Eartha

BLAH! So, I actually have continued with The Dreamlands, but I'm not ready to post anything new on that and since no one has been raving for more I don't feel too bad. Instead I have decided to fill the dead air with the story I have already finished. I'm not as impressed with it as I used to be which is why I haven't been working on it and trying to get it published. I have been letting other people read it, but I still don't know what it is that makes me wary of putting it out there. Anyway.... I'm posting the first chapter today and whenever I have nothing better to post I'll post another chapter. Hopefully, I'll have better stuff to post.
Enjoy.

Chapter 1


The phone rang and before he could even say hello an urgent voice hissed, “Dr. Timmus, this is Roger Wicken.”
“Hello, Roger,” he replied calmly, “How have you been?”
“I’m having a . . . well, an issue. I need to speak to you right away,” he answered in the same rushed hissing sound.
“Something that cannot be discussed over the phone, I’m assuming?” Dr. Timmus replied quietly.
“I don’t think so,” he paused, “Can you meet with me right now?” His voice was clearer now, but still nervous sounding.
“I believe that can be arranged,” Dr. Timmus said slowly, “Can I ask what this is in regards to?”
“My wife. . . I’ll come to the school.” There was a click and a moment later a dial tone. Dr. Timmus put the phone down and closed his eyes briefly. Any average person wouldn’t have noticed his pupil dilating. His normally gray eyes turned almost completely black as he focused his mind on Roger. With his mind, Dr. Timmus reached out and tried to sense where Roger was and what he was doing. Dr. Timmus obtained a shallow connection fairly easily and was surprised to see that Roger was already moving very quickly towards the school. Unfortunately, Roger’s mind was completely sealed as though he had built a brick wall around his thoughts to keep intruders out. He was blocking Dr. Timmus from probing his mind and that was unusual for Roger. He normally had nothing to hide; especially from Dr. Timmus. Dr. Timmus quickly sensed another mind that was traveling with Roger. The mind was most definitely feminine and completely unable to block itself from Dr. Timmus. Unfortunately, her mind was only focused on one thing, her husband. She did not know what was going on and she was worried about Roger. Dr. Timmus dove deeper into her mind. There had been a conversation between husband and wife right before. . . right before Roger started acting so strange. Why was he behaving like this and why wasn’t he speaking? I don’t understand why he’s acting like this! Dr. Timmus pulled out of her mind. He had gone too deep and had started to share her thoughts. She had no idea what was wrong with her husband, but he was scaring her with his frenzied behavior.
Mora Wicken knew nothing of her husband’s abilities. He had kept that a secret from her. She didn’t believe in supernatural abilities and had she known that Dr. Timmus was reading her mind she probably would have denied it anyway. She knew nothing of her husband’s childhood or the school or any of the others like her husband. Something in their brief conversation that morning had startled Roger. He had gone pale and silent right before he locked himself in the office. When he had finally emerged from the office he had pulled her to the car and had refused to tell her what was going on. Roger’s driving was dangerous. He sped through neighborhoods and took corners at a minimum of forty miles an hour. When he got to the main roads he became even more dangerous. He was weaving dangerously close through the other cars and ignoring traffic signs and lights. “Roger, you’re scaring me,” she whispered suddenly surprising herself, “What did I say that upset you?”
He didn’t respond. Instead he hunched his shoulders over and concentrated even harder on weaving his way through traffic. His silence only frightened her more and she did not tolerate it for very long. She glanced over at him again and noticed small beads of perspiration forming on his temples. His knuckles were white from the tight grip he had on the wheel. His breathing had become labored and his driving was somehow getting worse. She leaned over and flipped the radio on to distract herself from his insanity. Unexpectedly he swerved off the road and took a sharp turn down a narrow ally. She screamed, but he was oblivious to anything going on around him. He slowed the car slightly since the ally was barely big enough for the car to maneuver down. At the other end of the ally was a dodgy looking parking lot and a dead end. He swung the car in the last parking spot. Mora didn’t wait for him to turn the car off. Her fear flipped to anger in a split second. She kicked the door open on her side of the car and leaped out. “You dumb bastard!” she screamed as she took off running down the ally back towards the busy street.
