawer and headed out to the local coffee house I frequented. 

The night was beautiful when I walked out, a cool evening with a clear sky. I walked down to Pearl Street mall which was not too busy at 9:00 PM on a week night. About halfway to The Daily Grind I began to notice something strange. 

Every person that passed me caused the buzzing in my head to become a little more intense. As they approached me it grew, and as they walked away it faded. Like the buzzing of a bug in my ear, but I found with a little more effort I could tune it out like the other noise, though it puzzled me.

The coffee shop was almost empty except for a couple of college guys playing chess, and Wendy the cute girl behind the counter. She smiled at me and I couldn't help but smile back. I had always liked Wendy, and she seemed to like to flirt with me. Though she had to be in her early twenties, and being in my mid thirties I had ruled out asking her out long ago.

"Hey stranger, thought you had decided to cheat on me and drink your coffee elsewhere." She said with a cute smile as I walked to the counter. 

"Cheat on you, the best coffee, and smile, in town." I said, feeling like a complete dork, but Wendy just smiled. 

"Well good, one usual coming right up, and it is on the house," she said smiling. I waited till she turned to run the espresso machine then stuffed the wad of money from my wallet into the tip jar without her seeing. I figured that would make her night. I noticed that buzzing again now, much more insistent, and I could almost swear it was coming from Wendy, that she was causing it. 

She turned back to me and handed me my iced mocha smiling. As she handed it to me her hand brushed mine and the buzzing in my head seemed to chime, and I got the strangest feeling. It was as though for a second I could feel Wendy's affection for me. I can't explain it better then that. It shook me and I thanked her and took my table by the door. 

What was that? The buzzing was there as insistent as ever, but when I looked at Wendy it was as though I could hear a tone, a single note, a chime. I could see that great plane of thought in my mind again; the wall of sound far away still, but closer was a single string of sound. I pulled it to me, and it raced to my mind's eye, quivering before me. 

It was like watching the notes dance at the beginning of the original Fantasia movie, but in 3D, and with far greater complexity. Curiously I listened to it and it grew louder, it seemed to fill my mind. Then, as if driven by instinct I reached out and embraced it. Suddenly it snapped into place, like a picture on a movie screen that had just been focused and framed, and I could feel her, Wendy. 

It was like listening to her mood, I was somehow in her head, or at least feeling her. She liked me, quite a lot in fact. I could feel she was quite attracted to me. I sat there stunned, what was happening. I pushed the note away and immediately her feelings vanished, and the buzzing returned. My breathing was rapid, and I felt a trill of both excitement and fear.

I sat there, my drink untouched and a tall red-headed woman walked into the shop heading for the counter. She was quite pretty, and I felt the buzz in my head jump as she walked by and a single note stood out in my mind. I embraced it, and she snapped into my head. 

There was nothing terribly exciting there, she was tired and in a hurry. The things I could feel were not thoughts, not what she was thinking but what she was feeling. She turned and glanced at me and saw me staring at her, suddenly I got a wave of apprehension and irritation at a stranger looking at her. I suddenly felt very self-conscious, I didn't want her to feel upset. 

Suddenly it felt as if the note that was her in my mind changed, like I had plucked a string on a musical instrument. Then I could feel her, she looked at me again and smiled. She felt I was okay, that I was nothing to worry about. Stunned I pushed her note away and she snapped out of my mind. She got her drink, and turned to leave. As she passed my table she smiled at me and said "Hi there." Then she was gone. Had I done that? Had I changed her mood?

Wendy looked at me and raised her eyebrows at me smiling slightly. I pulled her note to me, and suddenly she was there again, and I could feel her. She was irritated that the woman had flirted with me. Carefully, very gently I thought at her; don't be irritated, it doesn't matter. Again the note rang out and I felt her irritation vanish and she smiled at me bigger. The attraction was still there, it felt warm and enveloping. Then she wondered to herself what I would be like in bed. I could feel the thought, not just her feeling it. For some reason this thought rang through, and I could feel it more clearly. 

Then she turned away cleaning the counter and I could tell she was fantasizing about me, what I might look like naked, what the size of my cock was. I pushed her away, and sat with the buzzing in my mind again. Suddenly I was scared, what was this? Then I heard it again, the soft powerful laugh ring through my mind and again I felt chilled.

I rose and thanked Wendy feeling her note call to me as I did, but I pushed it away and walked quickly back up to my condo. I was afraid, but I was also exhilarated. I needed time to figure this out, but not in a coffee shop. I walked in and shut the door locking it. I sat on the couch then, my mind spinning. 

So somehow, I could hear people's emotions, and maybe some thoughts. Or at least something almost like a thought. But not only that, I could influence their moods. How much? What could I do to someone? What would I want to do? The fear returned, stronger then ever.

Someone banged on my door and I nearly fell off the couch. I just sat there and they knocked again. Then I heard a key in the lock and the door opened and Jill's head appeared looking at me. She saw me on the couch and smiled. 

"You shouldn't give me a key if you want to pretend you're not home." She said coming in. I didn't know what to say. I could feel the note of her in my mind now. It was a deep low full note, but I pushed it away. Suddenly the smile faded from her face, I felt her note give a strong thrum. 

"Mike, what's wrong? Are you okay you're really pale?"

"I don't know...I think something happened to me in the store, I can..."

"You can what Mike, what is it?" She sat next to me on the couch, and began to run her hand up and down my back. It took all my control to push her note away, to keep myself out of her mind. I needed to tell her, I had to tell someone.

"It's like, well I can.." Suddenly there was a low rumble in my mind, like a warning or a threat, or a deep growl. Apparently some things were to remain my secret. Jill looked at me with concern, listening, waiting.

"I just feel very strange, maybe it was just the time I was out or something, I feel kinda disconnected." I lied. 

"Hey, it is okay. You're okay, you just need to settle in again." She smiled "I know what you would like, lets watch "Office space." That always cheers you up." I thought for a minute and nodded, sounded like a good idea. Maybe I did just need to not worry about it.

"Okay, sounds good. " Jill leapt up and found the DVD and popped it in the machine. Normally when she watched movies at my place she sat in the chair to my right instead of on the couch with me, but tonight she came back and sat next to me. I assumed she felt worried about me, but I knew I could find out exactly how she felt if I wanted to. I pushed the thought from my mind.

The movie let me relax. I sat watching for a while, then the love scene between Jennifer Aniston and the guy came on and I felt a powerful thrum from Jill's note in my mind. Almost before I knew what I was doing I allowed her note to snap in my mind. There she was, my best friend. She was a little apprehensive sitting next to me, but she was denying it. She cared for me a great deal, and that warmed my heart, but under all her other emotions there was a deep attraction for me. I felt my breathing quicken, and I pushed her out of my mind. I watched the rest of the movie and let her keep her thoughts to herself. 

"Hey, why don't you come over to my place tomorrow for dinner? It's Friday night, I am going to invite the girls over. You could tag along and be the sole guy in a group of four beautiful women?" She was smiling but I really wanted to know what she was feeling. I resisted the urge to find out.

"That would be great, see you at 7?"

"Seven it is!" She leaned over and hugged me and it took absolute control not to let her note ring in my mind. 

After she left I sat on my couch thinking. I could still feel her note, though fainter now. She was right next door after all. Great, like I needed the temptation. I wondered what the range was on this. It thought of Wendy, and suddenly there was her note in all the noise. It was distant, but I could cast out into that sea of thought and call it out of the noise. It emerged and raced to me, vibrating its beautiful song. I embraced it, curious and tempted. 

As she filled my mind I did fall off the couch this time. Her mind was filled with lust and arousal. I had to sit for a minute before I realized she was at home now, and she must be masturbating. There was a strong longing for contact with someone, anyone, but she was clearly arousing herself. I thought for a moment and thought what the heck, it is harmless. I gently plucked a note 

'Wouldn't it be great if Mike was doing this to you...' 

I felt it reverberate through her, and she immediately began to strongly fantasize about me. These were more thoughts then feeling. I could almost feel her desire for my cock in her, the need to be fucked. I could feel her approaching orgasm; it was like another note ringing along with hers in my mind. Suddenly I wondered...I reached out just as she climaxed and plucked that note. It rang through her like a hurricane. I felt the overwhelming power of her climax, it ripped though her like a tidal wave. 

Then she fell away from it and her thoughts became jumbled them confused, then almost nothing. She had blacked out, I don't know how I could tell, but she had. I pushed her away and looked down at the hard-on tenting my slacks. I pulled it out and took care of it. At least that was still normal! I wondered what it would be like to buy coffee from Wendy tomorrow. With that I went to bed, and there, softly humming, Jill's rich deep note humming in my mind.



The Music of the Mind Ch. 03



I hope you all have enjoyed this series so far. This is the chapter that sets the resolve for Mike on how to use his gift, and what it means for him. He discovers the depth to which he can hurt or heal, and he must make a choice. For those of you waiting for some sex, chapter 4 should please you. As always, praise or constructive criticism is welcome. Thanks again to LadyCibelle for her editing work.  

* * * * *

Chapter 3: The Road to Tranquility 

I woke the next day refreshed, and determined. Somehow in the night I had come to some resolve about my new gift. First I had to learn how to use it better, and second, I had to decide how I would use it. That cheesy line from Spiderman kept popping into my mind, with great power comes great responsibility. I wondered how much I could influence someone with this power, and then I wondered how much I should. I figured I needed to learn something about the limits of this ability, but in a way that I could stomach ethically. I was having a rather bad attack of guilt you see about my little experiment with Wendy last night.

I showered and dressed and headed down to the coffee shop for my morning coffee. I assumed Wendy would not be in since she had been working last night, but I was wrong. She greeted me with a smile and a deep blush when I entered the store. I could feel her note strongly in my mind now, even as she served the other customers in line. 

I grabbed the last table, knowing she had seen me and would make my morning usual as always. I let her note snap into my mind, and felt her. She was flustered that I was here, she was a little concerned at how strongly she had responded last night to her fantasy of me, and she was very horny. Her arousal resonated like a second note that added to her overall sound. 

I concentrated, and I realized that there were many more notes singing in her, that the note of her arousal was more like a cord, or a series of notes. One for her emotional state of arousal, several for her physical, even one that I assume was her spiritual, though it was hard to tell. It then hit me like a ton of bricks that when I had strummed this note I had amplified her arousal and orgasm on all these levels at once! No wonder it had hit her so hard. I needed to be careful. Suddenly her note was very strong. I looked up and there she was holding my coffee smiling down at me. 

"Hi handsome, got your mocha." She was nervous at calling me handsome, and she desperately wanted to talk with me. I could feel the discordant notes of her agitation. I reached out and strummed one thinking 'It's okay, he is a nice guy, don't worry.' But the discordance of the note only grew and she dropped her tray as she started shaking. Shit! That was not what I wanted. Then I had an idea, I reached out and stilled the vibration of that discordant note, like putting a finger to a vibrating harp string and though the same thing at her again. Immediately it stilled, and she gave a great sigh.

"You want to sit for a minute, looks like the line is down, and Kelly has it under control?" I said in my most innocent voice.

She nodded and smiled and sat down. "Okay, but only for a second."

"So how are you doing this morning, didn't expect to see you this morning after you closed last night." I could feel her agitation begin to build again, but I stilled it. 

"Oh, Stacey asked me if I would switch with her, she had something going on." I could feel the untruth in her mind; she had asked to trade with Stacey, she wanted to be here in case I came in. Then there was a wave of guilt that hit her, she was thinking of....boyfriend? Crap, what had I done last night. Guilt rolled over me like a wave. Okay, I could handle this.

"Nice of you to switch with her." I looked up and saw Kelly glaring at us. "I think Kelly needs your help again." I said nodding toward the counter which now had a substantial line again. 

"Shit! Sorry, I'll talk to you later, okay?" She was very anxious, and hopeful. 

"Of course!" I smiled. Man I had to sort this out. She was a beautiful girl, and really nice, but I didn't want her hung up on me, or ruining a good relationship she had because I didn't know how to responsibly use my power yet. Well, assuming it was good. Whatever.

I concentrated on the notes in her mind; the more I looked the more I could start to make out the complexity there. Each emotion had many notes, or even cords making it up. Where before I thought there was only one note, now I could see hundreds, and the complexity grew, the longer I watched it. I found the note of her attraction to me; it had many notes in it. I looked through them and realized there were too many to sort through, so I decided on the brut force approach again. I took the whole tone and very gently strummed it thinking hard, 'Mike is a good friend, a nice and attractive guy, that was cool last night but I need to get over it. He is not my type.'

I watched her carefully. Wendy had suddenly come to a complete stop behind the counter; she shook her head a little, then looked at me and smiled the biggest smile of the morning. It was the smile of a good friend to another. I could feel the tone of her emotions settle, and she began to worry on things other then me. I let a great mental sigh of relief out. I watched her and studied her notes all morning. It began to make more and more sense the longer I just listened. 

Think of every human as one loud note, beautiful and clear, but when you break it down it is a thousand smaller quieter notes making up the one. Each for a feeling, or maybe even a thought. I couldn't read a thought, at least I didn't think I could, but I could come close if I caught its individual note. Problem was the notes for thoughts came and went so quickly, while the notes or chords for emotions were more flowing, more persistent. 

A few hours later I headed back up the mall. For those of you not familiar with Pearl Street mall in Boulder, it is about six blocks of shops opening onto a large cobblestone courtyard right in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. It is quite beautiful, and a lovely place to waste time and think. 

Right now though I was on a mission. I knew I had to determine the extent of this gift, test its limits within the confines of what I was comfortable doing. But I didn't want to hurt anyone, especially not anyone as innocent and nice as Wendy. But, there was someone who I thought deserved, in fact even needed, a little punishment.

Her name was Cynthia, and she owned a book store on the mall. Now Cynthia wasn't just beautiful, she was mind numbingly beautiful, with a face and body to make a man lose all reason over. But unfortunately she was also one of those beautiful women who knows what power they have, and they choose to use it in really nasty and vindictive ways. 

Fortunately for us men, most of these types of woman are like us, of average intelligence and no more cruel or evil then others. Cynthia however, well she was as intelligent as she was pretty, and all of her capability, all of her reason, all of what she was she bent to the task of getting what she wanted. No person would stand in her way, no decorum, no feelings, not even common decency. 

Two years ago I asked her out. I should mention that it took me a year to work up the nerve to do so, and I was shocked when she immediately said yes. I spent a week planning, making reservations, working out a fun romantic evening. What I didn't know is that she had her own reasons for going out with me, though I would soon find out. 

I showed up to pick her up with a horse and carriage. Romantic and fun right? She laughed when she saw it and insisted we take her car. From the minute she opened the door she was all business, cold and in a hurry. I was flustered; at the time I had assumed she simply didn't like the horse and carriage idea. 

She drove, I told her where we had dinner reservations and she shook her head. She didn't want to go there she had reservations for us somewhere else. Okay I thought, I can handle this, no big deal. But first we went to a bar. We sat at the bar and she spent most of the early evening staring out the window at a restaurant across the street. I had my back to the window so I didn't see what she was looking for, but suddenly she leapt up and wanted the check paid and us out of there immediately. 

What I came to find out was that she had been waiting for her boyfriend, and what she thought was his mistress, to arrive at the restaurant. She dragged me next door and you can imagine what happened in short order. She suddenly was all smiles and laughter once we were inside. She hung on me, brushed the hair from my forehead and seemed to hang on my every word. I was in heaven. I couldn't figure out what had changed, but I was enjoying it. 

However it wasn't long before her boyfriend saw us and came over to confront her. Things went from bad to worse, and I was lucky to escape with only a fat lip and a black eye. Turned out the boyfriend was a football player for the Denver Bronco's. Who knew? The woman he was with turned out to be a wedding planner. He was arranging a whole weekend to pop the question to Cynthia. They left arm in arm happy as could be, and I nursed a concussion and a much bruised ego for a few weeks.

Well, I was going to pay a little visit to her bookstore. I had not been in there since that night, and really my stomach was in knots just thinking about what I wanted to do. Oh well, fortune favors the brave right? Right?

I walked into the store and it seemed empty. I guess not a lot of bookstore customers at 10:15 on a Friday morning. I went to the Science Fiction section and pretended to browse since it gave me a good view of the front counter. I heard her voice before I saw her; she was talking on a cell phone to someone.

"..yeah, he is such a dick. I am so glad the divorce is final. Un-hunh, yeah. Yes! Football, football, football! God what an idiot. Yeah he was at least good in bed. Yeah me too, okay see you tonight."

I could feel her note in my head, and it shocked me, but the whole sound of her was discordant. It was as if the entire being of her was out of sync, was somehow in pain. I let her snap and I slid into her mind. She hadn't noticed me yet. The thing that struck me the most was that almost all of the notes in her jangled with anger. Underneath them was a feeling of power, and a desire to be in control. It was so noisy though I had difficulty concentrating. Then she looked up. 

She smiled at me for a moment, one of those fake shop owner smiles that says welcome, now buy some of my shit would you. Then she did a quick double take. In her mind I felt the recognition, then the confusion, then more anger. She went back to sorting some receipts, but she was thinking of what I was doing here. Then she kind of shrugged internally and I felt her move onto other things. Even now I was insignificant to her. Yeah, this was the person to test this gift on. 

I reached into the music of her, and I thought, I can't do anything with all this anger distracting me. I tried to still one or two tones, but they just started back up again. Something kept them going. I began to dig, each tone came from another, and always there was one deeper, more discordant. I was holding a book pretending to be reading it, but I didn't even see it so deep was I into her mind. At last I came to a note, a singe note of profound pain. It hurt to even experience it. I sank into it and then I knew. I knew the source of all the pain, of all the discordant notes, of the anger.

It was a rape, by her father, a terrible betraying rape. She had become pregnant, there was an abortion, and then she was outcast from her family for having the abortion he forced upon her. Her father accused her in front of the family of getting pregnant with her boyfriend and then murdering her unborn baby. She was thrown from the family. Her father was a Baptist Minister, and he couldn't have her actions sully his good name. It was crushing, it destroyed her. The person she was now was born out of that memory. Every aspect of her rang with the vibration of that single note.

I stood there trembling as I pushed it away, I stood there feeling the terrible pain of that memory, of that thought, of that horrible jangling note in her soul and suddenly I was overcome with pity. Who the hell was I to make judgments about who I could use this gift on, and who needed punishment? I had come in here with a chip on my shoulder, and I found now that all I felt was small. An iron resolve formed in me then. 'Never to harm.' I told myself. Never to cause hurt, never to control, never to cause undue pain. This woman needed help, not more judgments. I would help if I could. I had to try.

I reached out and I tried to still that painful discordant note in her, and it was like trying to hold a jackhammer still. I fought harder and I could feel the strain in myself. Then it happened, it split into two. One the memory, the other something hidden in it, something I hadn't seen. I looked up and Cynthia was standing gripping the counter so hard her hands were white. She was staring into space, but I knew now what she was seeing. My meddling had dragged this to the front of her mind. She was remembering. Tears were beginning to stream down her face. 

I dived into the new note, it was her feelings, her shame, her pain, her feeling that it was all somehow her fault. That she had been a poor daughter, and that she had caused the rape. She was too beautiful, too vain. Her beauty was a betrayal, a curse. Then there it was. The decision, the desire to use it, if this is what she was, this is what she would be. No one would ever hurt her again. She would be in charge. Her beauty would become her sword, her pain her shield. She was never going to be hurt again, she was a rock. She was alone.

I pulled away again, my soul aching now, struggling to keep myself in control. I grasped that note and with all my being, with everything I had I spoke into it, I tried to still its harsh jangling. 

'It was not your fault. It was his fault. It is okay to hate him, to blame him. You beauty is a gift. He raped you. Nothing will take away his guilt, not even you trying to take it. You are beautiful inside. You deserve joy. You deserve to be free of this. You are a good person.' I repeated it over and over. 

How long I stood there chanting that mantra I do not know, but finally I realized it was quiet. The note had stilled, but more then stilled, it had faded to a barely audible tone. This tone though was one of calm, of peace. I felt it then. It began to spread through her. First the memory of the rape began to calm, and fade. I grasped it and tried to still it and almost at once it faded to a soft memory. Then I pulled myself back up, and immediately was overwhelmed by the grief and the joy flowing through her. I heard a sob, not in her mind this time but a very real sob. I looked up and she was no longer at the counter. I walked over quickly and there she lay on the floor in a heap sobbing uncontrollably. Fear raced through me. I ran around without thinking, her emotions still singing in my mind. 

"Cynthia, its okay, you're going to be okay. Just let it come, you need to let it out."

She sobbed harder then ever. I reached in and began to calm her nerves, to stroke them, and to quiet them. 

"Come on, you need to rest." I pulled her to her feet like a puppet and led her back to her apartment behind the store where I had picked her up two years ago. I lead her to her bedroom as she clung to me like a rag doll, still sobbing. I lay her on the bed, and tried to calm her mind, to make it feel like Wendy's had when she had blacked out into sleep. 

"It's okay Cynthia, you're okay. Everything will be alright. You're a good beautiful person, you're going to be okay." I was saying this out loud even as I worked to still her mind, I wasn't really thinking about it, just following instinct now. Finally she stilled in mind and body and she drifted off to sleep. I stood for a long time stilling her mind, telling her to sleep, to heal, to rest, to be whole. 

I walked out front, and luckily the store was still empty. I looked behind the counter and found her keys. Somehow I knew they would be there. I guess when you are that deep in someone's mind, you pick up things. I walked to the front of the store and turned the open sign off, then let myself out locking the door. I dropped the keys through the mail slot and stumbled over to a bench in the shade of a big oak tree. 

People were walking and laughing in the bright fall air, the mountains were beautiful. I felt absolutely spent. I didn't even know if I could walk back to my apartment. God what had I done. I had meant to make her feel guilty about what she did to me, maybe try to make her have some compassion for others, instead I had ripped her worst memory out by the roots, and I had no idea what that would do to her. I felt like shit. Was this what it was going to be like with this power? Always in conflict over what was right, and what was wrong. I think I had helped her in the end, I really wanted to help her, but did I? God I was tired and confused.

Suddenly my mind was filled with no noise, only one note. It wasn't right, I knew it wasn't human. There was the trill of laughter through me, but this time it warmed me. It was the genie, in me. 

'That was very good human. Most would have used this gift for domination, for power. You could have done anything you wanted to her. You could have made her your submissive sex slave, you could have had her groveling in the street asking your forgiveness, but instead you tried to heal her. I am impressed.'

I sat motionless, 'I think I hurt her, I think I really screwed it up.' I said

'You made some mistakes, but even as she is she would heal, and be a much better happier person for it. I have corrected your mistakes. She will be fine, though she still will have a lot to deal with. More then twenty years of pain and misery to others will be quite a lot to face, but she will now. I am not concerned for her, I am for you.'

'Me? Why?'

'You have chosen a difficult path; you don't know how close you came to destroying yourself in there. I am going to enhance your power. You have shown yourself worthy of it. You have shown that my freedom did mean more to you then the prospect of reward. I said you had potential, and I am glad to see you fulfilling it.'

'I was prepared for you to give me nothing; I couldn't live with myself if I had left you caged.'

'Yes, yes." It's voice was so powerful, but now comforting, now gentle. 'You will find you can do more now with your gift, as you call it. I have also given you another gift, but I will let you discover it. I think you will soon enough. I will watch you a while human, you intrigue me. It is nice to be surprised by something, or anything in this universe.'

'What is it?' I thought, but it was gone. The noise came back, but this time it seemed sharper, and it was easier for me to push away. I felt refreshed as well, as if I had slept a whole weekend, had ten backrubs, two orgasms, and just had a stiff drink. I felt like a million bucks. I thought of Cynthia, and immediately her note sprung out of the noise, and rung before my minds eye. But unlike other times, I held it in perfect control, I could feel her sleeping, I could feel the stillness in her, I could feel the touch of the genie in her. I pushed, barely pushed and her note vanished back into the buzz. 'Shit!' I thought, 'The genie wasn't kidding that my gift was greater.' I felt like I had gone from flying a jumbo jet to a fighter plane. I walked home on a cloud, the notes of those I passed singing in my head.

* * * * *

When I got home I ate a quick lunch and sat on the couch thinking. I was kind of a superhero now in a way. I know, cheesy thought, but I did grow up reading comic books. I could help people if I tried, but I could also hurt them if I was clumsy. I needed to be careful, very careful as I learned the finesse of how to use this. I thought I knew the limits, but now the genie had changed the boundaries again. I was not sure I wanted to test the limits of this new gift. 




The Music of the Mind Ch. 03



I wished I could share this with someone, but it had seemed clear the other night that was not allowed. Then Jill came to my mind and instantly her note was there, before the buzz singing its deep baritone tremble and I felt a surge of affection for her. I knew she liked me, but how did I feel about her? I laughed; funny I could sort through everyone else's emotions, but not my own. Oh well, all in good time I supposed. 



The Music of the Mind Ch. 04



 This is the fourth chapter of the Music of the Mind series. If you just picking up the series here, I would recommend you read the first three chapters to gain an understanding of the characters, and the forces at work. For those of you who have been reading the series and waiting for the sex, this chapter is the first payoff for you. I hope you enjoy, and as always feedback is welcome. Thanks to LadyCibelle for her editing. S.T.  

 The Music of the Mind Chapter 4: A Symphony of Two 

Freshly showered, shaved, and wearing my favorite hat I walked the twenty feet from my front door to Jill's. I had not even knocked when the door opened and there was Jill smiling with a pose of being put out. 

"God Mike, I said 7:00, not 7:03!" she affected her best valley girl accent while twisting her hair before busting into laughter.

I laughed and walked in, she gave me a quick hug and I felt it ring in her note, but I let her keep her thoughts and emotions to herself. I heard laughter, and walked inside to find Jill's three best girlfriends sitting around her dining table already sipping wine and laughing. Suzan, the beautiful red head, Ellen the blond athlete, and Tuyen (pronounced Twin) with her beautiful black hair and Asian skin. Suzan and Ellen smiled, but Tuyen just scowled as usual, she had never liked me and I didn't know why.


"Good evening ladies!" They called out there hellos and I sat and took a glass of wine from Jill. She disappeared into the kitchen and shortly after that Tuyen followed her to "help". How annoying I thought, and then I realized I didn't have to be annoyed, I could find out what was up with her, and maybe change my behavior or reconcile with her.

Since the genie had enhanced my gift, I found it easy to talk and use it at the same time. I let Tuyen's note come into my mind, and I felt her annoyance that I was there. I chatted pleasantly with Suzan and Ellen, telling them about my hospital stay, answering their questions, but mainly I was elsewhere. I dug into her mind, it seemed easier to sort the notes and tones and chords now. I looked for the source of her dislike for me, and it was there not far from the surface. 

She had a lousy boyfriend in high school who had hurt her badly, and looked a striking resemblance to yours truly. It only took me a matter of moments to find that memory and soothe it. It wasn't as powerful as Cynthia's negative memory, but it still felt easy to me to calm it, and let it fade in her. I also understood how to do it without dragging it to the forefront of her mind. It disappeared quietly in the background without her notice. 

As I pulled to her more surface thoughts I dropped a soft, very gentle note, 'Maybe Mike is not a bad guy, I shouldn't be so harsh on him. He has always been nice to me and my friends after all…' I didn't want to control her, but I would like her to give me a fair shake. I figured that was okay. God trying to be ethical with this gift was like walking a tightrope.

I pushed her note back and talked animatedly with Ellen and Suzan. Tuyen and Jill came back in with trays loaded with dinner. Jill had made her wonderful Eggplant Parmesan, with homemade rolls and Italian salad. I was seated between Jill and Tuyen, and when I passed the salad to Tuyen she smiled at me and thanked me. 

Even though I had just taken my walk in her head I nearly fell out of my chair. I could swear that everyone at the table did a double take at Tuyen with the kind of look that said, 'What have you done with the real Tuyen.' If she noticed she ignored it. We all talked through dinner, I think everyone was a little surprised that Tuyen was being nice to me, well not nice maybe, but polite. 

Suzan was a doctor, and talked about work and how hard it was to find time for fun and dating with the pressure of the hospital. I looked inside her high-singing note in my mind, and found her thoughts and emotions to be very organized. With a few probes and pushes I loosened up her fears about dating so that hopefully she would have an easier time. Again I found the policeman in my head questioning this. 

Ellen was a therapist, and talked about a patient she had seen that afternoon that she was concerned was dangerous. It was interesting, but I didn't see any reason to go roaming around in her head. Though I did take a peak to find she was a truly caring person, and that she thought I had a cute butt. Who knew?

After dinner we sat in Jill's living room, Jill on my left on her couch, and Tuyen on my right. This also caused a raised eyebrow or two. We were on our third or fourth bottle of wine. I had cut myself off at my second glass saying it gave me a headache after my "accident", but the ladies were all to that place where they were feeling pretty loose and happy. 

"Hey, let's play strip poker." It was Ellen, the first to always want to talk about sex, and things of the like. My ears perked up, I would love to see any of these beauties naked. 

"No way! Besides there is only one guy here!" said Suzan, always the voice of reason, though she was smiling and blushing.

"I'm in." was all Tuyen said with a smirk. Jill burst out laughing. 

"Hey, if Mike will, I will, but I'm not doing it unless our token male is..um..up for it…" Jill let out another burst of laughter as she said this. 

"Hey, count me in; I think the odds are in my favor." They had no idea how much they were in my favor.

Suzan caved in and we started to play. I made one very interesting discovery during the early part of the game. I could hold more then one mind open in my head at a time. Two wasn't too difficult, but to have all four I had to stay with their pretty basic surface thoughts. Still, it was enough to read their hands. Disappointment at a bad hand, or happiness at a good one. Was it cheating, sure, but hey what guy wouldn't cheat at strip poker with four pretty women? I figured it was their idea anyway, I was just tweaking the odds a little.

Clothes started coming off quickly. I made sure to loose my shoes and socks and shirt in the mix, but stopped there. Ellen was the first to go topless. She had small B size cups, and her breasts were very perky. Her body was in incredible shape as she ran triathlons as a hobby. I whistled appreciatively and she raised her arms above her head and shook her small breasts for me. There was stunned silence then the over loud laughter of four woman who had been drinking rather a lot. 

More wine flowed, and Jill lost her top next. I had to try hard to control myself when I saw her perfect C cups. Her nipples were large, and perfectly accented her short curvy frame. I realized just how attracted I was to her, and thanked myself that I had not had more to drink.

Suzan was next with her large DD cups. She had a little more weight on her then the others, but it was a beautiful contrast in womanly shapes. She was beautiful, and those breasts were amazing. 

Tuyen was last of the girls to loose her bra, she had the creamiest skin I had ever seen, and her small nipples on her smallish C sized breasts were just lovely.

I now had four drunk, beautiful girls sitting topless with me and I swear I hadn't even suggested it in anyway. I was the luckiest guy in the world. I smiled a shit eating grin as the cards were dealt again and tried not to look at Jill more then the others.

Suzan lost the hand and was the first to lose her last article of clothing. She stood and pulled off a pretty pair of black undies to reveal a flaming red bush of hair. Instead of being embarrassed she struck several poses which caused all of us to laugh. I was rather hard at this point, and it felt strange for some reason. I shrugged it off, and dealt the next hand.

Ellen lost, and her cute white panties went flying at me as she revealed a nice trimmed bush of blond hair. I made a joke about her being a natural blond and there was more laughter as she sat down. Another bottle of wine was opened and I realized the ladies were getting to the dangerous stage of drinking where anything could happen, and I should be careful. I made a mental note not to let things get awkward or out of hand. 

Jill lost hers next to reveal a trimmed bush of brown hair, and again I had to try not to stare at her next to me. She had the most prominent labia of the other girls, and it made my mouth water with wanting to suck them. She smiled shyly at me when she sat down. 

Suzan lost the next hand, and everyone decided she should do a little dance since she was out of clothes, and she did a surprising little bump and grind that caused the laughter to stop rather quickly. I could feel that all the ladies were getting quite aroused, but especially Ellen; she apparently had a taste for girl fun as well as boys. Watching her shake her large breasts hadn't hurt my arousal either.

Finally Tuyen lost her panties. She stood slowly and faced me as I sat Indian style on the floor with the others. She pulled down her lacey black underwear to reveal a smooth shaven pussy with beautiful prominent lips. It glistened slightly from the moisture already collected there. She spread her legs lewdly and turned to let everyone have a good look. Her labia were swollen, and she was clearly wet. There was no laughing this time. She sat down with a satisfied smile on her face. I could feel Ellen's hunger go up a couple notches. Better be careful Tuyen I thought to myself.

"Well it looks like I win!" I started to get up and was assaulted by a series of loud yells and protests. 

"No way buddy boy, strip. You have seen all of us; we get to see that thing tenting your pants!" Ellen said, and there was a series of agreements and assertions of the same from the others, all except Tuyen who just watched me quietly. I thought for a minute and thought what the hell. It would be kind of hot to show off in front of all these ladies. I was in good shape, and not badly endowed. I could feel how aroused they all were, and it was turning me on too.

I shrugged and started to undo my belt to loud cheers and cat calls. I dropped my pants and kicked them off, my boner tenting my boxers in front of me. It was then I had a strange sensation. I could feel the anticipation from each of them, and each hoped for something different. Suzan was hoping for a huge cock, while Ellen wanted something more manageable. Jill wanted a little on the large size, and Tuyen, well she was with Suzan. I could feel it, clear as day from them. It was the strangest sensation as I pulled my boxers off. 

I looked down and stood stunned. I could see my cock through each of there minds. It appeared exactly as each of them desired. It looked the same six and a half inches it always had to me, but though their minds I could see I matched their desires. 

The room was suddenly very quiet, and a little soft laugh rang through my mind. I guess I had just found my "new" gift. Oh well I shrugged mentally and decided to give them a little show. I reached down and stroked myself a few times for them and turned so they could see me from every angle.

God I was horny and turned on. I knew I could have any of them if I wanted, or hell all of them if I wanted, but I was too sober to let myself get carried away. These were good friends, and it would be way too weird tomorrow if we did. I posed a few more times to silent stares then reached down and pulled my boxers back up. At that the room erupted with cheering from the girls and the spell was broken. 

Everyone started to feel self conscious and clothes went on much faster then they had come off. I made a point to give each girl a bit of empowered reinforcement that what we did was fun, amongst friends, and in no way embarrassing. The mood lightened back up quickly after that. Maybe I could use this gift in small ways that didn't hurt anyone.

There was a half hour of good buys, and I got some very good hugs from all the girls, Ellen even squeezed my butt. Finally though it was just me and Jill. I focused on the note in her mind, and could feel the jangle of the notes there from the wine. She wasn't thinking or feeling clearly. She wanted me to stay, she was really horny, but she was conflicted too. I reached out and calmed her notes, eased her libido back down. Tonight wasn't the night; I needed more time to think on her, on us. She seemed to let out a great sigh of relief as I hugged her and said my goodnights. God I thought, too many good deeds like this and my balls will explode. 

I walked back over to my apartment door, and walked in. I felt a note in my mind then. I never locked my door when I was right next door, and Tuyen must have let herself in. Well, maybe I wasn't in for a lonely night after all. 

I kicked off my shoes and walked back to my bedroom and I could see the flicker of candle light. I pushed the door open slowly. She was lying on the bed stroking her very wet shaved pussy. 

"I haven't been very nice to you Mike; I thought we could kiss and make up." She said in a husky voice. I let her note fill my mind. She was scared, she was trying to be confident, but this was a big stretch for her. She felt good though, without a tension that had bothered her for years, and she realized tonight she had always been a little judgmental, and critical of the men around her. I wondered how much that had to do with that one memory I had eased for her. 

She wanted me; she wanted to do something to dispel that in her, to be free of her own guilt and shame, and self deprecation. She wanted to be daring and follow her instincts for a change. She didn't want me as a boyfriend, but she needed to do this. My resistance melted away…

"Well I would be happy to kiss and make up Tuyen, I can't imagine a nicer surprise then this. This is just for tonight I take it?" she nodded and bit her lip in apprehension, thoughts of slut and whore surfacing in her mind. I smoothed them, replaced them with feelings of empowerment, and self fulfillment and smiled at her. I justified this since I was just helping her to enjoy the course of action she had chosen herself. She smiled back and I felt her lust almost explode in her, now unshackled from stupid societal double standards.

I walked in pulling off my shirt, and dropping my pants. She watched me with growing excitement; I could feel it in my mind. She was very horny already; there wouldn't be much preliminary warm up tonight. I slid my boxers down and looked at my cock and almost jumped with surprise. 

Before all the ladies had seen what they wanted to see, now alone with just one, it had become what she wanted it to be. My erection was a rock hard eight and a half inches with substantial girth. It bobbed in front of me with the beat of my heart. I must have looked ridiculous standing there staring at my own erection with a big grin on my face. Then Tuyen let out a soft moan and I came back to the present.

I could feel her hunger, she wanted to leap out of the bed and devour me, to suck my cock down in one slurp. I crossed to the bed and slid slowly up her legs kissing her silky smooth skin on each leg. She jumped with each kiss, and I could feel the response in the notes in her mind. I decided to go for broke and began to softly blow on the notes of her arousal, both those of her mind, and those of her body. I tickled the note of her nipples, and her clit, of her lips, and the sensitive skin of her sides all while I kissed my way toward her beautiful pussy. She moaned and writhed on the bed, struggling to hold herself in control.

"God just fuck me already, I can't stand it!" she almost wailed. 'Whoops' I thought, too much I guess. 

I crawled the rest of the way up her, stopping long enough to lick her sweet juicy pussy a few times. She tasted wonderful, and the skin was so smooth I could hardly believe it. I slid up her, stopping to nibble briefly on each nipple, as I continued my gentle ministrations on her mind. She was almost frantic now, both in the notes in her mind, and in her body as she clutched at me trying to get me into her. 

I kissed her deeply and long and she stilled for a time lost in the sensation. I slid my new enormous cock up and down her wet pussy lips and she moaned, clutching at me, pulling on my hips. I slid the head of my cock into the opening of her pussy, and eased it in a little. She gasped and stopped pulling me, her eyes widening. 

"Slow, go slow, you're so big…" I nodded and slowly started to work my cock into her. It was then that I felt it shrink, and I knew, somehow I knew why. She was most turned on by the sight of an eight and a half inch cock, but a smaller one would give her more pleasure. Once it was in, the difference between huge and big would be hard to tell. 

She moaned biting my lower lip gently and kissing me as I pushed into her. I could tell I was still much bigger then usual, though how much I couldn't tell. When I was halfway in I push hard and slid the rest of the way into her hot pussy. It made my balls twitch and Tuyen moaned in pleasure and clutched me too her hard. 

I stayed still, twitching in her for a moment until her grip relaxed. I looked down into her beautiful brown eyes, and slowly, oh so slowly began to fuck her. I built speed as I felt her need increase in my mind, and I continued to stroke all her pleasure notes, including two new ones that had appeared as I entered her. I assumed they were sensations that had come from the feeling of me being in her. 

I could feel her orgasm coming. It was like all the notes singing together in a tremendous harmony, one single beautiful sound. I knew when it reached a point they would all shatter back into individual notes, and she would crash into orgasm, so I held them together, and stroked them to a higher louder tone. 

Tuyen's eyes rolled back in her head as I released them and her whole body shuttered under me, her pussy clamping down on my cock as I pistoned into her. The feeling of her release in my mind and on my cock was so intense I began pumping my seed into her. Her orgasm must have lasted a full five minutes before she slipped into a state of semi-consciousness. I lay on her for a moment before rolling off of her and snuggling up to her side. 

My cock had deflated with my orgasm, my body and mind spent. 'God that was great!' I thought. I wish I could do it again right now I thought. 

'You can…." The warm voice rippled through my mind and I shuddered. God was the genie always ridding shotgun with me?

Suddenly I knew. I knew if I willed it I could be hard again in an instant. I wanted to laugh out loud. I thought hard, "Thank you genie, god what a gift!' There was the soft warm laughter in my mind again. 

'You're welcome human, it is the least I could do. Use you gifts wisely. You will also find that no woman you sleep with will make you ill, or bear you a child without your willing it. There are a few more surprises in store for you too, but I will let you discover those in time.' Then before I could respond the feeling of it was gone from my mind. It was going to be interesting with the genie looking over my shoulder all the time. I wondered if it would take away the gift if I displeased it, even as it had enhanced it when pleased with my actions.

Tuyen seemed to be recovering somewhat now. I willed myself hard and instantly my cock sprung to attention. I rolled back onto her and we made slow unhurried love for over an hour until we both spent ourselves in earth shattering orgasms. It was nearly two in the morning by this time, and I was so tired I thought I would never get out of bed again.

"I have to go." Tuyen said suddenly getting out of the warm, and now very messy bed.

"Why, it is very late, you're more then welcome to stay here." Tuyen gave me one of those looks a woman gives a man when he is being dense.

"Look Mike, this was wonderful, but it needs to be our secret. If you don't already know it Jill has a thing for you. The last thing I want is her finding me here in the morning looking very well fucked I might add." She finished the last statement with a grin. 




The Music of the Mind Ch. 04



"I understand. Though we're just friends.' I said knowing the truth from what I read in her mind.

Tuyen rolled her eyes. "Well say what you want, I know she has feelings for you, though I think she is in as much denial about them as you are about her." I started to protest when she raised her hand. "No, it is too late for buts or arguments. You just think about it."

She crawled back on the bed and we shared a few more deep kisses.

"Thanks Mike, I don't know what happened to me tonight, but I just found I didn't want to be so angry all the time. Thank you for sharing this with me. It was wonderful."

"Anytime you want a reminder, I would be happy to indulge. You were wonderful as well. You're a beautiful woman inside and out." 

"Thank you. Stay, I'll let myself out."

As she left I entered the music of her mind and reinforced the notes of self empowerment and fulfillment from earlier, I eased any feelings of guilt. What we had done was a beautiful thing, and I didn't want her to have any doubts about tonight. I wanted her to carry it with her as a beautiful empowering memory to replace the bad one she had thrown away tonight. People were amazing. With that I drifted off to sleep.



The Music of the Mind Ch. 05



This is the 5th chapter in this series, and I want to thank the few people who have provided feedback and opinions on this story. I have enjoyed writing it, but it has been a challenge. Constructive criticism and positive feedback are both always welcome. This chapter does not have any sex in it, but is the set up for chapter 6 which is quite provocative like chapter 4. Hope you enjoy. Once again, thanks to LadyCibelle for her editing work.