“Mora!” he screamed chasing after her. She glanced back for only a second and noticed that he was gaining on her. She screamed out of fear and ran faster. He caught her easily enough and pinned her between the wall and himself. She fought against him kicking and screaming. “Do you have some kind of death wish, you asshole?” she screamed, “Or were you trying to rid yourself of a wife?” She swung at his face, but he easily caught her hand in midair. She tore it out of his firm grip.
“No, no!” he whispered, “Calm down! Calm down!”
“Or maybe it was your unborn child you wanted to get rid of!” she finally broke free of his grasp. He took a couple of steps back and covered his face with his hands. She wasn’t going to run anywhere now. She stood there with her hands clamped over her mouth. That was not how she had intended her husband find out that she was pregnant. She shut her eyes to stop the tears that were threatening her eyes and whispered, “Damn it!”
“Oh, Mora!” he moaned, “I’m so sorry…”
“What is going on?” She asked her composure broken and her voice choked as her eyes remained closed still fighting the tears.
“I will explain this, I promise,” he whispered and then added more to himself, “This makes it so much more complicated.”
She didn’t bother asking him what he had meant by that because she knew she would get no answer. He took her hand and led her back down the ally. Mora began heading towards the car again, but Roger pulled her away and led her further down the ally. “Where are we going?” she asked. Her voice was steady again. She quickened her step to keep up with her husband’s long stride.
“We need to get on the subway,” he replied simply.
“Why can’t we drive there?” she asked.
“It’s much easier to get to by subway,” he answered. She stole a glance at him. He was still extremely tense. He was still sweating and all the color seemed to have drained away from his face. “Wait a second,” she said jerking him to a stop. He spun around to face her impatiently and he moved to grab her arm again. She pulled away and dug into her purse for something. After a moment’s hesitation she pulled a scarf out. “This will do,” she murmured as she stepped closer to her husband, “Now, I know we’re going to meet someone. I could hear you talking in the office. If you don’t calm down, though, you are going to have a heart attack long before you ever get to whoever you want me to meet.” She mopped the sweat off his forehead with the scarf and then lightly touched his cheek. He inhaled sharply. He could feel it now. How could he have possibly not noticed that before? He placed his hand over hers much calmer than he had been. Because of her? Yes, most defiantly because of her. How could she not know what she was? Or what kind of power she possessed? “I’m okay,” he whispered, “But we need to hurry.”
They were not in the best part of the city and she didn’t feel comfortable getting on to the subway right here, but she didn’t seem to have much of a choice. She clung tighter to her husband wondering what it had been that upset him in the first place. Why was he dragging her on this insane journey? And whom was she going to see? What was making his so damn nervous?
“So where are we going that we couldn’t have gotten there in the car?” she whispered.
“We are going out of the metro area and the subway will drop us off a block away from our final destination. It’s just easier this way. Trust me,” he answered.
“Do I have a choice?” she retorted.

“Dr. Timmus, what exactly is going on with Mr. Wicken?” a man asked as he burst into Dr. Timmus’ office.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Walker. Please come in, have a seat,” he smiled ironically at the man.
“There seems to be an agreement at headquarters that Mr. Wicken has done something against our moral agreements and he has been in contact with you,” Mr. Walker announced refusing to acknowledge Dr. Timmus’ sarcasm.
“My, oh, my, you are quite efficient at headquarters. I guess that’s the problem with working with psychics, there can’t be any kind of privacy, can there?” Dr. Timmus replied refusing to answer the man.
“You haven’t answered me,” Mr. Walker pointed out.
“You haven’t really asked me a specific question either,” Dr. Timmus replied with a smile.
“Why is Mr. Wicken coming to see you so urgently and secretly?” Mr. Walker snapped.
“I don’t know,” Dr. Timmus answered simply.
“Bullshit!” the other man yelled.
“Do not yell or curse at me in my own office,” Dr. Timmus warned politely, “I told you I didn’t know what he wants. Read my mind if you don’t believe me.”
“You are a very powerful telepath, Dr. Timmus, you cannot expect me to believe that you have not read Mr. Wicken’s mind and discovered what the nature of this meeting is about,” Mr. Walker sneered.
“You should also know then that I always teach my students basic blocking techniques for shielding their minds. Oh, I could break through the barrier, but that would be an invasion of privacy. If Mr. Wicken has done something illegal and dangerous I will inform you. Otherwise, this is a private meeting between me and my former student that you have not been invited to. So, if you don’t mind I have an appointment in a few minutes, but call me later and we’ll arrange lunch or perhaps coffee one evening. We can chat and discuss old times,” Dr. Timmus stood and gestured towards the door. Mr. Walker shot daggers with his eyes at Dr. Timmus and then abruptly left the office. He knew it would be a waste of time to try to pry any kind of information out of Dr. Timmus, but his superiors had given him an order to find out what was going on.

“This is our stop,” Roger stood up before the car had actually stop and reached down to take Mora’s hand.
“This is no where,” she protested. She looked over at the map posted right next to the door and confirmed her suspicions. There was no name for this stop. All it said next to the little yellow dot that indicated a stop was ‘interchange’. It was a halfway point where most people changed to get on the tracks going north, but no one actually left the station at this point. He pulled her up out of her seat and nudged her towards the door. They stood on the empty platform and she looked around annoyed. “We’re in the middle of no where,” she stated again and then added, “Are we getting on the north track?”
“No. Come on,” he replied with no further explanation. He walked across the deserted platform towards the stairs leading out. She stared at him incredulously. There was nothing at this stop in the tracks. Mora was no longer frightened or upset. She was more annoyed than anything. Roger had calmed down considerably once they had gotten on the subway. He had explained a few things to her. He had actually seemed happy about her meeting this friend of his. He had referred to this friend as an advisor, a mentor, and a magnificent teacher, but had never actually given a name to him. She was still not entirely sure that Roger had not lost his mind. “Are you coming?” he asked impatiently from behind her. She groaned and reluctantly followed him up the stairs to the useless parking lot that no one used. Back out in the sunlight she had to blink her eyes a few times so she could adjust and then she looked at her surroundings. She could see a road leading west from the parking lot and off in the distance she could see the faint outline of a plantation style house half hidden away by a grove of trees.
“What is this place?” she whispered.
“Mead Institute,” he replied hastily pulling her along, “This is where I went to school.”
“School?” she repeated.
“Yes, school,” he replied, “There are a few things that I haven’t told you about my past.”
“Like what?” she asked.
“Dr. Timmus will be able to explain things better to you,” he replied leading the way down the long drive.
“Oh, so now the mystery man has a name?” she said following him. She almost had to jog to keep up with her husband’s long stride.
“He always did,” Roger laughed, “I’m kinda torn between being happy to finally tell you everything that I had to keep secret and frightened that I may be in a shit load of trouble.”
“In trouble for what?” she asked.
“For you,” he replied, “Come on. It’s just up ahead.” He seemed excited now and his pace became even quicker. They reached the door and he pulled out an old fashioned key to open the door. He pushed the door open and stepped out of the way to let Mora enter first. The entryway was enormous with vaulted ceilings that went up to the second story and a chandelier that reflected tiny rainbows in every direction. She was dumbstruck and silent. Across the immense hallway there were twelve-foot double doors that Roger led her towards.
“This is a school?” she whispered, “I’m guessing your parents spent a pretty penny to put you in a private school that looks more like a museum for a Gone with the Wind set.”
“They wanted to be secluded, but there was no reason to live like homeless refugees. Dr. Timmus helped create this place when he was much younger. He and his friends felt they needed a place for themselves, a place they could teach others like themselves, a place where no unwanted prying eyes would bother look for them,” Roger explained.