Chapter 5: The Movement in the Music

Saturday I spent going over bills and stressing about work on Monday. I had talked to my boss, he was still in Cairo, and he was very supportive telling me to take more time if I needed it but I wanted to get back to my routine. 

I had thought a lot about my magic wallet, and the thing was I couldn't pay for everything with it or I would have the government tax collectors on me so quick it would make my head spin. But, I could use it to buy all the small things that nickel and dime you to death in life. I spent the first half of the day working up a payment schedule for all the bills I would pay with my paycheck, and then all the things I could buy with cash to increase my standard of living. All in all, it was a very productive morning. 

About 2:00 PM I decided to head down to the Grind and get a cup of coffee, and get out and see what the day was like. It was a beautiful fall day with amazing blue skies and just enough nip in the air to make you feel really alive.

The Grind was busy with all the foot traffic on the mall on a Saturday. Wendy smiled at me and waved when I came in. She raised her eyebrows as if to ask, "The usual?" I nodded and grabbed a table in the corner. 

I could feel and see the notes of all the people in the little shop in my mind. It wasn't just the sound of them, I could see them too. Some were smooth and pure of tone, others twisted and winded back on themselves, and I could feel the discordant music within them. I began to realize just by looking at the surface, the single sound of them I could gauge their happiness, and their level of discontent. 

Wendy brought my drink over leaning down to set it in front of me. She had a very low cut blouse and I found her ample breasts on good display in a pretty black lacey bra. I tried hard to look her in the eye. "Here ya go, hey I wanted to ask you something." I raised my eyebrows already taking my first sip of the warm coffee. "You wouldn't know anything about a giant tip I got the other night in the tip jar would you?" I tried not to spill coffee down m front.

"Oh shit." I thought, thinking rapidly. I let her note fill my mind. She knew it was me, or was at least almost sure. She had worked it out, and knew that the jar had been almost empty right before I came in since she had used some to buy herself dinner, and after I came in the shop was dead. She noticed the tip before anyone else came in. I was busted.

"Well, maybe…." I smiled at her and held several notes of concern in her to quiet them. I could tell she was worried, it was over a thousand dollars after all, and she thought I might be trying to buy her attention or something. 

"Look Wendy, I am not hurting for money okay, and I had a really big deal go through that day and I did it impulsively, on a whim. I remember what it was like to be a starving college student, and I figured you could use it. I hope it doesn't freak you out or anything, I didn't want you to know it was me even." I could feel her mind had calm somewhat.

"Well it is a lot of money, I just…well it kind of weirded me out, but now I know it was you it is okay." She had remained leaning over the whole time she talked to me, and I couldn't help but sneak peaks down her shirt at those lovely breasts of hers. Suddenly she smiled wider, and I knew she had caught me looking. She glanced down seeing her shirt hanging open. "You like?" she raised her eyebrows a little; "Well you can look all you want, and if you like." She said the last with a wink and then turned to go. I sat stunned.

I quickly looked through the notes of her mind. She had accepted the tip now, and wasn't worried about it. But there, clear as day was a note of strong attraction to me, just like it was the other day before I stilled it. What the hell?

I spent the next hour or so looking at the notes and cords underlying her attraction, and I learned what I think was my most important lesson yet. The mind was not a static place. I could alter things for a time, but the mind generated its own thoughts and emotions. In other words, we all had free will. Her attraction to me returned because the things that had attracted her to me in the first place had not changed.

She still thought I was cute, she still liked my personality, and she still found me attractive. I could still the notes of her attraction again, but I couldn't prevent them from returning unless I manipulated the underlying things that made them. I would literally have to change what she valued in men to do that, or start acting like an asshole to her. I didn't like the idea of either. 

It looked like I would have to live with the flirtations of an attractive twenty-something. Oh well, we all bear our burdens I thought, grinning to myself. I just made a mental note not to let myself do anything like the masturbation incident to her again.

The afternoon thunderstorms had rolled in before I had finished thinking, and the shop had emptied out a lot. Wendy and Katie, another girl who worked odd hours at the shop, were having a hushed discussion behind the counter. I didn't mind, it gave me more quiet to think in. I had pushed Wendy's note from my mind, and sat lost in thought.

Suddenly I was worried about Tuyen, and Cynthia. I had stilled things in their past, what would happen if they returned? Those were pretty foundational issues though, maybe they had nothing else to dive them back into existence. This was like having a nature vs nurture argument with myself. Well there was only one way to find out I guess.

I called Tuyen's note first, it sprang easily to my mind. The first thing I noticed is that she seemed fairly peaceful. As she filled my mind I could feel her happiness. She was out with Suzan, and she was talking about last night! Oh shit! I called Suzan's note into my mind, and could feel her attention and excitement? She was aroused at what Tuyen was telling her, and apparently Tuyen wasn't leaving out many details. God, I hope this didn't get back to Jill. I didn't at the time stop to think why that mattered so much to me.

I could feel that Suzan had already promised not to tell, there was a tone of secrecy that floated through the other notes about the conversation. There was also a strong cord as she wondered if she could get into my pants too. God, I may have started a snowball rolling down hill. Okay, time to refocus. I pushed Suzan's note from me, and dug into Tuyen's mind. What I found was startling.

I had removed, or stilled that single bad note in her past, when I found it again, it was not only still quiet, but it was almost gone. It felt like an ancient memory long forgotten. The thing was I could feel a whole line of notes and cords that had blossomed through it. Things that had been held back, or stunted by this one small thing. 

At higher levels of thought Tuyen was thinking about new possibilities, she was feeling hopeful, and inspired. She felt as if some great weight had lifted from her shoulders, and she didn't really know why. She thought it was the fact that she had gotten over what she now thought was a stupid anger and dislike of me, or maybe just let her anger in general go. The awesome sex she had last night with me didn't hurt either she figured. I felt my ego swell a little at reading that thought. Guys, ever wonder what it would feel like to absolutely know, and I mean know empirically, that you had pleased a woman? Let me tell you it feels great!

It seemed that by removing a core issue, that a chain reaction had started that had opened up a range of things previously impossible for her. Her mind had made possibilities and thoughts out of my one change, but it was far from static, in fact it was exploding with ideas. 

I pushed myself out of her mind after reinforcing her feelings of happiness, and possibility a little. I figured let her ride it as far as she could. Luckily I noticed she hadn't developed any romantic thoughts of me, though I could see she now had a strong lust for me. I figured that was okay, after all I am a man. Heck that had come on its own anyway, wouldn't it be wrong of me to stifle a happy thought? Yeah I know, heck of a way to rationalize.

Now, what about Cynthia? I was sitting trying to get the nerve to call her note to me when suddenly Wendy was right in front of me. I jumped with surprise.

"Oh! Damn Wendy you scared me, I was lost in thought." I smiled up at her pretty face. She looked slightly flushed, and something was different about her, but before I could put my finger on it she leaned over placing a cup of coffee before me.

"Thought you could use another round, you have been sitting her for over an hour." She said and her voice was a little lower then usual.

Her shirt fell away from her again when she leaned over, but this time I realized she had undone a couple more buttons on it. Though that hardly made any difference for she had removed her bra, and I could see all of her large pale breasts, and her small hard nipples. I must have stared for a few seconds, open mouthed before I regained my composure and looked up to meet her eyes. She was still smiling, and the flush in her face had deepened, and her eyes were shining. I called her note to me, and felt the strength of her arousal immediately wash over me. Katie I could see was watching slyly from behind the counter. 

"Wow. Ummm…." I tried to think of what to say but nothing seemed to come. Wendy stood up. Her nipples now clearly showing through her top. I could feel the humor in her at my predicament, and joy at my reaction to her. How could she have been worried? I reinforced her feeling of self-confidence, and pride at having the courage to act on such a bold thought. 

"I think that is the best almost compliment I ever got." She said smiling. She leaned over again letting her shirt fall open before me, but this time she leaned across to whisper in my ear. This put my face almost in the opening of her dress, and I could smell her skin, she smelled of cinnamon and sandalwood. She slid one of the business cards for the Grind across the table as she spoke. 

"Call me sometime Mike." And she kissed my cheek before standing slowly and walking back to the counter. I watched her go, my mouth hanging open, feeling her sense of triumph and exhilaration at what she had done. She felt remarkably powerful. She disappeared into the kitchen, and I realized she was going to put her bra back on.

I pushed her note away. This was going to require a great deal of thinking. I rose, putting the card in my pocket as Katie watched me out of the corner of her eye. I waked by the counter and shoved a wad of money in the tip jar on my way out. What the hell I figured, the cat was already out of the bag on that one, and I knew how much Wendy had needed the money from digging around in her mind. 

I walked up the Cobblestones, now slick with one of the rain showers that had passed over. It was late afternoon, and I was hungry. I stopped at a quiet sushi place and ordered some hand rolls and some green tea. I was already riding a pleasant caffeine high, and I wanted to keep it going. 

Once I had eaten, and was sipping my tea my mind came back to Cynthia. I had changed something that was incredibly debilitating to her, something that was at the core of her being. I had seen the effects that this had on Tuyen, but that was so much smaller then what had been eating away at Cynthia. What kind of cascade might that cause? Shit, I was worried, and scared, but I needed to finish what I started. I took a deep breath and called her note to me. 

She filled my mind as she came into focus. There was an incredible amount of noise in her mind, many thoughts and feelings. The predominant one was guilt, horrible crushing guilt. Guilt for all the shitty things she had done to people. It was so messy I couldn't even begin to dig through it. 

I need a focus. I went back to that core memory of her father, or her shame. They were still there, but they were different now. The memory was bright and painful, much closer to the surface then it should be I thought. But her mind was pushing it there. The feeling of shame though had changed, and now they was anger. Her father had done this to her, it was him, and she hated him. Years of hatred she had bottled up and ignored now burned in her like a tower of fire. It was discordant, dangerous. 

'Damit, what am I going to do?' I thought. Well I started this, I needed to finish it. I began to look at the emotions and thoughts near it. Almost all of the ones that were close to it carried that discordant tone of hate, but one did not. It was a feint tone, small and pure of sound. I focused on it. She wanted to confront him, her father. She wanted to make him see what he had done, to make him face the truth. But she was scared. She loved her father, or at least she thought she did. 

Some instinct in me nodded its approval; it felt harsh, but right. I took this weak note, and began to strengthen it, to add to its feelings of justice, and purpose. I added notes around it of strength, and of determination, of knowing it must be done. I felt the whole tone of her conscious mind shift to focus on it, and felt the tone grow and new notes began to form around it as she thought of it. I sat and just watched, she had begun to run with it, to add her own justifications, to add her own empowerments. 

She was going to do it tomorrow; I could feel the doubt driving the procrastination. "Now" I said into her mind, "You must do it now, or you never will have the courage." I could feel the fear; feel the tremendous force her father had been in her family. I could feel how she longed for him to approve of her when she was young. Then the note of her resolve sharpened and strengthened on its own. She was calling, dialing. "How damn remarkable." I thought.

He answered the phone. I could tell by the spike of fear that went through her. She hadn't talked to him since he had thrown her out of the family. She hadn't talked to him or her mother, or her brothers and sisters. I strengthened her resolve, strengthened her courage and determination, but I had to let her do this too. I felt the spike of fear as she spoke, said hello to her father. Suddenly there was anger, strong anger and frustration. He had hung up on her. She was calling back now. No answer. "That ass, I thought" I reached for her memory of him, and then called his note. He was in my mind in a moment. A discordant shimmering note of fear and power.

He didn't want to talk to her. He didn't want to ever have to think about what he had done to his beloved daughter. He was a hollow man inside, full of nothing but shame and guilt. Cynthia had two sisters, and two brothers. He had rapped both her sisters. I felt dirty even being in his mind. "PICK UP THE PHONE AND LISTEN." I wasn't gentle; I didn't give him a choice. I held him in my mind at a distance as I focused on Cynthia again. 

"Calm down." I told her mind, "You need to confront him, and you can't do that if you're this mad" I thought. She calmed even as he answered the phone. 

The conversation lasted about an hour. He tried to deny what she said, but in the end without any prompting from me he broke. He sobbed like a baby, he apologized, he begged for forgiveness. I watched as Cynthia's tower of anger burned down to ash, and with it her feelings of love for this man. They had really disappeared years ago, but her lies had not let her see this, now there were no shields. 

I wanted her to have help, support, so I gave her the idea to ask about her sisters. He caved at once, and told her about them. They had never gotten pregnant though, so their secret remained intact. When the call ended she felt empty, without love, without family. I was worried to say the least. 

"Call your sisters." I thought at her. "You don't need to go through this alone." She called them then, both at once on a shared call. I didn't expect that. I ended up with all three of them in my head, and it took every ounce of concentration I could muster to focus. I would bounce between them as they needed help. Both the sisters denied it at first until I tweaked them in a very similar way that I had done to Cynthia, though I felt with more of a gentle touch.

I took away their blocks, but left it in the background and let them recall it as they finally admitted to their big sister that they too had suffered. By the end of the call they were all emotional wrecks, but there was also a strong note of comfort and healing in supporting each other. They felt like a family again, for the first time in many years. There is great power in that. They were going to have dinner together tomorrow night, and talk. I left the sisters minds with a strong idea to seek professional counseling. I had my hands full with Cynthia I thought.

Cynthia was drained, but calm in the aftermath. A good cry is like a hard rain on the soul, washing away your pain. It can leave you feeling incredibly calm, though a little weak. She was taking a great deal of strength from her call with her sisters, and it was a new feeling to be supported in that way again. 

I looked to the core of her and there was no anger now, only a big void where it had been, and the now fading memory of her father. Something else was there that I did not expect either, compassion. She felt a little sorry for her father now. He had betrayed not only her and her sisters, but himself. He was his own worse punishment. Nothing she could do would punish him more then he would punish himself. 

The guilt that had been driving her was still there, but now it felt more under control. She was thinking on it, pondering what to do next. The action she had taken in confronting her problems felt good, she was looking for the action she needed next. She was thinking of her ex-husband primarily. They had been awful to each other for most of the marriage, but when he had left pro football due to injury he had become more thoughtful, and had given an effort to be more present, and feeling. She hadn't even given it a chance. She had wanted an adversary, not a partner. I felt her make the decision to call him. I decided she needed to do this one on her own

When I pushed her from my mind I nearly fell over in the booth from the wave of fatigue that hit me. Over three hours had passed. My waitress immediately came up bowing and asking me in halting English if I wanted anything? I pulled her note too me almost subconsciously. She was deeply concerned. I could see the memory of me sitting completely unmoving for the whole time as I concentrated. I had to be careful in the future not to do this in a public place I thought, at least to the level where I checked out like that.

I suddenly realized that I could understand the music of her mind, even though she was thinking in Japanese. How strange I thought. I told her I was fine, and that I needed my check. Then on second thought I just gave her two hundred and left. It wasn't until I was almost home that I realized that I had spoken Japanese to her. I had used her mind to translate for me, and spoken it from my connection to her without even thinking. Well how about that. . .



The Music of the Mind Ch. 06



 Chapter 6: Sympathetic Sounds  

I got home and crashed on the couch for about four hours. It was nearly ten by the time I woke up and ordered a large take-out meal of Chinese food. I thought I might call Jill and see if she wanted to come over. The doorbell rang and I ran to the door in my bare feet, shirt un-tucked and hair sticking up from my nap. 

I opened the door to find Cynthia standing there. I must have looked truly stunned for she just stood there a moment before speaking. 

"Umm, hi Mike." She looked scared, no she looked petrified. I pulled myself together and reached for her note. She was completely on edge, unsure of herself, and scared of my reaction to finding her on my doorstep. I reached out and gave a gentle note that I was okay, that I meant her no harm, and I smiled at her. Believe it or not I think the smile had the biggest impact, I felt the notes it created flutter through her.

"Cynthia, hi, how are you? Are you okay, you look pale." I said stepping aside and motioning her into my messy condo. "Please excuse the mess."

She waved it away with one beautifully sculpted hand. "It is fine, I am sorry to burst in on you so late. I wanted…I wanted to thank you for helping me in my store the other day, and for locking up and…" she broke off, I could feel the embarrassment in her, and the confusion. I soothed her embarrassment as I spoke.

"Hey, I am happy I was there to help, are you okay now? You looked like you were having a bit of a crisis." Yeah, a bit is an understatement. Still, what was I to say, hey I know all your deepest darkest secrets and I was the one who turned your life upside down because I was trying to get some revenge on you, but then chickened out and tried to help you in my screwed up way…. 

"I'm okay. Look..ummm." She was still scared, she wanted to talk to me, I could feel it, but I decided to not dig deeper to let her say it at her pace. 

"Hey, hey, it's okay, Why don't you sit down, let me get you a drink. Glass of wine?" She sat down heavily, and nodded thankfully. I hurried to the kitchen and poured a couple glasses of an expensive red I had bought on the way home the other night with my new wallet. I returned and she smiled as I handed it to her. It was like the room lit up, man she was beautiful I thought. Then it occurred to me that this was the first time I had ever seen a smile on her that I thought might be genuine. I sat down in a chair across form her. 

She took a long pull from her glass, and then looked at me. I kept her mind in my thoughts, but only at a surface level, for some reason I wanted to let this unfold as it should. I was very curious why she was here, especially given our history. Finally she spoke, and her voice was soft, almost childlike.

"Why did you help me? I mean the other day, I…I mean, after our date and…" she blushed a deep red and I could feel her embarrassment, and shame. Wow she had come a long way I thought. "Well I was very cruel to you, and you got hurt, and I was just so…so awful to you. Why be so kind to me?" She was puzzled, but there was more to this I thought. I let myself sink a little deeper in her mind. It was close to the surface really, she wanted to have faith that people could just be kind and good, even when they didn't have to. She was looking for some basic faith in humanity again. 

"Cynthia, I have to admit when I found you crying on the floor, there was part of me that wanted to walk away, to leave you to your problems. But, then I realized I didn't really know anything about you. That we all have an ugly side, what if you had a beautiful one too, and I had just had the misfortune to encounter you in a bad time in your life. Besides, though I helped you, I really helped me too."

"What do you mean you helped yourself?" she looked puzzled. 

"Well, by helping you I was forced to forgive you, and to let go of my hurt and anger, to just recognize you as human. As someone that needed help. I am glad I helped, it made me feel good about myself." This was true, but on a level she couldn't ever know.

She just stared at me for a moment. I could feel the disbelief in her; I could feel the fear, the old need for control way down in her. I reached in and stilled that, and plucked the note 'It's okay, I am a friend, I won't lie to you. I won't hurt you. I am a friend…' 

"No one has ever done anything like that for me before." She looked wistful, distant and I could feel her looking back across all the years since her youth, and all the pain and misery in them. There was such a weight of grief and guilt there. She felt as though she had awakened from a bad dream to find she had been acting it out for 20 years.

"Well maybe you never needed someone to before." 

"No, I don't think I needed anyone, at least I didn't think I did." She looked a little lost. I think she had expected me to act differently. I could feel in her mind the confusion. She had expected me to not be kind; in fact she had expected cruelty. It would have helped her turn away from the painful path she was walking now.

"What about now?"

She nodded yes, and tears began to slide down her pretty face. I handed her a tissue. 

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to make you upset."

She shook her head no, mopping her eyes. "No, it's just." She shuddered "Everything is so strange to me now. It feels like I don't know what to think or feel. I have been so wrong, treated people so badly." 

"Hey, it's okay. Better to learn now rather then later. Glass is half full. Remember? The past is done, look at all the time you have left in this life. We are both in our thirties right? We have most of our lives ahead of us." I injected a small note of optimism in her. She needed it, her thoughts were pretty dark.

"Look, I'm sorry to show up here, and cry all over your couch. I just, kept thinking about how nice you were. I kept thinking about that awful night when we went out." She paused looking at her hands and wringing the soggy tissue. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I'm sorry for how I acted that night. I'm sorry I was such a bitch, and that you got hurt." She paused for a brief second then whispered. "I'm sorry for my whole damn life."

She was full of misery. What could I do, what could I say? I felt through her emotions, then it dawned on me. 

"Cynthia, I forgive you. It's okay. It is in the past. As far as I am concerned, we have a clean slate, and thank you."

She looked at me with disbelief in her eyes, and thoughts. I reached in and firmly planed the note. "Believe me. I mean it. You are forgiven." She smiled then again, even though the tears.

"Thank you." She said in a whisper, and I handed her another tissue. 

"You're welcome. Now, since we are friends, can I ask you what happened the other day? I would like to listen and I think you need to talk."

She sat and I could feel the hesitation in her, but I could also feel the need, the need to talk to anyone. I could feel the fact that she didn't want to talk to any of the people who had been her friends, that they disgusted her now. That she felt alone. Then it started, slowly at first but with building speed. It was as though she had to get it all out, had to vomit up this great painful thing that she may get well. She told me about her father, but in detail that I had been unable to read from her mind. She told me of her life, of the person she was, and how she hated the idea of herself now. I reinforced feelings of strength and determination in her as she spoke.

Finally she talked about confronting her father, then her sisters. That he had admitted to her he was wrong, that he had apologized. Then she told me something I didn't know, that both her sisters had called him, and confronted him too. Then they had called and told their brothers. There was a great storm from the boys, but in the end they accepted it, and she now had four siblings she had thought lost to her. This gave her great joy. She even learned that she was an aunt several times over.

By the time we had finished talking it was past midnight. She was exhausted beyond the levels of normal physical endurance, and I was pretty spent myself. 

"Why don't you just curl up on my couch for the night, It is a long walk back to your place. I promise I am a perfect gentleman. I could even loan you some pajamas if you don't mind flannel, or that they are cut for a man." I said with a dopy grin. 

She looked thoughtful for a moment. "The old me never would have, but I think I will. I'm so tired, I'm not sure I could make the walk, and you would find me asleep on a park bench halfway there."

"Well we can't have that; I don't want to get in the habit of getting you home and in bed." I said with a laugh. "Let me get your things."

I got sheets and blankets out of the closet, and made up the couch for her. Then I gave her my soft blue flannel pajama's and told her if she needed anything to give a call. 

I climbed in bed in my underwear since my only pair of pajama's was being put on in the bathroom by a goddess. Oh well, at least they would smell nice tomorrow I hoped. I listened to the water running in the bathroom as she got ready for bed, then saw the light go out. A short while later the light in the living room went out, and I drifted off to sleep.





The Music of the Mind Ch. 07



 This chapter is the 7th in this series. For those of you following it, this one again has no sex, but helps to further define the main characters use of "the gift", and what the repercussions are if used in anger, or defense. It also introduces a new player that will show up quite a bit in future chapters. I would greatly appreciate any feedback you have as I have received very little and would like to know if you all would like me to continue the series. As usual thanks to LadyCibelle for her editing work.

  Chapter 7: The Sounds of Devastation 

The first few days back at work were a blur for me with many conversations with the boss, and a ton of orders to get shipped. Many of my regular customers came in, and asked how I was. A few even brought me cards. I was touched; amazed that any of these people would take the time to notice a store clerk that was missing. I was learning a lot about people these days, and I found it encouraging. 

On Wednesday I was sitting at the front counter playing with the empty puzzle box when my cell phone rang. I flipped it open, and Jill's voice rang in my ear even as her deep baritone note sprang to my mind. 

"Hey stranger, how is work?" 

"Good actually. Did you know old lady Henderson gave me a card and flowers?" I said, waiting for the explosion.

"No way! That old crank has a soft spot? Well what is the world coming to?" 

Old lady Henderson was one of the shop's best clients, but she was also a notorious bitch. Funny though, when she brought me the card I could tell she had been genuinely worried about me, though it didn't take her long to start chewing me out for her new table not being delivered yet. 

"Yeah well, people will surprise you. So what's up? We doing a movie tonight?"

"Well that is why I was calling. The girls want to go out tonight. A friend of mine owns a new club that is the hot spot to go, and Wednesday night is the night all the college kids go out during the week."

"Sounds like a reason to stay home." I said with a laugh

"Oh come on you stick in the mud, come out with us. It will be fun!" 

"Oh alright, but will everyone be getting naked again? Because if so I want to wear my leather thong this time." I said still chuckling. I could feel her note thrum louder in my mind, but I still held it away. I don't know what I was afraid of with her.

"Shut up! God I am still embarrassed about that." She said the last part quietly, with some hesitation. 

"Don't be. You are the most beautiful of the lot. Frankly I am grateful to have seen you naked." I said this with some surprise, but I realized I really meant it. There was a long silence on the phone.

"Thanks Mike, I . . . well you're not so bad yourself." 

I could feel my heart pounding, and there was a ringing in my ears that was completely natural for a change. This was getting a little to serious for a mid-day conversation.

"Thanks Jill. So where do I meet the four most beautiful and eligible woman of Boulder for our night of debauchery and fun?" Jill laughed and the tension eased.

"My place, seven as usual."

"Alright, you got it, see you then."

I sat thinking for a bit, absently playing with the puzzle box in my hands. Why was I so afraid to dig into Jill's mind? Was I afraid of what I might find, or do? How much did I care about her? She was my best friend, but. . . I was startled out of my thoughts by the tinkling of the bell hung on the front door.

The main entrance to the shop was not visible from the counter where I sat, the view being obstructed by all the furniture and the jumble of other odds and ends that filled the store. I waited patiently to see if one of my regulars would come bustling through the shop to find me, or if I would see someone slowly walking the shop looking at our menagerie for the first time.

For a few minutes I waited when I began to be aware of a note in my mind, closer then the others. I had grown used to being able to feel a persons note if they were near, but this called out to me from further away. I reached for it and it sped to me so quickly I found myself holding it back.

It is difficult to describe what I heard then, for this note rang with an intensity that I had not encountered before. It was as though it was amplified, or that it simply contained more sound then could be held. It was enthralling, and terrifying at the same time. I found myself hesitant to explore it, and the hair on the back of my neck rose. A voice drifted through my mind then.

"Careful human. . ." the genie's voice was hard, colder then I could remember it. Was it only warning, or was it fear I heard. I began to feel goose bumps on my skin, and I pushed the note away. It moved away slowly, as if I was pushing it against a current. 

It was then that I saw her. She emerged from around a large cabinet walking slowly while trailing her hands along the rich wood of the things around her as if caressing it. She was small, and her skin the color of caramel, with hair the color of onyx. She was dressed in a long flowing skirt, and a blouse which hugged her small frame and shapely breasts, while falling away from her arms in gathers. There was something about her that made me think of gypsies. 

She looked up at me and as our eyes met she smiled a beautiful radiant smile that sent a chill through me. It was not a chill of pleasure, but of warning. It was as if her smile had revealed rows of sharp teeth. Teeth like that of a predator. Her eyes were the kind of brown that was so dark, that you could not distinguish between the pupil and the iris. 

She walked slowly toward me and as she did, suddenly I felt her note rush out of the distant noise without my call. Reflexively, I reached out and caught it, held it from my mind. I did not want to see into her music. 

She stopped abruptly, and for a moment her grace faltered and she stared wide eyed at me, her pretty red lips parted slightly in surprise. Then her eyes narrowed and her mouth closed and I felt the note begin to move toward me once more, and this time I pushed it back with force. 

Neither of us spoke, as we stared at each other across my shop. Then suddenly her note retreated and vanished into the distant noise. It was so sudden that it felt as though for a moment I was unbalanced, as if something you were leaning on had just vanished. In that second, she turned and walked back around the cabinet and out of sight. I heard the tinkling of the bell, and the shut of the front door, and then the shop was quiet once more. 

"What the hell was that?" I thought. 

"Do you not recognize an enemy when you see one human?" the thrill went through me again, like it had every time I had spoken to the genie. It inspired both fear and joy in me in these moments.

"All I know is I didn't want her in my mind." I thought.

"A wise decision. You must learn to guard your mind. I knew the time would come, but I did not think so quickly." 

"What do you mean guard my mind? How do I do that?"

"You will learn, as you have learned to use the gift I have given." Its voice was final, and as the thought passed through my mind I felt its presence vanish. Great, so some strange woman comes in my shop, and now the genie is talking in riddles again. Oh well, I decided to close up a little early and head home to get ready for my night out with the girls. 

*****

On my way home I decided to swing by the Grind, get a cup of coffee and see if Wendy was working. I needed to be someplace familiar with people to shake the case of nerves I had developed from my encounter with the strange woman and the genie.

It was about 4 pm and the shop was fairly slow. Wendy smiled when I waked in, and in spite of myself I smiled back. I walked to the counter admiring the way her curvy figure filled out the tie died tee shirt she wore. It had the word "Berkley" in black letters stretched across the front. I let her note slide into my mind.

"Hey Mike, you want the usual?" Wendy tilted her head slightly as she said it. How is it that woman can flirt better then any man with just the slightest gesture? She was watching me closely for my reaction; she wondered why I hadn't called her and she was a little nervous.

"Of course, but only if you're serving it to me like last time." I said with a wink. Wendy blushed a deep red and smiled wider. I felt her tension ease at me flirting back. 

"Grab a table, and I'll bring it over." She said with a wink. She was feeling rather bold again. She had liked the rush she got from flashing me. I pushed her note from my mind before I could hear more. Sometimes it is nice to be surprised. 

I grabbed my table in the corner and my thoughts drifted to the mystery woman. Who was she, and what had happened back in the shop. Then out of curiosity, I reached out and called her note. It did not come. I could feel it deep in the noise of all the minds of humanity out on the horizon of my minds eye, but it would not come to me. 

I felt Wendy's note as she walked up and set my coffee down. Her tee shirt was far too tight to give me any view like I had last time I was in, but as she put my coffee down she sat on the edge of the table next to me. She was wearing a thigh length skirt, and black boots and stockings. As she sat, her skirt rode up to expose the tops of both her stockings and the straps of her garders.

"Here's your coffee Mike, and your service." She said with a slight blush.

"I. . .ummmm" I said with great suaveness. I found it hard to tear my eyes away from her beautiful white thighs, and how sexy the stockings made her legs look. 

"You say the sweetest things." She said, pushing my shoulder and smiling. I let her note snap. She was really flying on adrenaline, and she was very turned on. It looked like Wendy was discovering a bit of an exhibitionist streak in herself. 

I reached out and laid my hand on her creamy smooth thigh, right above the stocking. I felt the thrill of the contact run through her, and my cock began to grow in my pants. I slowly caressed her exposed skin as I looked up into her eyes.

"Sometimes it is hard to find the words." I said as I slid her skirt up as my hand moved up her thigh. Her nipples were standing out through her shirt now, and her breathing was as rapid as my own. I could feel her desire and the strength of it made me want to throw her on the table and take her right here. 

"Wendy, a little help here?" Kelly shouted from behind the counter. The 5 o'clock crowd had started to filter in and the line was growing. 

"Damn it!" Wendy said standing and straightening her skirt. "I have to get back to work." 

"I know, it's okay I have to go too." I said. As I did I reached in and stilled the notes of her desire some. No sense in her going back to work all worked up. She gave a great sigh and I saw her body posture relax a bit. 

She turned and looked at me. "You better call me soon." 

I nodded, "I will, but won't your boyfriend mind?" I wasn't sure why I asked, but I guess my upbringing wouldn't let me be the cause of anyone's cheating. She smiled a big smile and leaned over to whisper in my ear.

"Not anymore." As she said this she nipped my ear with her lips, then in one motion turned and was walking back to the counter. 

"Damn." I said out loud. I was going to have to really think about this, but right now I had to get home.

*****

Being a guy, and one not particularly obsessed with fashion I was showered, shaved, and ready to go in under a half hour once I got home. I found myself waiting till seven to head over to Jill's. 

At 10 to the boredom got to me, and I headed out of the condo locking up since we would be going out. I walked the ten feet to Jill's door and was about to knock when someone called my name.

"Mike!" I looked up to see Suzan grinning at me as she walked up from the parking area. She was wearing a beautiful low cut dress that showed her large chest to its full advantage. 

"Hey Susan! You look fantastic! I am going to have to protect you from the advances of every man in the joint tonight!"

"You better not!" she said laughing. 

I knocked and Tuyen opened the door and her face split into a huge grin. Before I could even speak she stepped out and gave me a big hug and a quick peck on the cheek. 

"Hey Mike." She whispered in my ear, then she turned to Suzan and they hugged and the girl talk erupted between them. I thought I saw a knowing glance at me from Suzan as we entered the house. Man I hope I didn't open a way too big can of worms there.

Inside, Jill came out of the kitchen as we were all entering her living room talking like a bunch of magpies. 

"Hey Mike! Hey Suzan! You guys want a drink?" we both nodded and Jill disappeared into the kitchen. She was wearing a tank top and some very appealing jeans. I had to stop myself from watching her butt as she walked away. As I turned away Tuyen caught my eye and raised her eyebrows looking in the direction Jill had gone. 

By the time Jill was back with the wine, Ellen had arrived wearing the shortest miniskirt I had ever seen, and a tight white top. The girls all whistled at her and she curtsied which caused her skirt to ride up exposing her black panties. This was going to be an interesting night. 

After everyone had finished one (or two) glass of wine we walked the few blocks to Walnut Street, and the new club. It was called Intrigue, and you descended a stair in a small alley to get to the club.

At the bottom of the stairs, the bouncer ID us, and took time to compliment each of the ladies. I thought his eyes might fall out of his head when he took in Suzan's enormous rack, or Ellen's legs. Then it dawned on me that Tuyen had dressed down tonight in a turtleneck and jeans. 

As we walked down a long hallway to the club, I called Tuyen's note to me. She was relaxed and happy. She wasn't really interested in being here for men like the others; she just wanted to hang out. I let her note slip from my mind as we passed a hall leading to the bathrooms, then entered the main area of the club. It was enormous.

A central dance floor was surrounded by a number of sitting areas. Jill motioned for us to follow her, and she lead the way around the dance floor, past the bar and through an archway on the other side of the club. This lead to another room without a dance floor, and the music was significantly quieter in here. It was packed with tables and booths, in little intimate nooks and crannies. Jill led us to the corner and a table with a reserved sign on it. She slid in and we all followed suit, scooting around the bench seat. 

"Reserved? How did you manage that?" Ellen asked. 

"The owner is the brother of my sister's husband." She said smiling. "Helps to have connections." 

Ellen smiled, "Heck yeah it does, and speaking of connections I am gonna start working on one. Come on Suzan lets hit the dance floor." Suzan smiled and sprung up from the table after the feisty blond, following her to the dace floor.

Jill looked at Tuyen, "Well aren't we the boring ones, should we join them?" Tuyen nodded with a big smile. 

"Come on Mike, join us." She said after standing to follow Jill.

I shook my head. She shrugged and followed Jill through the crowd. I felt a little ridiculous sitting by myself at the huge table, but dancing really wasn't my thing. I guess I was the typical guy in that regard. Oh well, there were any number of very nice ladies to look at from where I was sitting, but I found my curiosity about the girls I was with peaking. I pulled all four of them to me, and allowed just their surface thoughts to enter my mind. 

Ellen and Suzan were dancing together I thought, because they had many feelings and thoughts of each other mixed into a pure exuberant tone of joy that must be the dancing. Ellen was rather horny already, and if I was reading it right the object of her affections was Suzan. Suzan seemed oblivious though. 

I let myself focus on Suzan's mind a bit. At the strip poker game I thought I had detected her attraction to Ellen, so I followed the music in her down a little deeper. She was attracted to Ellen quite a lot, but she was in serious denial about it. I felt a few notes deeper and I found an old memory from childhood. A preacher pounding the table in fury about the hellfire damnation reserved for gays. She couldn't have been 10 years old and it scared the crap out of her. This memory had been built upon by all the stupid societal prejudices until she was terrified of any feelings she might have for another woman. I didn't think she was gay, but she sure might be Bi. 

I reached in and stilled that memory. It was surprisingly difficult due to the age of it. The other notes around it tried to keep it humming, but eventually they stilled as it did. When I was sure it had quieted I drifted back up through the notes and cords to her surface thoughts. She was confused. She had allowed herself to notice Ellen's flirtations now and she liked them rather a lot. I pushed her and Ellen from my mind, let them work it out from there I figured.

Tuyen and Jill had both found men to dance with. Jill was having fun, but it was clear she didn't have and designs on the guy she was with. Tuyen seemed like she was just joyful. Not expecting anything, or wanting anything, just enjoying herself. I pushed them both from my mind satisfied that everyone was having a good time. 

I found that all the people crammed into this place made for a lot more noise from the notes standing out just due to their proximity. It was a little distracting, and maybe even a little painful. I tired to push them all away further, but it was simply too much humanity in too high an emotional state. 

I wished I could put some distance between myself, and the plane that I saw the notes on. Since given the gift, I had seen the notes of individuals like strings of sound dancing on an endless featureless plane in my mind. In the distance was a mass of noise that was all the notes of humanity. This buzz of sound was overwhelming if focused on at once.

However, I had found that I could push them away far enough that the noise of them did not bother me. But now, I had a thousand notes closer then I wanted them, and there was nothing between my mind and them on this plane of thought, my minds eye as I called it. 

"If I could only put up something in between them and me." I thought.

Then, as if I had willed it, I felt as though I reached out and drew a great translucent curtain through the space in my mind. It was literally like pulling the curtains closed on a stage. As it closed around me, the noise stopped, almost completely. I could still see the notes dancing on the plain, but they did not sing through the curtain.

Electricity raced through me. Is this what the genie had meant about protecting myself? I experimented and found I could draw the curtain back with only a little concentration. Open and closed I moved it several times, enjoying myself. Then as I opened it for the forth or fifth time, a single note rang a loud discordant note in my mind. It went through me like a shock. It was a note of pure fear. 

Almost by instinct I reached out and pulled it to me. It was close, somewhere in this crowd. As it snapped into my mind I was almost overwhelmed with emotions. It was a woman, and she was terrified, but she was also in pain, and feeling violated. Then like a glass of ice water on my face I understood. She was being attacked. Someone was attacking her. 

I reached for a memory of the assailant, for a name, for anything that I could call their note to me with but her mind was beyond reading, the emotions too fierce. I leapt from the booth and began to push through the club. I had to find her. I used the sound of her note to guide me, like playing a crazy game of hot/cold as I frantically walked through the bar.




The Music of the Mind Ch. 07



I crossed around the dance floor and headed up the hallway to the stairs, her note growing louder. I passed the hall to the bathrooms, and turned almost like a sleepwalker down the hall, following the sound of her. I picked up speed as I moved down this empty hall past both bathrooms to a door marked private. I could feel her, her pain was enormous, her violation, her suffering. 

I threw my shoulder to the door without even breaking my stride. The cheap wood splintered and the door flew open. A lavishly decorated office met my eyes. A huge wooden desk, expensive chairs, and a leather couch. On the floor, in the middle of the room a man had her pinned to the floor. His hand was over her mouth and he had a look of feral triumph on his face as his hips rose and fell between her legs.

Rage burned through me. White hot blinding rage. I reached out and snatched his note to me. "GET OFF HER RIGHT NOW!" I wasn't gentle, I used no care. I shouted the command into his mind through the bullhorn of my rage. He stood slowly up and the girl simply curled up into a ball sobbing as his hand came away from her mouth. His cock stood out of his fly, enormous and covered in blood from his abuse of her. "SIT DOWN AND DON'T MOVE." I shouted into his mind. He stumbled back, and sat heavily in a chair. 

I walked slowly across the room to the girl. Her skirt had been pushed up around her waist, and her panties lay torn off beside her. Her thighs were covered with blood, and she lay curled in a fetal position sobbing uncontrollably. I knelt down beside her and pulled her note to my mind. 

As I reached out to lay a hand gently on her shoulder I reached into her mind and plucked large gentle notes to wash over the tumult of sounds ringing in her. "It's okay, he can't hurt you, you're going to be okay, it is not your fault, you're going to be okay." As the notes rang through her head I gently helped her up onto the couch, and covered her with a blanket that lay there. She cringed away from me even as I covered her. I could feel it in her mind, she didn't need a man, she needed a woman. I reached out to my friend's minds, and into all of them I said, "Go to the bathroom now."

I pulled back, and searched till I found the bouncer at the front door and pulled his note into my mind. "Go to the office now." I spoke to his mind. I had hardly pulled back before he appeared in the door. He looked at his boss now sitting with his blood covered limp cock hanging from his pants, and the crying girl on the couch and his face hardened at once. 

"Call the police, this man has raped this woman." He nodded once and disappeared down the hall. I felt the girls draw near. I spoke into there minds, "Why is the door busted, go look." 

Tuyen's face appeared in the door and took in the scene as the other girls appeared behind her. "Oh my god."

"Tuyen, all of you come help me." The other girls faces appeared behind Tuyen, and their faces took in the man and the scene. Then they slowly turned to me by the hysterical girl, trying in vain to calm her. My words seemed to take a moment to register, then they were all there, surrounding her with warmth and comfort radiating from them. Then I heard it. The man who had raped her laughed.

I stood and looked at him. He was zipping up his fly apparently recovering from my command, and he was smiling. Another chuckle escaped his lips, and he stood up and walked to sit behind his desk. The anger came back. Worse then before. All of me was filled with a rage I have never known. As he sat down he opened his mouth to speak, but the words never came. I wrenched his note to me. 

He was pleased with her suffering. He got off on it. "You like the suffering?" I thought.

Then on autopilot, driven with rage and frustration, I gently pulled the girl's mind to me, and I fed all of the discordant notes from her into his mind. I let her emotions flow through me like a conduit. The man sat straight up in his chair and clutched his head. He began to tremble. I let all the pain he had caused pour into him. Nothing shielded him. My rage drove me on for how long I don't know. Then at last he sat slumped in his chair sobbing, muttering over and over to himself. "I'm sorry, oh god I'm sorry. . ." and the rage in me burned away.

His mind was a wreck. I could feel the damage, the devastation I had wrought upon him. It made me sick. I pushed his note away, and still he sat repeating his mantra. 

I turned back to the girl, and my friends were trying to comfort her, to help her but she was almost in a trance. I reached in and tried with all my might to comfort her, to ease the pain of the moment, to allow herself to be comforted. As if a damn broke within her then, she suddenly clung to Suzan and held on for dear life. Her mind began to calm then, slowly as I helped it along. Suzan was speaking to her. 

"It's okay honey, I'm a doctor, your going to be okay I promise you." The girl just nodded into her shoulder. Ellen on one side of her stroked her back, and Tuyen on the other stroked her hair. Jill stood and walked to me. 