“What were they doing that they felt they needed to hide and who, exactly, were they hiding from?” she asked.
“They hide from the people who didn’t believe or understand them. Some people can be cruel to those who are different,” he replied.
“Different how?” she asked as he pulled open one of the twelve foot doors. He led her through and closed the door behind her. This room was just as amazing as the hallway. Several smaller chandeliers kept the room extremely well lit. There were approximately twenty small round wooden tables strewn throughout the room. All the walls had been covered with bookcases that rose all the way to the ceiling. The bookcases were all full with ancient looking books or ledgers. There were ladders connected to bars running at the top and bottom of each bookcase so they could slide around the room looking at the top rows of the bookcases. “The library,” Roger offered an explanation.
“You think?” she replied sarcastically. She looked more closely at one of the shelves and read a few of the titles. “These all deal with the paranormal,” she commented, “That’s weird.”
“Not really, most of the library is like that,” he replied offhandedly.
“Why?” she turned to look at Roger.
“Can’t you guess?” he smiled, “This school was built by psychics for psychics.”
She raised an eyebrow at her husband and laughed. It sounded hollow and it echoed in the empty room, but the smile did not change on his face. She shook her head, “No, you’ve got to be joking me. You don’t actually believe in this shit do you?”
“Well, I think I became a believer at the age of eight when I had my first vision,” he replied simply, “My parents were both psychics. Both precognitive, for that matter. They waited until I started to show signs of an ability before they brought me here. I was in normal schools before that.”
“I get it,” she said suddenly, “Miss. Cleo was your favorite teacher, right? And Professor X is the principal? Cyclopes was your best fried? Did Letoya Jackson get her psychic degree here too?”
“I knew you were going to react like this,” he sighed. But she wasn’t quite through making fun of him just yet, “What about Merlin, do you have some magnificent portrait of him that you all sit around and worship?” She was getting an edge in her voice nearing hysteria. He took her hand and led her across the library as she continued her rant about other fictional characters and telephone psychics. They left the library and entered another hallway. This hallway was much simpler than the main hall had been and there were many doors that they passed. She assumed these were classrooms or offices and that they had no reason to enter any of them. She continued to mutter under her breath about finally understanding where all the psychics on the television came from. He stopped her in the middle of the hallway. “Are you done yet?” he hissed, “I don’t want you behaving like this in front of Dr. Timmus. It’s embarrassing!” She snapped her mouth closed and glared at him. She was the embarrassing one? He was the one talking about a psychic building a secluded school that no one knew about and expected her to believe him. He was the one who had gone insane and nearly killed them on the car ride over here. And yet she was the one who was embarrassing him? They approached the last door in the hallway and he pushed the door open and gestured for her to go in first. There was a small waiting room and a desk that looked as though it was meant for a secretary, but the room was empty.
“Is his secretary the invisible man?” she hissed in her husband’s ear.
“It’s Sunday, Mora. His secretary probably has the day off,” he said condescendingly, “Wait in here for a few minutes. I’m going to go explain my situation to him first.”
“If he’s a psychic shouldn’t he already know what’s going on?” she grinned slyly.
“I was blocking him from reading my thoughts,” he shot back, “Which is why I haven’t explained anything to you since he’s probably tried to read your unprotected mind as well.” Roger didn’t wait for her to respond. He turned to the other set of double doors and knocked quietly. She heard a soft voice call him into the office. She tried to peek inside the office, but it was dark and Roger closed the door much too quickly for her to get a good look around.

“The officials stop by yet?” Roger smiled across the desk at Dr. Timmus.
“How could you tell?” he asked returning the smile.
“I can sense these things,” he shrugged offering a hand to his old mentor.
“Roger, it’s good to see you after all this time. How was the wedding and the few years since?” Dr. Timmus took his hand and pumped it a couple of times before gesturing for Roger to have a seat.
“Things were perfect for quite a while,” Roger replied getting serious all of a sudden.