"Mike, did you . . . did you stop him?" she asked glancing at the now sobbing man. I nodded, and the furry must have still been in my face for she laid a hand on my shoulder. "It's okay Mike." She said, her voice an octave higher then normal. 

"I should've been quicker." I said, almost in a daze. 

"Quicker? How could you have been? Did you hear them when you went to the bathroom?" Oh yeah I thought, how did I know. I nodded. 

At that moment two policemen walked into the room, one man, one woman. The woman headed over to the girl on the couch, while I motioned to the male officer. 

"What happened?" He asked, all business.

"I heard a struggle, when I busted open the door that man was raping this girl. He had her pinned down and his hand over her mouth trying to keep her quiet." I gestured over my shoulder to the man as I spoke. I could see the cop's eyes look over my shoulder, and then I saw them go wide. 

The next moments happened in slow motion for me. The officer pushed me to the side and down as he began to draw his gun. As I fell I turned to look and saw the man behind the desk raising a pistol from the top drawer. The officer was yelling a warning even as the man's gun came up. I could see that the officer would never get his gun up in time, that the rapist would have the drop on him, on us all. I tried to reach for his note, to tell him to stop. It raced toward me and in that moment I knew I was too late. His gun came up and instead of stopping to aim at me, or the Officer it continued in its arc up to the man's head. I don't remember hearing the shot, I just remember the cloud of red mist that exploded from the man's head, and the sound of his hand and the gun striking the top of the desk as his arm fell limp. His note, which had been almost in my mind, had simply vanished, leaving a vacuum of silence in its wake. His body slumped forward onto his desk, then rolled slowly off the side and disappeared behind it. 

It was then I heard the screaming and time began to move again. The girl sat holding Suzan with her eyes shut, and her mouth open in a continuous scream. I realized I was sitting on the floor where the officer had pushed me. He stood slowly lowering his gun, before he broke into a flurry of movement talking on his radio, and moving to check on the man behind the desk.

On auto pilot I reached out to the woman, and calmed her mind. She stopped screaming, and I was surprised to see the grief in her mind was starting to take on a pattern. I wondered if I would ever be able to help her. Would I be able to help anyone? There was a man behind that desk, and he was dead because of me. I waited to feel the genie in my mind rip the gift from me, but the girl's mind still sung in me, and I continued to stroke her to calmness.

The next few hours are a blur to me. More police arrived, and soon I found myself standing on the sidewalk with my four friends after giving our statements. It was very late by then, and the cold fall air didn't seem to do anything to help me snap out of the daze I was in. My friends were all looking at me, and I could feel their concern without even reading their minds.

"That poor girl." Tuyen said looking at the ground.

"Meg." Suzan said.

Tuyen looked up, "What?"

"Her name is Meg, she told me." Suzan said looking a little uncomfortable. 

"Poor Meg." Tuyen said looking down again.

"Come on guys, lets go." Jill said, starting back to her place. I followed but my mind was elsewhere. "Her name was Meg." I thought. She wasn't the girl, or the victim, she was Meg. She had a life, a future, and now what would happen to her. Had I helped her or made it worse? Was I a murderer? 

The walk back was a blur, and I barely remember saying goodnight as I walked into my silent apartment and locked the door. I stripped as I walked to the bathroom, before turning on a hot shower. The water was scalding when I stepped under it, but I let it burn away the shame I felt, the pain. I had killed that man. I had used the gift to kill that man. 

"NO." I felt no surprise at the genie's voice ringing through my mind. 

"Go away." I thought. There was a flash of light then, and suddenly I was in my bed. The covers were warm, and I was dressed in my pajamas. They smelled like Cynthia. 

"We will not discuss this tonight human. You need rest. In the morning, then we will talk." 

I tried to protest, but sleep descended on me then like a settling fog, and when I slept that night, I did not dream.



The Music of the Mind Ch. 08



 Thank you everyone for your kind words and encouragement. Here is the next installment in this series. A new element is introduced at the end of this chapter that will carry through most of the story going forward. As always, feedback and constructive criticism is always welcome. Thanks to my editor LadyCibelle once again for her help. S.T.

*

Chapter 8: Harmony in the notes

I woke suddenly, but not as if startled by something. It was like one of those rare occasions where you simply feel it is time to wake. I sat up in my warm bed, and looked at the golden sunlight streaming through the windows. 

"Looks like I will be opening a little late this morning." I thought. I was sure the owner Bill would understand given my evening. I glanced at the clock, and it read 6:30. "What the hell?" I thought

I felt completely rested, there was no way I only got 4 hours sleep. Then the events of the previous night began to return to me. The genies words, and the whole terrible catastrophic night at the club, Meg, the dead man, and the police all swimming in my mind as memory flooded back into my waking brain. 

I stumbled to the kitchen to start some coffee, and a deep ache built in my chest. The dead man, I had killed that man. I had let the anger take hold of me and I had filled him with so much pain he had killed himself. 

I sat at the kitchen table as the kettle rumbled on the stove, and tried to clear my mind. I had begun to think the gift was something I could handle, that I could really help people with it. When I went charging through that club I only wanted to help, but when that man laughed at Meg's pain, I lost all control. I had used the gift in a way I had sworn I wouldn't. I had used it to hurt, to punish, maybe even to kill.

I rose to take the kettle off the stove as it whistled. I shuffled around looking for coffee in the pantry. It was bare. Hell I had been buying my morning coffee at the grind for over a year of course I didn't have any coffee in the house. Maybe I would just go back to bed. I figured the genie had given up on our little talk anyway.

Then a note rang in my head, a single thought. It startled me in a way I can't begin to explain since it was not in the midst of the music of a person. It was as though it had been plucked out of someone by itself, and placed in my mind. It was Meg's, and this one thought was that she wanted to know who I was. Then it was gone. I stood panting and frightened. I could feel it then, in my mind, the genie. Its voice rung through me again in its awful power. 

"Go, she is the one you need to talk to."

"What if I don't want to talk to her?" I shouted to the empty kitchen. But both the room and my mind were now quiet. 

It took me about a half hour to get cleaned up and dressed. I took my time I admit, I was afraid to see that girl, afraid to find out what was going on in her mind. Afraid of what damage I had caused. 

The Drive over to Boulder Community hospital was short, and in moments I found myself at the information desk asking for her room. I rode the elevator up and walked slowly down the hall reading the door numbers. Then suddenly out of one of the rooms ahead of me came Suzan. She glanced up at me as she walked across the hall, did a double take, and stopped short a smile forming on her lips. She nearly ran down the hall to me and smothered me in a warm embrace. 

"Hey Mike, what are you doing here?" she said as she pulled away. The look on my face must have said something because her smile faded to a more serious look. "You want to check on her don't you?" I just nodded, unable to speak.

"She asked about you ya know. I told her you were a friend of mine, she asked me if I would ask you to come see her, and here you are before I could even call. You're a good guy Mike."

I hung my head as I looked at my shoes, "Thanks Suzan, why does she want to meet me?"

"Why don't you ask her? Go on, she is a much better state then last night, I promise." I nodded. "I've got to finish rounds, I'll check in on you guys in a while." She turned and headed up the hall before disappearing into another room. It was strange seeing Suzan in her element, she was so business like, so formal. 

I walked down to Meg's room finding the heavy wide hospital door ajar by a few inches. I knocked lightly and immediately a gentle high voice said. "Come in." I walked in to find Meg sitting up in bed with the TV on, and a breakfast tray pushed off to the side. It was the first time I think I really saw her. She was tiny, not just in height, but in build too. She looked so terribly young. She reminded me of Kelly in that way.

"Hello, I'm sorry to disturb you. I'm Mike, I was . . . I was." I stuttered trying to find words.

"You were at the club. Yeah I remember you, come on in." she smiled then and it was a very pretty smile. I wouldn't say anything about her struck me as stunning, but she was a very "pretty" woman. Her small size and gentle voice gave a soothing warm feeling to her presence. I found my shoulders relaxing. 

I walked across the small room taking a chair by the bed as she switched off the TV. She fidgeted with her covers and her hospital gown for a moment before looking at me. 

"Thanks for coming; Dr Sloan said she would call you. I. . .I really wanted to talk to you."

I smiled and nodded. Her note was before me trembling, and I found myself unable to call it too me. I found myself too afraid. Still, at my smile I thought she relaxed some. 

"I just wanted to say thank you, for what you did. . . for your help and everything. I'm, well, I'm grateful." Her voice was so soft, but her words struck me like blows. I hung my head.

"What's wrong?" her small voice almost cracked and it went right through me. 

"It's just, it was so horrible, and I was too late to stop him, and then he. . ." I choked as the emotion rose in my chest. 

"He killed himself and I'm glad he is gone." He voice for the first time was firm, almost hard. It snapped my head up to look at her. There was a fierce burning light in her eyes as she spoke again. "The police were here again this morning did you know that?" I shook my head, now held by the fire I saw in her eyes.

"They found evidence in his things, souvenirs of others he has raped. Six other women like me. But I was the lucky one. He killed the others. You saved my life."

My head was spinning, I felt unhinged for a moment, completely unable to respond. I must have opened my mouth to speak and shut it two or three times. The fierce light left her eyes then and she laughed. It was a beautiful musical sound. It was light, it was hopeful. Then she looked at me again, and her eyes looked like they had tears beginning in them.

"So again I say to you, thank you. Thank you for doing something when others wouldn't. Thank you for caring. If you'll let me I would like to give you a hug." 

I nodded standing and bent over to embrace her without any conscious thought to the act. She felt so tiny, her frame so small, but the hug she gave me was hard. I pulled back after a moment and realized I had tears on my cheeks to match hers. I smiled then and some great weight lifted from me. She met my smile with one of her own, and it lit up her face again. When she smiled she was beautiful. 

I pulled her note to me then as I sat and we talked. I was stuck by the lack of discordant notes in her. She had some terrible memories, but around them were feelings of being wronged, of being a victim but not helpless. It seemed the huge amount of energy I had spoken to her mind to reassure her had somehow helped. 

I realized that many of the notes I had plucked still gently resonated in her, but now were fed by her mind. Thoughts that it wasn't her fault, that she in no way invited the attack, that she was not powerless, but mostly that everything would be okay. There in the midst of it all was a deep and genuine gratitude to me, and a new blossoming friendship. 

But the memories were still there too; the rape, the gun shot, and the horror of it all. I did my best to ease them, to quiet them but they only stilled a little. The mind drives the music, and I guess not everything is so easily stilled. I vowed though, that I would keep trying. 

After an hour of us chatting, Suzan entered the room with a soft knock and a smile.

"How you doing Meg?" she said as she glanced at her chart.

"I'm okay Dr Sloan. Just talking with Mike here. Thanks for calling him." Suzan looked up at her and smiled with raised eyebrows.

"Oh I didn't call him; he came to check on you all by himself." 

I could feel the notes in her mind jump then. She was pleased, so very pleased at the idea of a stranger caring enough to come check on her. She turned and smiled at me, and I pushed her note away deciding it was time for her to be alone with her thoughts. 

"Well you haven't been bleeding for a while, I see no reason we can't send you home. Do you have someone who can give you a ride?" Suzan said.

"Well I haven't been in town that long, just since start of semester. I don't have a roommate, since I'm in grad Student housing. My family is all in Ohio, and they won't be here until tomorrow probably. I could just call a cab?" She said with a half hearted smile.

"I'll take you home. That is if that is okay with you?" I said surprising myself.

She looked at me for what felt like a long moment, then smiled. "You're very kind Mike, that would be great." 

I nodded, and in an hour she was being wheeled out to my car dressed in clothes that looked far too big for her. I realized hers were probably taken as evidence, though there would be no trial. She limped slightly as she walked the last few steps to my car, and I held the door open for her. 

It was a short drive to campus, and she directed me to the nicer dorms for the graduate students. We talked little as I drove; I think we both felt a little awkward until I pulled up in front of the dorm.

"Thanks for the ride Mike, and everything else." She said looking at me.

"I'm happy to help. You a grad student?" I asked

"Yeah, working on my PhD in Psych." She said. The surprise must have shown on my face because she laughed before she spoke. "I'm 26, I know I look like a kid but I'm not."

I laughed. "I'm sorry, I bet you get that all the time."

"Yeah, well, mother just keeps telling me to enjoy it, because I'll look like I'm in my twenties when I'm forty!" I nodded smiling with her.

"Look, hey if you need anything give me a call okay. I took one of my business cards out of the consol of the car, scribbled my cell number on it and handed it to her. She read the front and nodded. 

"I will, thanks again." And she turned and was gone from the car. I watched her limp up the walk to the door to her dorm, and she was gone.





The Music of the Mind Ch. 08



She almost dove onto me then, her mouth devouring mine, her warm body against me pushing me back into the couch. I let her note slide into my mind, and I could feel the turmoil that was fading from her from this surprising day, and feel it being replaced by burning passion. I fed the fire. I fed my fire. I needed this; I needed life over death, pleasure over pain. 

She lay on top of me on the couch and her hands pulled at my shirt wrestling it off me, only breaking her hungry kiss long enough to rid me of it. Then she slid down me and began to tongue, and suck my nipples. I felt my passion roar with delight as the feel of her tongue ran through me. 

I pulled at her shirt and she sat up her face almost feral with lust. She unbuttoned the buttons quickly, watching my face. Her desire was like a single column of sound in her, it drowned out everything else. She threw her shirt to the ground and reached behind to unclasp her bra. 

My hands had been sliding up and down her legs that rested on either side of my chest, and I pushed her skirt up as she teased me to reveal the bottom of her black garters and her creamy white thighs. Then she pulled her bra away, and her large beautiful breasts came into view. They had prominent nipples, and they were quite hard. I could feel her triumph and passion sing in her as she recognized the lust on my face. 

I reached up and slowly ran my hands up her sides, watching the goose bumps rise on her, and her nipples harden more. Up and down her sides I ran my fingertips two, three, and finally a forth time. At last I let my hands slide over to cup her full breasts and catch her hard nipples between thumb and forefinger. I twisted them both as hard as she wanted, feeling her passion ripple through the music in her. Two notes sprung to life as I did this and I sang to them, sending waves of pleasure through her.

She fell upon me again then, her lips devouring mine, her breasts now pressed against me. Her tongue was hot as I fenced with it first in her mouth, then in my own. When she broke the kiss it was as though she tore herself away. I continued to send notes of pleasure into her nipples as she slid down my body and quickly unbuckled my pants tearing them and my boxers down and off with a frantic furry. My cock stood out hard and bobbing from the beat of my heart. 

She almost lunged for it as she cast my pants away taking it in her mouth in one fluid stroke. A wave of pleasure washed through me so intense I cried out and arched my back. She began to suck up and down my large shaft as she straddled my legs. I raised one knee and pushed it up into her crotch under her skirt. I felt the bare wetness of her pussy as my leg pushed up into her and she shuddered. 

Another loud note sprang to life and I began to feed it as she ground her pussy into my leg, and sucked on the seven inch cock she had desired. I could feel an orgasm building in her, but I held it at bay, held the notes trembling on the edge of connecting in that full harmony that would signal the coming of that shattering release. 

Like an animal then, she released my cock from her mouth and slid up my body. She bit one nipple hard before taking my mouth for a few more feverish kisses. Then she rose to a kneeling position and in one movement grasped my cock and plunged it into her wet pussy. 

I don't know what I felt first, my own pleasure, or the two final notes of her symphony of pleasure as they sprang into being. These like the others I sang to, I filled with the music of the gift. She began to ride me with a power and need I could not imagine, her beautiful breasts bouncing as she impaled herself upon me over and over again. Her skirt was bunched around her waist, and I could see the full swollen lips of her shaved pussy as she rode me. 

I reached up and pinched both nipples and I felt the sound pull together in her. I let it form that fusion of coherent sound that radiated through ones being like the scream of an angel. I held that column together and I gave one great strum of sound to it that reflected all the passion I felt, and sent it into her. 

That column of sound shattered as her orgasm poured through her. No, it didn't pour though her it exploded through her. It filled every sense with pleasure; it washed her away and left nothing but a being of pure joy trembling there. I hardly felt my cum flooding into her so lost was I in her pleasure, in the music of her.

When she collapsed upon me we both panted and shuddered in the after effects of what we shared. It was all too intense, but not intense enough. We kissed lightly, and touched until, with my cock still in her, we both fell into a light sleep. 

When I woke, it was to the low rays of late afternoon sun slanting through the blinds and Wendy leaping off me. I sat up in confusion looking for the fire, or the emergency?

"Crap! I am so late. I'm sorry Mike, I have to go." She said as she pulled her shirt on over her already clasped bra. How did woman put those on so fast I wondered in some part of my sleepy mind.

"Hey it's okay." I said in a deft display of cleverness. I pulled her note to me. She felt bad she had to go, but she was also glad. She felt awkward. She had realized during our long talk that she didn't want to be with me long term, even though she wanted me. I think the worries and stress of a mid thirties man was a little much for her early twenties lifestyle. She was really glad we had been together, but now she had the after sex jitters.

She finished getting dressed as I pulled my pants on and walked her to the door. We kissed but I could feel both the unease in her mind, and in her body. 

"Thank you Wendy, for listening to me, and for the wonderful time." She smiled in a frightened sort of way. 

"Look, I don't expect anything of you okay?" I said with as much empathy and concern as I could muster. I strummed a note a friendship and comfort in her mind as I spoke. I felt the relief wash through her and her smile went from strained to real. She kissed me for real then.

"You're awesome Mike. Come by later for coffee okay." I nodded smiling. She winked at me then said, "You can watch Kelly eye you after I tell her all about what you were like in bed."

"You wouldn't." I said in mock alarm. She laughed, we kissed once more and she was gone. 

I collapsed back on the couch and I realized I felt really wonderful. I had had a great time with Wendy, and my soul felt cleaner then it had for some time. I felt that maybe, just maybe I could handle this life if it didn't go too fast all the time. But then, was it ever our choice to decide what speed our life would happen at?

I began to clean up by straightening the cushions on the couch, and taking the half full glasses of wine to the kitchen and emptying them down the sink. I pulled on my shirt and had just checked to make sure there were no stains on the couch when there was a light knock on the door. 

It sounded like Jill's light nock and I smiled as I padded over to the door in my bare feet, shirt untucked and hair probably a mess. Yes I know, men are oblivious, but at least we are consistent about it. I pulled the door open with what I thought was a clever comment ready on my lips when it hit me. 

Imagine the blow you feel when something catches you emotionally off guard and for a moment you are staggered. Now imagine that 100 times more intense. It was as if someone reached into my brain and screamed at me to stand still, to not move any fiber of my being. In my mind it was as though a single vibrating note of sound had been flung at me like a bolt of lightning. 

Even through this explosion of pain in my head, I saw the small slight man standing ten feet back from my door. Without conscious thought, more out of pain and reflex I drew the curtain together shielding my mind. Much like when you get hit in the stomach you curl up in a ball. I could see him now on the plane of thought in my mind. His note had the same powerful tremble that the woman in my shop had exhibited. 

No sooner had my mind closed then I watched as note after note flew from him and rebounded off my shimmering curtain. I was frightened, I found myself rooted to the spot still held by his first command. How was he doing that? How could he throw the notes like that? A look of puzzlement crossed his face; he didn't seem to be able to understand why his continued attack was not working. 

He began to walk slowly toward me, notes still slamming into the barrier around my mind, though slower now. I felt the panic, the absolute fear of being helpless. In my mind I screamed, "No! No! NO!" Then, like I had discovered the curtain some powerful instinct took over, and as though I had balled up a single note into a compact ball of sound, I threw the thought at him. "STOP!" I watched it pass through my curtain which parted for only a moment as it passed through. One of his notes narrowly missed entering through the same gap. 

In my mind I saw the ball of sound hit his note, and vanish into him. The small man literally looked as if he had slammed into a brick wall. His eyes grew wide in fright, and we stood staring at each other, my panic and astonishment warring in me. Then he turned and ran, ran for his life. 

It took me almost ten minutes to regain the use of my limbs enough to close the door, lock it, and stumble over to my couch. What was I thinking earlier about life not moving too fast?



The Music of the Mind Ch. 09



Chapter 9: Terrible Sound

How long I sat on the couch trembling I don't remember, my body flooded with adrenaline and my mind in turmoil. It took over an hour for the man's command to fully leave me, and when at last I could move with no hesitation I found I was unsure of what to do. 

I tried calling out to the genie both in my mind and aloud. I am sure if there was a hidden camera for a funniest video's show in my condo I could have won the prize with how ridiculous that looked. Finally after nothing happening for some time I started to wind down. 

I had to think. Why were these people after me? Was it only because we seemed to have similar gifts? Which begged the question, where did they get theirs from? Could it be possible that the gift was natural in some people? I mean, we have all heard about ESP and other such abilities, but never has it been proven. 

Clearly whoever they were, they didn't like me one bit, and the only reason could be because we shared some form of the gift. A confrontation was coming sooner or later, and I had virtually no information. 

I chewed on this problem for over an hour until my mind felt like Swiss cheese. I sat exhausted on the couch for a while then, just staring into space and feeling a bit black of mood. At last I resolved that no amount of worrying was doing any good, and I needed to snap out of it.

A good hot shower and some clean clothes got me feeling a little more revived. I thought about just sitting around for the rest of the afternoon, but decided right then that I wasn't going to be a prisoner of these people. Fear could be more debilitating that anything, I had seen that. I wasn't going to start a pattern of fear now. Besides, I had some new ideas and abilities I wanted to test out. 

I figured that cup of coffee at the Grind was a good idea for more then one reason. I wanted to make sure Wendy was okay, and I figured by just showing up I would reassure her that our friendship was intact. Plus the mall was full of people, and I doubted they would attack me in the middle of a crowd.

All this time I kept the curtain closed around my mind, though I found it slightly uncomfortable, like wearing earmuffs at a classical music recital. I had grown used to using the gift as another way to see the world around me and with myself closed off it made me feel more isolated then I thought possible. As I left the house I decided to see if there was a way to have some protection and yet not completely shutter my mind.

As I walked the block over to the mall I opened the curtain just a sliver and left it there. The noise of those around me filtered in through the gap, and I found I could call their notes to me, but I couldn't contact their minds without drawing the curtain slightly more open, maybe 30% or so. I wasn't sure if having the curtain partly closed offered any more protection either, but it made me feel better.

As I entered the main hustle of the mall I began to experiment some. With the curtain only slightly open all the sound of those around me was distorted. It sounded like listening to a busy street through an open window. You only caught bits and pieces of sound, and it was hard to determine what direction it came from. After a little work I figured that with the curtain drawn back about half way I had a good ability to read and feel all those in front of me, while shutting out the bulk behind and on the sides. That would work.

As I walked I passed a couple having a heck of a row in one of the small alleyways between shops. They looked like college kids, and the young man was screaming some truly awful things at a young woman who was crying with great sobs and then screaming back. They were about 50 feet down the alley. I stopped and bent as if to tie my shoe, then leaned against the rail surrounding the patio of the café next to the alley. Here was another good test. 

I concentrated and pulled the man's note close to me, but not enough to enter the music of him. They were far enough away that his note didn't emerge very far from the jumble of noise of humanity without me pulling him closer this way. Once he was close, I tried to concentrate to shoot the thought at him to "Be nice and stop yelling." As soon as I attempted to fire this thought though the man's note retreated into the distance. The thought I then fired was ill formed and spun off to the side narrowly missing the girl. 

I tried several more times before I realized I just couldn't hold his note and fire the thought at the same time. It took every ounce of my ability and concentration to send those notes out, and they seemed to be terribly inaccurate. This was good news, for if my enemies operated like I did, they would have to be physically close to me to be effective. Since the closer someone was the closer their note in my mind, though really they had to be very close for them to emerge out of the jumble of noise much. 

I was also puzzled why my thought seemed so lopsided and so wild as I fired it. The one I had used on the man had seemed small and tight, fast too. But on him I had simply said stop. Intrigued, I fired down that alleyway at the still screaming boy the thought. "Be Kind". This time the thought was smaller and didn't shoot off to the side so quickly, but I noticed now that it also rapidly shrank in size as it traveled until it winked out shortly past the couple. 

Now I was getting somewhere. I focused all my energy on the single emotion of kindness, and fired at the man. A small tight ball streaked out of me straight as an arrow. It hit the man's note, but by the time it had the ball was barely the size of a pea as his note absorbed it. He stopped yelling for only a few moments as he shook his head in confusion. I wanted to cheer, but instead I continued my walk down the mall. 

The young man had noticed me staring at then and I didn't want another fight on my hands. I walked out of site of the ally, called his note to me and whispered a full note into his mind to calm down and act like a gentleman before heading on my way.

I entered the Grind and took up my table. Wendy noticed me after only a minute or two and waved enthusiastically. I pulled her note to me and she was thrilled I was there. She had been really worried, and my appearance and the normal routine comforted her. I made a mental note to be careful about young woman's feelings. She was no Tuyen.

As I waited for my coffee I mulled over what I had learned. Clearly my greatest power was when I called a note to me, but it left me exposed in more ways then one. I stopped the obnoxious young man in the alley in a moment that way. The thought attacks had very limited range, and an even more limit message that could be delivered. That gave me some tactical room to maneuver in with these people. If I could spot them, and they seemed to have easily recognizable notes, then I could defend before they could get in range to do much damage. 

Wendy appeared before me smiling. "Here's your coffee Sir." She said with mock formality and a small curtsy that as she bent her knees she raised her skirt slightly to show me the tops of her smooth thighs again. I laughed and she smiled and chuckled too. 

"God Wendy, you're wonderful. Thank you for the coffee and for. . .well you know." She blushed but the smile didn't falter. 

"You're welcome, especially for the. . . you know." She winked and turned back to the counter and the growing line. I shook my head, I swear I felt like the world had gone a bit mad, or maybe I had. I would never have expected I would have slept with her two weeks ago.

I sipped my coffee and thought about what other discoveries I would find about my gift, about the beautiful people around me, and the people who had decided I was somehow their enemy. My life had gone from quite routine to a whirl of activity in the last week and a half. The funny thing was I couldn't complain. I realized I was happy, more so then I had been maybe in all my life. I was worried, stressed, and jumpy as a cat but still happy. 

The line in the Grind showed no signs of wanting to abate so I took my leave of Wendy and Kelly rushing around behind the counter and headed slowly back up the mall. The lights were starting to come on as the early fall darkness took over the foothills. As I walked I realized I was passing Cynthia's shop and I decided to pop in for a moment. I had not seen her since our evening together, and I realized I wanted to see how she looked on the outside as well as in her music.

The bell on the door jingled as I walked in, and I heard Cynthia's voice ring out from the back of the store. 

"We're just closing!" I walked forward and peered around the last shelf toward the counter. She was standing rifling through receipts, and she looked up as I poked my head out. 

"Well I wasn't planning on buying anything so I guess that makes me a doubly bad customer?" her face split into a huge grin, and I pulled her note to me. The smile was reflected on the inside as well. She all but bounced out from behind the counter and into my arms giving me a hug that I thought might have cracked a few ribs. 

"Mike, it is good to see you!" she said still holding me. I heard a deep baritone sound like someone clearing their throat. I looked back at the counter over the shoulder of the beautiful blond still wrapped around me to see Mr Football from all those nights ago standing there with a box of books. 

"Ummm, Cynthia." I said in a none too confidant voice. She pulled back and spun to look at what had drained the color out of my face. 

"Oh my! Well umm. . .Mike I am sure you remember my ex-husband Mark?" I nodded mutely as he put the box down and walked over to me. I know I could have knocked him backwards into next year with the gift, but I just stood there as the wall of muscle approached. He held out his hand with a very small smile and spoke.

"Hey Mike, I owe you more then a few thanks, and one hell of an apology." 

I just stood there looking at that massive paw extended to me for a few seconds before I reached out and took it. That cinched it I decided, I was a nutter. His smile grew much broader then. His grip was firm, but polite.

"I ummm. . . well, umm, apology accepted Mark, and well you're welcome, though I am not what sure for." I tried a small smile then as he released my hand.

"Well the thank you is for the help you gave Cynthia in her store the other day. She told me all about it." He shook his massive blond head. "I have to say that was one of the most decent things I have heard of, especially after what she and I put you through. I admire that."

"Ummm, well thanks. I just did what felt right." 

"Well enough of this man talk." Cynthia said as she grabbed my arm. "Mark would you be a dear and lock up?" 

"Sure hun." He said in his gravely voice. "Hun?" I thought.

"Come on Mike; come have a cup of tea with us."

I spent a very enjoyable hour with the two. It became clear that something was trying to blossom between the two of them again, and I did what I could to ease old hurts and encourage what was already happening. I found myself on more then one occasion shaking my head in wonder at it all. 

These two people seemed nothing like the ones from my awful night all those years ago. Mark had changed courses years ago, and had hung on with Cynthia for a few years hoping to work things out with her, to help her find a path out of her anger as he had his.

The divorce had only been final for a couple months. The changes Cynthia was making and the confession and apologies to Mark had renewed a spark between them. It was still just a spark, but a raging inferno could come from just a spark. Maybe that is a bad analogy. A beautiful fire of passion and love can come from just a spark.

I finally had to drag myself away from their company over their invites to dinner and drinks and any other number of offers. I was tired, really tired and I wanted some time to just rest. 

I wondered home and once inside I flopped down on the couch. Part of me wondered if the attackers would come back in force since they obviously knew where I lived, but somehow I doubted that. The man had a look a real terror on his face when he ran away after I had attacked back. Still, just to be safe I set the alarm on the front door and the windows for the first time since I had lived here.





The Music of the Mind Ch. 09



I reached down and pulled the box out and set it on the counter. The man's face was triumphant for a moment; a look of such hunger was on his face that it transformed it, his humanity falling away. In that moment he became as alien as the genie. Then he noticed the little door hanging open. He stepped up to the counter, and with a trembling hand he turned the box to look into its empty interior. A long moment he stood there and when he spoke his eyes stayed on the box.

"What have you done you fool?" his voice was quiet, and again I thought he almost sounded broken.

"What should have been done a long time ago." I said feeling my anger rise again. He raised his eyes to me then, and the anger, the shear hatred that burned there was almost more of a blow then his attacks had been. Then with no word he turned and strode from the store. The bell did not ring as the door opened and shut.

I could feel its presence still in my mind as I thought, "I think we need to have a talk genie." And it was before me again in a blink.

I have said before the terrible feeling of power that radiated form this being was something that left you no doubt it was not human. Its face neither male nor female, and its cold eyes without feeling. I for the first time realized just what kind of force I was dealing with, how old and how alien. Its dreams were not human, nor were its motivations. It regarded me for long moments too, and I wondered what thoughts it could have of me? When it spoke its voice rang through me as always. Though its words were quiet, its notes roared in my head as it spoke.

"I see you have met Dolkoff."



The Music of the Mind Ch. 10



Chapter 10: The Growing Power of Sound

"If you're referring to the old man who just tried to cook my brain, then yeah we've met. Him and his groupie." I said a little more snidely then I intended.

"Not a groupie; that would be his daughter." The genie's voice rang in my head, curtain or no curtain of protection. "Though he has many groupies, as you might call them."

"Daughter? Would that make the man at my house. . ."

"His son, yes." The genie said with a strange expression on its face. I waited a moment trying to collect my thoughts, and to determine where I needed this conversation to go. The genie never seemed to want to talk long, and there were things I needed to know. 

"He asked about your box. When he saw it was empty he seemed to know you were gone, which would mean he knew about you specifically. You want to explain that?"

The genie's dark eyes regarded me passionlessly for a few moments before it spoke. "Yes, I will tell you part of his story, though the rest you will have to discover on your own. I meat Dolkoff over 1000 years ago when he opened my box." I nodded my head my worst fear being realized. God the genie had given him the gift too. 

"I did not give him anything human." The voice was incredibly hard. "I was forced from my prison to serve him with three wishes, which I did. He did not know that on the completion of his third wish that I and my box would vanish to be hidden somewhere else for some other poor fool to discover." It looked at me again for long moments before going on. 

"His three wishes were. To have power over others, to command them with his mind, and to have endless life, to never grow old, and last, to be unbelievably wealthy. I gave him all three in some form or another." Now the genie smiled. I felt all the hair rise on the back of my neck, and a shiver went through me to my core. There was nothing pleasing in its smile.

"I take it he didn't get exactly what he thought he was getting?" I said softly, not intending to whisper but doing so nonetheless. The smile on the genie vanished and I found myself grateful for the respite.

"No human, he got EXACTLY what he wished for, no more, no less. But as I told you before, I can see into the hearts of humans and never do they wish for what would make them happy, for these things are often burdens as well as blessings." I sat thinking of my own new found joy at life, and yet the struggles I had faced and would continue to face. I nodded my head as I looked back to the genie.

"Your power is a gift from me too you, and his is dwarfed by what you in time will be able to do. I gave you your gift as you call it, as reward for the service you rendered me. When you showed your character, I was intrigued and I gave you more. I am curious what someone like you could do with so much potential." 

My mind raced. I needed to keep it talking, but some part of me now had an ugly thought. What if I had only received this power because the genie hoped I would deal with this Dolkoff character for it? The genie's face was impassive.

"You must develop your gift. You have not pushed yourself much in this human; you have let the learning come as it would. Still, I gave you an elegant thing, his power is only as powerful as his limited mind could imagine. He hoped to use his children to gain more wishes from me, but never again will I aid him. I would kill him; though the magic that bound me to that box prevents me destroying any I served outright, even now that I am free."

"So you're saying I have the power to defeat him? Does that mean destroy him? I'm not a killer." And the vision of the man in the club immediately came before my eyes. "I don't want to be a killer." I whispered. The genie was silent again before responding, and now its voice sounded impatient.

"You will be what you must human. I tell you this though. He has learned to use his power to open the minds of those with potential. Thus his children gained their lesser powers and others as well. In time I do not know what he could achieve. He has killed many times in his life, and always taken what he wanted. You can stop him. It is up to you to decide. I have given you everything you need." 

"I could use some help!" I snapped. 

"Then make some." Snapped the genie. With the last word it was gone and the shop seemed unnaturally quiet and empty. "Make some?" I thought, "What the hell does that mean?" then a chill went down my spine yet again this morning. What was it the genie had said about my power and Dolkoff's? That mine was elegant, and far more powerful than his. That would mean anything he could do I should be able to do, and more. 

He had unlocked the power in his children's minds, and his followers. Could I do that? I had no idea even where to begin. Even if I could give someone this gift, would I want to? How many people would abuse it, how many would it be more of a burden then a gift? The moral implications of this seemed far worse then even using the gift on someone else.

I stood and nearly fell to the floor. I had no idea how tired I had become just sitting on the stool. Well, I had done a lot while just sitting on that stool I thought. I sat back down and reached for the phone. 

I drank some coffee and ate some breakfast I had delivered to the shop, and I found I recovered very quickly. I spent the next several hours of the morning having the craters come and crate items to be delivered, then those same items shipped off. I had a few customers, mostly lookers but one usual who bought a fine old mirror, mostly though I spent the morning thinking about the genie's words, and the hidden meanings and implications. 

It was right that I had not really pushed myself to test or learn about the gift. I didn't really know where to begin, but then again I hadn't really tried anything yet. I ordered a large pizza for lunch planning to have leftovers for dinner. The pizza delivery girl was cute, but I stayed out of her head; I was so busy with my own thoughts. I sat munching on a slice when a voice nearly scared me off my chair.

"You got a hot piece for me?" It was Wendy standing on the other side of the counter smiling at me. 

"Damn Wendy! You scared the crap out of me! I didn't hear you come in?" I said in puzzlement.

"I came in as the delivery girl went out. Sorry I surprised you. I just thought I would stop by on my way to work, see the shop. I've walked by a bunch of times but never had the guts to come in." She blushed as she said this and I pulled her note to me. She was nervous, but she was also a little horny and excited. She had a rather detailed fantasy about doing me behind the counter in my shop. I found I didn't mind that idea at all, and I had an idea.

"Well it is my fault; I am supposed to lock up when I break for lunch. You want to join me? I have way too much." I said with a smile pointing at the pizza.

"Sure! I'm starved." She looked around and grabbed an $800 antique bar stool off the floor and pulled it up to the counter. Well at least she had taste. I walked to the front and turned off the open sign, and put the back in one hour lunch sign up as I locked the front door.

I walked back to the counter and pulled my stool out to sit next to Wendy on the other side and helped myself back to my half eaten piece of pizza. Wendy smiled at me as she munched.

I had a devilish idea, one that gave me a bit of a moral pause. I was thinking of the notes of pleasure that seemed to just appear when I touched a woman as we made love. They seemed to just spring forth from nowhere as soon as I touched their breasts or pussy, or entered them. Each seemed to correspond to a specific erogenous zone. I wanted to know if I could create those notes just with the gift before I touched her. I knew I could amplify them once they were going, but what about create them? 

"Mike this is great, thanks." Wendy said as she reached for another piece.

"My pleasure." I said 

As she took another bite I reached into her mind and tried to remember exactly what the note felt and sounded like when I sucked one of her nipples. I found it came easily to mind, like remembering a song. As I thought on it a string of sound began to form in her mind, very small at first but slowly growing. I saw Wendy suddenly sit up straight in her chair with a strange look on her face. 

Her left nipple was sticking out rather prominently through her tight CU tee-shirt. She had stopped chewing and tried to discreetly rub her arm across it. I pretended not to notice, as I watched the note fade in her mind, to barely a trace. Perhaps I had aroused her enough for her own mind to keep it lightly going?

I then recalled the memory of the note for her clit. I was careful with this one, knowing the sensitivity of the thing I was messing with. It too came easily to mind, and I only barely let the note start before I stopped my manipulations. I watched as Wendy squirmed on the stool, and the note, even though I had released it grew to a soft hum and continued to purr. She was very horny now, but she was also nervous. I strummed a gentle note in her mind to relax, that I was a friend.

She stopped eating and dropped her pizza in the box. "Mike, I need to level about something with you." Her voice was husky, and I could see both her nipples were now hard. I realized the notes for both of then were gently humming in her mind now. When did that happen? Damn don't pay attention for a second.

"Of course Wendy, you know you can tell me anything. What are friends for?" 

"Well I'm hoping you're for giving me a really good fucking right now because I am really horny." My mouth must have hit my chest, but apparently this was the right response because I could feel Wendy's passion flare in her, and her mind eat up the sexual empowerment she felt. She stood and walked over to me on my stool, and wrapped her arms around me kissing me deeply, pushing her tongue into my welcoming mouth.

Still sitting on my stool, I pulled her warm soft body against me and enjoyed the rich full feel of her lips and her breasts pressed against me. I reached down and grasp the edge of her shirt sliding it up her as I kissed her. She broke our contact only long enough for me to pull it over her head and toss it to the floor. I drank in the sight of her large breasts in her black lacey bra. It looked like the same one I had seen the other night.

Our mouths found each other again as I ran my hands up and down her soft warm back, feeling the goose bumps rise on her arms and sides. As I touched her I stroked the notes of her breasts and clit very gently which made her squirm into me. I blessed my luck as her bra clasp came undone smoothly and I pulled it down off her shoulders. 

She leaned back away from me with a smile and her bra hung for a moment on the end of her firm breasts before she let it fall to the floor. Her nipples were large and very hard, and I could feel her strum of pleasure in her note as she felt the cool air on them. As she stepped back up to kiss me I took them both in my fingers and rolled and pinched them as our mouths became locked together again. 

Wendy was stroking my hard cock through my pants, and I found my own level of arousal was growing as rapidly as hers. I moaned softly as she kissed me, and I felt a note in her thrum. It was not the physical notes of pleasure, but a whole cord of sound that seemed to represent her emotional arousal. I excited it very gently. 

Wendy pulled back from me, her eyes absolutely ablaze with lust. "God you make me want to fuck you till you can't walk." She licked my saliva from her lips and fell to her knees clawing open my pants to free my hard cock. It sprang out throbbing, and I swore it looked bigger then our last time as she leaned forward to suck it into her hot mouth. I moaned, and felt her response in her emotional and physical arousal. I decided to let myself go and really vocalize since it seemed to really turn her on. I began to moan and cry out as her head bobbed up and down my shaft. 

I pulled my shirt off as she continued to suck me. I strummed all the notes in her mind, and just for fun I conjured the notes for her clitoral and rectal g spots into being. She shuddered as she sucked me from pure pleasure. This seemed to be too much for her though for she released my very hard cock to stand and kiss me again. I could feel my cock pressing into her soft belly, and reaching up to touch her beautiful breasts. I began to grind my hips, pushing my cock up into that softness as we kissed. 

She leaned back without breaking our kisses, and took each breast in a hand and trapped my cock between her hot breasts. My cock, wet with her saliva pumped into her breasts and I felt my orgasm rising. "Oh not yet!" I thought and I felt it hold at a level of divine pleasure, as if I had absolute control of it I said a silent thank you to the genie again.

After I though I would loose my mind with the pleasure of my cock riding between her breasts, she stepped back and pulled the soft cotton weave skirt up around her waist revealing her bare pussy and long strings of wetness dripping from her swollen sex. She didn't bother to remove her black knee high boots as she climbed onto me on the stool. 

I had to reach back to grab the counter to hold us steady as she immediately settled herself on my hard cock. I thought her breasts had felt hot, but they were nothing compared to her pussy. Once settled I grabbed her ass in both hands and she began to rock on me, embedding my cock all the way in her. I strummed all her notes of pleasure, and then held that column of pre-orgasmic sound together as I sucked her hard nipples each in turn. 

In a daze I let my own orgasm begin to build again, and wave after wave of pleasure ran through me as she rode me. As my release approached, I released my hold on that column of beautiful singing sound and strummed a loud note into it to amplify it one last time. She screamed out in pleasure even as I yelled with the spurting of my cock. I rode the pleasure in her mind, even as she rode the cum out of me in long glorious spurts. When we at last finished we sat clinging to each other perched on that ridiculous stool. It could have been a toadstool for all I cared though. 

It took some time before Wendy's legs would support her to climb off me. When she did a large amount of cum ran from her pussy to be collected by two of her fingers and sucked into her smiling mouth. 

"Mmmmmm, one of these days you're going to have to let me suck it out of you." She said with almost a purr. 

"Well if you must." I said with a wink trying to pull my pants back up without falling off the stool or on my face.