“Yes, you seemed rather upset over the phone,” Dr. Timmus frowned as he took a seat behind his desk, “You said it was about your wife.” He looked out past Roger towards the door, “But it’s quite apparent she has no clue what’s wrong either. What on earth is going on?”
“Well it turns out there’s a little more to my wife than either of us knew…” he stopped and looked back at the door.
“Maybe we should get her in here before she bursts in on her own,” Dr. Timmus answered.
“Yes, I’ve tried her patience, but before she comes I have to tell you I had no idea what she was-“ The door swung open somewhat violently.
“I just realized,” she spat out, “that you are both sitting in here discussing something about me and you honestly expect me to just sit out there and let you. I have a right to know what the hell is going on, Roger!” Dr. Timmus stood up and stepped around his desk to meet Mora. “Mrs. Wicken,” he greeted her warmly, “We were just about to call you in.” He held out his hand to her and somewhat stiffly she reached out to meet his hand in a brisk shake. Before she even had the opportunity to pull away Dr. Timmus jerked his hand free, “My, God!” he whispered, “How could you not know?” he whispered to Roger.
“I don’t know,” Roger answered honestly, “I still can’t sense it unless I’m completely focused on seeing it.”
“Am I going to have to put up with this cryptic bullshit from both of you now?” she interjected hotly.
“Mora,” Roger said warningly, but Dr. Timmus led her by the elbow to the empty chair next to Roger. He motioned for her to have a seat and then returned to his seat behind the desk. “Well, Mrs. Wicken, we have a slight problem with telling you exactly what is going on since you don’t believe that anything we do here is real,” Dr. Timmus explained, “If you want us to tell you what has us both so uptight you are going to have to keep an open mind to the things we are about to tell you. I am not Professor X teaching mutants how to develop their powers like you most undoubtedly assume. First of all most of the creations of that world are completely impossible. Although you may be surprised at what is possible,” Dr. Timmus paused for a moment. He stole a glance at Roger and shook his head suddenly. She looked at Roger and narrowed her eyes, “What?”
“Did I say anything?” Roger shot back.
“Like you need to,” she murmured looking away.
“Enough,” Dr. Timmus said. He gave Roger another warning glance and went on with his explanation to Mora, “Okay, Mora, let me ask you a question first. What supernatural phenomenon do you believe are possible?”
“What, you mean do I believe in ESP or UFOs, stuff like that?” she replied. Dr. Timmus nodded. “I don’t believe in any of it.” She stated.
“Why not?” he asked.
“None of it can be proven,” she replied, “How can you believe in something that has no basis in reality?”
“Experience,” he stated, “Or faith. Do you believe in God?”
“Yes.”
“There’s no proof of Him either,” he reminded her, “Some things cannot be proven by scientific data because science does not have the ability to study this particular field. Perhaps someday there will be equipment that can measure psychic abilities or entities or other supernatural experiences. Until then, the only way people become believers is by a personal experience or just plain old faith. Most people like a demonstration of my ability to read minds, would that help you believe me?”
“I don’t think so,” she whispered, “I went to a psychic in high school with a friend of mine. Most of what that fraud told us was so generic it could have applied to anyone’s life. Plus, most ‘psychics’ are trained to play off of facial expressions and a lot of guess work.”
“What I do isn’t guessing,” Dr. Timmus assured her.
“And how could I possible know what Roger has told you?” she asked.
“I can tell you something that happened in your life that Roger doesn’t even know about,” Dr. Timmus offered, “Come on,” he smiled, “It’s the only way you’re ever going to believe me.”
“You’ll never make me a believer,” she stated and then she sighed, “but if you feel you must try and prove yourself go for it.”
Dr. Timmus closed his eyes briefly and the smiled and opened his eyes back up, “Your special trait first emerged when you were seven, but you know nothing of it because your parents never had a chance to explain what it was. They died the year before. You’re… adopted.”
“You’re adopted!?” Roger shouted, “You somehow thought that wouldn’t be important to me?”
“Roger, do you need to step out of the room?” Dr. Timmus asked quietly.
“I just don’t understand how my wife could forget to mention that she was adopted in the three years that we’ve been together!” Dr. Timmus stood up and motioned for Roger to do the same. Roger stood and followed Dr. Timmus out of the office. When the door clicked shut Dr. Timmus raised an eyebrow at Roger. “I’m sorry,” Roger said without sincerity, “I just can’t believe~”
“Look, I knew that would upset you,” Dr. Timmus said calmly, “But it’s making her think. She might actually believe what I have to tell her next, but I can’t have you in there ready to explode at her every time something is revealed that you didn’t already know. So perhaps it would be best if you just went to the library for a little while and Mora and I can have an uninterrupted discussion.”
“She’s pregnant,” Roger blurted out.
Dr. Timmus nodded and closed his eyes for a moment before he said, “I know and I’m glad she’s already told you. Please, it may be a while. Perhaps the kitchen already has lunch finished.”
Dr. Timmus re-entered the room and shut the door behind him. Mora was looking down at the floor her hair covering her face. She hadn’t actually expected this man to be able to tell her anything from her life that Roger did not already know. And that had been a major thing that Roger had not known. She never told anyone that she was adopted. In fact she was pretty sure that the only people who knew she was adopted were her adoptive parents. Her parents had died when she was six years old. She didn’t know all the details of what had happened because she had been too young to understand. She had come home after school and a stranger had been there telling her there had been an accident and shortly after that she had begun living in another house with two people who told her they were going to be her parents from that point on. She had eventually accepted this as true. They explained the adoption to her when she was older, but by that point these people had become her parents and she didn’t really think about them not being her real parents. Dr. Timmus had mentioned that her ability had begun to show when she was seven. She didn’t have any abilities that she knew of. Nothing had happened when she was seven.
“That’s where you’re wrong, Mora,” Dr. Timmus cut in on her thoughts. She looked up suddenly. She hadn’t realized he was back in the room. He was once again seated behind his desk and was looking across at her. She glared at him for a moment and he held up his hand palms out to her, “Sorry. I don’t mean to intrude on people’s thoughts most of the time. Sometimes the float their way to me on their own. Your mild is very unshielded. You’ve never needed one. Your ability is in a different field. You’ve always had the ability. You were born with it. It just didn’t become apparent to you until you were seven. You didn’t know what it was and your parents didn’t believe it had happened. They couldn’t possibly understand what you had done because they had never seen anything like it before.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she replied her voice breaking. She cleared her throat and tried to regain control over her voice.
“Your dog,” he replied, “What happened to your dog when you were seven years old?”
“Nothing,” she lied and quickly regretted it.
Dr. Timmus laughed, “Exactly! A car speeding through your neighborhood hit your dog and you saw it. The car never stopped to see if your dog was okay. You ran out in the street crying because you thought it was dead. It turned out that it had broken its leg and what happened when you touched the dog’s leg?”
Mora shook her head quickly trying to deny what he was talking about. The dog’s whining had been unbearable. It was in so much pain and she didn’t know what to do to make the dog stop making that noise. She had touched the leg expecting nothing to happen except maybe put the dog in more pain. But something else entirely had happened. The dog had instantly stopped crying and had stood up and licked her face. The dog had been completely healed and she, Mora, had been drained. She had led the dog back to the yard and collapsed on the grass.
“Your parents didn’t believe you when you had told them what happened, did they?” Dr. Timmus asked.
“No,” she whispered, “They told me that she must have just been stunned and not really hurt.”
“You took their word for it and found other excuses throughout your life for the other strange incidents like that one,” Dr. Timmus said, “Most healers do that. Make excuses for their abilities, I mean. They’re not like psychics in that respect, although some psychics deny their power exists as well. The main difference between you and our kind~”
“Your kind?” she interrupted.
“Yes, psychics and other mentally driven abilities,” he explained.