"That will be tough though, I so want to ride your cock and if I suck you off I won't get any for a while." I raised my eyebrows at her. 

"Oh yeah, try me sometime." Now it was her turn to raise her eyebrows at me, and a slow flush creped up her cheeks. 

"Damn it! Why am I always late for work when I want to fuck you again." She said with exasperation trying to put her bra back on with shaking hands. 

"Too much of a good thing?" I asked with a chuckle. She smirked at me in a playful way. Then her face grew serious.

"Look Mike, you're really fun but you'll tell me if we need to stop fooling around won't you? I mean, I don't want to screw up something else that may be more permanent or anything." I could feel her concern in her mind. It was partially for me, and partially for the fact that she really didn't want to be tied down right now. 

"Look Wendy. I know we are just friends okay. You're free to do what ever you want with whoever you want. If I get involved with someone seriously trust me I'll let you know. Though I am sure I will miss having fun with you." Her smile came back again, and I could feel the relief wash through her. She wanted her cake and to eat it too so to speak. I could sense there were several other guys she wanted to get to know a little better. I guess she was going through her own little sexual awakening. Lucky me to be a part of it.

"Mike you really are awesome. Now I better get to work!" 

We exchanged a few long kisses and more then a few gropes before I escorted her to the front, and reopened the shop as she left. 

I walked back to the counter and looked down at my stool, our juices still collected on the edge of it. Amazing what could happen to a guy just sitting on a stool.

The rest of the day passed with nothing even as remotely interesting as my morning and lunch activities. I was dreadfully tired though by the time I locked up and headed for home. I had the feeling the combination of the sex and the attack had taken it out of me. The funny thing was that if I had to guess which was more tiring I would say the sex. 

I always enjoyed my walk home through the mall, especially when I worked a little late like today, and the street lights were just coming on. The people that were out were mostly on their way to or from work, and walked in that rapid daze so common these days. It made you feel a little alone, even in a crowd.

I walked past the Grind without stopping, and I could see Wendy behind the counter looking as tired as I felt. I hope she gets off soon I thought, but I didn't stop, figuring there was such a thing as too much of a good thing.

I walked the block over to the condos and up the winding path between the buildings. The sun had fallen enough that it was that time of day where everything is cast in silhouette against the fading sky. I pulled my keys from my pocket as I walked up to the front door and stopped dead in my tracks. 

The door was unlatched. I walked forward and reached out with my mind to feel for any notes, while at the same time pulling my curtain of defense a little closed around me. There was the note of someone inside, but it was very faint. It took me a moment to realize the person was either asleep, or unconscious. 

I reached cautiously for the door knob, and my fingers met something sticky and wet. I jerked my hand back. My fingers were stained a dark red that showed dimly in the light cast by Jill's porch light. I felt fear then, and I pulled the curtain closed in my mind and formed a tight ball of emotion in my mind and held it there, churning waiting for release.

I pushed the door open and it swung into the darkness of my home. No sound greeted me, no movement. I walked in and my hand groped for the light switch. When the lamp beside the couch came on I nearly threw the ball emotion I had at the figure seated there, but he was not moving and his body slumped over the side of the couch. 

It was the young boy who had attacked me the other night. His face was pale and streaks of dried blood ran from his nose. His eyes were closed. I walked the few paces to him I could see where the blood from his none had soaked into the pillow on the end of the couch. In one hand he held a handkerchief soaked with more blood. "What the hell?" I thought.

I reached down and felt a reedy pulse in his neck, when his eyes snapped open and looked right into mine. There was no sanity there. They were wide and wild, full of fear and rage, and pain. I reached for his note before I stopped to think what that might mean. His note sprang to life in my mind and I heard the most awful symphony of discordant sound I could ever have imagined. It was like a white hot poker in my brain. His arms shot up and grabbed both my shoulders.

"Help me! Please! I am. . .he will kill. . . help ME!" His voice was frantic and loud. I forgot my fear as compassion took hold of me. There was no duplicity in him. Hell, there was hardly anything left of his mind. 

"It's okay; I'll help you, calm down." But he began to sob now, to weep and grow hysterical. I reached into his mind and began to send notes of calming, to try to still the loudest jangling notes, to encourage him to calm. 




The Music of the Mind Ch. 10



It was as though my meddling sprung some trigger in him, and he began to flail at me, to thrash on the couch and scream. 

"No no, GET OUT! GET OUT!" at this moment a voice came to me from the door.

"Oh Shit, Mike!" It was Tuyen. I didn't know what the hell she was doing here, but I didn't care at the moment.

"Tuyen! Get over here and help me, and shut the damn door!" she didn't even wait a second but ran across the room the door closing behind her. She grabbed the man and helped me hold him to the couch.

"Calm down, you're going to be okay, just calm down!" I kept repeating, but in his mind I calmed every note I could and send as powerful a note as I could of reassurance, friendship, help, and calmness. It took almost five minutes before he began to still, and out of fear I lulled him into a deep sleep before I let up on his mind. 

Tuyen stood panting, blood smeared on her pretty white tee shirt and jeans. She looked from the man to me, and there was a remarkably calm look on her face as she spoke.

"Do you want to tell me what the hell is going on?" 

I nodded and gestured to the chairs next to the couch. God, what could I tell her? I needed some help here, but I didn't think I was allowed to tell her. A tone a calm wellbeing drifted through me just then and I recognized the genie's touch. "Does this mean I have your permission?" I thought. Its voice rang softly in my head for a change. "I think you know enough now to know the consequences of revealing your gift. It is now your burden." and then I was once again alone in my mind. 

Tuyen was looking from the man to me with a look of amazement and impatience on her face. What the hell was he doing here, and what had happened to him? Hell I had enough questions of my own. Where to begin and what to say? 



The Music of the Mind Ch. 11



Thank you to everyone who has sent feedback and suggestions, it is truly appreciated. I will keep working on this series until I finish it. If you have ideas or suggestions please let me know. I am always open to feedback. Thanks as usual to my editor LadyCibille.

 Chapter 11: Duet  

I sat across from Tuyen and my mind raced. How to tell her all that had happened, all that might happen. She looked scared, but also a little angry. I took a few deep breaths trying to calm my racing mind. I had a million questions about my visitor who was unconscious on my couch, but no time to explore them with her here. 

"Look, Tuyen, I have a lot to try to explain to you, and…well some of it may sound a bit crazy." I said with a frown. Then she did something that caught me completely off guard, she smiled. 

"It's okay Mike, just tell me what is going on?" she said.

"Well, it is difficult to know where to begin." I said quietly

"Well why don't you start with our unconscious friend who has bled all over your couch. Who is he, and what happened to him?"

I thought hard for a moment, Tuyen sitting there patiently looking at me. I figured when the truth was this absurd, the only thing to do was to tell the complete truth and see what happens.

"I don't know his name, but he is the son of a crazy psychic who has built a cult of other psychics around him, and he currently wants me dead. This guy attacked me a little while ago, and I defeated him, and I just found him here begging for help." I spoke in a rush of words, then stopped and stared at Tuyen. She had the strangest look on her face. It was a look of surprise, and of recognition.

"Mike, I was at home before I came over here and I heard this voice in my head that told me to come to your house right away. It was so strong, but so soft. Did you call me to come over here tonight. . . I mean in my head? Was that you?" She looked a little scared as she spoke. I knew who had called her, and it wasn't me. Dang this was getting complicated in a hurry. I was hoping to work up to the genie.

"No, that wasn't me that was the genie." I said it with a dead serious expression on my face, but even with this Tuyen shook her head and smiled. 

"A genie talked to me in my head? Come on Mike. Are you sure you're okay, this is all way to crazy. Maybe I should call Suzan, or better Ellen?" The smile had faded from her face, and now she looked very concerned. I knew I could pull her note to me and encourage her to believe me, but somehow I knew I was going to have to tell her eventually that I had been inside her head, and I didn't want to add more material to that confession. Instead I shouted in my mind, "Genie, could you please make a brief appearance, it would speed this up tremendously."

Tuyen just sat looking at me, and then I saw her eyes look past me and a look of true terror appeared on her face. Then I felt it, the presence and power of the genie. I twisted around, and there is stood right behind me, beautiful and yet cold, sexless and yet sensual. I have tried many times to think of what it was wearing, or details about it's form, but none of them will ever come to me. When you meet this being, you come away with only the memory of its power, and it alien feel to us. I turned back to Tuyen.

"Tuyen this is the genie. I freed him from his prison and in reward it gave me a great gift. That gift is why this man, and more importantly his father wants to kill me." I spoke slowly as I looked at Tuyen, but her eyes never left the genie. Then I felt its voice flow through me and somehow I knew that it spoke to us both.

"I summoned you here. Without help this man will be killed. I sensed you have the most open mind to believe him, and to perhaps help him. I can offer you no more help then that." Then I felt that sharp feeling of vacuum in my mind as the genie left. It was hard to realize how much of my mind it occupied when it was near, until the moment it left and I felt the absence more acutely. 

Tuyen's eyes traveled back to my face now that the genie had vanished. She looked stunned, maybe even in shock. I was going to have to help this along, or we would go nowhere. I reached out and pulled her note to me. She was scared and very confused, but also she was excited and intrigued. I sounded some large gentle notes of calm in her, and trust that I was her friend, and I could see her body visibly relax.

"So this guy wants to kill you for a gift the genie gave you? Why don't you just give it to him?" Tuyen said, her voice shaking slightly.

"I can't, it isn't that kind of gift." I said hesitantly. 

"Well what kind of gift is it then? Shit Mike, just tell me what is going on!" She was getting a little hysterical, and I reached out and calmed her mind once again.

"Well, I can hear the music of other people's minds." She stared at me blankly. "I mean, I can read their emotions, and sometimes their thoughts." I said in a whisper. Tuyen just sat there staring at me. 

"Can you read my mind?" She asked her voice still a bit shaky.

I nodded. "Yeah, I can read anyone's mind that isn't shielded." 

"Shielded, what the hell does that mean?" She sounded exasperated, but also a little excited. I could feel the interest starting to build in her, but also worry. 

"It means that there are others with this ability. This man's father has the gift, and he has found a way to use it to give others a minor form of it. Only others with this ability can shield their minds. I can't really explain it better then that." I said. 

Tuyen looked stunned, but I could feel in her notes that she was accepting more and more now, and quickly. She really had a remarkable mind. She wanted to think of something that would prove I could read her mind. She was kicking around ideas in her head. I felt her select one. 

"Okay, if you can read my mind, what am I thinking right now?" 

I sifted through the notes of her mind, and she was quite deliberately concentrating on one thought, so it rang loudly in her surface thoughts before me. I listened and felt my way into it.

"You are thinking exactly what it felt like when I pushed my cock into you when we were together." I said it slowly and almost laughed at the look that was on her face. 

"Oh my god Mike." She just sat staring at me for a moment. "How long have you had this. . . gift?" she said.

"Since I was in the hospital. I guess when the genie gave it to me it took a bit out of me." I said.

She nodded. I pushed her thoughts away so I was only reading her surface emotions now. Suddenly she looked up at me sharply. 

"The strip poker game, you cheated didn't you?" she said with a touch of anger in her voice. I nodded.

"Yeah, I did. I'm sorry. It was just, well I'm only human and the four of you are all very beautiful women. I didn't think it would cause any harm." I looked her straight in the eye as I said this. She looked a little angry now.

"Look Tuyen, I'll lay all my cards on the table. I can not only read peoples minds, but I can go in and affect their thoughts, their emotions. I have struggled with this gift. I have sworn to never use it to control anyone, or to hurt anyone." The memory of the dead man in the club flashed through my mind. 

"I should tell you, that I used my gift to try to find out why you hated me so much. I didn't want to control you, I just wanted a fair shake. I wanted to know what I had done that had so offended you, so maybe I could make amends. I found an old memory of a boyfriend who looked like me who hurt you years ago, and I tried to quiet that memory. To take away that pain for you. I though maybe then you would give me a chance to show you I was an okay guy." I said all this while looking Tuyen in the eye. "

"I know I have no right to be in anyone's head like that, but please believe me I have only tried to help others with this gift. I can't stand the idea of misusing it. Anyway, I am sorry. I guess I shouldn't have done it. It is so hard to know where the line is with this." I looked down as I finished talking and I pushed her note completely out of my mind. I didn't want to feel the backlash from this.

Then suddenly she was kneeling in front of me. I looked up into her rich brown eyes and she was smiling. I was speechless. She leaned in and wrapped her arms around me and hugged me. As she did so she whispered in my ear.

"Thank you for telling me." And she pulled back looking at me kindly before she spoke again. "Look Mike, since that night my whole life has improved. I know the memory you are talking about, and the man. I am amazed it was having that much effect on me. I never really understood why I disliked you, and Jill always asked me what my beef was with you. I guess I really never had one with you. I let go of my anger for you, and I thought that was what was making everything in my life feel so much better. Maybe it was that memory you quieted, I don't know. All I do know is I have been happier than I can remember being in a long time." Her voice was tinged with the threat of tears, but she went on.

"I don't know if I like the idea of you in my head, but I do know you have been a good friend. Can I ask you one question?" I nodded "What about the sex? Did you. . .influence me to do that?" she looked concerned, but also scared.

"No Tuyen, all I did was erase that memory. I think the wine and the relief you felt from that burden must have done the rest. I swear, I would never make anyone do anything against their wishes." As I finished speaking Tuyen smiled again.

"Well good! I was worried some of the best sex of my life was going to become a bad memory." She said with a chuckle. 

"Well, I guess there is a few more things I should tell you. I used the gift to make our sex more intense. I can strengthen the feeling of physical pleasure with it."

She was nodding her head now. "That makes sense, it all seemed so intense. How do you do it?" she asked looking up at me from the floor where she now sat cross-legged. I slid down beside her.

"You want me to show you?" I said smiling.

"Okay, but just a small demonstration." She said with a mischievous look.

"What I do, is I hear the thoughts and feeling of you in my mind like musical notes. Each note can be a thought or feeling, and often there are many notes together for complex thoughts or feelings. Well I noticed that when we were doing it, that new notes appeared when I touched your nipples or your clit, and I could feed more sound into them." I said trying to explain it to myself as well as Tuyen.

"So I have to already be aroused for you to stimulate the. . .the feelings?" she asked

"No, I can create them there if I want to. Let me show you." I pulled her note too me, and recalled the note for her right nipple and breast, and called it slowly forth in her mind, not too strong, and let it hum for a few seconds before releasing it.

When I did this Tuyen jumped like she had been shocked and grabbed her breast. As I finished she let go and I could clearly see her hard nipple through her shirt. 

"Oh my god, that is wild." She said looking at me. "Are you still doing it?" she asked. 

I could feel the note was softly humming on its own now. "No, your just slightly aroused, so it is humming on its own now." I said. 

Tuyen nodded. "Well I am kind of turned on now." 

"I can still it if you like?" I asked.

"No, it's okay, kind of feels good. But, I don't want to get sidetracked, what are you going to do about sleeping beauty here, and these people that want to kill you." She nodded at the man on the couch as she spoke.

"I don't really know what to do with him. He was asking for help before you came in. Saying something about someone wanting to kill him. I should probably see if I can look in his mind. Then maybe I'll know more." Tuyen was nodding as I finished speaking.



"What do you need to do?" she asked. 

"Just get comfortable. If I zone out don't freak, it just means I am in so deep that I have kind of lost touch with stuff going on around me." 

"Okay, I'll keep an eye on you." She said, and I could hear the nerves in her voice. 

I sat in the comfy chair next to my couch and called the man's note to me. It was like being inside a box filled with metal pieces that someone was shaking. Almost every note in his mind was discordant. It took a great effort of will just to endure that noise. I tried to read some of these sounds, but they were to primal with fear, flight, and pain. 

I started to follow these sounds down deeper into his mind past layers of thought, and then memory. Eventually they began to fade, and I felt that somewhere in the depths of his mind there was a single great discordant tone crying out. I passed the earliest memories, and found that the sounds around me were now so different I could hardly read them. 

They were those things that reside somewhere in the base of our subconscious. Instincts maybe, or animal drives to eat, to procreate, to survive. I had never been so far into someone's mind; it was chilling in that I felt no connection to the outside world anymore. All of my consciousness was deep in the mind of this madman on my couch. What would happen to me if he died I wondered.

Still, somewhere ahead called that sound. I followed it, now moving slowly for it felt as if the space of his mind was narrowing, like a funnel to its tip. I emerged into an area almost silent. It would have been dead quiet except for the ringing of that awful assortment of noise nearby. I pushed on, and found the noise to be painful now, almost a fire to my mind. I tried to somehow shield myself from it, and again by instinct it was as if I raised a shield in front of me that the sound struck and flowed around. It was like hiding behind an umbrella in a windstorm, most of the force of the note seemed to be reflected.

At last I was at the source of that terrible noise. I could almost feel the structure of the mind around me. It is not something I think I can describe well with words, but I will try. Imagine that in your mind, at the very core of you is a place of peace, or quiet. A place that is shielded from all the noise of your mind. This quiet place gives you a center, a grounding so to speak. A place from which to draw strength perhaps, I am not sure. 

What was very obvious to me was that something was terribly wrong here. I began to realize that what I was looking at was the instrument of his mind. The thing from which all his sound originated. The seat of consciousness? But the longer I stayed there, the more I could sense that it had been broken. Imagine if you will a harp with a few broken strings. When you strum the harp all you get is noise. The strings have to work together to make a chord, and most music in peoples minds were a collection of notes. 

I could, in a way, feel the broken strings of his mind. I reached out then, and with my mind I felt as if I gently picked one up. It rang in a horrible assortment of noises within me. I used all of my will to summon a shield between me and that string as I held it. Then, I pulled it taught and stretched it across that space. 

I could feel, somehow, where it had been attached. It was like a wound, open and sore, and out of this tear came more discordant sound. I pulled the string to it, and tried to still the jangling of the string as I held it in place. Suddenly as the string stilled the wound closed and the string held in place. The noise still rang around me, but with one less string to contribute to it.

How long I worked, and how many strings I reattached I don't know. Some were so torn and twisted it took a long time for me to pull them back together. The mind has more strings then I could count, and many of this man's were damaged. It wasn't until the end, when the last string had quieted that I could really feel the instrument as a whole.

The strings of this great harp would tremble now, and I could feel that they transferred the energy up into the higher levels of the mind. The silence here was maintained, but I could now feel the power of the notes as they rang and then traveled through the place where the strings connected into the mind. 

Then I noticed something else peculiar. It was as though once a great curtain had been laid across all these strings, and I could feel the edges of its tattered and torn form still clinging to the mind. A chilling thought ran through me. Was this the place Dolkoff had altered to give his son the gift? Had he torn that curtain aside? It felt like a brutal act, and damaging. 

I began to rise back up through the mind again, seeking the surface of his thoughts. As I rose I could feel the greater quiet of his mind. When I reached his most recent memories, I could tell many of them were discordant. The damage to his mind had made them ill formed. I quieted these, until I found one that caught my attention. It was just a memory of intense pain. It was a memory of Dolkoff tearing his mind apart in punishment for his failures. I stilled it as best I could, then rose out and back to my own consciousness. 

As I returned to the world around me, I felt the tremendous fatigue rush over me. Tuyen leapt off the floor in front of me and grabbed me or I would have tumbled out of the chair. 

"Mike, are you alright?" her voice bordered on hysterical.

"Yeah Tuyen, I'm fine." I croaked out, finding my throat to be very dry. "How long was I gone?" I asked.

"About 4 hours. Can I get you a drink or something?" she asked. Suddenly I was extremely parched and quite hungry as well. 

"Yes, water please, and food." She nodded and turned to go to the kitchen after one last look to make sure I could stay in the chair. When she returned I drank the large glass of water in great gulps and ate the peanut butter and jelly sandwich Tuyen had made. It wasn't the Ritz, but it tasted great. When I was finished I could slowly feel my strength returning. 

"So what happened?" she said quietly

"Not sure if I helped or not." I said quietly

"After you. . .ummm, left. This guy started shaking and moaning, but he didn't wake up. Then after about a half hour, he got very still. About an hour ago he seemed to be sleeping peacefully." Tuyen looked tired, but also excited.

"His mind was damaged. I had to go in further then I have ever done. It was amazing Tuyen. I found the instrument of the mind. I tried to repair his, but I don't know how well I did. I think Dolkoff tried to kill him for failing to kill me." As I said this I looked at the sleeping form of the man. He was peaceful now, sleeping like a baby with deep slow breaths.

"Who is Dolkoff?" Tuyen asked with a hint of concern.

"He is a man who opened the genie's box a long time ago. He wished for power over others, and he got the gift I have, but the genie claims to a lesser extent then mine. He is the one who heads up the gang of thugs I told you about. I guess family ties mean little to him if he is willing to kill his own son." I continued to sip the last of the water in my glass.

"So, if you fixed him, do you think he will attack you when he wakes?" the apprehension was now clear in Tuyen's voice.

"No, I think his father meant for him to die. He has no friends there now, but maybe with kindness we can persuade him to help us." I didn't really have any great hope of this, but I figured it was worth the risk. Then something else occurred to me.

"Tuyen, I think I know how he did it!" I said

"Did what?" Tuyen said her brow wrinkled in confusion.

"How Dolkoff opened his mind to make him a mind reader. I am not certain, but I think I know how he did it!" 

Tuyen just sat quietly for a moment looking at me. I couldn't read the look in her face, and I was unwilling to call her note to me. 

"You think you can make other people psychic like you?" she said quietly. I only nodded back, still excited.




The Music of the Mind Ch. 11



"The genie said without help you would be killed, do you think it meant for you too. . ." Her words trailed off and I could see a haunted look in her eyes. It clicked for me then.

"Oh Tuyen, look, I won't drag any of my friends into this mess with me. I think the genie just meant I needed help with my guest here." 

"I don't think that is what it meant Mike, and you know it. It meant you need help fighting these people." Her face was grave as she spoke.

"Maybe, but I won't risk my friends." I said. "Mike, if you can't trust your friends to help, who can you trust? Who else are you going to get to help you?" As she spoke, her voice was low and gentle, and her face thoughtful. 

"Tuyen, I could never ask it of you. It is so dangerous. I don't even know if I am right about what to do. I could really hurt you, or kill you even. Hell I just don't know!" I reached up and rubbed my temples. Things were getting complicated in a hurry. Tuyen just sat there looking at me for long moments with those deep beautiful brown eyes.

"I don't think it is entirely up to you Mike. I think you need help, and I am willing to help you. I know it's dangerous. Plus, I can't imagine what it must feel like to be able to go into peoples minds and help them. God Ellen would kill for your powers!" she said with excitement creeping into her voice.

"It is not my power." I said sternly. "It is a gift, and one that has required more moral fiber then any other temptation I have experienced in my life. Would you really want that temptation?" I said, the iron now in my voice. Tuyen sat with her head lowered for a long time, when she looked up I sensed a deep moral battle had been ragging in her.

"Yes Mike, I want it. I want to help you. You gave me back myself with that one little thing you did. I want to be able to do that too. Besides, why don't you go look around and see if my mind looks like his, or like you think it should." 

I sat thinking and looking at her. I did need help, and if not from Tuyen, then who? If I could give her the gift, then should I give it to the other girls? God, did I even know how to do it?

"Okay, I'll try. But first, I want you to swear that if I can give you this gift, that you will never use it to control or force anyone to your will. I want your most solemn oath." I stared hard at her after I spoke. 

"Mike, I swear to never use the gift to control someone. I swear I'll only try to use it for the right reasons." Her voice was even, and her face composed and as she spoke she looked me directly in the eyes. I nodded.

"Okay lets do this, but you need to lie down, and I am going to put you to sleep before I do it. I don't want to take any chances I don't have to." As I finished speaking Tuyen nodded her head solemnly. 

"Let's go in the bedroom, you can lie on the bed." Tuyen raised her eyebrows at me smiling. 

"The bed huh, okay by me." She said as she winked.

We both adjourned to the bedroom, and made ourselves comfortable on the bed. I figured if I came out of this as tired as I did the last time I had better be lying down already.

We both lay on our sides facing each other. She was so close I could smell her hair and body. Her eyes were thoughtful, but unafraid. More then anything I wanted to not betray her confidence in me.

I leaned into her and gave her a gentle kiss, and pulled her note to me. I could still feel the ring of the note from that kiss fading in her. I rang notes of sleep, and comfort to her, and almost immediately she fell into a deep sleep. 

I let myself fall through her mind, past all her memories, past her instincts to that quiet place within. It took time to go that deep, and it felt like I traveled a great distance. At last I found myself in that quiet place that was the place from which Tuyen's music came. 

I waited for a long time, just feeling the space around me. It was a place that was hard to visualize, it felt more like operating on intuition. The great array of strings were there, and yet stretched across them was a great tight curtain. It felt like the curtain I could draw over my mind to protect myself, but this one was firmly attached and closed permanently. 

I knew I had to move it, but I did not want to tear it. I wondered if I could remove it and keep it intact, if Tuyen would be able to close her mind to attack then. That would be essential in the days to come.

I reached out to the curtain and tried to pull it away from the place it was fastened, but it held tight, and I heard a faint hum come from it as I pulled. I released it and the hum stopped. 

An idea sprang to mind, and I pulled at the curtain again. The hum started, and I reached out and stilled it. The curtain came away a bit and a new hum began. I wanted to shout for joy. 

I walked down the edge, and stilled the humming notes as I pulled. It was a long and tiring process, but eventually I had the bottom and sides, if you can even call them that, free. The curtain could now easily be pulled to the side or up. I didn't know if Tuyen could move it herself, but it was worth a try. 

Now that the curtain was drawn back I could feel the strings more clearly. Immediately I realized they were not attached the same way the man's were. I am not sure how to explain it, but after looking and feeling them for a long time, I realized that a slight shift in the connection would allow Tuyen to access these strings with her conscious mind. I was unsure, but something told me it would also allow her to pick up vibrations of others and read them with her conscious mind. This was the real secret. 

I began to work and found I could make the small shift just by playing the same note as the string where it attached, and I could slide it over. It may not sound like much, but it was grueling work. When at last I finished it was a big effort to close her curtain and climb slowly back up through the layers of Tuyen's mind. 

I opened my eyes in the bedroom, and I was still only inches from Tuyen. She was smiling, and still dreaming in a quiet sleep. I only held my own eyes open a moment longer before I drifted off to sleep in absolute exhaustion. Little did I know what surprises the morning would have for me. . .



The Music of the Mind Ch. 12



Hello everyone, and thank you to those of you who have sent such encouraging feedback. I just wanted to let you all know I will definitely endeavor to finish this series. The only draw back is the pace at which I work. I will try to have a new chapter out every two weeks or so. As always, feedback or constructive criticism is welcome. I hope you enjoy this chapter! S.T.   Chapter 12: The Independent Note  I rose slowly to the surface of consciousness, the first sensation I had was of warmth and comfort. Lying curled in my embrace was the sleeping form of Tuyen, her breathing gentle and slow. My eyes came open slowly as memory crawled back through the layers of sleep and fatigue. 

Long rays of golden orange light slanted across the room from the blinds, dust moats floating gently in the still morning air. I lay under the soft cotton of my comforter, and I could feel the warmth of Tuyen's back against my chest. Sometime in the night I had managed to undress to my shorts and crawl under the covers with her. She lay in front of me as I spooned her, and her black hair smelled of floral shampoo and sleep. For a moment I felt the peace of the moment, and all my other cares were far away.

Then Tuyen stirred and I heard her breathing changed as she stretched, pushing her body back into me. I could feel her soft ass pushing against my morning erection in my shorts. I waited a moment as I felt her slowly stir, and awake to realize where she was. A moment latter her head turned and I gazed down into her sleepy brown eyes, and smiling face.

"Good morning, how do you feel?" I asked, my voice still husky with sleep.

"Apparently I feel pretty good." She said with a smile as she pushed her ass back against my hard cock and I laughed.

"Well I won't contradict you on that point, but I meant your head."

She stopped smiling, and a frown crossed her brow as if she was concentrating. Tuyen rolled over and sat up letting the comforter gather in her lap. I could see now she had on a tee shirt and her panties, and judging by the nipples poking through her shirt she didn't sleep in her bra. I didn't mind at all as my cock twitched at the sight. 

"I feel like I have a terrible ringing in my ears, but it is like it is in my head." She frowned again and shook her head. 

"Push the noise away from you." I said.

"What do you mean?" she said with a look of discomfort on her face. 

"Imagine that the noise is in a big flat place in your mind, with you at the center of it. Try to push the noise away from you. Push it all the way to the horizon, as far away as you can." I said, excitement building in me along with fear. God I hoped if this worked that she could control it and I hadn't hurt her. 

Tuyen sat for a long moment her eyes closed, and her brow furrowed in concentration or discomfort. Then, her face relaxed and she smiled. Her note was already right before me in my mind, but I waited to call it to me. She seemed to be louder, more vibrant in my mind. Her eyes opened and she looked at me.

"It worked. Though I am not sure what I just did. I can visualize that place really easy though." she looked excited as she spoke.

"Is there still a ringing, but softer and more focused? Like a single note or chord that is near you?"

Tuyen closed her eyes again, and this time her face was peaceful as she sat in concentration. Slowly she nodded and she spoke in a whisper as if to help her hear the music inside her.

"Yes, there is a single note. I can almost see it right in front of me." Her eyes remained closed as she finished speaking.

"Tuyen, that note is my mind, loud and near because I am near you. The noise you pushed away is all the combined notes of humanity out there." I spoke in a whisper as I watched her face. Her eyes sprang open and I could see the amazement in them. "I guess it worked." I said with a smile.

"Oh my god Mike! That note is you? You mean I am reading your mind?" She looked a bit puzzled as she said this and I had to laugh.

"No, you are not reading my mind. Not yet anyway. Would you like to try too?" I asked the laugh still in my voice. She bit her lip and nodded like an excited little girl.

"Okay, all you have to do is call my note to you. If it is like it is for me, it will kind of snap into your mind, and you will hear all the music of my thoughts and feelings. If you concentrate on individual sounds, sometimes you will be able to see they are made up of many notes, sometimes they are only one or a few for a simple thought."

Tuyen looked really nervous, or maybe even a touch scared. I reached out and took her hand and squeezed gently smiling at her. "It's okay, go ahead and try. You won't hurt me."

She nodded, and closed her eyes again. Almost immediately I felt her in my mind. I don't know how to describe it, but I could feel her presence there. Others didn't seem to be able to notice me when I was in their minds, but they didn't have the gift. I wondered now if Tuyen would sense me in her mind. Then I felt her withdraw and she opened her eyes again.

"I did it Mike! I could see or hear all this sound. When I looked at some I could almost feel your concern for me, feel you thinking about me!" I nodded at her as she spoke. She shivered from either excitement or the early morning air. I patted the bed and she lay down slithering under the covers next to me to warm up. 

"I could feel you when you entered my mind. I wonder if that is because I have the gift. You might be able to feel me too now." I said

"Really? You look in my mind and I'll see if I can feel it." She said the excitement spilling out of her. I nodded

I called her note too me and it was there, filling me with her music. She was excited, really excited. She was also scared though, and a little uncertain. I stayed just at the surface thoughts as I watched her face. There was a look of shock on her face, then she smiled. 

"Mike I can feel you. I can feel you in my mind." She said in barely a whisper. 

I smiled back, and a mischievous thought struck me and I reached out and very briefly called the note of her nipple into existence for only a second. She gasped and jumped beside me. 

"I felt that! I mean, not just on my breast but in my mind." she said.

"What did it feel like?" I asked my own excitement getting the better of me. 

"Well it felt like you sucked my nipple for only a second." I felt my cock twitch as she said this. "But I could also feel you call the note in my mind, and it felt just as wonderful in my head as it did on my nipple. I don't know if I can explain it better then that."

"Call a note in me let me see if I can feel it. Just be careful to call one very quietly. I was much too heavy handed when I was trying to learn how to do it." Tuyen nodded and closed her eyes again. 

I felt her enter my mind, and for a long time I could feel her presence there, looking and exploring. I could tell she was at my surface thoughts, and I remembered how long it took me to learn to go deeper. I sat patiently then I felt it. It was as though suddenly every nerve in my cock was bathed in pure pleasure for a moment. It was so intense I am surprised I didn't cum right then. At the same time I could feel her in my mind pouring energy in the note of my already excited cock. It was like feeling her intent. I could feel the warm desire from her to make me feel good. 

Her eyes snapped open, and we lay there staring at each other for a moment. She was breathing very fast, and her eyes were bright with excitement. I wanted to lean over and kiss her. I wanted to take her in my arms and make love to her. She smiled then, and I could feel her still in my mind. In inspiration I called her note to me and breathed as gently as I could the note for a soft gentle kiss into existence as I watched her face.

Her eyes widened, and she reached up to gently touch her own smiling lips. I leaned across the six inches between us then, and kissed her gently on the lips. I could feel the note of it vibrate to life in her mind and I softly whispered into its soft hum, feeling Tuyen moan into my mouth. Almost immediately I could feel the sensation of the kiss expand in my mind and make me light headed and dizzy with the pleasure of it. There was also the sensation of feeling her in my mind feeding me pleasure through that note. Tuyen was a fast learner.

We continued to kiss softly as I pulled her soft body into mine. Each kiss was followed by a wave of pleasure as each of us stroked the notes within. It was an odd, but utterly enjoyable sensation to feel Tuyen's intent in my mind, then feel it immediately reflected in my body. The physical sensation alone was almost overwhelming, but add to it the mental intimacy and I felt like I was in a bubble of pleasure.

I ran my hand up and down her side as we kissed, feeling the perfectly smooth warmth of her skin. As I tickled up and down her back and side I held each note that formed until she felt as though five of six sets of hands were gently tickling her body. She arched her back and her tongue drove into my mouth as we kissed. 

Tuyen pulled away from me then and ripped her shirt off exposing her beautiful breasts to me. I immediately lunged down to take one of her hard nipples in my mouth, gently flicking my tongue back and forth across the swollen tip. Tuyen moaned and pulled my head tight against her chest as I sucked her. I poured a gentle trickle of energy into the note that had sprung forth and she writhed beneath me.

At last she pushed me back and her hot mouth attacked both my nipples, sucking and nipping at each in turn. I continued to stimulate the notes of her nipples and the touch on her back as she sucked on me. Finally she pulled away, but I still thrummed with the feel of her hot mouth on my chest, and the dizzy headed kisses we had shared. 

She kissed down my chest and stomach tugging at my boxers until I raised my hips and pulled them off. I could feel the cold air as it hit my cock, and it caused a little shiver to run through me. Like a hunter I could feel her pounce on that note, and sustain it making my whole body tremble with the sustained feeling of that shiver for long moments before she released it. 

"God Tuyen, you're driving me crazy. Please suck me." I begged, my body on fire. 

She looked up at me and smiled. "Do you trust me?" I nodded curious what that sly smile was for. She pulled and then kicked her panties off revealing her shaved pussy to me. She then sat up on her knees and began to play with herself sliding her juices up and down her swollen labia, and then plunging her middle finger deep into herself. I felt the notes spring up as she did this and I poured energy into them causing them to sing loudly in her. She smiled as she felt me take hold of them, and nodded her approval even as the pleasure washed over her. 

Finally she bent over and slid her wet hand up the inside of my thigh, then sliding her wet fingers down into the crack of my ass. I spread my legs and tilted my hips until I felt her wet fingers massaging my asshole. Gently she lubed me with her own juices before pushing her finger slowly into me. I continued to stimulate her notes so she still felt my mouth on her nipples, and the sensation of fingering herself as she slid her finger into me all the way. 

Slowly she began to massage my prostate. I felt electric sparks of pleasure shoot up through my hard cock throbbing inches away from her face as she looked up at me. She smiled now and I felt her take hold of that note within me, stimulating it even as she pulled her finger out of me. I felt like my cock was on fire. 

Tuyen's small hand reach out and grasp my enormous cock in her hand, her fingers felt cool on my hot skin and I twitched as the sensations continued to flood through me from her assault on my notes. She then moved her legs around until she was straddling my face, her beautiful golden shaved skin glistening above me. I could see her twitch as I continued to excite her pussy. Then she lowered her mouth onto my cock, even as I took her swollen pussy into my mouth. 

I sucked her slowly, flicking my tongue back and forth across her swollen lips right above where her clit lay hidden inside them. I poured energy into this note even as I sucked, and I could feel the orgasm beginning to build in her even as it built in me. I held the notes tightly together in her, not wanting her to cum yet, and suddenly I felt the same control from her. I felt like I was riding the crest of the wave without any fear of falling down into the bliss of release. It was maddening, and yet excruciatingly pleasurable. 

Finally, both of us almost mad with need Tuyen almost leap off of me turning around to straddle my glistening cock. She grasped it again with one hand and in one fluid movement she impaled herself on me. The sensation of that hot pussy combined with all the pleasure she was pouring into my mind made my head swim. She paused for only a moment before she began to bounce up and down on my cock with wild abandon. I reached up and pinched both her nipples and just poured energy into the column of sound in her that represented all the combined pleasures of her mind and body. 

Meanwhile she continued to amplify all my sensations, including the strong jolts of pleasure from my prostate. In fact I realized I could still feel the pleasure of her mouth on me as well, even as her hot pussy consumed my cock. I felt like I should have cum a hundred times already, but my body continued to hum like a tight string played to its limit before breaking. 

I looked up into Tuyen's face, and her eyes were glazed over in rapture as she bounced up and down on me. 

"Now Tuyen, let go now." I croaked out, and she nodded, only slightly.

I felt her let go of her control of my notes, even as I released hers and poured as much energy as I dared into them. There was a pause, like a long deep shuttering breath before our pleasure broke over us both. I felt my cock erupt into her as her pussy clamped down on me like a vice. The room swam out of focus as she rocked back and forth on me as her pussy gripped me over and over, and my cock continued to pulse long after all my cum had filled her. How long we floated in that bliss I can't imagine, but when the sensations finally began to recede Tuyen collapsed on me panting in utter exhaustion. 

We lay for long moments in that warm embrace before Tuyen rolled off of me to lie curled on her side facing me, a big smile on her pretty face.

"I can't believe that." She said shaking her head and chuckling. I nodded smiling myself now. 

"I know, with both of us using the gift it seemed to amplify everything that much more. I could feel your intent to give me pleasure even as you gave it to me. It was. . ."

"Incredible." She said as I nodded in agreement.

Her eyes traveled up past me to the wall clock and she sat up quickly. "Oh crap, I'm gonna be late for work." 

"Oh yeah, work." I thought. 

She scrambled out of bed and began to get dressed as I watched her. There was so much to tell her, so much to discuss and she had to leave. 

"Tuyen, before you go I need to see if you can protect yourself." I said with as much calmness as I could in my voice, even still she looked at me gravely and nodded. 

"What do you want me to do?" she said buttoning her pants and sitting on the bed beside me. 

"I want you to envision the plane of thought in your mind." She nodded as she closed her eyes. 

"Okay, got it. It seems to be getting easier." She said with a smile. I filed that away for later consideration.

"Now I want you to imagine you are trying to pull a curtain closed between your consciousness, and all those people and space out there."

She stayed still and I watched her note in my mind. Suddenly it felt as if it dimmed considerably, like it had almost vanished. 

"Wow Mike, what did I just do?" she said opening her eyes to look at me. 

"You shielded your mind." Inside I was ecstatic. She could protect herself, what I had done worked! "You should be able to open it and close it as you see fit. I would keep it at least mostly closed most of the time. That is what I do now that I know Dolkoff is out there."

She nodded and looked grave. I knew neither of us wanted to think about the confrontation that was on the horizon for us, but it was a fact of existence and the sooner we came to terms with it the better. 

"Okay, well I have to go. You gonna be alright? Oh Shit, what about sleeping beauty out there?" 

"Oh god, I forgot! Let's go have a look." I leapt up and pulled on my pants and a tee shirt before heading out into the living room. The man was still asleep.

"I guess he needs his beauty rest. Look I gotta go Mike, call me if you need anything, alright. I'll swing back by tonight and we can talk some more okay?" 

"Okay Tuyen, you be safe and thanks. . .for everything." I said with a coy wink and she laughed.

"You're welcome for everything. See you later." She embraced me, and we shared a long kiss before she disappeared out the door. I turned the deadbolt and turned around to find the man sitting on the couch staring at me. In instinct I slammed my curtain closed and readied a ball of thought to fling at him, but he just sat there staring at me with eyes so dark they looked black. 

"I thought she would never leave. I didn't want to disturb you two. I take it that was the first time you have done that with someone else with the gift?" I nodded too stunned to speak. His voice was rich and smooth, and had a faint accent I could not place.

"Come sit, we need to talk." I stumbled over to a chair and sat opposite him. He looked terrible, like he had been in a bad fight on the loosing end. Dark circles ringed his eyes, and his hair was matted with blood. I decided to start with optimism, why not. I held out my hand to him.

"My name is Mike." He sat for long seconds before he slowly reached out and took my hand in his. The skin was soft and dry, but his grip firm. He did not release my hand as he spoke.

"I am Dimitry, and I think I owe you my life." His eyes were hard, appraising but not cruel.

"You were in a pretty bad way when I found you; Dolkoff had done a real number on you. I think you would have died if I had not helped you. You were certainly. . ." I cut myself off before I could finish the thought.

"Mad?" he said and I nodded "I would have to have been mad to come here, to expect help from my enemy if that is truly what you are. Somehow I doubt that, or I would not be here, no?" his voice trembled a little as he spoke. 

"I'm not your enemy, nor was I Dolkoff's before he started attacking me."

"You exist, and your power is greater then his. That makes you an enemy." His steady voice and completely still posture unnerved me a bit.

"Well regardless, the battle lines are drawn between us now. The question at hand is you Dimitry" He watched me steadily, eyes unblinking for long moments before he spoke, and when the words came they were quieter then before.

"I am not your enemy, not anymore. I don't remember much, but I do remember Dolkoff ripping my mind apart. The rest is madness. For me to be here, and whole, the only answer is that you helped me somehow?" he said

"I healed your mind. I will be honest with you I had never done it before, and I am not sure how well I did it. At least you seem lucid now." I said

"Why? Why did you help me? I attacked you." His voice had risen to its normal level, but there was a note of concern in it now.

"Because I am not a killer, and if I did not try to help, you would have died." I said slowly, answering myself as well as him.