“Are you saying what I do is different?” she asked.
“Very. Your ability isn’t mentally driven. It’s actually your entire essence. It flows throughout your entire body. A touch, from any part of your body, can heal. There are varying degrees of this ability, of course, just like with any unusual trait. We, I mean to say, this school and the other people affiliated with this school or people like us generally don’t have anything to do with Healers. Your power is too extreme, too powerful. It’s fear more than anything that keeps us away. I mean to say that if I were to teach you control over your ability what kind of power would you have? I’m not saying that you personally would abuse a power like that, but that’s not to say others with a similar ability wouldn’t. That’s why you’ve never had anything to do with us.”
“So, what’s the problem with Roger?” she asked, “Why did it upset him so much when I mentioned the other day that it sometimes felt like I could feel other people’s pain and take it into myself to rid the other person of that pain?”
“Well, among us psychics there are government officials. Nothing established or anything the government would admit to, but they have some control over what goes on among other psychics. They are powerful enough to have some regulations over what people can and cannot do with their abilities. Moral regulations, you see. One of the ‘laws’ that they made was that our kind was to stay away from the Healers in the world,” Dr. Timmus explained.
“Why?”
“Partly because of the power you possess. But mostly because a child resulting from the union of a Healer and a psychic, any kind of a psychic, would be more powerful than anyone could ever hope to control. Not only will your child inherit your healing powers, like you inherited them from you mother or father, but it will be ten times more likely to have inherited a form of Roger’s ability as well,” Dr. Timmus replied.
“And what would that be?” she asked.
“Precognition,” he answered, “I mean, that’s what Roger has, and a child of yours would likely have something like it as well.”
“So, what? Are you telling us that we can’t have children?” she asked her voice rising.
“Even if I were, which I’m not, it’s too late for that,” he said looking down at Mora’s stomach. She covered it as though protecting her unborn child from a threat.
“So what if the baby is more powerful? That doesn’t mean it’s going to try to take over the world or something,” her voice was near hysterics.
“Please calm down. I’m not going to harm you or your baby,” Dr. Timmus assured her, “Roger was worried because he knew the law and when he found out what you were he thought that he would get in trouble by the Officials. He brought you here to me for council. Since neither of you knew what the other was, though, I don’t think there is anything that can be done. You have nothing to worry about from them and I am completely on your side.”
“So, what exactly can my husband predict?” she asked much calmer.
“Well, like I said there are degrees of power for each ability. Roger’s ability is actually not that high on the spectrum. That’s probably why he’s always been able to lead a fairly normal life. Mostly, his gift is predicting little things like knowing that the phone is about to ring and who it is that is calling or if a car is going to run a red light and possibly cause an accident. He can predict things that are just about to happen. He can’t tell you where you will be in ten years or how you are going to die. He’s also one of the few people that doesn’t like to flaunt his gift. He was never one for showing off like most precognitive people are,” Dr. Timmus explained.
“So, what other strange abilities have you come across while teaching at this school?” she asked smiling now.
“Are you saying you believe me?” he asked.
“Well, let’s just say I’ll keep an open mind. I don’t think I will ever believe everything you tell me unless I see it for myself,” she replied.
“A true cynics response,” he laughed.

Roger was pacing in the library getting more and more frustrated as the time passed. He couldn’t sense anything that was happening or about to happen and it was making him nervous. If he went too long without knowing what was going to happen next he started to worry. Anytime that his brain had taken a break from telling him what was going to happen it was because something bigger that what he could see was coming. And it always turned out to be bad. He didn’t know how Mora was reacting to whatever it was that Dr. Timmus was telling her, but he knew his wife and he knew how sarcastic she tended to be when it came to the supernatural. The subject had managed to come in discussion at least once before. He had always hoped that someday he would be able to explain what he saw and where he had come from, but her cynicism always managed to get in the way and stop him from telling her the truth. Roger was positive that she had managed to squeeze in a few more rude comments to Dr. Timmus, but he also knew that Dr. Timmus was used to nonbelievers and had long ago become accustomed to their jeers. An image of Mora on the other side of the door popped into his mind. “It’s about time,” he muttered as he strode across the room to meet his wife. She opened the door and was surprised to see him so close to the other side. “I suppose you saw me coming” she said quietly and then without waiting for an answer added, “Dr. Timmus wants you to come back now.”