"Dolkoff would have killed me. Anna saved me, though I would have died without your help. I have never been able to protect myself as she and some of the others can." He seemed lost in thought now, his mind looking back for a moment before his eyes came up to meet mine.




The Music of the Mind Ch. 12



"I break with them. You have saved me, and I will serve you." He spoke all this simply and directly. I found myself sitting with my mouth hanging open for several seconds as I collected my thoughts. 

"Dimitry, I don't want any one to serve me. Why don't you try serving yourself for a change?" I said. 

He sat again in silence, his mind churning on my words. His face looked pained, as if he was unable to comprehend what I had said. He truly looked in pain. I found myself calling his note to me, an almost instinctual response to seeing someone hurting. His head snapped up and he looked at me in panic as his note filled my mind. I hastily pushed it away.

"I'm so sorry, god it is just habit to want to help when people are struggling. I didn't mean to intrude. I am not used to being around others with the gift." I said this in a rush, feeling the color rise in my cheeks. Dimitry relaxed back into the couch and regarded me for long moments. I was puzzled though, for in that moment in his mind I had heard a terribly powerful discordant note that was ringing in him like a resonating chime. 

"You are forgiven; after all you are my master now. If you wish to look in my mind I should not stop you, nor do I think I could stop you." He smiled sadly as he said this. 

"Dimitry, I told you I am not your master. I don't want your service; the most I would hope for is your friendship." 

"I do not understand." He said, his brow wrinkling and his face once more bearing that look of pain. I felt the hair rise on the back of my neck. Something was definitely not right here. I wanted desperately to look in his mind again, to seek out that loud note. I had not noticed it last night.

"Dimitry, look I really want to look in your mind again. I think something is wrong. When I was in for only a moment before I heard a terrible sound, I want to make sure I didn't break anything. Would you let me?" 

"Of course, as I said you are my master now." He said softly.

I wanted to argue, but instead I merely nodded, and called his note to me. I saw him jump, then he closed his eyes and leaned back on the couch. The note was all through him, ringing like nails on a chalk board. 

I let my consciousness fall through the layers of his mind seeking it. It was deep, but not so deep as the instrument, or the primal sounds. When I found it, I felt like I was watching a blaze of sound that waved before me like a bonfire. 

I had begun to realize, that at the lower levels of the mind were certain areas where the music generated by the great instrument of the mind burst forth. As I watched this sound, I had the distinct feeling that this sat on one of those areas. The longer I observed it, the more certain I became that it was not natural either.

I felt my way into it, the pain of it hitting my like a physical blow. It was surprising to me how pure it was actually, and how ugly. It was a single principle captured in thought. It was simple, and it horrified me. It said: 

"You must serve. There is no you, without your leader. You must serve."

I pushed away from this note, this sound of subservience. I wanted to rage, to scream out at it, this blasphemy against human spirit. I reached out and tried to still it. I poured all the force I could into it, and it barely affected it. I felt the rage in me building. With one last attempt I wrestled with this sound, and still it screamed on. 

I pulled back from it them, now deadly calm. I had to think, this was not a problem for brute force. I began to examine the space around me, and I them noticed it was unusually quiet. Few other notes rang from this part of his mind. The more I listened to that quiet around me I became aware of a tremendous pressure around me. 

Then I felt it. Imagine if you will that the mind has many layers of thought, and that each acts as a kind of membrane that transmits thoughts from the deep origins of the mind, from that great instrument of thought. I realized I was looking at a terrible scar on the membrane that transmitted though here. 

Behind this scar was a tremendous amount of pent up thought, but when it hit this scar all the energy that filtered through it was transformed, and took on its message. Any thoughts that would come through this area were stifled. It made the fury burn in me again, that anyone would do this to someone.

I reached out, and I tried to sooth that scar. Much like I had healed and reattached the strings, I began to generate sound in counterpoint to the terrible noise of the note that rose from it. Slowly it began to smooth, to fade away. It felt like it took a terribly long time, and I think far more energy then when I had healed Dimitry the night before. 

Finally, when I could feel the scar was gone, the terrible noise faded and the space around me rang with silence. Then I felt the pressure again, and I could feel a tremendous amount of sound building beneath me. It was like standing on the dome of a volcano that was about to erupt. I fled then. I admit I ran in fear like a child. 

As I came to his surface thoughts, and I could interact with the room around me I saw Dimitry sitting staring at me with wide eyes. His face was one of pure fear, of absolute animal panic. I poured notes of calming into him as I spoke.

"Dimitry, I have healed another problem in your mind, but it has held in a lot of thought for a long time. It is going to come out now. I will help you, please trust me." 

He nodded and then the first wave hit.. I felt it rise up through his mind like a scream. A hundred notes of intense sound poured around me. I was already exhausted, but I poured calming and comforting sound into him. I tried to still the notes that raged the loudest.

Pictures and feeling and distant memories flitted past me. Dolkoff had put this command in very young, and every thought of rebellion, every injustice, every horrible emotional wound he had inflicted on this boy, his son, poured out of him now. The tides of adolescence and the throws of early adulthood independence were all here in his mind, bottled up like the genie in its prison.

How long the barrage went on, or how much I helped him I don't know. At some point I realized I was on the couch beside Dimitry holding him like a son or brother as his body was wracked with sobs, and screams of anger and outrage. Imagine if you will all the pain of growing independence happening to you at once. 

The sound did not stop abruptly, but can in shorter and shorter fits and spurts. It was like watching the mind regurgitate a great gout of toxic thought that had been too long pent up. When the storm finally wound down entirely Dimitry slumped into a deep dreamless sleep in utter exhaustion, and I at last allowed myself to exit his mind. 

I was tired like I had never been before in my life. The colors and the objects in my home swam into and out of focus. Unable to stand I slid to the floor beside the couch, and felt sleep overtaking me. The clock on the wall read three pm, and my last conscious thought was that I had not opened the store today. . .

I came awake with a start. The light in the room reminded me of the morning as the golden rays of the setting sun now slanted through my western windows and across the room. I pushed my body erect leaning against the couch as I looked around. I was still tired, but clear headed now. It was a little after five now, and Dimitry still slept on the couch behind me. I held my head in my hands and gently rubbed my temples. 

"Not to self, don't unleash a lifetime of pent up thought all at once ever again." I thought.

I could only imagine what kind of hell that had been for Dimitry to experience. All those memories so fresh in his mind, and all at once. I felt horrible. I pulled his note to me, and was surprised to find his mind remarkably calm. Like the mountains after a thunderstorm, clear and bright and still. The memories of the event were more prominent then the ones that had been released. The old memories seemed to be quickly fading into the background, as if they were actively seeking the place, in the mind, they should live if they should at all.

The memories of the torment I stilled and tried to push to a more distant place. He had enough to deal with without that haunting him. Finally I visited the site of the scar, and could find no trace of it. Now, even though his mind was dreaming, I could feel the notes begin in this place. Notes of independent thought, of will, of ego, of self-reliance. I strengthened what I could and then left, already feeling my fatigue again. 

I pushed his note from my mind and struggled up and into the kitchen. I was tired, but also very hungry. I thought about Dimitry, and my thoughts drifted to the tattered curtain in his mind. I began to make Mac and Cheese as I wondered if it could be healed. God, hadn't I mucked around in his mind enough I thought.

Twenty minutes later I carried a tray with two large bowls of Kraft Dinner, a large pot of coffee, two mugs, and a couple bottles of water back out to the living room. After setting it on the coffee table, I reached down and gently shook Dimitry's shoulder. 

"Hey, wake up and eat something." I said and his eyes slowly cracked open.

I sat and grabbed my bowl and started shoveling the food down. It took my guest a few minutes to wake enough to sit up unsteadily, and then begin to eat. We ate in silence until both of us had cleaned our plates and started on the coffee before he spoke.

"What did you do to me?" his voice was haunted with the memory of the pain.

"I healed a scar in your mind. I am sorry for the pain and the memories; I didn't know it would do that if I healed it." I said watching his eyes.

"A scar? I don't understand." 

"When you were a child I think, Dolkoff scarred your mind to make you more obedient. To take away your free will he shut off your ability to think thoughts that lead to rebellion or independence. I removed the scar and all the thoughts that were bottled up beneath it came bursting out. I'm so sorry for the pain it caused you. I tried to help as much as I could."

He nodded his head and sat looking at the steaming coffee for long minutes. Finally when he looked up at me his eyes were brimming with tears, and the stoic expression he had worn had vanished now beneath a look of great sadness.

"I hate him. I hate what he has done to me and my sister our whole lives. God I hate him." As he spoke the tears flowed down his face and he began to tremble. I wanted to comfort him, but something told me that these at least, were healthy tears. 

For the next two hours he sat and cried and bit by bit he told of his childhood, of the training, of the terrible cruelty of his father. I let him speak, I nodded when he looked for a response, but mostly I let it all come out. When he finished he sat for a time as his body slowly came back under his control. When he finally looked up at me he smiled, a genuine smile and it was as though many of the burdens of his life that had been lined in his face vanished.

"How do you feel?" I asked quietly and he shook his head still smiling.

"I don't really know to tell you the truth. I feel like I have awoken from a bad dream to find the landscape of my life is all changed. I feel like everything I have believed is now suspect." He looked at me a long moment before going on. "I feel like a boat cast adrift out of sight of land, and with no stars to guide me."

"Well, you do have a couple things going for you." I said

"Oh yeah?" He raised his eyebrows as he looked questioningly at me.

"Yeah. First you're not dead. Second, as hard as it is to feel like you don't have anything to hold onto, at least now your life and your mind are your own."

"You think so? I think when I leave here it will not take my father long to find me, and when he does not even Anna will be able to help me." He said

"No, but I might be able too." His eyes found mine and we looked hard at each other as if trying to see into one another. "But I prefer to help friends."

He sat for a long time looking at his hands. There was still blood dried in places on one, and he rubbed at it absentmindedly for a minute as his mind worked. I could almost see him come to a decision as his shoulders squared, and his jaw clinched.

"I would like to be your friend I think, but I have to find my own way first. I feel like I don't know who I am anymore. I will promise you though, that I will never return to being your enemy." I nodded as he finished speaking. 

"Before you go then, I would like to offer you a few last bits of help, if you would allow me too?"

"I have nothing; I am in no position to refuse your help."

"I think I can repair the curtain in your mind that would allow you to shield yourself. It will give you at least a fighting chance against your father. I can also give you some money if you need it, and offer you my shower and some clean clothes." It was hard to read the expression on his face as he sat looking at me.

"If you can give me the protection I have always lived without, I would be more grateful then you know. The other things are trivial compared to that, but I will take them as well for as I said, I have nothing." I nodded. 

"Well, let me see what I can do. No time like the present huh?" I smiled trying to lighten the tension, though my stomach suddenly felt like it was tied in knots. Dimitry simply nodded.

I called his note to me and sank quickly into the depths of his mind. Again it felt like a long trip to reach the instrument of his mind. It was humming and singing now softly as it pushed his thoughts up through the layers of his consciousness. It was simply beautiful to behold in operation. 

I found the tattered corner of the curtain, and began to pull it together with the piece next to it. It hummed, and I added my note to fuse them together. As I worked it became clear that the whole curtain was here, it was just in tatters. The more I stitched it back together, the easier it became, and I remembered my own curtain reforming in the heat of my battle with Dolkoff. Perhaps if I could get it far enough along it would heal on its own.

As I worked I freed the stuck edges on three sides as I had done in Tuyen's mind, to make sure he could open and close it. Compared to the other things I had endured and done this day it felt like a simple task. Finally as I finished, I rose back up to consciousness, and pushed his note from my mind. 

The room swam as I felt the dizziness of fatigue rush over me and I grabbed the arms of the chair to steady myself. Dimitry sat with his eyes closed, and a slight smile on his lips. I could feel his note dimming and brightening before me in my mind. I guess it had worked. Finally it dimmed almost to nothing, and he opened his eyes to look at me. 

"I can not thank you enough for this gift. You have given me back my life, and now you give me the chance at a future. There is nothing I can do to repay these gifts now, but one day I will." He said his voice husky with emotion.

"You owe me nothing." I said smiling now as my energy began to return.

I showed him the shower and took his cloths to the washing machine. An hour later he was dressed in clean clothes with a small suitcase of my clothes that I thought might fit him, and ten thousand dollars courtesy of the genie's wallet in his pocket. He left hastily then, with only a handshake and a soft nod of his head. I think we both felt awkward in each others presence after what we had just been through.

Minutes later I found myself sitting on the couch looking at the clock which read 7:15pm when suddenly I realized, "Where the heck was Tuyen?" 



The Music of the Mind Ch. 13



Chapter 13: Enemies and Allies 

I had expected Tuyen hours ago. The time I spent with Dimitry had been much longer then I had anticipated, but then again everything associated with the gift seemed to get messier then I expected. I felt fear begin to gnaw at my gut as I sat on the couch and waited. 

I tried to reach out to her note, but when I called to it nothing happened. I began to panic until it dawned on me I may not be able to call a note that is shielded. To test this I tried to call Dimity's note, and found nothing there but silence as well. Though the macabre thought did occur to me that they could both be dead. This I pushed away as something to difficult to even contemplate.

I think it is a common trait of men that when threatened with uncertainty we tend to overreact, and that the overreaction tends toward the melodramatic hero end of the scale of behaviors. I had an hour or two where I was captured by my own fears, and panic. But as I forced myself not to charge out the door with a machinegun ready to storm the hill of my undefined enemy, I began to calm and think things through. 

Tuyen was a grown woman, and hopefully not on Dolkoff's radar yet. I had gained a lot of insight from Dimitry's mind on just how arrogant Dolkoff was, and I wondered if he would even think I could free someone's gift as he could. After all, I didn't believe it of myself until I did it.

I called Tuyen's cell and left a message to call me when she got it, and then settled down on the couch to watch "Equilibrium" for the tenth time. Somewhere in the middle I slipped into dreams of Gun Katta and burning books.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I woke the next morning sprawled on the couch with the TV still on, and a horrible crick in my neck. I must have been more fatigued then I thought to have passed out like that. I stumbled to the kitchen still rubbing my neck to make some coffee. After banging around for 10 minutes with still no coffee to show for my efforts I decided to go to plan b and head down to the grind after a quick shower. 

The hot water and soap helped immensely in returning me to some level of consciousness higher then what I had been operating at, which was somewhere close to reptilian. It was only after I was dressed that I remembered Tuyen, and I picked up my phone to hear the distinctive dial tone pulse meaning I had a message. I called my voice mail and Tuyen's voice purred out.

"Hey Mike, sorry if I worried you, I'm fine. Well I'm better then fine, I can't believe this gift. I have some interesting news too, but it will have to wait until I can see you. Anyway, I'll call you later. Take care."

I erased the message with tremendous flood of relief. It suddenly hit all the way home the amount of danger I had just placed Tuyen in, and a wave of guilt washed over me. What right did I have to include her in this mess? I thought on this as I walked down to the grind, the cool morning air bringing me the rest of the way awake. 

Tuyen was a friend, a real friend. She knew the risks, and she took them willingly, with full knowledge of what it meant. I knew I couldn't get through this alone, but I was still hated the idea of involving my friends. I hated the idea of seeing any of them hurt.

The Grind was crowded, but Wendy spotted me in back and waved before pointing me to a table still empty in the corner. I felt like a celebrity as about 5 minutes later she brought me my coffee along with her nice smile. 

"Hey Mike, here's your bean."

"Thanks Wendy, how are you this morning?" I said looking into her sparkling eyes.

"Crushed! I got to get back there. I'll try to see you later. Maybe I can swing by the store again around lunch." She winked at me and bit her lip as she walked away. 

God she was sexy, but I really needed to get a handle on things with her. If I let this go on too long we were both going to get hurt. 

I walked the rest of the way to the store, taking my time and enjoying my coffee. It was starting to get cold when I unlocked the place and went in to get things going for the day. The store was comforting in some way, and I found myself falling into the routine of the day easily.

I talked to my boss later in the morning, and apologized for my inconsistency in operating the store lately. He assured me he understood, and that if I need time off to just get some temporary help to help me run the store for the next few weeks to take the pressure off. 

I spent the rest of the morning calling people who had worked for me during busy times before, until I found someone willing to work full time and I arranged for them to come in tomrrow. I wanted the freedom to take care of Dolkoff without worrying about the store for a few weeks. Well, that is assuming I could take care of Dolkoff.

As lunch approach I ordered another pizza, and found myself watching the clock wondering if I would have company to finish it again. I had almost given up hope that Wendy was going to make it for lunch when the bell over the door rang. I stood up behind the counter, a smile spreading on my face. In instinct I reached out for her note and found nothing but silence. 

Fear raced through me and I slammed the curtains down around my mind, my heart racing. She appeared around the pile of furniture in the center of the store. It was Dimitry's sister. Her black hair hung straight down across her white blouse. She walked slowly, but without fear directly toward me. I found myself drawn to her eyes, for they blazed with such hatred, such pure vengeance that I had to stop myself from taking a step back. It was a strange contrast to see such hatred contained in such a lovely face.

Why did these people hate me so? I had not come into there world and attacked them. I found it hard to comprehend that my mere existence so threatened them that they were willing to destroy their own family in the attempt to destroy me. 

She stopped five feet from the counter, her green eyes burning into me. As I opened my mouth to speak her first wave of thought hit me. It was like a tsunami of thought coming off her and breaking against my mind. Wave after wave of sound poured from her and almost through a haze I saw her lips curled back in a snarl of rage.

I fought to regain my equilibrium, and to hold my defenses together. I could feel the emotion in those thoughts even through my defenses. They were pure rage, pain, and loss. My defenses were weakening under her attack. I had not been prepared for the sheer ferocity of her attack.

I reached deep into my reserves then and pulled a tight ball of sound into my mind with the single thought "stop". I poured energy into it barely holding my shield up as I did so. At last I threw it at her with all the force I could muster. It spun across the plane of my mind like a blue ball of singing electricity. 

It struck her and punched through her shield like an armor piercing bullet. I saw her stagger in front of me as the thought poured through her. Her assault faltered and stuttered to a stop, and I felt my curtain quickly settle and repair in the sudden silence. Instead of pressing my attack I held up my hands palm out to her. 

"Wait, hold on!" I shouted at her. 

Her lip curled back again and she trembled in front of me. I knew my thought was already beginning to wear off, but she did not resume her attack. 

"Why should I wait! I do not wait on vermin to cross the road in front of me, I shall not wait for you." She was almost panting now from rage, and I could almost feel the tension in her .

"I am not your enemy, please let's talk." I pleaded with her.

"Not my enemy!" she screamed. "You killed my brother and I shall have your blood!"

The thoughts that hit me then were of such intensity that I felt small rips in my defenses at several places at once. I struggled to hold, to form a thought to throw at her, to defend myself but her assault was overwhelming. I staggered back tripping over the stool behind the counter and crashing into the small desk there. A look of triumph was on her face as her energies smashed into me. 

Some small part of my mind thought how ironic it was that I was about to be defeated by a woman who thought I had killed her brother when I had helped him. With that thought a single image rose to the surface of my brain. It was of Dimitry grasping my hand with that small smile of his on his face. It was an image of our beginning friendship, of the beginnings of respect, and his first tenuous steps back toward trust. 

Then, once again my instincts stepped in and took over for me. Until now I had tried projecting single thoughts, or emotions in my balls of thought. Now, I took that memory like a photograph, and placed it into a ball of energy. It was like a time capsule, but this photo also contained a snapshot of what I was feeling at that moment. 

As my curtain began to tear asunder from that terrible onslaught I threw it at her with every bit of panic and desire to survive I contained. I disappeared into her like the last, cutting through her defenses and vanishing into the column of her sound in the plane of my mind.

Her attack faltered for only a moment before I saw her eyes blaze again, and her jaw clench.

"Liar!" she screamed and her thought pounded into my failing defenses again. In desperation I began to fling every image that came to mind at her one after the other. A image of her brother bleeding on my couch and my concern for him. The image and feelings I had after I had tried to heal his mind. The image of us sitting and talking yesterday morning. 

As each thought struck her the attacks from her slowed. She was shaking her head now, and I continued to fire more thought photos at her. The image of Dimity and I eating Mac and cheese and talking. Dimity raging against his father in despair and hatred. Me handing Dimity the role of money and the suitcase after he was cleaned up. 

With that last image her assault faltered and stopped and she began to shake as she stood facing me. Her whole body trembling like a dry leaf the moment before the wind strips it from it's branch. She continued to shake her head, as she tried to back away.

She stumbled and fell to the floor as tears began to trace down her golden face. I stumbled out from behind the counter and knelt on the floor a few feet away from her. I was trembling from adrenaline and fatigue.

"He is alive. I swear it, he was alive when we parted ways yesterday morning. Your father tried to kill him for failing to kill me. I just tired to help him." 

She began to sob in earnest now, and the tears rolled down her face. She hugged her legs to herself and looked at me. She shook her head again.

"I can't find his note, he must be... he must be..." 

"I repaired his defenses. You can't find his note because he is shielded." 

Her eyes widened before her whole face narrowed in suspicion. I called the memory of him opening and closing the curtain of his defenses in front of me and fired it into her. I wished I could trust her, that I could show her this without force. 

Her body bucked as the thought disappeared into her and she began to calm and her sobbing quieted, though tears still rolled down her face. She watched me in silence for a few moments then, her green eyes red and swollen.

"Why would you help him?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper. Though I could not read her mind, the distrust and disbelief were etched in her face, and I thought I knew how much even asking that question cost her.

"He asked me the same question, and I will tell you what I told him, because I am not a killer. Because I did not wish him to be my enemy in the first place. Because he came seeking my help. Mainly because it felt like the right thing to do." my voice barely a whisper.

She sat there staring at me, as if she looked hard enough she could see into my mind to see if I was telling the truth. I sat with her for a moment before slowly climbing to my feet. I held my hand out to her.

"I need not be your enemy either." I said, then added as the memory of Dimity's mental scar was still fresh on my mind. "Nor do I wish to control you, or anyone for that matter."

She looked at my out stretched hand for a few seconds before climbing to her feet on her own. I let my hand slowly fall back to my side. Standing this close to her I realized how small she was, maybe only 4'10" and very slender.Like a child almost. She seemed so fragile to me at that moment, till I remembered that she had very nearly killed me. 

We stood like that facing each other for what seemed an eternity before she turned and walked toward the front door. 

"My name is Mike by the way." I said to her back. She stopped but did not turn.

"Anna." Her voice was soft, with perhaps a touch of a Slovak accent. She moved forward abruptly then and vanished behind the furniture in the middle of the store, and I heard the door bell chime as she left. I made a mental note to rearrange the damn store so I could see the front door from the counter.

I walked back to slump on my stool my mind racing while my body felt as if I needed about a 6 hour nap. Anna, Dimity's sister, had very nearly killed me and that puzzled me. When we had fought before I had not felt anything like that power from her. How could she have increased in power so dramatically?

I thought through all the aspects of our encounter and only one thing made any sense to me. Her level of emotion and commitment to the battle was the difference. I think the best way to describe what happened is like this; if you give a very average or mediocre instrument to a great musician and they play it with every ounce of passion they have, the music they produce will be amazing regardless of what level of instrument made it.

She had all the love and loss of her brother to drive her in our confrontation, and she played with absolute abandon. she had also been using her gift for a lot longer then I had. I did not want to hurt her, and so even though my instrument is superior, my playing was without passion or conviction. The divide between our passion, so to speak, was what nearly cost me my life. I realized that when I confronted Dolkoff, I couldn't have any doubts.

The bell over the front door jingled again and I felt my whole body go ridged with adrenaline. What now I thought. I waited for a few moments cursing the pile of junk blocking my view when I saw a small face appear from around the large armoire on the right side of the store. It was Meg. 

When she saw me her face broke into a grin and she walked quickly up toward the counter. As she got closer her smile faded to be replaced by a look of concern.

"Hi Mike, I thought I would drop by and say hello. You look really pale, are you okay?"

"Ummm, yeah Meg I'm fine, just got off the phone with an irate customer is all. You look great, how are you doing?" I said with sincerity trying to pull myself together. She was dressed in jeans and a big white cable knit sweater that both hid and highlighted her small frame and round breasts. The small amount of makeup she had on accented her face, and her hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Amazing what a shower and a few days rest could do.

"Thanks Mike, I am doing okay. I am feeling much better. So this is where you work?" she said looking around as she stuffed her hands into her pockets. I could see she felt uncomfortable now that she was here. I called her note to me and I felt her anxiety and trepidation, she wanted to ask me something but she felt afraid and unsure of herself now. I rang notes of calming and friendship in her.

"Yeah, this is the place. I am so glad you stopped by, I have been thinking about you wondering how you were doing." I felt her fears ease almost more from my words then from the notes I had struck in her. I walked around and sat on one of the stools and patted the one next to me. "Pull up a chair." I said smiling.

She smiled back as she sat. "Thanks Mike." She said still nervous. I poured more reassurance into her as we sat and chatted.

She talked about her parents, and how supportive they were, she had also been to see Ellen, and raved at how much she had helped her. I could sense that there was something else there tied up with her sessions with Ellen and the reason for this visit, but I didn't dig for it. I didn't mind reading surface emotions so that I could help her feel comfortable, but digging into her thoughts felt like to much of an intrusion.

We talked for about an hour before she finally worked up the courage to ask me what she had come here for. She had started to fidget rather badly and I could tell she knew she had to ask me, now or never. I poured feelings of confidence into her but even still it seemed to be difficult for her.

"Mike, I ummm,...I was wondering if you would like to have diner with me?" she blushed a deep red as she said this and I felt the stress in her rise even higher. "I mean as friends not as a date, I mean I don't have any friends around here, I mean not that I wouldn't go on a date with you, I..I.." she looked completely flummoxed as this all rushed out in a jumble. 

"I would love to." I said cutting her off before she could dig her hole any deeper. She stopped in mid sentence her mouth still open slightly, then she smiled. "Just as friends is fine with me." I added smiling back. She giggled a very cute giggle. I couldn't believe this beautiful girl was the same one I had driven home form the hospital only a few day ago. 

"Okay, great. How about tomorrow night?" she asked, her eyebrows aching up. 

"Sounds good, You want me to pick you up?" I asked.

"Yeah, that would be great since you already know where I live. How about seven?" she said biting her lip. I could feel that her mannerisms were genuine, that she wasn't being coy, only nervous.

"Okay seven on Wednesday night it is!" I said smiling. She slipped off her stool and gave me a hug. I pushed her note away from me as she did, and tried not to notice how nice her breasts felt against me through that soft sweater.

"Okay Mike, see you tomorrow. I better go, I have a class to teach, sorry for taking up so much of your time."

"It was my pleasure, your welcome to come by and take up as much of my time as you like when ever you like." I said still smiling. She nodded and gave me a little wave as she walked around the pile of odds and ends and out of the store.

After that the rest of the day went by in a flash, and I decided to close up at 4 to head home before the crunch hit at the grind. I walked over and up the Mall past the shops. There was a large crowd of people around Cynthia's bookstore, and a sign that had a picture of one of the Denver Bronco's on it and the words Autographs Today! printed on it in bold type. I smiled, looks like the ex might be pulling a few strings for Cynthia

The Grind only had a few customers in the store when I walked in, and Kelly and Wendy were leaning against the counter talking. Wendy smiled when she saw me as I walked up to the counter. 

"Hello Ladies." I said smiling. Kelly just smiled and seemed to be appraising me.

"Hey Mike! Sorry I missed you earlier, Jen got sick and I had to help Kell cover the lunch madness." She said feigning a little pout. 

"It's okay, I missed you but I was really busy this afternoon anyway, so I probably wouldn't have been very good company." Kelly was busy making my coffee as Wendy and I talked.

"Well I don't know about that." She said with a wink. I chuckled.

"Well thanks Wendy. How much longer do you have before your off?" 

"Two hours, then I am going to a show down Denver way. You wanna come?" She said with raised eyebrows.

"Thanks, but not tonight." She nodded and Kelly brought up my drink. I paid, stuffed some cash in the tip jar and headed out and home.




The Music of the Mind Ch. 13



As I walked up the walk to my town home I got that feeling you get when something just isn't right. You know, the feeling that makes you walk a little faster to your car in the parking lot late at night, or look around to see who is staring at you in the crowded restaurant. I call it Spidey sense, but I think maybe all of us are aware on some other levels beside the conscious mind. 

Regardless, I felt the hair rise on the back of my neck and goose bumps ran down my arms. I pulled my defenses more closely around my mind and walked slowly up the last 50 feet to my front door. I could hear faint music coming from Jill's next door. As I approached my door I saw it stood ajar several inches, the interior of my place so dark the crack was just a dark line. 

I pushed the door open with my toe letting light spill inside from the light on the walk. Debris littered the floor, a little vignette captured in that small frame of light. I reached inside and flipped the light switch as I pulled a tight ball of thought together in me. The snap of the light switch made me jump, and crazy light filled the room from the broken floor lamp next to the front door.

I steeped in and pushed the door closed behind me as rage began to burn through me. To say my place was trashed would be like calling the Titanic's impact with the iceberg a little ding. 

The cushions on the couch had been torn open the stuffing scatered, the furniture smashed and broken. I walked past my overturned dining table and flipped the switch outside the kitchen turning the big florescent overhead light on. If anything the additional light made everything look worse. 

I walked toward my bedroom, my mind still clamped shut and holding a spinning ball of sound ready. The rest of my home was in as bad or worse shape then the living area, but the place was empty. I finally let the ball of thought dissipate, but I did not lower my defenses.

"Why the hell had they done this?" I thought. Then it hit me, fear. I had nothing they wanted, and the damage looked more to the purpose of simple destruction then as if they were searching for something. My TV was smashed, not stolen. My computer destroyed, not taken. 

Dolkoff ruled his subjects through fear and brute force, this was just his style. He wanted me afraid, to feel vulnerable. He wanted me weak, and helpless like all the others he had bent to his will in his unnaturally long life. The anger burned in me, and then I thought of Tuyen.

I dug my cell phone out of my pocket and called her cell. I stood looking at the destruction of my home as the phone rang into my ear. They had destroyed my photo albums, my books, and all the little mementos we collect over our lives. On the third ring I heard Tuyen's musical voice and I almost cried out in relief.

"Hey Mike, what's up?" 

"Tuyen are you okay? Where are you?" I said in a rush.

"I'm fine Mike. I'm at home, what's wrong." I could hear the worry creeping into her voice. 

"They trashed my house. Look, Tuyen keep your defenses up and get over here okay?" I said trying to keep the strain out of my voice.

"Oh shit! Okay, I'll be there in 45 minutes, traffic will be murder this time of day."

"Okay, great. I'll see you then, and Tuyen be careful for gods sake." I said as I looked at the soil from my potted plants ground into the carpet.

"I will, hold tight Mike. I'll be there soon."

After we said goodbye and hung up I walked to the kitchen to check the damage. All the food from the fridge had been thrown on the floor, and most of my dishes had been broken and the dry goods scattered. 

As I walked in I brushed by my small glass toped breakfast table that lay on it's side. The glass top must have been precariously perched for it teatered precariously for a moment then fell over and shattered on the floor with a noise to wake the dead. It very nearly scared me out of my skin. 

I looked in vain for a water glass that wasn't broken cursing myself for not buying plastic. I heard Jill's voice from the other room cut through the anger and fog in my brain. 

"Oh my god! Mike are you in here? Mike!?" her voice sounded hysterical. I jumped over the debris in my kitchen calling out to her as I moved. "Jill I'm in here, hold on." I shouted.

She was standing just inside the door looking absolutely terrified. 

"Mike what happened? My god your place. I heard a crash, I though you might be hurt or something. Have you called the police?" I crunched my way through the mess and wrapped her in my arms.

"I'm okay Jill, someone just trashed the place. The police have already come and gone." I said regretting the lie, but not wanting to drag her into this mess. 

"What did they say? God Mike your stuff." She said looking around still shocked. 

"I know, look lets go over to your place okay, there is no place to sit here." 

She nodded and a few tears rolled down her face. At that moment I wanted nothing more then to just hold her and kiss those tears off her beautiful face. She turned and I followed her out shutting my door behind me. I didn't lock it, I figured why bother now. What I was really worried about was what I was going to tell Jill.

As I followed her into her place I text messaged Tuyen telling her I was next door now. I didn't want her to get there and not find me, and I doubt I could find anything in my place to leave her a note. 

I closed Jill's door and turned to be captured in a bear hug from her. I could smell the sweet scent of her hair, and feel her wet cheek on my neck. For a moment all my worry and fear faded away. 

She pulled back slightly then, looking at my face. "God Mike I am so sorry, what are you going to do? 

I had to resist the urge to kiss her in that moment, and as I pulled away from her arms I felt like I wanted to kick myself for resisting. 

"Well, I guess I'll buy an extra large box of trash bags, hire a made service, get a new alarm system put in, and maybe order a pizza for dinner tonight since I think cooking might be difficult in my kitchen at the moment.." I said with as much a cavalier attitude as I could.

Jill snorted a small laugh and smiled and I felt my heart warm. "I'm serious Mike, all your stuff, I mean..." she just shook her head for a lack of words. I walked over to the couch and plopped down as she took her favorite chair. God how many movies had I watch on this couch with her, how many late night discussions. 

"I am serious Jill, there is nothing more I can really do. The police think it was some gang kids I threw out of the store the other week getting revenge. They may or may not catch anyone. Either way I can't let myself be made a victim by this."

She sat looking at me for a few moments before she started to smile. "Mike you never cease to amaze me. Your right of course, but still aren't you upset?" She asked clutching a pillow to her chest.

"Hell yes I'm upset, and mad as hell too." I said trying to keep my voice down. "But again what am I supposed to do?"

There was a quick nock at Jill's front door and Tuyen poked her head in. 

"Hey guys." She said as she saw us and walked in. Ellen and Suzan followed her. Damn, what were they doing here too? "We looked at your place as we came up Mike, those assholes really did a number on it." Tuyen said.

"Mike are you hurt?" Suzan said as she crossed the room to sit by me. I noticed she had been holding Ellen's hand a moment before. 

"I'm fine guys, I just found it when I got home. They were long gone by then." Ellen came over and dropped down on the other side while Tuyen stood by Jill's chair. "What are you guys doing here anyway?"

"Tuyen called us, said it was an emergency and we met her here." Suzan said. I looked up at Tuyen and she just nodded, no smile on her face. Ellen was gently running her hand up and down my back. She spoke softly then, and I could almost hear her therapist voice come out.

"Everything will be okay Mike. This is a terrible violation, it is okay if your feeling upset." A laugh bust out of me then completely out of my control. 

"Upset doesn't begin to cover how I feel right now." I said still chuckling. The girls all smiled, all except for Tuyen.

"Do you know who did it? What about the police?" Suzan asked next to me.

"Police have come and gone, probably some gang kids I threw out of my store the other day getting some revenge. Guess they must have looked me up in the white pages. Nothing much anyone can do about it I guess." I said as earnestly as I could manage.

"Bullshit!" Tuyen shouted, and all eyes in the room turned to her. "I'm sorry Mike, I know you want to protect all of us but you are going to need all our help, you have to tell them. We can't do this alone!"

Tuyen stood staring at me, her eyes blazing and hands on her hips. The room was dead silent then as Jill looked from Tuyen to me.

"What does she mean you two need our help?" Jill asked and I saw the red rise in her face. I dropped my curtain enough to call her note to me. Her mind was in turmoil from my apartment, but she was also now beset with hurt wondering what Tuyen meant when she said "we".

"Jill, look I..." I stumbled over my words looking from her to Ellen and Suzan. 

"Mike if you don't tell them I will." Tuyen said softly. I looked up at her and her eyes were hard. I nodded dropping my gaze for a moment to think when she spoke again. She took my nod for ascent for her to tell, not as a sign that I would. 

"Mike is under attack by a cult of mind controlling crazies. They want to kill him because he has mental powers greater then their leaders, and there leader is a real nut. He tried to kill his own son for failing to kill Mike, but Mike helped him and now he is an allie, I guess?" She said the last statement with a tome of questioning as she looked at me. I nodded at her yes. 

Jill, Ellen, and Suzan all just sat there looking from Tuyen to me. Man I was so screwed I thought. Ellen spoke first.

"Have you two completely lost your minds?" she said with a slight smile. She clearly thought we were putting them on. Suzan began to smile then thinking it a joke, but Jill was staring at me her face closed. I was going to have to prove it to them, and I only knew of one way to do that. 

"Tuyen, lower your defenses to me." I said quietly. She nodded and I felt her note spring to life in front of me in my mind. I called all four of their minds to me then, just their surface thoughts. I did not try to read them, I only held them in my mind. 

I thought of the images I had shot one by one at Anna the other day, and wondered if I couldn't share a more fluid image with our minds linked like this. I called to my mind the image of the genie in the store. I let it ring though their minds with mine. I was so deep in concentration I barely heard the gasps from the girls around me. 

I let the image replay through my mind. The opening of the box, the genie and it's strangeness, the long hours of research, and then freeing it. As I thought through it I realized the memory had almost a life of it's own, that the girls were almost pulling it from me now. 

I thought of the hospital, and the first discoveries of the gift. I thought of my encounter with Cynthia, and my attempt to help her and the trouble it had caused. I steered my mind away from the sex with her, and with Tuyen, I did not want to share that, especially with Jill.

I replayed the events at the club, my frantic search for the girl, and my brutal treatment of the attacker. I remembered how I tried to help Meg, and how I had nearly let the events crush me until I met with Meg at the hospital.

I let the encounter with Anna that first time replay through my mind, and then the later attack. Then I thought through the discovery of Dimitry on my couch, and healing him. I replayed Tuyen talking me into trying to open her mind, the genie's prophecy that I would need help. Last I replayed my encounter with Anna again today, and then coming home to my apartment. 

I pushed there minds away then and returned to awareness. I could see Jill's shocked face across from me as immense fatigue washed over me. I felt the room swim out of focus and I heard Suzan's voice beside me as if through deep water. "He's going to faint!" The darkness rushed over me and with my last conscious thought I drew my curtain tightly closed across my mind.



The Music of the Mind Ch. 14



Chapter 14: The Bridge of Sound

"My head hurts." Was the first conscious thought that drifted down through the fog of my mind. I pried my eyes open and dim light filled my vision. Slowly my thoughts began to assemble themselves into some kind of order as I looked up at a beautiful wood ceiling. Where the heck was I? 

I remembered my apartment, the confrontation with the girls, and then nothing. I must have blacked out, though I was amazed that just channeling information like that could have exhausted me so much. Then again, I had been using the gift a rather excessive amount in the last 24 hours. 

I slowly lifted my head and looked around. I was in a nicely furnished room; that had that distinct feel of someone's guest room. You know what I'm talking about, a room that is a little too clean, and containing all the knickknacks that were to tacky to put in the rest of the house, but seemed to fit as homey touches in a guest bedroom. 

I sat up slowly and found to my relief that I felt fine, though still a little tired. There was no clock in the room, and I never used a watch, instead relying on my cell phone for a timepiece. My clothes were nowhere to be seen as I sat on the edge of the bed in a pair of sweat pants that only came down to my calf. 

The first order of business was to figure out where I was, though since I had collapsed in the presence of my four best friends I wasn't too worried. I pulled back the curtain of my mind, and let the notes around me come into focus. There were two that were close and I recognized them as I pulled them closer. Suzan and Ellen. 

Their notes seemed to be ringing loudly in my mind as I pulled them close, and as I let Ellen's snap into me I realized why. A strong pillar of sound was blazing in her of sexual excitement. She was deeply turned on, and her notes for her nipples and her clit were singing strongly. 

Curious I let Suzan's mind snap into place and was assaulted by the same feelings of sexual sound and energy. They were in the throws of making love to each other. As I let the surface thoughts of these two woman dance in my mind I could tell they deeply cared about each other, but they both also carried feelings of shame and doubt about their relationship. 

Neither of them considered themselves to be gay, they both enjoyed the company of men, and sex with men, but they had found something rare and beautiful in each other. Still, they were afraid. Especially Suzan, who still fought with her upbringing, and even now in the throws of passion with her lover; her worries bounced around her brain disrupting her pleasure, and holding back her love. Then worst of all, she doubted that Ellen could feel the things she was feeling, that maybe to her it was only a bit of fun.

Ellen was less inhibited, though she too had issues. She had experimented before with other woman, but the things she felt for Suzan where much deeper and richer. A long term relationship was what she wanted, but her own mind fought her with feelings of worry about the stigma and troubles that came from being with another woman. She also feared that her love would not be returned.

I felt my anger rise a little at their fear and confusion. Anger not at them, but at our society that had so many hang-ups, and so many people who wanted to control others with their moral judgments of what was right and wrong; it made me sick! Who were they to get in the way of peoples' happiness? These two women didn't deserve this doubt and pain, they deserve joy and love.

Without thinking, acting on my emotion and love for these two people I pulled there minds more firmly into focus, and I let ring in them a note of love from me, a note with feelings of friendship, trust, and above all approval.

I felt them both startle, and there passions both immediately dimmed. Then, with infinite care, I reached out and let Ellen's note of love for Suzan ring through into the other woman's mind. I could feel a shorter moment of shock as Suzan understood what she was feeling, and then her own feelings blazed forth. 

These feeling of love I gave to Ellen, and they shared with no physical barrier between them, an absolute certainty of the others feeling and intentions to them. They knew, as most people will ever know, that they loved one another, and that their fears should be cast aside. 

I shared then their fears with each of them, and watched them be whipped away by the comfort and concern of the other. There was a tight column of sound now bridging between them, and I found it easier to hold the two of them together. I was no longer forcing the connection, but acting more like a conductor and helping choose what things to highlight and share.

I felt the notes spring up as they kissed and held each other. I could feel the passion and the tears in them, tears of joy and relief, and understanding. I fed the feelings of those kisses back to each woman, and let her experience the others physical and emotional fusion of these feelings. The power of the connection soared.

I could feel them touching now, as other notes of pleasure sprang to life. These I shared and intensified. I could almost picture them holding each other tightly, as their hands explored each others bodies as if for the first time. I let the feeling of what they did to each other be reflected back at them, and I found that this reflection strengthened their own pleasure without my tampering at all.

The connection between them grew, and blossomed. New feelings were crossing without my help, as they caressed and sucked on each other. How long I rode outside this beautiful dance, watching, but separate, I don't know. 

Finally I felt the strong notes spring up of physical pleasure, and the sound began to take on that tone of orgasm. I held the column together now, and let it build and the pleasure lengthen and strengthen. But I realized then, that I did not need to. The connection between them now was so strong that it held itself in check. 

The power of feeling was overwhelming to me. It was like being on the edge of love, yet unable to fall into it. It was the most beautiful and heartrending experience I think I have ever had. I felt so much joy for these women, so much friendship and love, and to see them joined, really joined, like this gave me great joy.

Finally the crest of the wave was coming, I could feel the power of the orgasm it represented, and I think I must have simply been mesmerized by it. Like a fisherman on the shore watching as the ocean is drawn out into an immense tsunami that then comes rushing toward him.

Then it happened. They both climaxed, and the column did not shatter, but only bloomed. It filled their minds at all levels. It whipped away everything but them, and in that moment that I witnessed that complete connection and release I slipped out of their minds. It was too much to witness, too much to not be a part of, and too much to share.

I swayed on the edge of the bed as I heard two loud cries of pleasure and joy ringing out through the dark house. I was tired, but I did not feel as if I would pass out again. I think they carried a lot of the effort of the connection within their own love and desire, and that saved me a lot of energy. 

In a few moments the cries stopped, and I sat on the bed listening to the quiet house, and looking out into a hall through the cracked door. I suddenly had a massive attack of guilt and fear. Holy crap what had I done. I had just violated the minds of two of my best friends, very obviously, and without consent. I felt fear begin to rise in me.

At that moment the door to the room pushed open, and Suzan and Ellen stood there naked and flushed. They had their arms around each other, and their faces were streaked by tears. They stood naked not only in body, but in mind before each other. They stood there looking at me, and my heart fluttered with uncertainty. Then they both smiled, almost at the same moment, as if they were still one mind in two bodies. 

Then suddenly I was wrapped in the arms of these two women. They pulled me onto the bed and held me and stroked me, and I felt little tear covered kisses on my face and arms and chest. Suzan was so soft, and curvy and tall, and Ellen was muscular, and firm. They held me and stroked me, and then I heard Suzan whisper.

"Thank you Mike, oh thank you so much..." she kissed me on the mouth gently as she said this. Ellen nodded as she turned my head to face her. 

"Thank you dear friend." She said as she too kissed me. 

They traded off kissing me, and soon their tongues were exploring my mouth with each kiss. My sweat pants vanished, and their hands roamed over my body.

"Join us again Mike." Suzan whispered in my ear as Ellen's hot mouth covered mine. 

I looked out in the plane of my mind and their notes quivered and danced right in front of me. I pulled them to me and I got a great surprise. There was a tenuous thread of sound connecting them now. Like a sign wave, or a pulse of sound. It stretched between them like a filament, connecting them without my aid. I could feel a slow trickle of love and comfort flowing between them as I pulled their notes into my mind. 

As their notes snapped into me, I felt the joy and happiness they each were full to overflowing with. I could feel their love and friendship toward me, and their now smoldering passion. If I had been thinking straight I might have thought twice about what it might mean if I slept with these two women, but at the time I was lost in the embrace of two wonderful friends.

As I pulled them together with me I felt the thread of thought between them strengthen, and grow stronger. I began to strengthen that tie again, and feed their pleasurable sensations from our touching. 

"Oh yes Mike." Ellen moaned as she felt me working.

"Let us feel you too Mike." Suzan said, her eyes almost unfocused.

I began to feed them my feelings of warmth and protectiveness for both of them. My deep feelings of friendship, and maybe a few of my trepidations. All were accepted or soothed, and the outpouring of emotion from them became even greater.

I let them feel my pleasure when their hands stroked my cock, and took turns taking my swollen member into their mouths. My pleasure intensified their own, and I could feel a feedback loop building between all three of us now. 

It was not like the one that Ellen and Suzan had shared by themselves, that was rich in love and long term commitment. This band of sound seemed to consist of what we three had in common, our friendship and caring for one another. Our passion, and our fierce devotion to our friendship.

I felt pleasure blossom in my mind as Ellen's warn pussy slowly enveloped my cock. I could feel the pleasure in her, even as I shared my pleasure with them both. 

Suzan straddled my face and I buried my mouth in her dripping pussy, sucking her large swollen lips into my mouth, and flicking my tongue gently back and forth across them. Each touch, each stroke, each suck or flick of the tongue was shared between all of us. 

It is difficult to describe such pleasure. To be wrapped in complete physical and emotional joy. I could feel the girls' love for each other, but this time I was included in the celebration of each other. This time I was a partner they wished to allow into this circle of passion and wonder. I have never felt so privileged, or so touched that they shared this with me. 

Time slid out of focus for me, and I know that the girls traded off riding my cock many times. Our pleasure became so consuming that I think the concept of my pleasure, or their pleasure was lost. It became our pleasure, and our touch. 

At last the passion built to a long slow crescendo of sound. The circle that looped between us blazed with a symphony of emotions and sensations that elevated us beyond the mortal realm of passion. We transcended our mortal bodies, and soured on the wings of our union. 

When the moment of release came it was as if all the world vanished, and we became beings of spirit that emptied themselves of all worldly fears and needs. It was more than physical pleasure and release, it was emotional euphoria. In one shinning moment we were not alone, we were one being, one mind, one body, and one heart. 

As the passion receded we drifted back down to our bodies and our individual minds. I let them drift away from me and I could feel Suzan slide off me and snuggle to my side, even as Ellen held me on the other side. I became aware of the room again and my individual body, and then I felt it. 

It was like a soft gentle ringing in me, a note like the singing of a piece of crystal tapped with a finger. As I listened to it I realized it was two notes, singing in almost perfect harmony in me. In the plane of my mind I could see these slender notes stretch from me to the women beside me, and through them I could sense only the faintest of their feelings of contentment and joy. 

These threads of sound rang between us now, created a web of joy and understanding. Yet, I could feel how it was both strong and tenuous as well. I could tell it was only through my desire for it to remain that it did so, and that were I to scorn it, or harm these dear friends, that it would evaporate like mist on a hot morning. 

In a sense it was a reflection of the trust, friendship, and union we had just shared. As my mind cleared more, I realized I could focus on each of these threads and that I could get a better sense of what the other was feeling and needing the longer I listened. What this meant I didn't know, but I knew I couldn't throw this away. 

"I can feel you both in me now. I,...I don't know how or why but..." I whispered.

"I can feel you both too." Said Suzan, and I felt Ellen nod her agreement.

"Did the same thing happen with you and Tuyen?" Ellen asked.

"No, I don't think we shared enough. To be honest it never occurred to me that you could be so connected, to share so much until I watch you two together the first time tonight." I shook my head in amazement. "Frankly ladies this is new ground for me as well, so we will need to figure this out together. All I know is that I treasure this connection with you my friends, and I don't want it to stop."

I felt two bodies hug me from either side, and I could feel through those threads that they felt the same. 

We fell asleep then, and I woke to find myself alone in that awfully decorated guest room, with the morning light making the curtains glow orange. I felt remarkably well rested, and as I sat up I realized I could still feel the tenuous connection with the girls. I couldn't tell much, but they were happy. 

I found my clothes stacked on the floor next to the bed that I must have missed in the dark the night before. I got dressed and headed out into the hall and down the stairs at the end where I heard music drifting up from below. 

As I came down the stairs I had one of those moments where you finally recognize some landmark or feature of a place that orients you as to where you are. I had been to Suzan's house before, but never upstairs. As I came downstairs into the living area I recognized where I was, and headed toward where I knew the kitchen to be.

Suzan was busy over the stove, and Ellen was seated at the table looking out the large picture windows at the sun having just risen over Boulder. Both women wore sweats and their hair was messed. Still, they looked lovely to me. They both looked over as I came in, and I realized they felt my nearness even as I felt theirs. This was going to take some getting used to.

"Morning ladies." I said quietly.

"Hey Mike, are you hungry?" Suzan asked. Suddenly I realized I was famished.

"Starved!" I said now with a wolfish grin. Suzan chuckled.

"Have a seat and I'll make you some breakfast." 

I sat next to Ellen and we talked off and on as Suzan hummed her way around the kitchen. It was a little surreal for me, given the events of the night before, but somehow it still felt right. It wasn't until Suzan sat down next to me that I realized how close we were all sitting to each other, and that we seemed to almost subconsciously reach out and touch one another frequently.

It wasn't until I realized my eggs needed some salt, and Ellen reached over and handed it to me with no signal from me, that I realized how deeply we were connected. She held it out to me and I sat stunned for a moment staring at her hand, until it dawned on her what she had done. We began to grin at each other, and Suzan looked up as she felt the change in our feelings. The rest of breakfast became a game to try and see who could pick up on each others needs the quickest. 

After breakfast I went into the living room to sit on the couch with my coffee, and look out at the beautiful view. I was beginning to be troubled. I had to make it to the store today, but luckily Aaron would be coming in to open the shop this morning, and I had already left a list of things for him to do. He had been a big help last Christmas, and knew his way around the store and computer systems well. 

The things that was really bothering me were more pressing. This connection with Ellen and Suzan, and what that meant for us, and for Tuyen and Jill. Especially Jill, god I had slept with all of her best friends! What a mess. Also, I hadn't even opened the girl's minds and we had this connection. What would happen if I opened their minds. 

Then I realized that my mind had not been shielded since last night, and I kicked myself for my carelessness. I began to pull the curtain closed in my mind when I had a panic attack at the thought of cutting of my link with the girls. But as it slid closed it was as if the line of sound was a cord running seamlessly under the edge of my curtain. Even fully shielded I could feel them.

They both appeared a moment later, having felt my fear and worry. I could feel their concern as they came in and sat on either side of me. It was time to talk, and we had work to do.

"Mike you okay?" Ellen asked. I nodded at her and smiled, and my own fears eased a little at their presence. What a wonderful feeling to truly feel the emotional support of your friends.

"Yeah I am okay, I think we need to talk though." They both nodded, and Suzan spoke up.

"So Mike, now that you have ummm, opened our minds what do we do?" 

"I haven't opened your minds yet at all Suzan, this connection is something different. Something new. I am not sure how it happened or why, but I still have a lot of work to do to open your minds, and to teach you to use the gift." Both girls looked surprised, and I could feel a trickle of that emotion from each of them.

We talked for a while more, and I explained to them what I needed to do, what they would feel after, and that they would need to learn to shield themselves and throw thoughts to protect themselves. I have to admit they listened attentively, and with little fear or doubt. I guess our interaction last night, and the bond we now shared gave them unique insight into things.

I worked on Ellen first, and I found that sinking into her mind was easier then the others. Either I was getting better at it, or she was somehow more open to me. The work on removing her curtain, and adjusting the strings and pegs on the instrument of her mind took time. As I worked I could sense the thread of music pouring out of her into Suzan and I, but I couldn't pin down where it was coming from, which puzzled me. When I finished I rose slowly to the surface and released her mind.

As usual I was stunned by my fatigue, and Suzan held me gently on the couch while I recovered, and I talked Ellen through a first few exercises. I noticed the faint connection between us was a little stronger now. I showed her how to enter my mind, and we traded a few notes. I helped her with her shield, and then told her to let me do Suzan so they could both practice at once. 




The Music of the Mind Ch. 14



As I worked on Suzan, I began to feel a strange thing. I was very tired even when I started, and as I worked I felt energy flowing into me, strengthening me. It took me a moment to realize it was coming from Ellen. She had sensed my need through our connection, and somehow she was lending me her strength. 

The work went quickly, and I noticed that Suzan's curtain seems very thick and strong. That would need further investigation later. After I finished my work I rose slowly to the surface, and as I released her note it was all I could do to hold onto consciousness. 

I lay on the couch, and then I felt more energy pour into me, this time from both girls. In a few minutes I had recovered enough to sit up and interact again. 

"How did you two help me just now?" I asked intrigued. They looked at each other and shrugged.

"I don't know Mike; I just felt your need and I wanted to give to you. It was almost more like you asking, and then me letting you take it." Ellen bit her lip in puzzlement trying to articulate what she felt. I nodded.

"I understand. One of the things you ladies will have to understand is that a lot of this gift is hard to define. I think our minds let us visualize it in certain ways so that we can work with it, but I doubt very seriously that our visualizations have anything to do with what is really going on in our heads."

Both the girls nodded and I could feel they understood. I realized that my bond with Suzan was now stronger too. I worked with them both for another half hour until I was certain they could both shield themselves, and throw a note before I called the store and checked in with Aaron. 

He had things running smoothly, and I told him I would be in later this afternoon after I had run some errands. After my call I worked with them until about 11 before I had to head out. I left them giggling as they played in each others minds. That old guilt monster reared its head again about what I was doing with my friends, but I pushed it away remembering my confrontation with Anna the other day. I couldn't afford the luxury of doubts right now. 

I skipped the Grind this morning and headed over to the store. Aaron had things well in hand, and only had a few questions about the items I had asked him to do. He had already started reorganizing the front room, when I went back to sit in the office in the back that I rarely used. 

I ate lunch while looking through the computer to prioritize orders that needed to be shipped. It was dull work, but I found I needed something to think about beside my worry. I noticed that even though I was miles away from the girls now, I could still feel that slight connection with them, and sense that they were well. I couldn't really read their emotions, more like their general emotional and mental state. 

After lunch I got a number of phone calls, the first from Jill who wanted to know if I was okay. The call was awkward at first, but by the end we were chatting and laughing as always. It wasn't till the end that she got around to asking me what I knew must have been on both our minds through the whole conversation. Amazing how we can ignore those white elephants in the room with us.

"Mike, about last night. Well...I want to help too. I know the risk, but I want you to do to me what you did for Tuyen..." her voice faded out at the end and I only barely caught Tuyen's name at the end. Something clicked in me then as I spoke.

"Jill, you know I want your help more then anyone's, but I also want your safety. I love all of you, but I really don't want to loose you. I can't loose you." I said quietly, admitting it to myself even as I admitted it to her. The phone was silent for a moment.

"Are you saying you're trying to protect me?" she asked her voice a little stronger.

"Yes, I only opened Tuyen's mind because the genie said I needed help, and well, she convinced me. "

"Mike, I am not a little girl who needs a knight in white shining armor. You're my friend, and you say you can't loose me, well what about me loosing you! Do you really think this is all up to you? One way or another buddy I am helping you." I had to smile in spite of myself. I could see her standing there, one hand on her hip as she held the phone. I knew how stubborn she could be.

"Okay Jill, lets get together tomorrow night okay. I, well I have some things I want us to talk about before...well just before." 

"Okay, tomorrow night, it's a date. Oh, and Mike I almost have your apartment cleaned up. I got some maids, and it should be presentable by the time you get off work tonight, though the carpet may still be wet from the cleaning. Also, you're going to have to buy some new furniture, and a new bed." My head spun, god I had completely forgotten about my place. 

"Wow, thanks Jill! That is awesome! Thank you so much for your help, I'll pay you back for the maids." I said feeling suddenly optimistic. 

"Naw, don't bother. I took some cash out of your wallet last night before Suzan hauled you to her place to keep an eye on you. Why do you carry that much cash in your wallet anyway?" 

"Oh, bad habit I guess. Hey thanks again, and I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, see you them. Stay safe okay?"

We said our good byes and I, now remembering my wallet, went around the store and bought all the furniture that I had wanted but could not afford. Then I put myself on the top of the list for deliveries. Aaron had a blast with me, though when he asked where I got all the cash I had to tell him some investments had paid off for me. 

By the time we were done it was almost 4pm, and I found an email on my computer and two voicemails on my cell phone waiting for me at my desk. The email was from Meg. 

Hey Mike!

I was wondering if you would like to have dinner at my place tonight instead of going out? I am still a little jumpy around crowds, and I promise I am a good cook. Drop me a line when you get this and let me know.

Thanks! Meg 

Oh crap, I had completely forgotten about my date with Meg. I shot her an email saying that I would be happy to have dinner at her place while my mind raced trying to figure out the logistics of the evening. 

The first voicemail was from Tuyen saying she was planning on staying the night at Suzan's, and that the three of them were going to "work on their skills together.", and that I should come by. I have to admit some interesting images flashed into my mind with that wording, but that was probably more my imagination then anything.

The second was from Ellen, and she sounded concerned as she asked me to call her. I felt her tenuous connection to me, and I sent a little pulse of energy into it as I called her. When she answered the phone she was laughing.

"Well I felt that! I guess we have more then one way to call each other now huh!" Ellen said.

"Yeah, I guess that is true." I said chuckling to myself now.

"Look Mike, I have a million things I want to ask you and tell you about my first day with this gift as you call it, but that will have to wait." She said in a rush.

"Okay Ellen, what's up?" I said beginning to feel concerned.

"Well, I am afraid I may have landed you in a bit of an awkward position, and I wanted to warn you even though it is breaking client privilege. In this case I think it will help far more then harm." I could feel her discomfort through our connection, and I send out feelings of trust and comfort to her and heard her giggle on the other end of the phone, and immediately got a feeling of trust back. 

"Go on." I said

"Well, you have a date with Meg tonight right?" she asked.

"Yeah?" I said slowly, a note of question creeping into my voice. 

"Look I don't know how to say this so I am just going to tell you. I think she is going to ask you to sleep with her tonight." I sat in silence a moment as that sunk in. 

"Ummm, Ellen? What makes you say that? The woman was just raped a little over a week ago for Christ's sake; I think the last thing on her mind will be sex." 

"Well, yes and no. You see, she has been seeing me for counseling, and well...well let me just say there is some extenuating circumstances. The short of it is, that she feels that she needs to have sex to help her heal from the event. I told her to pick someone she trusts and considers a friend. I figured it would be someone back home, someone she had known forever you know? But she told me today she was having you over for dinner."

"Why me? I hardly know her?" I asked exasperated.

"I asked her, and she said she just felt she could trust you. Well, and she said she thought you were hot." Ellen's laughter followed her voice over the phone.

"Well, what should I do?" I asked feeling a little silly.

"Well ultimately that is up to you Mike. I just wanted to warn you, and let you know that if she does ask, and you want to, that I think it would be healthy for her. I would also say to be as careful and tender as I know you can be." I felt a little zing of sexual desire come through our connection followed by another laugh over the phone. My goodness what had I done I thought.

"Gee thanks." I said with sarcasm.

"Hey, it will be fun. I can't tell you any more, but I am sure she will tell you what she wants you to know. I already feel horrible for revealing anything, but I really think it will help." She said with concern.

"Hey, you did the right thing. I will be a gentleman I promise, and your warning will help me be prepared to help her feel comfortable. This also explains why she was so nervous asking me out I guess."

"Yes, that would make sense. Look, I have to run. Will you come by Suzan's after your ...ummm, date." A little giggles again.

"Yeah, I will. I don't have a new bed at home anyway so I might need to crash in the guest room again."

"Okay, great! I'll tell Su. See you later Mike!" 

I sat for a minute looking at the phone and really wondering for a moment if the entire world had gone insane. Not that I was complaining, but things had definitely gotten interesting. 

I dashed out and bought a pile of new clothes at a shop on the mall, before running home to throw them in the washer and myself in the shower. My apartment looked bare, and anything that could be salvaged was in boxes against one wall. It wasn't much. Frankly I was amazed that so much had been accomplished in one day. Freshly washed, though with my clothes still damp from not drying long enough, I dashed out to my truck to go to Meg's.



The Music of the Mind Ch. 15



 Chapter 15: A Circle of Friends 

The drive across Boulder at dusk is always beautiful. The mountains are silhouetted by the setting sun, and the sky glows all colors of orange, yellow, and red. It is a liminal time, a time when I find myself daydreaming. The ancient Celts believed the time of the gloaming was when the veil between the worlds was the thinnest, and that one should be the most careful to avoid confrontations with spirits and the like. Me, I just found myself often melancholy.

That last few days had sped by me so fast that I found myself reeling from the ride and grasping for some kind of firm ground. I had lost the grounding of my home, confronted enemies, and slept with two women whom I never believed I would ever be intimate with. In fact the only one of the group of my four best friends I hadn't slept with was the one I most wanted too. Though, if I was to be honest with myself, once I slept with her, if it ever happened mind you, I think my days of carousing would be over.

The connection I now felt to Susan and Ellen was very strange. With almost no effort I could turn my attention to them, and I could know a very general idea of their well-being. I could sense their emotional and physical state, but only at the most general of levels. I found it comforting in one sense because I knew if they were okay, but I also was troubled wondering if it opened up any exposures for us against Dolkoff. 

As I turned off the hill and onto the campus I found myself thinking about my evening with Meg that lay ahead. If Ellen was right, she was going to be rather friendly this evening, and I wasn't sure how I felt about that. I think that my feelings for her were rather big brotherly, and that the role I had played in protecting her had contributed to that in a big way.

Then, on another front I think I was suffering from intimacy overload. You may find it hard to believe that a man could grow weary of too much sex, but if it is with a number of people you are emotionally very connected with, it can be very tiring. Just the emotional strain is overwhelming. I think I was also at this point, a bit freaked out by the way things had developed, and I thought that I may have completely screwed myself in ever having a relationship with Jill. I was quite sure she was not going to be pleased at the idea of me sleeping with Tuyen, Ellen and Suzan. Add Kelly and now maybe Meg to the list and I felt rather decidedly like a slut. 

Still another part of me wondered what was so horrible about it. Maybe it wasn't my actions so much as the way society made me feel about it. Being a product of my society, I was feeling awfully conflicted about my sexual activity of late.

I pulled up in front of Meg's place and found a place to park. Walking into the building, I passed a number of young college kids. You ever notice that as you age the age at which you think of people as "kids" becomes older and older? Since when did a 22-year-old college woman become a kid? I guess since I became a 30 something.

I walked up several sets of stairs to Meg's floor. The grad student housing was really more like a nice apartment building than a dorm. I found myself nervous and agitated as I walked toward Meg's door, fighting with my clothing and smoothing my hair. Then I felt this wave of support and calming fill me. I stopped dead in my tracks in the hall. Through my bond with Ellen and Suzan was trickling a strong feeling of support and reassurance. I shook my head in amazement. They must have felt my agitation as I came here, and now they were giving me their support. I lowered my shield and sent a strong pulse of thankfulness, and happiness back down that thin line to them. I felt a thin trickle of humor back from them before it faded back to the more normal background level of connection. They must have other things to pay attention too.

I walked the remaining distance to Meg's door, took a deep breath and knocked. You always hear these silly clichés in stories or books about women being the vision of loveliness, or an aspect of desire come to life, and they always come across as cheesy as hell. Still, one of those types of sayings would apply here.

When she had come to the antique shop the other day, she looked very nice. She really was a tiny woman, both in height and in frame. I think I have already mentioned that I preferred a woman with a little more curve and softness, like Jill, but she was still gorgeous. 

She wore a grey dress, not nice enough to be formal, but like one of those dresses from a $300 dress store on the mall. I am no fashion designer, but let me try to describe it to you. It was like a sun dress, but more fitted to her small frame. It went down to the top of her knee, and showed off her pale but beautiful legs. It hugged her hips and narrow waste before swooping over her breasts. 

Her breasts were large for her frame, but nothing like Kelly's or Susan's monsters. Still, on her they looked larger then they were, and very shapely. The neck line of her dress gave just a hint of cleavage before the straps swept back over her small shoulders and around her graceful neck. As she saw me, she smiled and stepped out to give me a hug. I could feel her shake slightly at the contact.

"Hey Mike. I'm glad you could make it," she said quietly as she stepped back from me.

"Hey, miss the company of a beautiful woman, not likely," I said smiling as she held the door open for me. 

The small apartment was conservatively furnished. I imagined most of the furnishings probably came with the place, but it still had a definite feminine feel to it. She had set the atmosphere in the place for the evening. Candles burned from all sides of the small place, and the dinning table which sat between the small kitchen and the sitting area glittered with crystal and candlelight. 

"Wow Meg. Your place looks great. It looks like you've been here for years not months." She fidgeted as she smiled at the compliment.

"Thanks, I think some of that is my mother's influence. She stayed with me for a few days after...well she has always had a way of making a place feel homey. I need to check on dinner. I'll be right back." As she walked away, I could see an almost imperceptible shake of her head, as if she was chastising herself.

I sat on her comfy couch, and pulled her note to me. The amount of anxiety in her was startling. She was at the moment feeling a large degree of self contempt for what she felt was her miss handling of my arrival. What was causing this girl so much consternation? I reached out and tried to still her fears, to let calm radiate through her. I am afraid it was a losing battle. She was so full of worries and fears that I felt like I was playing missile command. As soon as one anxiety was stilled, two more popped up in their place. 

Meg came back in carrying a bottle and two wine glasses. I smiled at her as she hurried over to where I sat. She looked stressed, and I did my best to calm her mind. 

"I thought you might like a glass of wine while I finish getting dinner ready. It will only be another 10 minutes," she said haltingly.

"That would be nice, thanks Meg."

She set the glasses on the coffee table and proceeded to wrestle the cork out of the bottle. It looked like she had removed it earlier, and had pushed it back in enough to keep until she served it, as she was struggling to pull the protruding cork with her small fingers. I could feel the embarrassment rising in her mind, and I marveled that she was so worried about something so little. This was going to take extreme measures I thought.

The cork came out suddenly, and Meg lost control of the bottle from the force she had been applying. The bottle spun forward discharging a large stream of red wine across me, the couch and finally her shoes and the carpet. 

I could feel the wine running down my face and I licked a few drops as they ran over my lips. It was a nice Merlot. Meg looked absolutely stunned. She stared at me like an animal that had just been caught in the lights of an oncoming tractor trailer, and I thought for a moment she was going to burst into tears. Then, almost against my will I laughed.

It was just a chuckle at first, but the more I thought about the whole situation the more it struck me as absurdly funny. A grin spread on my face and I began to laugh in earnest. Meg watched me with a blank expression for a moment before the corner of her mouth slowly crawled up in a half smile. Then she raised her wine-covered hand to her mouth and giggled. It left red streaks on her cheek and I laughed even harder. 

In seconds we were both laughing like two kids in the back of their parent's car, while their parents tried in vein to figure out what the hell was so funny. To be honest, I think for both of us it was just a tension release. I reached up and grabbed her hand and pulled her down next to me on the couch. We continued to laugh and then giggle for several minutes. When at last the fit passed I could feel an immense sense of calm in her mind as we sat gasping looking at each other. 

What happened next I cannot honestly take credit for any great insight. Looking back, I can see that she was terribly anxious about the evening in general, and if what Ellen said was correct her plans included sex. All the tension was gone for the moment, and I would love to claim I acted as I did to forestall her anxiety returning. In reality, I had a beautiful wine-covered girl only a foot away who was grinning at me like a kid. What else could I do but kiss her.

I leaned over and kissed her quickly and gently. It was one of those spontaneous kisses where your heart and body act before your mind has a chance to get in the way. I felt her surprise both in her soft lips, and in her mind. It only lasted a second or two, but when I pulled back I held my face 6 inches from hers, and looked into her pretty eyes. Her smile was gone, and she was looking at me very intently.

I felt the passion flare in her mind in the same instant she leaned forward and kissed me back. Her kiss; however, was not a playful kiss, it was filled with passion and need. It was a driven kiss. I can't fully explain it, but I could tell that there was a great deal of emotion behind that kiss that had nothing to do with attraction or lust. 

I held this slight girl on her wine-soaked couch and kissed her for the next few minutes. Her scent mixed with the wine, and the taste of her lips was quite wonderful. I just let myself float at the surface of her mind as we kissed, and feel her emotions passing by. To say she was distracted, turned on, and apprehensive all at the same time does not begin to scratch the surface of her emotions.

At that moment, the smoke alarm in the kitchen went off. Meg leaped up and ran for the kitchen with me hot on her heels. She turned the corner too fast and nearly went down only catching herself on the counter. In the kitchen, we found smoke and flames leaping from a frying pan on the stove. 

Meg ran to the sink, grabbed the sink sprayer and proceeded to drench the conflagration. I being worried that it was a grease fire was trying to put the lid on the pan when the water hit me and the fire. Lucky we were both extinguished successfully. 

I stood dripping wet, standing in a puddle of water in my wine stained shirt, looking at Meg who was now holding the sprayer limply in her hand as she looked at me with utter shock on her face. I was tempted to burst into laughter again, but I still had a light hold on Meg's mind and I felt the tears a few seconds before they began to fall.

I sloshed my way over to her, took her in my arms and held her. She clung to me for all she was worth and just cried. Time passed and her crying slowed and then stopped. I felt her mind still, and I pushed it away from me. I just felt that this time I needed to just muddle through this the old fashion way. Meg giggled.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"You're soaking wet. I feel like I have been hugging a wet sponge," she said with a giggle.

"Well you were the hose operator you know," I said with my own chuckle. 

Meg pulled back from me and her face was a mess. All her makeup was smeared and her eyes and nose were red and puffy. She must have seen my face as she started to raise a hand to her face.

"I must look wonderful." 

"Yes you do, though you do look like a band of circus entertainers attacked you with makeup and a fire hose," I said smiling. She rolled her eyes at me and excused herself to go to the bathroom. 

I found a mop, and cleaned up the water, dumped the remains of dinner down the disposal, and had the dishes running in the dishwasher before Meg came back in looking sheepish in a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt with a freshly scrubbed face. 

"Wow. Mike you didn't have to clean up this mess."

"Course I did, now we can go out to eat," I said with a smile

"You still want to have dinner?" she asked with a grimace.

"Of course. Though we will have to stop by my place so I can change, these clothes seem to be a bit...ummm soggy."

"And stained," she said with a half grin. 

I burst into a full laugh at that. Meg joined in. After that she seemed to relax and settle. We headed out 15 minutes later and over to my place. I found another of my new outfits while Meg waited in the car. I didn't want to have to explain the state of my apartment to her given how the evening had gone so far.

Ten minutes later I was back in my truck, and we were driving through Boulder. We debated for a few minutes on where to eat before we decided on Matam Fez. Now, if you have never been to eat there, it is worth describing.

Matam Fez is a Moroccan food restaurant. You enter through a small hallway that opens into a large coat room with racks and racks for shoes. The air is full of the smell of cinnamon and cloves, and the soft sounds of Moroccan music drifts through hidden speakers. 

You remove your shoes to feel the very thick and soft carpet. As you enter the dining area the walls and ceilings are hung with tapestries that drape down giving the place a soft welcoming feeling. Tables are lined around the walls, and are low built for you sit on the floor amid piles of cushions. 

Dinner is always a 5-course meal of which you only choose your main course, and your drinks. After you are settled, and have ordered, your wait person brings you a full sized towel to place over your left shoulder, for all the food in this restaurant you eat with your hands. 

You then place your hands over a silver bowl and hot lemon water is poured over your hands to cleanse them. You dry yourself on your towel, and keep it on your shoulder to be used as a giant napkin throughout the sumptuous meal.

By the time we had finished with all these rituals, and had started on our hot lamb soup Meg seemed quite relaxed and happy. She looked quite at home sitting cross legged on the floor with the cushions around her. The hot soup both warmed us and lifted our spirits. 

The courses of the meal ran by slowly and sumptuously, each course filling both our stomachs, and calming and raising our spirits. We ate cold dishes of couscous, and spiced carrot relish. A hot pie like concoction of Philo dough, lamb, powdered sugar and egg that caused us both to burn our fingers as we ate the delicious concoction before it was fully cooled. By the time we had finished eating and I had paid the check it was after ten, and we decided to walk the few blocks up to the mall, look through the shop windows and get a cup of coffee. 

The fall weather had turned unusually cold this night, and as we walked west on Pearl street little bits of popcorn snow began to fall, creating artful patterns in each of the street lights. Meg held my arm, and seemed again so small next to me, but now after many hours of her company I knew her physical stature did not at all reflect the size of the personality contained within this nice woman. 

The mall was not overly busy, a few strollers out window shopping, and enjoying the coffee shops, restaurants, and bars that were still open. We strolled through the trees and benches on the large cobblestone walkway.

I had been keeping my curtain cracked open a bit, to be able to feel the notes of those around me as we walked, and from time to time I touched on just the surface thoughts of Meg's mind. She had relaxed and enjoyed herself more as the evening wore on, but there was still tension and uncertainty as well.

It was about a block away from the Grind that I felt it. Wendy's note was blazing out in a rage of emotion and panic. The feeling was very similar to what I had felt from Meg that night in the club, and it chilled me to the bone.

"Meg, will you wait here for a moment please?" I asked, my panic already rising.

"Why, what's wrong?"

"I don't have time to explain right now, but I will, just trust me okay. I have a bad feeling, and I need to check on something at the shop really quick. It should only take a minute. Okay?" 

Meg looked started and confused. "Okay Mike, I'll wait on this bench over here."

I nodded and turned and jogged through the ally between two stores nearby. As soon as I was out of sight I began to run. If someone was hurting Wendy, they were going to wish they had never been born.

I turned the corner and headed up the back ally behind the shops toward the grind. Wendy's was up ahead in the alley, and I could feel her emotions were raging and fearful. I wanted to pull her note to me but I would have to open my curtain more to do so. 

I slid around a parked car, my shoes slapping on the pavement slicked with the melting snow, and skidded to a stop as I saw two figures next to a dumpster about 50 feet ahead of me. One was large, and seemed to be struggling with the smaller. The light was poor as I walked toward them.

"Hey, let her go right now," I shouted. 

The larger figure looked up and I could have sworn I saw the flash of white teeth as he smiled. He released Kelly and she tore herself free backing away from the man. It was then that all hell broke loose. They hit me from three sides at once. The two hiding in the shadows off to the sides I blocked mostly with my nearly closed curtain, but the man in front of me hit me through the gap in my defenses. He had hit me with pain. Not physical pain, but pure emotional pain. Imagine all the terrible things that had ever happened to you in your life that caused you great grief, and then imagine feeling all those things at once.

I crumpled to the wet greasy pavement like a rag doll. My last conscious effort was to pull my curtain closed and huddle in my mind even as I huddled in my body. The two from the shadows continued to batter at my defenses, even as I heard Wendy's voice as if from a great distance.

"Mike, are you okay? Mike! Let go of me you...." 

I heard her voice stop abruptly and managed to look up to see her sitting on the ground holding a bleeding nose, the leader who had hit me towering over her, fists still balled. I wanted to act, to fight back, but in that crushing despair it took every ounce of me just to not let go of my curtain and let it fly to pieces. 

The leader turned his attention on me, and I felt the balls of his thought begin to pound into me over and over. I was lost, I could feel that I couldn't hold my defenses up for long, and worse I didn't have the will to try. 

I was losing, and worse than that I didn't care. I realized how powerful an emotion despair is, but it was an abstract thought, viewed from beneath the waters of crushing pain. Some part of me knew that if I could hold out the effects would wear off, but that could take minutes and I probably didn't have that kind of time.

Finally, the fabric tore, and the note of one of the attackers slammed into me. This was helplessness, absolute helplessness. Two more slammed into me from the others in quick succession then, one of submission, and one that simply paralyzed me. I sat their looking up at the leader and Wendy's sobbing form as the two men walked from the shadows to join him. He was smiling now.




The Music of the Mind Ch. 15



"See, I told you it would work. Dolkoff will be quite pleased with our success. He might even open my third channel," the leader growled.

"Don't count on it until it happens, but he should be pleased with all of us." 

Wendy continued to cry and sob at their feet and I wanted desperately to reach out to her, to comfort her but I was lost in a sea of emotions I couldn't manage. The leader lashed out with his foot and kicked her in the stomach doubling her over. 

"Shut up bitch!" he said still smiling. I felt nothing, I sat and stared. "Either of you boys want a boy at his girlfriend while he watches?" the leader asked with a sneer.

"Yeah, I think we earned it," said the large man on the left of the leader, walking over to grab Wendy's arm and pull her to her feet. 

"Mike? Are you over there? Is everything okay?" Meg's voice drifted up the alleyway and I could almost feel, could almost scream inside to run. I felt the ball of emotion spin over my head and Meg's sharp intake of breath and small shriek, then it was quiet. 

The leader nodded in Meg's direction. "Get her." 

The other thug nodded and walked down, dragging Meg up the alley by her arm. She looked dazed and lifeless. Her eyes stared out, but I don't think they saw me. I wished I was dead. I though that to feel this bad that surely soon I would just die, and this could be over. 

"Here she is. Looks like I won't have to have any sloppy seconds," he said, and the leader's two companions both chuckled. 

"Well hurry up. We need to get him back." 

The man with Wendy threw her over a trash bin pinning her to it with one massive arm. She was limp, passive and I wondered if he had taken her mind, but somehow I couldn't act to find out. 

I feel I should explain a little more about what was happening to me. If you have ever suffered depression, or grief, or sadness to the point where you are not functional any more, then you know some of its power. This was 1000 times stronger than that. My mind was crushed by the power of these emotions, and though some part of me fought, I sat helplessly in the mud and slush barely even aware of these things I describe to you. 

Then I felt something. I felt a small trickle of anger that seemed to bob to the surface of my emotions. I reached for it, clung to it as though it was like a lifeline thrown to a drowning man in a hurricane tossed sea. I held it to me like a spark, like hope. 

Some tiny part of my mind then realized that this was not coming from within me. Somewhere, far across the city Ellen and Suzan sat, and they felt me, and they reached out to me. Through our link there trickled a tiny flow of their love, and their anger.

I pulled on it and it grew. I sucked that emotion into me like I was a man dying of thirst trying to drink through a cocktail straw. As I pulled, it was as though what was offered became greater, or the size of the straw expanded, but only a little. I could feel Suzan and Ellen now. They were frightened beyond belief, but also angry. That anger began to fill me like I was an empty cup, but still I could not move. 

The man had pulled down Wendy's pants, and had pulled his small cock out and was stroking himself to hardness as she limply lay before him. The man with Meg leaned against a dumpster watching with Meg stunned at his feet. 

I could not get enough energy through this weak connection with the girls to break through the emotions that had been forced upon me. Try as I might the pipe was too small, but I was thinking more clearly now with the emotion trickling into me. I needed more, but the only time the connection had been stronger was when we had all been making love. Love?

I reached out, ignoring the anger and concern and reached for love. Now I must explain, that in the music of emotions love is the most tenuous of things. It is not one sound, or even a multitude of cords, but a little of many things that stir through the human mind. To reach out to it I had to relinquish control, and call out to the whole being of my friends. 

It happened immediately then. The garden hose I was pulling aid through with all my might became a waterfall. The love and caring of my friends washed over me like a river of power. It flooded through my mind whipping it clean. I could feel Tuyen now piggybacking on the mind of Ellen, and her love and caring was in me too. 

I don't remember rising to my feet so much as it felt as if I was simply standing again, both in mind and body. The man with Wendy turned to look at me, his half hard cock in his hand. 

"What the fu . . ., " he began, but he never finished the thought.

He flung emotion at me and it was as though it hit the surface of a river of emotion that flowed through me, and was simply washed away. Like a drop of water in the rapids of the Amazon. 

I began to rage now. Every fiber of my being was filled with a power and a hate so intense it burned away reason and compassion. I flung ball after ball of thought at him so quickly that it tore his curtain aside like a sheet on a clothesline in a wind storm.

I snatched his mind to me, and then I called sound. Every time I had used the gift I had thought of emotion and sound together, but this time it was as if I simply screamed into his mind filling it with a thousand notes of raging sound. The emotions that this generated were like madness come to life.

He tottered once, and fell to the ground. I could feel the balls of emotion of the other two but they were so petty compared to the emotions that raged through me. I tore into the man by Meg, and in moments he joined his fellow on the ground. The leader faced me now, and there was terror in his face. 

"Please...please no...," his voice broke like a teenager's.

His assault had stopped, and I could feel the strength of his defenses as he poured his whole being into them. For some reason this made my anger greater, and the assault I launched on him was like nothing I thought I was capable of. I tore that forcible defense aside and left him naked before me in moments. 

He stood before me shivering, silent and naked to me. At that moment, for some reason I remembered the man in the office with his gun to his head and my anger cooled. I stood looking at this man, this coward, and all I could feel was contempt. My link with the girls was fading, and I could feel pain and fatigue drift through the connection as it shrank back to its small thread of connection. I was tired now, tired and resigned.

"Go tell Dolkoff that if he ever touches my friends again, in any way, I will do far worse than kill him when he finally has the balls to face me himself. This is between us." 

The man stood for a moment before the recognition that he was not going to die. He turned on his heel and fled. No, he didn't flee, he ran as if all the demons of hell were on his ass, and not once did he turn to look back. 

Meg was still stunned, but Wendy had apparently recovered when I had blasted the man that was attacking her. She had managed to get her pants back up, and was sitting against the wall crying.

I walked over to her, my knees almost buckling once from the fatigue and the adrenaline. I kneeled down and took her in my arms, and she clung to me sobbing. I reached out and sent notes of strength and comfort into her. I needed her help, and we didn't have much time. 

"Wendy, I'm so sorry. You're going to be okay. They can't hurt you now, and I won't let them again." She cried softly into my shoulder for a moment as I held her. 

"I need you to help me with Meg dear, we can't stay here, and I am not sure what is wrong with her." 

I continued to pour strength and support into her, but I have to give Wendy credit. It took her a only moments to realize another woman was in need, and for her own strength to surface. She wasn't well, hell she was in shock, but the need to act can suppress that for a short amount of time.

"Okay, help me up." 

I nodded and stood pulling her to her feet. We hurried over to Meg, and she still lay there looking stunned. Together we pulled her to her feet, and I reached out and called her note to me. She had simply been paralyzed, and her thoughts were racing in her mind. The note of the paralyzing effect was slowly fading, and as we supported her on either side she tried to help, but she was like a baby. 

I sent more notes of calming and support as we half carried half-dragged her down the alley. Wendy was still crying, and I realized tears were streaming down my face as well. It wasn't until we were near the end of the ally that I realized I hadn't even looked at the thugs I had attacked, and then in the next breath I realized I didn't care. 

The car was several blocks away, but as luck would have it the snow seemed to have sent most people home early, and the streets were relatively quiet. The few we passed I sent thoughts of how nice it was that we were helping the drunken woman home, and they didn't even seem to notice us after that.

As we walked, I felt Tuyen's presence in my mind, and I realized I was walking unshielded, as I had when I was flooded with the love and support of my friends. I sent her notes of comfort and assurance that we were okay. Then I sent her the image of us walking to my car, and then an image of Suzan's house. There was a feeling that appeared in me of confidence, and then it felt as if Tuyen's warm lips were on mine for a brief second before she vanished from my mind, and I pulled my curtain almost closed.