“What the hell were you two talking about all this time? Surely it couldn’t have taken much more to convince you that this was for real,” he said.
“Not much more, but it’s a lot to swallow all at once, Roger,” she replied, “Finding out that there are real psychics in the world is one thing, but finding out that your child could be the next anti-Christ of the psychic world if it’s not brought up in just the right way is not the easiest thing to grasp in one sitting.”
“He said that~”
“No, but he said that is probably what the Officials will have me believe,” she explained as she passed through the archway into Dr. Timmus’ waiting room, “But he also said he’s on our side and there’s not a lot they can do to either of us since neither of us knew what we were getting into.” The door to Dr. Timmus’ office was still open from when she left it to go and retrieve Roger from the library. They both stepped in and they could hear Dr. Timmus talking. He was on the phone, but he motioned for them to come in and have a seat. “Yes, I understand that,” he was saying to whoever was on the other line, “but I also believe that the situation can be handled without disrupting the lives of so many people.”
“He’s talking to one of the Officials right now,” she explained in a whisper to Roger.
“You know,” he whispered back, “They’re not really official. They just like to call themselves the Officials to make themselves sound important.”
“Well, it’s too late for that precaution,” Dr. Timmus was saying, “So we’ll just have to keep a close eye~” He paused apparently listening to an objection the other person had made. “Well, it’s really not up to you now is it?” Dr. Timmus eyed Mora and Roger for a moment and then continued, “I think you should re-evaluate your position and think twice before you make another comment like that. I will take care of this issue myself and I expect no interference from any of you.” Dr. Timmus hung the phone up rather abruptly. He looked up and smiled at them, “Sometimes these people forget their place.”
“What did they suggest?” Mora asked.
“It was quite inappropriate,” Dr. Timmus replied. Mora was obviously not going to accept the answer that Dr. Timmus had given her. He sighed and then added; “He suggested that you abort the child now before it’s too late.”
“Too late for what?” Roger yelled his face turning red.
“I guess I can understand their fear,” Mora cut in, “But did they actually think that was a viable option?”
“Some people tend to speak before thinking,” Dr. Timmus smiled warmly, “Which gets them into trouble.”
“Idiots!” Roger mumbled.
“Don’t worry about it,” Dr. Timmus shrugged, “They know better than to mess with me. They will not interfere with your lives. You have done nothing wrong and you should be able to lead your lives as you always have. I must make one more suggestion before you go, though,” Dr. Timmus paused, “I want you to raise this child as though this issue did not exist, but if the time comes when you realize that the child’s power is beyond your control please, bring the child to me. I will do my best to protect it and teach it to protect itself.” He rose out of his chair. Mora and Roger did the same. Dr. Timmus came from behind his desk and walked them back towards the door. “Thank you, doctor,” Roger said shaking his hand, “You were always the best advisor I had.”
“I’m not all that,” he replied simply. Mora paused in front of him and Dr. Timmus took her in a warm hug. “Thank you,” she murmured.
“That’s quite a power you have there,” Dr. Timmus replied as he released her, “and the child’s will be even greater. Take care.”
They found their way back out of the school on their own. As they climbed back on the subway they both felt a tremendous relief. Mora felt a weight lifted off her knowing her husband had not lost his mind. Roger was just relieved that his wife and unborn child would be safe from the Officials and the fact that he now held no secrets from his wife put a huge grin on his face as well.

I didn't make too many changes to this from its rough draft. I don't mind this first chapter as much as the rest of the story. Maybe I'llhave the end fixed long before anyone reading my blog has to see it :)
Thanks for reading.