When I reached the car, I pulled my cell phone out of the consol. where I had left it charging, and called the girls. Tuyen answered.

"Mike! What the hell was that? Susan and Ellen are both out cold." She sounded a little hysterical, which was exactly how I was starting to feel.

"What do you mean they are out?" 

"They said they could feel something was wrong, then they said they were trying to help, and I joined in, but I could only support them, I couldn't reach you like they could. When it was over they just passed out. They are breathing and everything, I think whatever happened just drained them."

"Crap. Look I am bringing Meg and Wendy with me. They were used against me in the attack," I said my voice shaking. "See if you can revive the others before I get there."

"Okay Mike, I'll try. I think I know where Suzan keeps her kit, she has to have some smelling salts in there or something."

"Okay Tuyen, thanks. Keep your shields up, and watch the others, I'll be there in 30 minutes or so."

"Okay Mike, be careful."

I hung up and for the first time looked over at Wendy. She was watching me closely. I reached out and called her mind to me. The surface of her thoughts was a boil with what had happened to her, and what had almost happened to her. I tried to calm her aggravation, make her feel safe. 

"That's you doing that isn't it?" she asked quietly as she turned and looked out the window. "Making me feel better." Her voice was flat. This was something new for me.

"Yes, just trying to help. Do you want me to stop?" She shook her head no, and continued to look out the window at the dark. I continued to soothe her as we rode in silence the rest of the way to Suzan's

As we pulled up Tuyen ran out of the house and nearly crushed me with the hug she gave me. We talked as she helped Wendy and me with Meg. Meg was almost able to stand with aid, and she slurred out a thank you as we helped her stumble to the house. I called her mind to me, and found her remarkably calm, though angry. 

Once in the house I saw Suzan and Ellen side by side on the couch looking quite pale and drawn, sipping cups of coffee. Susan spoke up as we entered 

"Mike are you okay, any injuries?" I shook my head no.

"No Suzan, I think the only injuries we sustained tonight will take Ellen's help to heal." Ellen was leaning her head on Suzan's shoulder, and she sat up a little straighter at this and spoke.

"Mike what happened?" 

"Let's get everyone settled here, and I will explain what I know," I said as we put Meg on the couch next to Ellen, and Wendy sat on the floor at their feet, and I took the big armchair facing them. It took a surprising amount of time to explain what had happened to the girls, and I took extra time to fill in the details about the gift for Meg. Part of me cringed at revealing to her the details of the gift. Wendy knew quite a bit, but I figured it would be good to give her a refresher too. I gave them both some images, but was careful not to overdo it like I had before. 

When I got to the part where Wendy was about to be raped, Meg began to cry, and all three women gathered around her to hug and support her. She told them she was okay, but I noticed she didn't turn down their attention and comfort.

The story wound down at last and we sat looking at each other until Meg spoke. 

"So you all have this gift?" her voice was quiet, but steady.

"No, just Tuyen, Ellen, and Susan. Wendy knows a little about this simply because she is a friend, and I had confided in her when I needed some support."

"You used this gift to find me in the club, and to help me?" I nodded, a lump suddenly in my throat. 

"Yes Meg, I did. I'm sorry if you feel I invaded your privacy. You can ask my friends here, I only use the gift to try to help, never to harm. Well, almost never," I said quietly as I thought about the two men in the alley, and the man behind the desk in the club.

I was lost in my own thoughts when Meg startled me out of reverie. She was standing in front of me, only a little wobbly. She sat down right in my lap, put her arms around me and hugged me for all she was worth. I honestly don't remember if I was crying before that, but when she pulled back both our faces were tear streaked.

"I'll be honest Mike, I don't like the idea of anyone roaming around in my head without me knowing about it, but I am still very grateful to you for what you did in that club." I nodded and smiled through my tears, unable to speak for a moment. 

Meg climbed off me and went to sit between the girls on the couch again. They were all staring at me as if I should say something, and I found myself at a loss for words. Finally, Wendy broke the silence.

"Mike, I want the gift. I want to help kick that asshole's butt." 

Her face was stern, and her jaw set when she finished speaking, but for some reason that made her look even younger then she was. I felt the guilt begin to rise in me as it had so often through this crazy adventure. 

"Wendy, thank you, but look at how much danger you were in tonight just from knowing me. I don't even know how many people I am up against. I have endangered my best friends, and I don't want to put anyone else at risk." I looked down from her face, fully expecting her angry reply, but it was Meg that answered for her in a voice barely a whisper.

"What makes you think we're safer without the gift Mike? If we had this gift, we could have helped you tonight, we could have helped ourselves." There was a long pause as I met her eyes before she spoke again. "We wouldn't feel so helpless. I wouldn't feel so helpless." More tears slid down her face as she spoke. 

Something in me shifted then. I don't like to think of the world in terms of epiphanies, or enlightenment, but more a slow plodding stride toward understanding ourselves and the world around us. In that moment, I saw myself as if through the eyes of these women, and I understood something about myself, and it stung.

"Meg your right, you might be safer with the gift, but do I give it to everyone I care about? It is a terrible burden at times, and a tremendous responsibility. But that is not the real reason I hesitate to give it to you both. The real reason is that it has made me feel powerful and important, and like the great protector." I looked at the eyes of the women staring at me from across the room.

"Just now, I realized that I have been a fool. I have wanted to help all of you, wanted to protect you. Suzan, Ellen, Tuyen, you know I love all of you, and when I gave the gift to each of you I still felt like I was the big dog. That was foolish. I have so tried not to let the gift make me feel superior, to abuse it but I have. I think it is time I stopped deluding myself."

"Mike you have done the best you could, no one is perfect," Ellen said in her best therapist voice. It made me smile in spite of myself.

"Thanks doc, I have done the best I can. But now I want to do better. Meg, Wendy, if you want the gift I will give it to you. However, I ask the same thing of you I ask of myself, that you try to only use it to help people." 

Meg nodded as Wendy spoke up, "Okay Mike, I promise, but you have to promise me something too." 

"What is that Wendy?" I asked apprehensively

"No more sheltering us, no more playing the hero. Okay?" I nodded.

"Deal," I said, and found my voice to be remarkably calm and sure.

I worked on them one at a time, putting both of them in a deep sleep before I did so. After words we carried them up to the ugly guest bedroom and tucked them in side by side before the four of us slipped back down stairs. 

Tuyen spoke first, "Okay, now I have to know what the hell happened with that link?" 

I looked at Suzan and Ellen. Suzan blushed and Ellen began to grin. It was Suzan who spoke first., "Well it just sort of happened." Her face grew redder as she spoke and Tuyen began to smile too before she looked at me. 

"Okay Mike, just show me, this is driving me crazy." 

I nodded and reached out for her note. It felt comforting to be in her mind, and I found it much easier to replay the events of the other evening for just one person, especially one with the gift. It was also interesting that I felt her get extremely aroused at the images I replayed for her. I did my best to stay focused on the task at hand, though when I finished I was sporting a rather hard cock as well.

"Holy shit!" Tuyen looked at Suzan and Ellen, "it is about time you two, I think it is wonderful you finally realized what Jill and I have known for a while." 

"What do you mean you've known?" Ellen said defensively as she snuggled back into Suzan behind her on the couch.

"Oh come on Ellen, every time Suzan was around you practically drooled, and Susan you would strut and pretend not to at the same time."

For the first time ever I saw Ellen blush, though not nearly as red as Susan's already glowing face. They looked so right together to me on that couch, and Tuyen was grinning at them like they were the cats that ate the canary. Tuyen moved to embrace her two friends and for a few minutes there was lots of crying and hugging while I sat like a dork in my chair looking on. 

Eventfully the lovefest wound down, and the three of them sat on the couch talking and giggling. Finally Tuyen looked over at me. 

"Well Mike, what do we do now?"

"I don't know to tell you the truth. I am open to ideas," I said truly at a loss. 

Tuyen sat thinking for a moment before she spoke. "The link you share, it seems that this is a big advantage in a fight. I was able to lend some support through them, but wouldn't it be better if all of us were linked?" The room grew quiet, and we all looked at each other. 

Now, there was only one way that I knew to establish the link I had with Ellen and Susan, and that was through the emotional fusion we had while making love to each other. The idea of sleeping with all three of these women was in every respect an appealing one, but one. Eventually, I was going to have to tell Jill about this, or she would find out on her own.

I cared for these women very deeply. They were true friends, and had staked their lives next to mine in this battle. Jill though, I had fought to protect from everything. I had even refused to look in her mind, to help her as I had helped these friends. The answer as to why was finally staring me in the face this night, and it was as hard a pill to swallow as any I have ever taken in my life.




The Music of the Mind Ch. 15



"There is only one problem with that," I said softly. Tuyen watched me for long moments waiting for me to speak, not letting me off the hook. "Jill."

The room filled with silence again, and all three women looked at me. Ellen spoke this time, and I wanted to curse her insight, and her training, but I think this was simply friendship.

"You have to say it Mike, go on, we all know already." I sat for a long moment. I don't know if it was minutes or seconds, but when I finally spoke, it felt as if a great time had passed. In my mind, I had watched all the lies, all the charades fall away to leave the truth staring at me. 

"I love her," I said quietly, looking up at my friends. I was met with three very beautiful smiles on the very different faces of my friends. "I love her," I said again now more loudly and with more understanding.

"Did you know I have never read her mind? At least not deeply. I haven't. I think I know why now. Because if I looked there, and found no love for me in her, I would have been devastated and I don't think I could face that."

"It is more than that Mike, and you know it," Ellen said. I nodded, taking another inward step.

"She also doesn't let me not care for myself. She is always saying that I need to be kinder to myself. I think if I let her in, I would have had to face the things I was hiding from," I said my mind now starting to run with the truth.

"She would call you on your shit you mean," Tuyen said with a smile. I nodded and we all laughed.

"I have a date with her tomorrow night. I think it is time I told her how I feel, and come clean about all of us." 

I could see a bit of concern on the faces of my friends here now. They all loved Jill too, and I think we all were afraid of what might happen when she knew how intimate we had all been. I myself felt conflicted, and I figured who better to share that with than my friends here.

"Look, I am so grateful for each of you for your friendships, and every bit of intimacy we have shared has been the most wonderful thing to me. I wouldn't trade it for anything. Jill and I have never been dating, so there were no formal boundaries to cross. It is the unwritten rules that we have breached, and we need to have faith that she will understand. I am going to tell her everything, and if she wants the gift I am going to give it to her."

"Good for you Mike," Susan said, and Tuyen and Ellen nodded. 

Then Ellen turned to Tuyen. "I have another idea about establishing the bond." And she smiled as Tuyen's mouth dropped open. 

"You mean?" Tuyen asked looking from Ellen to Susan. 

"I'm game if Susan is," Ellen said looking at her partner. Susan blushed again but nodded yes and smiled.

In short order a bed was made up for me on the couch, and I received three very nice hugs and kisses good night. Soon I lay in the dark looking out at the snow and the twinkling lights of Boulder. 

I closed the curtain in my mind firmly, but I still felt trickles of passion and love through the link I had to Susan and Ellen as I tried to sleep. Eventually I drifted off, and I dreamed.



The Music of the Mind Ch. 16



First, a big thank you to all of you who have written me with your feedback for this series. Second a thank you for LadyCibille who continues to edit these stories, your help is so very appreciated. Lastly, my apologies for the length of time between chapters. I will strive to do better in getting the last two out. Cheers, S.T.

Chapter 16: Symphonic

I rose early the next morning while all the girls still slept. I felt clear headed and alert, and for the first time in a long time I felt I had a clear path ahead of me. Tonight I was to take Jill out on a date, and after I would tell her the truth, all of it. I was both terrified, and relieved. 

I had admitted my love for her in front of my best friends last night, and that acknowledgement within myself made me feel stronger and more purposeful then I had felt in a long time. 

I gathered up my things, left a note for the girls, and headed out to my truck. Boulder was covered in a thin blanket of white, and the brilliant blue sky and morning sun made it gleam and sparkle. I doubted it would last past noon, but for those of us that had risen early on this late fall day what a treat it was to see.

I went by the shop for a few hours that morning determined to tidy up a few accounts, and give instructions. It was probably not the best use of my time, but it helped to ground me, and make me feel like I still had a connection to my normal life. Aaron was as efficient as ever though, and I found I had little to do but offer a few words of advice on difficult clients, and sign off on some purchase orders and deliveries. 

By noon I was out and about, and after a few more clothes purchases I headed home to my apartment. All the furniture had been delivered, and I spent most of the afternoon putting it away, and organizing my new place. I have to admit all those antiques looked awesome, though I kind of felt like my place now looked more like my grandmothers then mine. It would need some tweaking.

I spent the late afternoon showering and getting ready for my big evening. To say I was nervous would have been the understatement of the century. I had called Jill earlier in the day and left her a voice mail saying I was looking forward to our evening, and asking what time she wanted me to come over. I still hadn't heard back from her. 

By seven I had already checked my hair five times in the bathroom mirror, changed my shirt twice, and generally let myself be way more neurotic then I normally am. Finally I decided to just head over, and hope she was ready for me.

I walked out of my condo, locking the door and setting my new alarm system. Part of me cringed at this new restriction on my life and freedom, but ultimately I knew it was necessary. 

The lights in Jill's apartment were off, and even her porch light was out. I thought this was odd, but I walked over and knocked on the door anyway. I waited several seconds before knocking again, but there was still no answer. 'Maybe she had forgotten our date?' I thought, but that seemed unlikely. I had even called her cell, and reminded her earlier. 

I pulled out my cell phone and dialed her cell as I stood in the dark outside her door. As I stood there I heard a faint ringing coming from behind her door in conjunction with the ring on my phone, and I felt a chill creep up my spine. Jill always had her phone with her. 

I let it ring until the voicemail picked up before hanging up, and then I froze. As I had stood listening to the ring on my phone my eyes had wandered, and I had found myself staring at the ground beside the door. Often when things are not right, but are mundane, it takes a few moments to register in our brains what is out of place

In this case, what had registered with me were shards of broken glass in the flowerbed beside Jill's door. I looked up to the window, and it was intact. I let my eyes track higher and I saw the porch light. Both the glass globe and the light bulb inside had been shattered. 

I felt panic begin to rise in me like a tide, and on instinct I reached out and turned the handle on the door. It turned, and the door opened silently into the dark interior. I pulled my curtain all the way closed in my mind, and sent a pulse of fear and danger down my connection to the girls.

Instantly I felt a thread of connection to Suzan, Ellen and Tuyen spring to alertness in my mind. I felt their fear, but I also felt their protective determination as well. I walked in feeling for the light switch on the left, and snapped it on, jumping at the sudden light. 

Beside the front door, the small table that sat there had fallen over, and a pile of junk mail and Jill's keys were spilled across the floor. How many times had I followed her into her apartment and watched her dump her things on that tall round table. My sense of apprehension began to border on panic now. 

"Jill!? Are you here?" I shouted as I moved through the house. I looked in the kitchen, then moved back to her bedroom. Everything else in the apartment seemed to be in place. The bed was neatly made; the dishes stacked in the sink, only the table spoke of anything strange. 

I began to slow down in my frantic pace through the house, and make a more slow and measured search. I found the note on the coffee table in the living room. It was short and to the point, and without any ambiguity.



It is never only between us my young fool. A good general uses his pawns wisely. If you want her back, you will have to come get her. In the meantime, I will be enjoying her company and all she has to offer. Such a beautiful girl. When you arrive, as I am sure you will, then we will settle things on my terms. I will have a guide to bring you here waiting behind your store tomorrow night at midnight. I have taken pains to find us a nice quiet place to chat, so do not waste your time looking for us. If you do not come, well that would be unfortunate for her.

D. 



I read the note several times and with each reading my anger grew. I think that most of us never learn what levels of rage we are capable of. The events of normal life may cause us pain or anger, but not like the life threatening events I had been through in the last month. 

Now, the anger I had felt against my enemies, the anger against the men in the alley with Wendy and Meg, even the anger I felt at the rapist I had saved her from paled in comparison to what rose in me now. 

Sanity really is a fragile thing; it exists only because we will ourselves to conform to the rules of our society in order to be a part of it. This consensus reality it what allows order out of the madness of human emotion. At that moment I was not sane, I was barely human. If I could have rent Dolkoff with my teeth, pulling him limb from limb and tearing at his flesh I would have done so at that moment. 

Luckily for me though I am not an animal, I am a man, and even more importantly I am a man who has friends who care about me. It was the girls who pulled me back down to earth. I felt a flood of emotional support wash through me even more powerful then what I had felt in the alley. It filled and grounded me at the same time. 

I felt the rage come under control, and turn into a deep simmering anger that I could hold to keep me warm until I met with Dolkoff. When we did meet I would teach him about whose terms we were on. 

As my head cleared, I realized my phone was ringing in my pocket. I pulled it out, seeing Tuyen's cell number and flipped it open. 

"Hello Tuyen." My voice sounded mechanical, even to myself.

"Mike what the hell is going on? Are you okay? What's happening?" Tuyen sounded almost hysterical. It was the first time I had ever heard her sound so out of control. 

"I'm fine Tuyen. They took Jill." I said, my voice still flat, with no affect.

"What!? Where are you?" her voice had managed to rise another octave, which I found interesting in an analytical way.

"I am at Jill's place. I found a note from Dolkoff's. Look, stay calm, I'll be there in 20 minutes or so and we can talk this all over. Get everyone over there."

"Okay, but be careful. Stay in touch by, well you know." 

"I will Tuyen, tell everyone I'm okay, but we have work to do." the first tinge of emotion creeping into my voice as the anger fought its way back up from where I had shoved it.

"Okay, be careful Mike." said Tuyen, her voice quieter now.

I snapped my phone shut and straightened the table by the door. I took Jill's keys and locked up as I headed out. I gathered a bundle of cloths and toiletries from my place, dumping them into a bag before heading for my truck. I didn't think I would be back here unless it was with Jill in tow. 

As I drove through the dusk toward Susan's house I was tempted to try to call Jill's note to me. I fought the urge knowing that she was likely well guarded, and even calling her note could expose me in ways I didn't know of.

In fact I thought, the things I didn't know about what could be done with the gift was my greatest weakness. Dolkoff had spent how many years perfecting his use of these abilities for his own advancement. I had been at this for a much shorter period of time, though if I was correct I had more natural ability then Dolkoff. 

This though really did not comfort me, for I much preferred to be the person with more finesse then brute strength. I was the guy who always took pleasure in outsmarting the bullies in school, now I was thinking I might have to be one. Still, play to your strengths. There might arise an opportunity to use my knowledge in a way that was not expected.

I also had the girls on my side, and that was a powerful benefit to me. It dawned on me then, that back at Jill's place I had felt Tuyen clearly now through the bond with Ellen and Suzan, lending me strength. I guess the time the girls shared last night together had worked to build the bond between them. 

Here was another dilemma that I had created with the gift. I was now in some way, emotionally bonded to the three best friends of the woman I loved. I had slept with all of them, and to be truthful would love to do so again. I couldn't imagine Jill being okay with this situation but I couldn't see any way around telling her the whole truth of it. I'm afraid honesty was part of my upbringing.

By the time I pulled into the long drive to Susan's house on the hill I had managed to think myself into a very dark place. All I wanted to do was to find Jill, to keep her safe, and to forget about the gift, the genie, and Dolkoff, but that wasn't going to happen without a lot of work and luck. 

Tuyen opened the door for me before I could even grab the knob and hugged me so tight I thought she might break one of my ribs. When she finally let go I followed her into the house. She had tears on her cheeks, and I felt the pain of Jill's loss beginning to creep into my consciousness. 

Susan and Ellen gave me hugs of similar strength before pulling me into the living room and sitting on either side of me on the comfortable couch. I handed the note I had found to Ellen and by the time she handed it to Susan tears were rolling down her cheeks. The girls all read it one by one in silence. I broke the silence first.

"Where are Wendy and Meg?" I asked quietly. Ellen Answered me.

"They had to go earlier today. They both have lives they need to take care of. Hell we all do. I called them, they will be here soon."

"Good. I have to go meet Dolkoff's men tomorrow, I don't have a choice. I won't abandon Jill to those animals." I was surprised at the force in my voice, and the shear venom. None of the girls contradicted me, and I realized they were in this as much as I was. I continued.

"My only hope is that the bond I have with you will help me survive. That perhaps it is something new, something more powerful then Dolkoff is prepared for. But, one way or another we need to end this tomorrow night. None of us can go on living like this. If any of you want out, tell me now and I won't blame you." I was met by silence as I looked each of them in the eyes. 

Their faces were tear-streaked but resolved. Tuyen looked at me with the fire and passion I had become so accustomed to in her spirit. It was as though a fire burned in her and lit her up from within. Ellen was composed, analytical, and I could see the gears turning at a rapid pace in her clever mind. Susan had her doctors face on now, giving nothing away, but clearly working the problem over in her sharp mind. 

I realized I loved all the women in their own way, and that I couldn't have better friends to back me up in this fight. They were all wonderfully intelligent, and completely devoted friends. Perhaps that in itself would be an advantage. I didn't imagine Dolkoff having many friends.

At that moment a thought hit me and I smiled in spite of the situation. I saw all three of my friends get the same look of confusion on their faces at this smile and it almost made me laugh out loud. Tuyen was the first to speak up.

"Okay, I know that look. What are you thinking?" she said, one eyebrow arched.

"I have an idea, but I will need you three to help me. I need to do a little work, but that will leave me open. I want you three to try to protect me while I do it."

"How do we do that?" Ellen said

"I don't know lets just try it. Half of the things I have taught you I just figured out on my own. It may not work, and if that is the case I will stop." As I said this I realized I was committed to my new course of action either way. 

"Hell, why not. Can't be any crazier then the rest of this." Ellen said with a wry half smile.

We situated ourselves on the couch, Ellen and Suzan on one side, Tuyen on the other. I opened the curtain in my mind enough to feel their notes beside me, and I called them closer to me. I let notes of love and friendship ring in each of them as I did so, and was immediately given the notes back from them. 

I could already feel the bond between us expand and grow to a strong current. I could feel the torrent of fear and anxiety for Jill flowing between us, and the confidence the girls had in me. I could feel the love between Suzan and Ellen, and to a different degree between us all. 

I focused first on just pulling the bond tighter and tighter together. All of our notes overlapping, our thoughts passing back and forth through each other's minds. It was the most beautiful music I had heard yet, and it made me want to weep for joy.

I let a loud note of trust and a loud note of faith ring in the girls as I opened my curtain all the way and reached out toward the plane of sound in my mind. All the notes of countless multitudes rang out on the horizon of my mind. I reached out and two notes raced toward me faster then I had thought possible. 

Moments before they could slam into me I felt the girls' energy all around me. Not a curtain so much as a shield. The two notes of my attackers, who had clearly been waiting for me, slammed into a whirlwind of sound and emotions from the girls. It was as if I sat in the calm eye of a tornado reaching out to the plane of sound, while my attackers were buffeted by the spinning winds of the vortex. 

They seemed to falter and then to regroup for a moment before lashing out at the girls in their spinning column of sound. I felt the anger and the hatred rise through my bond to them, and then I watched as the whirlwind of sound reached out and plucked the notes up like leaves from a sidewalk, and tore them to bits. 

I am not sure what I registered first; the shock of the sight of those two minds destroyed in front of me, or the shock I felt through the girls at what they had just done. I felt our connections begin to falter, and I poured understanding back into it. I showed them the attack on Meg and Wendy, the man prepared to rape Wendy if they had not helped me.

I shared with them all the things I had seen that were horrible from these people. I reinforced the fact that they had Jill, that Dolkoff might even now be "enjoying her company", and felt the anger rise in all of them. These people were animals. They attacked first. 

I felt the bond reform, I felt the shock begin to subside, and reassurance and love passed between all of us. As the bond stabilized I felt encouragement from the bonds, and I reached out once more onto the plane of thought. 

I don't know how long I looked, but it felt like a terribly long time. When I found him at last, it was difficult to convey my desires to him, but eventually he understood. When I came back into my body I could barely sit up straight or even focus my eyes. I heard moans of fatigue from the girls next to me as I opened my eyes. Meg and Wendy were sitting on the love seat across from us, looking concerned. 

Meg Spoke first "They are coming out of it. Hey guys, are you okay?"

Suzan spoke up, "Only if feeling like you got hit in the head with a sledge hammer is okay. Damn Mike, what did you do to us?"

"Sorry, I didn't realize it would be that tiring. Hey Meg, hey Wendy, you guys been here long?" I asked rubbing my forehead.

"Only about two hours, what the hell were you guys doing?" Wendy said, her voice trembling a little.

"I was trying to contact someone, and luckily I succeeded. Now if he will only help us."

"Who Mike?" Tuyen asked. 

"I don't know if he will or can help us, so I don't want to say right now. But I do need to get my ass off this couch because I have to meet him in about 30 minutes across town."

I tried to stand only to have to be helped to my feet by Wendy and Meg. I felt a little woozy, but my strength was returning quickly.

"Mike I don't think you should be driving anywhere." Suzan said her doctor voice coming out subconsciously. 

"We don't have a choice, there isn't much time. I need you guys to bring Meg and Wendy up on what is going on. If I am lucky, I will be back in about an hour with a plan."

__________________________________________

A large cup of coffee and two stale muffins from Suzan's kitchen got me back on my feet and out to my truck in short order. I was surprised to see that it was almost ten o'clock, almost three hours since I had gone to get Jill. 

The city was still alive with people out on the town for the evening, and it took me almost 20 minutes to get to my shop. I parked out front and waited anxiously, my curtain tightly drawn in my mind. The feel of the girls rising and falling emotions through the bond was a great comfort to me. 

I sat lost in thoughts for a moment when I heard the tap on the passenger side window. I jumped, nearly spilling the remainder of my coffee in my lap before nodding and flicking the switch to unlock the door. The door opened with a squeak and the rush of night air filled the car.

I looked over as Dimitry settled himself in the passenger seat, his long dark hair framing his pale face. He looked at me somberly, but then a slight smile formed on his face.

"I did not expect to hear from you so soon my friend, nor in such a manner. I was surprised you found me with my shields up." His voice rumbled as he spoke.

"I didn't know if I could contact you Dimitry, thanks for meeting me." I said quietly

"It is the least I could do for the man who saved my life." He said, smiling slightly again. 

"Do you mind if I drive while we talk?" I asked 

"Getting paranoid already? No not paranoid I suppose, not when they are out to get you. No, please drive." Dimitry said the smile now gone.

"First Dimitry, I want to say I don't expect anything of you. I am going to ask for your help now, but you don't owe me anything. I will understand if you simply wish to live your life in peace and not be pulled back into this confrontation with your father." I said glancing at him as I pulled into traffic and headed up toward the foothills.

He simply nodded, waiting for me to continue. I explained to him about Jill, handing him the note as I did so, and told him that I had to try to get her back. I told him that I had the help of friends, and that me and the girls seemed to have formed a bond that I hoped would help me confront his father. 




The Music of the Mind Ch. 16



He sat in silence for a long time after I had finished speaking. I had parked the car in the foothills overlooking Boulder, and the lights twinkled below us prettily as we sat. Finally he spoke, his deep base voice rumbling out of the depths of his chest. 

"You trust me a great deal with this information." He said looking at me briefly before staring back at the lights below. I met his eyes for that moment, but did not speak.

"When you confront my father, what do you intend to do to him?"

I sat thinking about my answer. I knew my intent; I had known it from the moment I found his note in Jill's home. I thought about lying then, I have to admit that, but ultimately I know that if this man was going to help us he needed to know the truth.

"I intend to cripple him at the least, to take away his gift. If I can not do that I will kill him. He is too dangerous, has hurt too many people. I hate this Dimitry, I really do. I am not a killer, but..."

"You feel you have no choice, eh? Well you don't. You may not be a killer but he is. I will help you on two conditions." I nodded as he looked at me before continuing. "First, I don't want him crippled, I want him dead. A snake without fangs is still a snake. After everything he has done to me and those I care about, he deserves death." He stopped watching me through the slits of his eyes.

After a long moment I nodded my ascent. "What is your second condition?" I asked.

He sat for a moment staring down at the city below. When he spoke his voice was steady and firm, but somehow I could still feel the weight of the emotion as he spoke.

"You must help me try to free my sister before you go. She is a slave as I am only now fully beginning to understand I was. She is a beautiful person, but more then that she will be your greatest opposition should you approach my father." He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit one up, rolling down the window and hanging his arm out of the truck. The cold fall air carried the smell to me on the crisp air.

"Why is she so dangerous?" I asked. He glanced at me before taking another long pull on his smoke.

"Because she is the fulcrum of Dolkoff's power circle." 

"Power circle? What is that?" I asked and Dimitry chuckled.

"A power circle is what you have formed with your friends. Though I have never heard them being formed in quite that way. Normally all the members of the circle are subservient to the fulcrum. The Fulcrum then wields the power of all of them as one. My father would never allow anyone to be that close to him to become the fulcrum himself, so he uses my sister to do this work for him.

She has taken the six most powerful of our conclave, and they are all bonded to her. Though not to each other, as you and your friends are. This is something new, as I have said. If we can save her, take her out of my fathers clutches, then he will loose his greatest weapon. Then you will have a chance." 

My mind was spinning. Dolkoff had the same ability as we did, well after a fashion. Dimitry's sister Anna was the key to this power for them, and he wanted to try to save her, if that could be done. 

"I am willing to try Dimitry, though we don't have much time." He nodded. We will not need too much. She has a weakness as I know her patterns, and she thinks I am dead. We will get her at dawn, but you must promise me that you will try to capture her, and not kill her."

"I will do my best, I give you my word. But, what if she doesn't want our help? What if she hasn't been conditioned and she really wants to help your father." Dimitry flicked his spent butt out the window before turning to me, and when he did his eyes burned with such fire I nearly recoiled. 

"There is no chance of that. My father has hurt her far worse them he hurt me over the years in ways a father should not hurt a daughter. I know within her is a vast ocean of hatred for the man, but I think like me, she can not set it free. You will need to heal her as you healed me," He said, his steady voice rumbling over me.

"I promise you, I will do everything in my power for her." 

"Good, I believe you will. You are a good man Mike. Now, let's go meet your friends, we have much work to do."

When we entered Suzan's house about an hour later, I was greeted by four blank looks, and one comprehending smile from Tuyen. I introduced Dimitry around to the girls, and explained to them all who he was. I saw comprehension on Suzan and Ellen's faces as they remembered me telling them about him. Tuyen of course had seen him the night he was at my house.

After an hour of discussion and many questions from the girls they were satisfied that Dimitry was okay, and that he really could help us get Jill back safe and sound. I was rather amused to feel a strong current of attraction to him coming from Tuyen through the bond. Given the sly looks Susan and Ellen were exchanging, I think they noticed it too. Though to be honest, the rapt attention Tuyen gave Dimitry every time he spoke was indication enough.

When we got down to planning, the room was quiet and serious. I was tired, but the thought of Jill and what might be happening to her drove me on. 

"Okay, Dimitry you told me Anna's weakness was that you knew her patterns, what did you mean?" I asked.

"Very simply that I will know when she will be away from the group. You see, most of the conclave lives in a small apartment building Dolkoff owns. They stick together for protection, and because my father demands it. My sister though goes out every morning to her own apartment. My father does not know of it, or if he does he tolerates it. Perhaps it is the little rebellion he allows her. 

"I had a similar small vanity. Regardless, I know where her apartment is, and that she will be there this morning like every morning."

"How do you know she will be there?" Tuyen asked.

"Because she has to feed her little doggie, and take him for a walk. The apartment is really just a place to keep her pet. She was never allowed one as a child, no one at the conclave is allowed anything that may distract them from their duty." Dimitry spoke with a clipped cadence that betrayed the amount of anger he was holding in. 

"Okay, so I will confront her with the help of you guys backing me up. Dimitry, you said she had six in her circle, will the four of us be able to stop her?" I asked. Dimitry sat for a moment thinking. 

"I don't know. Your circle is strange, and your bonds are stronger then the ones I have seen in my sister's circle. But still, you are taking a risk. She will have a lot more firepower to pull from." 

Suddenly a thought occurred to me. "Dimitry, when she came in my shop I was able to defeat her fairly easily. Why?" I asked.

"They formed the circle after that. You have to understand it is a powerful thing, and Dolkoff would not want it to exist without a purpose. It might grow to be a threat to his power." He looked directly into my eyes as he finished speaking, and I nodded. 

"Well we will just have to do the best we can, and hope we have the strength to overcome her. We will have surprise on our side." I said quietly.

"Bullshit!" Wendy blurted out. "Why can't Meg and I join your circle? Then it would be an even match." Silence hung in the room as I looked from Tuyen to Suzan and Jill. 

"Wendy, it is not that simple. You see, we established this bond by sharing everything with each other." I said softly, trying to think how to tell her and Meg what happened, but before she could respond Dimitry responded.

"Interesting. That might explain the difference. In Anna's circle the bond is formed through each of the members subjugating themselves to the will of the center of the circle. Though for it to work the spokes of the circle can hide nothing from the fulcrum." 

"Well that is not exactly how we..." I began when Ellen, ever the pragmatist, cut me off.

"Oh hell, why are we pussy footing around this. We all had sex with each other and shared the experience together in our minds." There was silence at Ellen's blunt statement, before Suzan spoke up beside her.

"But it wasn't just sex, we loved each other. We shared our feeling with each other. We were fully vulnerable and yet protected by one another. It's hard to explain..." As Suzan finished speaking I thought her face might burst into flame she was so red in the face. Wendy looked from one of us to the other. Meg was blushing almost as red as Susan.

Wendy spoke up, "What? You mean all I have to do is have sex with all of you while using the gift? Where do I sign up?" she finished with a big grin on her face. Tuyen spoke up.

"No, I don't think you have to have sex with all of us, just one of us. I only shared myself with Ellen and Suzan, and now I am bonded to them. But it is a lot more than sex, I completely opened myself to them. It wasn't hard for us, we have been friends for over 10 years." She said quietly smiling at Ellen and Suzan next to her on the couch.

Suddenly something dawned on me, and things became clear in my head. 

"But Tuyen, I can only feel you through my link to Ellen and Suzan. I think I have just understood something. Our strength can come not from being a linear circle of power, but a web, where we are all connected to each other. I don't think we have to all have sex together at the same time physically, I think each of us may need a partner, then we share our experiences all together through our minds." Dimitry was nodding his head, and then spoke.

"I think this would work. A web is stronger then a circle, able to receive strength from any other point in the web at any time. You will forgive me if I tell you I do not wish to be a part of your circle. I have only just discovered my freedom; I am not ready to give any of it up in any way."

"That is okay Dimitry, we are more than grateful for all you have done. Wendy, Meg, you see now that it is not an easy thing for you two to just join the circle." I said quietly.

Wendy spoke up again. "Well I am still willing. I have already had sex with Mike a couple times, so I wouldn't mind doing that again. Actually I have never had a problem with girls either if one of you would be willing." She said looking at the girls. 

"I will join the circle too." Meg said in almost a whisper. Everyone looked at this small woman and the silence in the room grew until I found my voice.

"Meg, you don't have to do that, you don't know any of us that well, and it is..." 

"Just shut up will you." Meg said her voice rising before continuing. "Just shut up and listen to me. I want to join okay? You people have been kinder to me than anyone I have ever known. I have always been shy, a loner. Now I feel like part of something important, and I want to help." Tears were flowing down her face now and she reached up to wipe her nose as she continued.

"Ellen is the only one of you that knows this, and that is because she counseled me after that man raped me, but before that happened I was a virgin." She looked up at us through her red eyes and tears and you could have heard a pin drop in the room. "I'm not a prude or anything, it just never happened. The guys never felt right, or the timing was off, or something as stupid as when the opportunity arose we didn't have protection.

"Anyway, I told Ellen I wanted to have sex with someone. I wanted to take ownership of my sexuality for myself, and not have my only experience be with that monster at the club. I feel like it will be the last thing I need to do to get over that, to feel like a normal woman."

"Mike that is why I asked you out the other night; I wanted to seduce you." She smiled at me through her tears and I felt my heart expand to fill with love for this woman. How brave she was to expose herself like this to us all. When I spoke my voice shook and I realized I too had tears on my face.

"It would have worked too Meg, if it hadn't been for those bastards that interrupted our evening in that alleyway. If you want to join, you too Wendy, I won't say no. But it isn't up to me." I looked to the girls, from Tuyen to Suzan and Ellen and each of them nodded their ascent.

Later I lead Meg upstairs to the ugly guest bedroom I had shared with Suzan and Ellen before. Tuyen and Wendy were spending a few hours on the fold out couch downstairs, and Susan and Ellen had adjourned to the master bedroom. 

We sat on the bed, and Meg smiled at me. She was flushed, and I reached out to her note and sent a gentle note of comfort to her. She smiled, still new enough to the gift to be surprised by the mental touch and pleased by it.

"Are you scared?" I asked.

"No, not scared, but a bit nervous, and pretty tense. Not in the mood I guess you could say." She said with a small laugh. I nodded smiling.

"Yeah, not exactly a low stress situation to have your first time under is it?" I asked.

"Well it technically it is not my first time." She said the smile vanishing from her face.

"Hey, as far as I am concerned it is your first time, at least your first time with someone who cares about you." I said letting my feelings for her sing into her mind. The smile returned.

"Thanks Mike."

"Hey look, why don't we just lay down and evesdrop on the others for a while?" I said with a mischievous smile on my face. Meg got a big grin on her face. 

"Now that sounds like a good idea." She said.

We lay down on the bed next to each other and I reached over to take her hand. It struck me as somewhat comical, these two adults fully clothed holding hands on the bed, but then the situation wasn't exactly normal. 

I could feel Suzan and Ellen and Tuyen through the bond, and from the feeling of things Tuyen and Wendy had jumped in with both feet so to speak. I wasn't surprised, Wendy was at the age where sex drive could over power almost anything else. Suzan and Ellen however, were approaching things with a more measured pace.

I reached out to them and I could feel them sense my presence and welcome me into the warmth of their connection with each other. Gently I pulled Megs note to me, and shared there feelings with her.

They were gently kissing each other, sharing their love for each other. I could feel Meg's initial shock at being a part of this intimate moment, but then the love and caring of these two women reached out and enveloped her as well and she began to relax. After all, both of them had looked after her physically and mentally after her ordeal, and they cared for her a great deal.

Suzan and Ellen were being very tender with each other, taking the time to slowly explore each other's bodies and minds They could feel our presence in their lovemaking and it was as if each one took turns sharing little things they loved about each other. 

The way one responded to a special kiss, or a favorite place to touch. It was quite a feeling to feel the intent of one to please, then the pleasure of the other a moment later. Like a dance between partners who have known each other for a long time, and each move is anticipated, but still delightful in its execution.

Meg and I were not separate from this, but within the link of our minds we became part of the dance. Our emotions flowed into them, and theirs into us. As they moved deeper into their passion, I felt Meg's passion rise with my own. The intimacy between us grew as we opened ourselves to Suzan and Ellen's lovemaking.

Meg and I moved together and began to kiss, her soft lips gentle and supple. I let my hands roam down her back, and her small hips, delighting in the shape of her body. Her small hands slid up under my shirt, caressing my chest and then back. The pleasure of touch sung through both of us, mingled with the dance between Suzan and Ellen and multiplied itself.

I let more of the barriers in my mind down to Meg, and in turn I felt her relax and share with me; the awkwardness of her youth, the trouble with boys and then men, the feeling of being broken because "it" hadn't happened yet. The rape, the betrayal, the healing, and the new friendships with all of us were all part of her, yet she was much more then this. 

I felt Ellen's understanding and wisdom flow through her and me, and Suzan's caretaking on top of that. To be so reassured and so loved, and in the midst of such love was more powerful then I can describe. Meg leaned over and whispered in my ear, her voice somehow distant and yet so intimate in the bubble of the rapport we were in.

"Lets get undressed, I don't want anything in the way." Her voice was husky, deep with passion and trance. We shed our cloths awkwardly, and in haste distracted by the bond with Suzan and Ellen. I could feel their humor as we tugged and pulled at stubborn cloths, discarding them haphazardly across the room.

As we lay back down together, our bodies together, the warmth of her flesh against mine sent shivers of pleasure through me. We began to kiss again, and our hands roamed over each others bodies. Meg's breasts were large for her frame, and very firm and smooth, and I played with her nipples gently with my fingers as she moaned into my mouth.

Her hand found my cock, and stroked it gently. Each touch of her hand send waves of pleasure up and through me, and caused a buzzing in the back of my head. Our pleasure poured out into Suzan and Ellen, and I could feel their pleasure join with ours. 

But then, a small trickle of concern came from Ellen to me about Tuyen. In a moment I reached out and pulled her and Wendy gently into the bond with the four of us. 

Wendy and Tuyen were giving it their best to share with each other, but they were almost strangers to each other. Also, though both of them were adventurous, neither were really gay and the tension and awkwardness was growing between them. I thought for a moment before an idea occurred to me. 

I reached out to each of them, and shared all the wonderful memories I had of both of them. To Wendy I shared years of watching and admiring Tuyen's strength and grace, her sharp wit, and unceasing dedication to her friends. I shared how we came to be closer, and the things we had shared. I shared my love of her fire, her passion, and her warmth. 

In a sense sharing is not the right words, for she could relive these thoughts and emotions through me and the link. She was becoming intimately aware of the beauty of Tuyen through these notes of memories that I let flood from me. I could feel then Suzan and Ellen share their memories, and their love of her as well. I learned more about my friend from them, and I felt my love for her grow within me.

Then I realized that Meg was gaining all this knowledge as well, and that she too was feeling love and joy for Tuyen. Tuyen poured back through to all of us her joy, love and wonderment at having all of us in her life. 

Wendy's warmth for Tuyen went from physical passion to genuine emotional connection. She gained the understanding of years of friendship and trust in minutes, and it kindled a new level of passion within her. 

Then I shared with everyone my knowledge of Wendy; of the countless mornings at the Grind, flirting and talking; of her apparent strength, and yet youthful insecurities. I shared all the lust and attraction I had for her over the years. My desire to be a good friend to her, and all the mistakes I though I had made with her with my clumsy use of the gift. 

I shared our first encounter, and our later ones, and the fire of passion that burned within her that so attracted me. The intelligence and wit that when coupled with that turned her into a sexual goddess to me. All these things poured out and through Wendy and Tuyen and the others. 

Each woman responded with love and understanding. The older women shared their youth with Wendy, their insecurities and strengths; there admiration for her maturity, and passion, and sexual strength. Wendy felt held, encompassed by all of us, seen for all she was and could be, and yet accepted, even celebrated. The passion that had grown in Wendy now bloomed in Tuyen, and in all of us.




The Music of the Mind Ch. 16



The dance began in earnest now. Each of us opening up further and further to the group our deepest memories, and fears only to find them reflected and soothed by another voice in the song. Each touch from one partner to another rang through the group like a heightening of all our pleasures. 

The deep loving touches of Suzan and Ellen, and the passionate fire of Wendy and Tuyen, to the careful slow exploring caresses between Meg and I, they all filled each of us. We were not one, no we were distinctly each ourselves, but between us flowed understanding of our unique beauty, and acceptance of our flaws. 

I let my hands roam over Meg's body, her tight stomach and small frame. Eventually I let my fingers slide between her legs to find her wetness had soaked her full soft mound of hair, and had run down onto the sheets. She shuttered as my fingers slid over her clit and the pleasure of that touch raced up through her.

I could feel each of the others in the bond all tremble with the pleasure she felt in that first touch, and that pleasure was echoed in their touches to each of their partners. I slid down her body, reluctantly pulling my mouth from hers, to traverse her body and inhale the musky scent of her sex. 

As I took her into my mouth, I could feel her pleasure echoed throughout the bond as the others felt similar pleasures from their lovers. It was such an intense level of stimulation that I felt almost lost in the waves of it. It took all my concentration to continue to gently flick my tongue across Meg's swollen lips to add her pleasure to the rising chorus of passion.

When her orgasm came it was followed by many from the others. I can't tell you who, for by then the lines dividing the pleasure between us had blurred. We were all sharing so deeply and intimately with each other that there was no need to sort though each individuals pleasure, it was more "our" pleasure.

As Meg descended from her first orgasm, I slid up on top of her, our sweaty bodies pressed together. I could feel my cock resting against her wet mound, hard and throbbing with my desire to enter her. I kissed her gently and I could feel her fear rise in her as the memory of the pain, the violation, and the feeling of being sullied and broken came into her mind. 

Even as I reached out to sooth and comfort her, love and compassion flowed from all the others in the bond. She was bathed in reassurance, in memories of joyful sexual experiences. Each of them shared their memories of being with me, of my gentleness, and their pleasure. I was touched more deeply then I can describe to you, to know these women had all felt as much trust of me, as I had of them.

Meg's fears subsided and vanished, and I felt her small hands pull my hips toward her. I pulled back only slightly, letting my cock slide down between her legs and into the opening of her sex. Slowly, with the most love and care I could find within myself I let her slowly pull me forward into her. 

My pleasure was nothing compared to the shared pleasure of hers echoed through all the others. It was in a sense, as if I entered all of them through the bond, and that they all welcomed me into themselves. It was a feeling of complete trust and union. 

As Meg and I began to move together, our mouths kissing, out hands touching I could feel all the other pleasures rolling through the group. I could feel the soul of each of my friends, and the beauty within them. The pleasure of our bodies was echoed by the pleasure of our minds. By the sharing of our most intimate fears and desires, and the acceptance and understanding of each of us of those human qualities we became more then one lost human in the wilderness of consciousness.

We all moved together almost like a flight of birds in the air, flying toward a climax of intimacy and pleasure. Mouths sucking, fingers moving, bodies rocking to a tempo that passed between us like breath. 

When I felt the climax coming, it wasn't mine alone, it was all of ours. It was the fusion of all our bodies, all our minds, and all our hearts into a single entity that was more then any of us. It rose like a towering monument to dwarf us, and yet was completely a part of us. The pleasure in a way reflected the potential of us all, as friends, as lovers, and as individuals.

When it came, it was not like being consumed, or overwhelmed, but like coming home. It was complete and absolute bliss. It was the physical release yes, but more then that it was the emotional release of complete harmony, and complete union. For maybe the first time in our lives none of us was alone in our own minds. We were all uniquely ourselves, and yet whole, together. 

How long that pleasure lasted is not something that I can describe by time. It was beyond corporeal boundaries, or limitations. When we emerged from it on the other side, and all of us slowly drifted back down to ourselves, we basked in the bond now pulsing between us. There were no barriers between us now. We sat more secure in the knowledge of who we were then ever before, unashamed to be seen, for nothing remained hidden. 

I looked into Meg's eyes and saw the tears that flowed there, and realized that I too was crying. These were not evil tears, but tears of both joy and sadness, tears that reflected, blessed and praised our very humanity; tears that held within them all the wonder at what we had just experienced, and the knowledge that we may never experience anything like that again. 

___________________________________________

I was nervous as Dimitry and I approached the door of the small town home. The air was brisk, and light was only beginning to fill he sky in the plains to the east. The Flatirons to the west were still just dark silhouettes against the setting moon. 

I could feel each of the girls clearly, not far away hidden in the truck. Dimitry had said close physical proximity would lend power to the web we now shared between us. The bond was very present now, and yet not obtrusive. It seemed it could reside in the background, or come to a full connection in an instant. 

Each of the girls was now linked to me, and to each other. I could feel their reassuring presence. Each of us had our curtains firmly closed, but the bond seemed to ignore that. Like a conduit that passed through the barriers between us. 

I was tired though, only a few hours quick sleep, then more planning this morning had left me running on coffee and adrenaline. I was very nervous, but always now there was the constant reassurance of the web with me, and my friends who now walked with me.

Dimitry walked to the front door and pulled out a key, smiling wolfishly at me in the darkness before unlocking the door. We were greeted by a small bundle of furry energy that jumped and yapped at Dimitry as we entered the door. A small Scottish terrier seemed immensely happy to see him as he chuckled and shut the door behind us, relocking it. 

"This is Pavlov, yes I know a silly name but my sister has a quirky sense of humor." Dimity said with a smile as he scratched Pavlov behind the ears. He calmed down quickly as we entered the main room of the house. It was neat in a way that suggested who ever lived here was either a clean freak, or spent hardly any time at home. 

Really, what it looked like was the home of someone who had all the resources to decorate however they wanted, but their only reference was magazines and TV shows. I realized that Anna had probably never had a home, and that this space for her was really an idealized dream for her. This place was her shelter, far from the demands of her ageless father and his needs, but still just a fairytale. 

Off the main den was small kitchen out of site from the front door. It too was fully furnished, but sterile, almost untouched. 

"I say we wait in here for her. When she comes in, you step out and attack her. You must defeat her quickly. She will take a few moments to bring her circle to her. That is assuming she hasn't already raised her defenses for some reason. Once you render her helpless, you must make her unconscious and try to remove the links to her circle. 

If you can remove them all at once, they will assume she has died. This will give us a greater advantage since my father will not know what happened to her. If the fight goes on to long, the circle will gain knowledge of us. Do you understand?"

I nodded. "How do I remove the bonds to her circle?" I asked. Dimitry looked at me, his face deadly serious. 

"I do not know, this you will have to discover, but you must try to do it." 

Great, I thought. I was about to face a powerful enemy with an untried bond with a bunch of women I loved and perform a task I had no idea how to do. Perfect.

We waited for some time, Pavlov running around in excitement before he too realized we were not here for fun, and he went and laid down on his dog bed. I think that hour was the most nerve wracking of my entire life. When at last Anna arrived, the girls hiding in the back of my truck across the way warned me through the bond. 

"She's here." I whispered to Dimitry, and he nodded and backed further into the kitchen. Pavlov sat up, his ears perked as if by some sixth sense he could feel the arrival of his master. Something about this worried me.

I heard the key in the front door, and Pavlov leaped up and ran forward to meet the sound. I waited, and heard the door open and the jingle of keys. Then a gentle feminine voice speaking in a higher register, like one does with a pet. The accent was the same as Dimitry's. 

"Pavlov, you good dog, did you miss me."

I called the bond to full strength, felt the girls as if they had all joined with me in my mind. I could feel them layering their defenses over mine, protecting me, lending me strength and confidence. We didn't know if we were doing this right, but it was the best we could figure out in the wee hours of this morning. 

I stepped out from the kitchen and saw Anna. She stood very still, the dog ignored at her feet, and her eyes locked on mine as I walked out. She was not surprised, and she was not unprepared. 

I could see her in the plane of sound in my mind, but she looked unlike anything I had seen before. Her note was surrounded by a buzzing wall of sound that looked like a million angry bees. 

We lashed out at each other at the same time. I formed a ball of sound and flung it at her. Each of the girls added to it, more of the same thought as we had agreed earlier. It raced out like a flaming ball of magma only to hit her protection and be ripped apart and flung away. Her attack was different though. 

It was though she reached out with that buzzing swarm and lashed at me with a long tendril of it. I could feel the power in it, and it rocked me back, tearing at my combined defenses like a knife. I could feel the pain and madness in it, and it echoed through the bond as the girls felt it too.

I continued to hurl the balls of thought at her, but her shield deflected them while she continued to lash at me with those terrible strokes. I realized like many other times, I was going to have to adapt our strategy if we were going to survive. I called on all the girls to push there attack into an energy just outside us, and to hold the single though to paralyze there. 

As they did this the buzzing sound began to form around me. I could see a look of concern cross Anna's face across the room. I reached out with my mind, and as though I wielded a sword, grasped the sound and slung it at her. It tore a great gash in her defenses. I was startled at the power and ferocity of the blow I had struck her.

Her face now was frightened, and she renewed her attack even as I doubled my own. Still, I was loosing, she had gained too much ground on me early while I struggled to understand how to fight this new type of battle, and at the rate our defenses were disintegrating, I thought she could hold out longer. 

I began to feel panic; I couldn't let the girls be harmed. I couldn't fail, or Jill would be left with her captors. In desperation I shot a small plea for help to Dimitry. It was instinctual, like a drowning man calling for help. 

He did not lend his strength to the fight; he simply stepped out of the kitchen and stood staring at his sister, smiling. The blow to her could not have been more profound. For a moment she faltered in shock at the site of her dead brother, the screen faded for a moment, and in that second I tore it aside like a sheet off a clothesline in a hurricane. I hit her with a ball of thought to freeze, then to sleep. She fell to the floor like a rag doll.

I raced into her mind, down through the layers seeking the connections to her circle. They were like small scars on the instrument of her mind, they added extra strings that harmonized with her instrument and then vanished into nowhere. I grasp all of them and pulled them free sending as strong a note of pain as I and the girls could muster down them as they snapped free and vanished. 

The scars where they had been attached I healed like I had healed Dimitry's mind. Then I pulled back out and into myself. The room spun, and if not for Dimitry grasping my shoulder I would have fallen. 

I could feel the fatigue of the girls through the bond, which I now let retract to a more reasonable level. They were all joyous though, as was I, at our apparent success. As I steadied he let go of me and rushed to his sister. He checked her pulse, then looked up at me and smiled. 

"She is alive."

"Yes, and fine. Though I hope the pain I sent down the connection to her circle made them think otherwise." I said as I stumbled over to a pristine antique chair and sat down. Dimitry nodded, and I realized there were tears in his eyes.

Tuyen pulled the car around, and we loaded her into the back of my truck. It was crowded back there with me and several of the girls crammed in under the camper shell. Note to self I thought, buy a van.

On the drive back to Suzan's I gently probed her mind, and kept her in a deep sleep. I found not one scar like Dimitry's but no less then four. All of them to ensure her obedience, and limit her desire for freedom. I shuttered to think of what might be lurking under one, much less all four. 

We carried her into the couch, and sat down, all of us tired and feeling the effects of the loss of adrenaline, and lack of sleep. Tuyen spoke up first.

"What do we do with her now?" she said looking around at us. We had laid her on the couch, and Dimitry had placed her head in his lap and was gently brushing the hair out of her face. 

"I think you should try to heal her Mike." He said looking up at me.

"Dimitry, she has four of the scars you had, Remember what happened when I healed just that one in you. Plus, we all need some rest." I said almost pleading. He looked back down at the face of his sleeping sister for moments, sliding an errant strand of hair out of her face and behind her ear before speaking again.

"I know you are tired, all of you are. But if you help her, then she may be able to tell us things that will help tonight." He said. 

I though for a few minutes. He had a point, she may have valuable information. Still, last time I had healed one of those scars it had whipped me out for half a day. Still, I didn't have help then.

"Okay, tell you what, let's try one, and see how it goes. If it is too much, then we keep her sedated until this is all over. Agreed?" Dimitry paused for a moment then nodded. I looked around at the others, and they all nodded one by one. It was funny; I had already felt their desire to try to help through the bond, so it was more a ritual formality for Dimitry's sake then anything to ask them out loud.

We all found a comfortable position around the room; I called the bond to me, instantly all my friends were with me, and we all sat for a moment savoring the communion, and shelter of the bond. I reached out and called Dimitry's note to me, sending him the image of him helping us. He relaxed, and allowed me to pull him with us into her mind. 

I don't know what the experience was like for the others, but I realized most of them had probably never been that deep into someone's mind before. I felt surprise, shock, and a strong understanding from Ellen. In fact as Ellen looked at that deep subconscious plain where the scars where, I could feel her suddenly have ideas snap together in her mind about the workings of the human brain that had plagued her for years in her work. 

Suddenly I realized something and I let my joy and laughter ring out through the web. I conveyed images to the group of how I had healed Dimitry's scar, and the consequences after. Then I conveyed that I wanted Ellen to take the lead on this, and I would support her with the rest of the group. 

I could feel her shock, but I just let my confidence ring forth, and sent the image of a web through the group. I was not the leader. We were all equals here, and all of us could harness the power of the others to do good work. 

Before we could begin, I told Dimitry to rise up, and to wait. When we healed the first scar she would wake up, and he could be present in her mind to comfort her, explain to her what was happening, and to put her back to sleep if necessary.

Watching Ellen work on the scar was like watching a delicate dancer compared to the way I had handled it. She worked the edges, probing under each, gaining an understanding of what was there, and how it related to the others. It took time. Eventually she sent the image to us that she could not remove just one, they all had to go at once.

This frankly scared the hell out of me, and several of the others, but she sent us images to explain how she wanted to help with the onslaught that would come and it was pure genius. We all agreed. Dimitry was told, and we set to work. 

When the Scars came off under Ellen's care, it was not like when I had torn Dimitry's free, but more like they just gently slid off under Ellen's care. I could feel the rise of emotion then, and feel Anna come awake. I could feel Dimitry paralyze her far up in her consciousness, and then I was consumed with lending my aid to Ellen. 

The substance of what spilled forth from Dimitry's mind when I removed his scar was piled up memories from growing up. Essentially a stock pile of hurts, wrongs, and more importantly, needs. All children want to explore, want to grow, but most of all want to be loved. Neither Dimitry nor his sister had a father that loved them, nor any real childhood to speak of. 

Under Anna's scars were the same obedience issues, but also ones of pain, loneliness, isolation, and abandonment. She had been the more gifted of the two siblings, and as such had been worked harder by her father. The emotions that came pouring out of her were the result of these long years of need that had been ignored. 

As the rush came, Ellen harnessed all of us with more skill that I would have though possible, and used the power to slow the release to a trickle. Then, each emotion that poured out was met with all of our understanding, and then our shared experiences of that issue. 

In a sense we shared out upbringings, our childhoods, our pains and joys with her as each one of these erupted from her mind. In a very real sense she was able to draw on our life lessons, our victories, our defeats, and how we healed from these things. To be blunt, she got 30 years of therapy in about the two hours it took to let all that mess out.

But it was more then that too. In sharing this we shared ourselves with Anna. Not to the degree we had to establish the bond mind you, but enough so that in moments she came to know each of us, then to believe in us and trust us, then even eventually to feel we were long time friends. 

Realize this was not deception, this was truthful, and genuine understanding. We came to appreciate her, to feel her pain, to accept her for her faults and flaws, and to praise her for her strengths. In the time we spent in her mind, we gained years of understanding. In the end, I knew whatever happened to Anna, that I would care about her, and help her as I would any of my friends, and I knew she would welcome this support. 




The Music of the Mind Ch. 17



There were several other cars parked across the lot. I looked around me in the softly falling snow, and sent images of the place, and the view to my friends. I got a startled response of recognition from Ellen, then a feeling from all of them that they thought they knew where I was and were on the way. 

Shivering a bit from both cold and adrenaline, I took the keys out of the van, dragged the driver and his friend to the back, and locked them in with the other unconscious guards. I wanted to be able to use the vehicle to get away if I needed too.

I was surprised there were no guards out front of the building. I walked slowly and carefully up to the front doors, and looked through the glass. What was once a lobby was in disarray. Part of the ceiling tiles had been removed, and several light fixtures hung down, dark and useless. Only the light from the big mercury vapor lamps in the parking lot let me see anything at all.

I tried the door, and found it locked. I dug the driver's keys out and flipped through them looking for one that may fit. After a few minutes of fumbling in the dark I found a large square key that slid easily into the lock, and turned opening the door for me. As I reached for the handle to open the door I hesitated, and smiled.

Why give them what they expect. I walked around the building climbing through the overgrown shrubs and bushes. The snow was coming down harder now, and the lights of Boulder were beginning to disappear behind the falling snow. I circled the building looking for lights in any of the windows. 

As I walked around the building I realized that the back half of the building actually overlooked a ravine. I was forced to skirt up the hill to even see the back windows. Several in the middle glowed with light flickering through the snow. A small balcony overlooked the canyon and was lit from the light within. 

I had found my way in, but how to get to it. The drop into the canyon was too steep to climb the supports for the balcony. I stood for a minute thinking before the idea came to me. I sent images to the girls and got a scattering of approval, concern, and requests to wait for them to get there. 

I didn't know if Dolkoff knew that we had attacked the people in the van, but I had to assume he did and so time was limited. I moved back around to the side of the building, and began to climb a tree next to the building. The branches were icy and covered in snow, but I managed to climb up and then out over the building. 

I hung from the branch I was on, dropping only a foot or so to the building. I hoped no one was under me to hear the thud. I moved slowly and carefully across the flat roof, between the air handling equipment toward the back where I had seen the light.

The wind was beginning to blow the snow now, and I was shivering move forcibly from the cold. I got to the back of the building and looked out over the edge to the balcony below. I almost threw myself backwards onto the roof. A guard was standing on the balcony now, smoking a cigarette. 

I crawled to the edge and peered over into the light and falling snow. The man was huddling in a large parka, staring out into the night as he quickly puffed on his smoke. I watched him laying in the wet snow for a few minutes before he flicked his butt out into the void and turned to go inside. 

I heard the door scraped open and for a moment I could hear voices before the door swung closed and I was alone with the snow again. I examined the balcony for a way to get down to it. It was made out of a combination of steel beams and wood, and I was sure that if I jumped onto it would make a hell of a vibration. 

One side of the deck though was in shadow, as if it extended beyond the room where the lights were. A small drain spout ran down the side of the building a foot or two beyond the edge of the deck. I though if I could climb down it, I might be able to reach over to catch the balcony rail and climb onto it quietly.

The steel of the pipe burned my bare hands as I slid over the edge of the roof. There was nothing below me but void, and swirling snow. Slowly I began to climb down using the brackets that secured the pipe to the wall as handholds. 

Very quickly my hands began to burn and then go numb. I worked quickly, until I was at the same level as the deck. The two or three feet between me and the deck seemed very far now that I was hanging from this frozen pipe over the canyon. I could feel the concern and fear of the girls through the bond. 

I reached out for the rail, and found that at my longest reach I was still six inches short of the rail. As I strained to reach it my grip on the pipe slipped and I swung around to slam into the face of the building as I struggled to hold on. 

I used both hands to re-secure myself to the pipe, and realized there was no way I could climb back up the pipe to the roof with my frozen hands. I knew I had only one course of action, and I acted on it before I could talk myself out of it.

I climbed up several feet to the next bracket that supported the pipe, and found the one below with my feet. Slowly I turned so that I held the pipe with both hands behind my back, and tried to get both my heels on the lower bracket. Then with all the force I could muster I jumped for the rail.

I struck the rail mid chest and wrapped my arms around it holding on for dear life. I managed to get one foot in between the rails and I pushed myself up and over the rail with my legs. I tried to land as quietly as I could on the balcony, before huddling against the wall and stuffing my frozen hands into my warn jacket pockets where they immediately began to burn. I had managed to knock the breath out of myself when I hit the rail, and it was all I could do not to cough with my burning lungs.

I edged down the deck, and peered around the edge of the window into the lighted room beyond. It was a large room, with a number of tables and chairs stacked against one far wall. My first thought was that it looked like a cafeteria for what ever organization had owned this building. I imagined that the employees must have enjoyed sitting on the balcony eating their lunch and looking down over Boulder.

I let my eyes drift around the room, there were quite a few people there. I counted four guards before I found Dolkoff. He was seated in the middle of the room, and around his feet, seated cross legged on the floor were eight men and woman. Both he and those he had surrounding him, looked to be calm and in a minor trance of concentration.

Then I saw Jill. She was tied naked to a bed that was pushed up against the wall. She was completely naked, and her skin was blue and blotchy. Her face was bruised from repeated blows, both eyes swollen shut. There were bruises and bite marks on her breasts, and dried blood between her legs and down her thighs. I could see no signs of her breathing, no sign that she was awake or even alive.

I felt that madness rising in me that I had felt that first night when I realized she was taken. I sent the images down the bond to the girls even as I stood up in the shadow of the building. I could see the door only a few paces away. I knew it was unlocked. I was going to kill every one of those bastards. 

Before I could pick up my foot to take one step a flood of images and feelings came back to me through the bond. First was Suzan, her medical training pointing out that she was alive, that her color was likely the result of cold and perhaps drugs, but she was definitely alive. Ellen analyzed her condition, the likely trauma that she had undergone, and sent images of reassurance that she could be treated, that in time she would be fine. 

From Tuyen and Wendy I got images to restrain myself, to wait, to formulate a plan. They were almost there. But I was beyond reasoning. I was ready to act. Then I felt Meg in my mind. She understood better then all of us what Jill was going though, and what it would take for her to recover.

She begged me to be calm, and to use my mind not my rage to attack these people. The one thing Jill would need more then anything was for me to survive. Really, was for us all to survive, because otherwise she would be lost to these people. I felt her empathy, her love, and her compassion and the rage in me transformed. 

It boiled down to a cruel detached cunning in which I left behind all the moral doubts and hesitations. I became calculating in a way that I had never experienced before. I knew that Dolkoff had done this to drive me into a rage so that I would not fight him rationally. I knew that it meant no more to him then swatting a fly.

I was not going to play his game. A calm settled over me. I pulsed several notes to the girls that I was going, opened the bond and walked for the door. I sent images of the four guards to the girls and as I pulled open the door I felt them lash out at them, their energies firing through the room. 

These were better trained then the ones in the van, but still obviously new to their powers. Several balls of thought shot at me and deflected off my shields as I lent my strength to Tuyen as she attacked the guard by Jill's bed. His defenses tore like tissue paper and I shredded his mind to bits, scattering it on the plain of sound. He fell silently to the floor with no sign of the trauma that he had just undergone. 

I walked into the room and stood facing Dolkoff, Jill still unmoving on her bed behind him and to his right. The men and woman at his feet sat still, their eyes closed in concentration, and he smiled at me. I could see him in the plain of sound now, so close was I too him. 

He was armored in a column of sound larger and more powerful then I had thought possible. Around him the notes of his power circled and danced inside the whirlwind of power, building the column, and bending to Dolkoff's will. I felt a trickle of fear from the girls, but oddly I felt none myself. 

Then, without my prompting the girls formed up around me, a column of sound began to rage around me. It was different in form then Dolkoff's, but I hoped similar in function. I could feel the energy of each of the girls in the column, each distinct personality, each anxious, enraged, panicked, and hopeful all in one. In one instant I was shielded in all the intimate details of my allies, my lovers, my most sincere friends

The assault when it came was sudden and relentless. The spinning tornado of power that enclosed Dolkoff reached out with arms of sound and began to batter us over and over again. Each blow hurt physically, and it was all I could do to hold the focus for the girls and me together. Dolkoff was wielding pure hate, pure rage against us. 

The girls fired balls of thought back at him, but they were like specs of sand hurled into the eye of an F5 tornado. Each thought was absorbed by that monolith of sound, and scattered impotently across Dolkoff's collective. I felt each attack increase in ferocity from the girls, but none had any more effect then the first.

I knew we were overmatched then, and the girls knew it too. Though in this knowledge a sudden fatalism took us, a desire to die proudly, and fighting with all the strength we could muster. I felt my love and respect for the girls grow in me then by tenfold, if I was to die I couldn't think of a better group to go with.

The next blow that struck me drove me to my knees, and I felt the scream of pain and terror echo though the bond to the girls. I could see Jill, move her head slightly, her eyes still closed in pain and unconsciousness, but that slight movement wrung my heart like nothing I have ever felt. My emotion washed out though the girls and I felt their pain and their support reflected back into me. 

In that moment, I opened my heart to all of them. I opened it like I had when we had made love, like we had when I had opened their minds, like we had over years of trust and friendship. I dropped all pretense, all attempt to hide my human frailty and just let my love for them shine in my heart like a blazing torch. Then from each of them, even Meg and Wendy, I felt a similar response. 

As each of them opened to me, we formed a web of pure love and trust. I began to forget where I began, and where I ended. I was part of this being we created together, but my individual being did not matter. In a sense we became in that moment what all human beings wish to be, something greater then our small selves. We surpassed our human frailty in favor of a moment of transcendence. 

Dolkoff must have sensed the change in our sound for I saw him smile in triumph. The next arm of the whirlwind swung through the plane of sound like a tree in the hands of a giant. Instead of fighting it this time though, I stood unafraid as it smashed into me. I let all the love that was in me, that poured through me from the girls, well up as that anger and hate slammed into my mind.

I felt all the fear of the souls tied like slaves to Dolkoff, their minds not their own. I felt the damage in them, the scars on their minds, the devastation to the very nature of their beings this man had wrought on them and I wept for them. The pain flowed over and through me, and then passed. It took nothing but my sympathy, its most destructive energies washing over the note of pure love the girls and I had formed. 

I could see the rage now in Dolkoff's face, and a new look of determination. The shape and form off the whirlwind changed, altering its sound slightly before swinging around to attack us again. The last assault had heartened us, but in doing so our connection had faded slightly. 

As the new threat hit I felt absolute despair crushing into me, I felt the shields of the girls' love shredding and tearing, and I felt their fear rise. 

"NO!" I thought "We must fight him only with what he does not have. Hold on!"

Then, the support and love washed over me and flung the darkness away. I reached for that deepest level of connection to the girls, and there within the love, I found the feelings of passion and physical intimacy that had given us the bond. In desperation I reached out and poured these feelings out leaving myself at last naked to the minds of my friends. 

I felt strange sensations pouring through me, like a thousand kisses rained upon my body, and a thousand hands stroked and touched me. The passion of each of my friends washed over me. The feel of each of their unique forms of both mental love, and physical love weaved a pattern through us all. Never have I felt such pleasure, or so whole.

Several more blows from Dolkoff crashed against our pillar of sound and washed around us with little effect. I could feel the euphoria amongst all the girls and myself. We were fighting back, and for the moment we were at least holding our own. 

The shape of Dolkoff's whirlwind suddenly shuddered and for a split second seemed to shrink in size before swelling almost to its same gargantuan proportions in the plain of sound. Then I noticed that a faint shielded note had left the column and was slowly moving away from it. 

With extreme effort I opened my eyes to the physical world. Seeing with my eyes and not my mind right now was disorienting, and left me feeling slightly disjointed from the web of thought, I could feel it weaken in my divided attentions. 

As I looked to the circle around Dolkoff, I could see many of those seated around him had blood running down their faces from ears, eyes, and noses form the strain he was placing upon them. But one older man had stumbled to his feet and was walking toward Jill's bed slowly, as if he was in great pain. 

Before I could act, even think to the group to take him down, an assault of such furry came from Dolkoff that I actually cried out in pain. It was as if a hundred balls of thought flew from the whirlwind at once, slamming us with a variety of horrible thoughts, feelings, and images. 

Our concentration had wavered watching the man move toward Jill, all of us concerned for her safety, and now the impact was terrible. It took all of our effort to hold together, to cling to each other as if in a terrible wind storm. The man drew a long knife from a hip pocket as he stumbled to Jill's bedside. 

My mind and heart shrieked inside me, and was echoed a thousand times through my friends. Only at that moment did I realize I was screaming myself horse in that cold room. Though the fog of my pain and fear, I saw Jill open her eyes and her head roll toward me. I could see her eyes open in dazed fear at the man standing over her with the knife, and then the comprehension as she saw me. 

I prepared to thrust out at her assassin, even though I knew it would cost me everything. I prepared to break with the group, to sacrifice myself for her, but not those that I had dragged into this with me. But so connected were we, that the girls felt my intent, and I felt the bond deepen and strengthen even more. The thought rang through as one voice, if you go, we all go. There was no hesitation, no doubt that we would all perish, or none of us would. 

The assault from Dolkoff began to wind down only a fraction, as if his people were overdrawn on their mental accounts. Now I thought, now or never. Then as I readied, as I began to slip back fully into the plain of sound and the bond with the girls, two bright notes of sound slammed into the man spinning through the plain of sound from somewhere behind me. 

Then a virtual hail storm of incredibly disciplined and focused attack balls drove into him and tore him to bits in the plain. With my physical eyes it was as if he simply sighed and slumped to the floor. 

I turned my head with great effort to see Anna and Dimitry standing in the door, their arms around each other. They were smiling, but they also had a look of resignation on their faces as if they knew the cost of this interference would be the end of them.

I could hear the howl of rage from Dolkoff in the whirlwind and a great arm swept out on the plain of sound toward the two tiny shielded notes of his own children. They would not survive; they would be torn apart like paper dolls. 

My heart and mind rebelled against this, rebelled against the idea of two people I had known so deeply, that they should die before they had lived. I felt this despair and rage wash through the web of my friends, and without more thought then that, we reached out and pulled them into the web. 

For only a moment we felt their shields before they welcomed us. They too saw their doom and their only chance at life in us. The blow meant for them instead hit us all, and though it was terrible indeed we weathered it. 

I was then immediately struck by the separateness of these two within us. It was like I had wrapped an orphan in an oversized great coat. They were not part of us, but yet they were within us. They did not add to us, yet they did not take away from us. 

I turned back to Dolkoff and couldn't help a little smile at him. The rage on his face contorted him till he looked inhuman. There was no hiding the monster within him now. Then, I felt Ellen reach out, and for a moment she directed the energies of the group. Not understanding, but trusting her, I let her lead and she reached out on the plain of sound and pulled Jill's now awake mind into us. 

I felt her shock, and her incredible pain and shame. Such was the power that the girls and I were locked in at that in moment she was laid bare before us. In moments we shared, communicated, consoled, grieved, and trusted one another. Years of friendship, and terrible hardship let Jill release her fear and cling to her friends in a way no other power could have caused. 

Jill unlike Anna and her brother, joined with us. Why I can't say, beyond maybe the friendship and trust that existed between us. Though I could feel no power in her closed mind, I could feel great emotion, and it sang in all of us like a choir of angles. No matter what happened now we were all together. We would live or die together, and no one would suffer alone. 




The Music of the Mind Ch. 17



This may seem a small victory, but for us it felt like we had already conquered. We had saved our friend from any more pain, and even if we failed she would not be left to Dolkoff's ravages anymore. 

Now, seeing and not seeing I looked at Dolkoff and our enemies both in the real world, and in the world of our thoughts. The two places seemed to superimpose over each other, and it gave an odd contrast to behold. Dolkoff stood amidst a circle of panting men and women, many with bloody faces who looked as if they were running a great race. 

In his face there was nothing human left; so long had he abused this power that he had lost his humanity. He had become the kind of man that saw even his own children as pawns. There was nothing left of him but the struggle for power, and control.

The people at his feet were broken shadows of him. In the plain of sound they had allowed him to so consume them that they were indistinguishable from their master. While our column of sound danced with the life of all of us. At his feet their physical state reflected what they had given away, and what it had cost them. 

Then, like sunshine breaking through the clouds in a fall snowstorm an idea came to me. So simple, yet so fundamentally different from what Dolkoff was that I thought it might just work. I could feel the reaction ripple through the web with the girls, and their intuitive agreement. 

Our strength was not in subservience, but in partnership. Not in fear and domination, but in love, cooperation, and union. None of us was really in charge, and yet we all were. I reached inside myself, and let the last of my fears, the last of my separateness melt away into the music of our dance.

I felt each of the girls do this, and new awareness of Jill flooded through me as she, unable to stop herself, revealed all to her dearest friends. In her I felt the same love and devotion to me as I felt for her. I felt the absolute truth that we were already joined in this feeling, regardless of what happened to our physical bodies and minds in this cold room on the hills overlooking Boulder. 

I wish I could describe the amount of sharing that we all experienced then, in that moment. In a sense, I think we became something new, a single organism comprised of all our minds. My thoughts became in part, the thoughts of the group, and in turn theirs became mine.

The attacks came again from Dolkoff and his followers again now, and there ferocity was so intense that I could hear the cries of pain from the living beings in front of me. The whirlwind of sound reached out and battered us with thousands of tiny shards of terrible sound. Each branch, each note, a symphony of despair and destruction. 

We clung to each other, but again it took all our strength to just hold our own. Our uniqueness gave us strength, but it also separated our power. We needed to unify our sound, but keep our individual will. Then a note rang through the group, it made me smile to feel it from Jill, the woman I love. 

It too was simple. She had experienced all I and the girls had been through in the bond, though she was not able to project her own thoughts into the group with her mind not open yet. But, in being subjected to our memories, she understood things on an objective level perhaps the rest of us could not. 

So she concentrated on one idea, one thought of how to save us all, and the web of thought pulled it from her and passed it through us. 'Use the same power that formed the bond to unify you now, and then attack with it.' 

Tuyen began it, our bold and fearless friend. I felt a note called into being and suddenly I felt her soft lips on mine, as did everyone else in the web. Then it was Ellen's mouth on my nipple, and Suzan's arms around me in a tight embrace. I began to call to mind the notes of pleasure I could remember in each of them when I touched them.

I felt Meg's fiery and restrained passion burning through us, and Wendy's confidant heated youth. I felt the strong love and joy of Suzan and Ellen for each other. I felt Tuyen's love for us all, and her barely restrained interest in Dimitry. But most of all, I felt the love I had for Jill, and I poured it out with all the strength and courage I could find in my soul.

The effect of all this was immediate and amazing. The bond between us did not so much grow stronger, but deeper and richer. More like a pipe expanding in diameter, than in flow. But the more astounding effect was that I began to feel a harmonic begin to form between us on the plain of sound. 

It was an extremely strange feeling really. All of us were under terrible strain, and the assault from Dolkoff did not slow for an instant. So we felt an immense rising passion at the same time we fought to hold the pain out from Dolkoff. 

I could feel now, all the pleasures of each of my friends, and they could feel mine. Jill was floating in a sea of pleasure, unable to give back to us, but feeling all of us delight in giving to her. Then, like all passion the feelings began to run away with us. I could feel the built to orgasm beginning, but it was not just my own, but the pleasure of all of us building in unity, as one.

As the power of feeling grew between us, the sounds we represented as a group became more and more in sync. In a sense, the body of energy we represented as a group, became more and more sympathetic, more in harmony. The energy began to align together, like two smaller waves in a pond joining together to make one wave twice the size. However I began to fear, for as the power of sensation grew, I could feel control slipping from me. I could not direct this force anymore then I could direct a tidal wave, and I feared the aftermath of our collective climax. 

My fears and thoughts transmitted through the group, our thoughts so interlinked now that every thought of mine became the thought of the group. As one the group began to move us toward Dolkoff in the plane of sound. 

We now looked more like a solid fluctuating wave of sound, and we towered over Dolkoff and his followers. I could see his panicked attacks as we slid toward him, and then into his sound. I could feel his energies tearing at us, but it seemed like an itch now, a nuisance. 

I was so far lost in the pleasure of our mental love making that I could barely think anymore. I was sharing, no living the union of love and passion with the people closest to me in the world. Our pleasures soared together, and our strength grew. I could feel, dimly in my physical body my cock straining in my pants as I knelt on the cold tiled floor.

Then, like all pleasure some invisible line was crossed, and the great wave of an inevitable orgasm. I could feel our sound come into tune now completely. We were one note, one feeling or exquisite joy and pleasure. I felt the anticipation of everyone's bodies in line with my own. 

As the first contraction of muscle happened, and the first synapses of brain tissue fired in pleasure, we all cried out as one. The world around me fades to bliss. Somehow I knew that Dolkoff's shields were gone, torn away, but I could no more act then I could stop the amazing and terrible forces that lifted me out of my body at that moment. 

I knew the moment to strike, to finish this was passing, but I was paralyzed as were all the girls. I felt only a tiny flicker of fear though, for my mind was wrapped in such powerful emotion and feeling that there was little room for anything else.

Then, I felt a strong stabbing of energy flow through us and into Dolkoff. In that energy was such pain, such resignation, but it seemed miles away from me. It reached out and tore Dolkoff's mind apart. My real eyes saw him slump to the floor, and his disciples with him even as my mind began to descend back down from the pleasure where it had just resided. I knew a terrible price had just been paid. Dimitry had just killed his own father.

Reason returned slowly, and as it did the room around me came back into focus. The bond between the girls and I began to slowly recede, but the connection now was incredibly strong. There was no calling it forward now; it pulsed like a living heartbeat between us. 

I turned my head slowly, as if remembering how to after long disuse. Dimitry sat on the floor staring at his fallen father, Anna knelt next to him her arms around him in comfort. His eyes were resolute, but also haunted. He looked into my eyes then, and nodded his head, a barely perceptible nod, but I understood. He had made the only choice he could, and he was not blaming me for it. 

"Mike?" Jill's voice rang softly through the quiet room.

I turned and saw my love, her face streaked with tears gazing at me from her cot. I tried to rise to go to her, and found my body would not respond. The best I could manage was to stretch forward, and to slowly crawl toward her. I felt as though all the strength had been taken from me. 

Then suddenly there were hands on me, lifting me to my feet. It was the girls, Tuyen and Meg on one side, and Suzan and Ellen on the other. I almost wept for their support then, both through the bond and from their physical presence. I stumbled forward next to Jill's cot, her beautiful eyes following me. 

Many hands untied her bonds as I stroked her cheek and kissed her face. My tears ran with hers, and as she was freed I felt her arms come around me and hold me as tight as she was able. She felt terribly frail to me. I pressed her face to my shoulder, holding her as if she would slip away if I didn't. Then I spoke the words I had already said more truthfully, more deeply that I ever could with out the gift.

"Jill I love you." My voice croaking with emotion as I spoke.

"I love you Mike. What took you so long?"

I could hear the joke in her voice, but more surprising I could feel it through the bond. Jill had joined us, at least as fully as she could until I opened her mind. Something about that little bit of spunkiness in her caused us all to laugh, caused us all to let go of the fear and the tension we were still carrying. 

I sat back and Ellen and Susan helped Jill sit up on her cot, Suzan sliding her long cashmere coat around Jill's bare bruised shoulders. She smiled at me slightly, and I could feel her embarrassment starting to surface through the relief of her rescue. Immediately, through the bond our true feelings poured into her. I could see the shock on her face as we all poured our love and support out to her. In a few moments only, her smile returned with more tears.

"I think this is going to take some getting used to." She said sheepishly, and we all laughed. Wendy chimed in.

"Less then you think, before long you won't know how you lived without it!" The girls all nodded their agreement even as I felt it through our bond. 

Suddenly I felt the hair rise on the back on my neck, and the room's temperature seemed to drop another couple of degrees. I felt the connection to the girls dim in my mind till I could barely feel them. I stood, disengaging myself from Jill, and looked around the room.

I knew I would see it, the feeling though disturbing was almost familiar now. It stood by the doors leading to the front of the building, its face unreadable as ever. I have said before that the creature felt somehow alien to me, I think perhaps otherworldly is more accurate. 

The rest of the group all followed my gaze and I heard a sharp intake of breath from Anna as she saw the being. I walked forward through my friends to stand before it. I had dreaded this moment, but now I found myself calm. 

The prospect of living without the gift didn't bother me so much anymore. I knew that Jill would take time to recover from her injuries both mental and physical, but I knew that my friends could help her with that with or without the gift. Ultimately I guess I just felt that us all being alive was a great gift in itself, so I met the genie with as much calm as anyone could have in its presence. 

It stood watching me, the light reflecting strangely off its tinted skin. I wondered what would pass through the mind of a being like this. I wondered what drove it, what motivated it. What world did it come from, what universe held the laws that it lived by?

For long moments we regarded one another, and then it smiled. I have described this smile before, but this one was entirely different then the others. I could feel a smug satisfaction radiating from it about Dolkoff's death. It had greatly bothered this being that it had been used by him, and I had executed its revenge for it.

Its eyes flicked across the group behind me before coming once more to rest on my face. The smile faded, but my sense of being caught in the stare of a predator did not. Then it raised its hand and a warm white light washed out across the room over us all. 

It filled me with warmth, and I felt my energy return to me as if I had just woken from a long sleep after a week of vacation. My whole body and mind tingled. The light was bright enough that I squinted for a moment, and when it passed the genie had gone. 

The bond then rushed back in, the gift still present between all of us. I could feel in each of my friends that they too had been invigorated by the creature's last gesture, mostly though my eyes found Jill sitting on her cot. She rose to her feet slowly. The bruises and blood were gone from her face. The cuts on her wrists and ankles had vanished. 

Suzan's long coat hung open briefly as she stood, and I could see the beauty of her form unmarred by the trauma she had endured. I could feel through the bond, that the memory of it endured, but the physical signs were gone. 

Then I felt, with great shock, her reach out with her mind to us all, sharing her love and acceptance of what we were, what we had done, and her hope for a future together with us all. The genie had opened her mind, and now we all stood in the light of the bond, separate, yet whole. 

A great deal of work lay ahead for us all. A great deal of healing was needed on all our hearts and minds, but at least we could stand together as we did it. I walked forward to my love and my friends and let my joy ring forth in me. Jill met me in embrace and as I kissed those lips I had watched in conversation so many nights in her house, our friends gathered around us and held us tight.