Rosetta - Chapter 3 free porn video

Rosetta: A MORFS Universe Story By Joreymay Part 3 "Well, it certainly sounds more exciting than my brush with MORFS." "You're a morf? One of us?" "Of course. Nothing useful, like yours. But it did get exciting in a sad sort of way." Rose consciously switched back to English. "Exciting and sad? What happened?" "I grew up in a small village near the coast of Eire - Ireland, you call it. We used to joke that it was a toss up whether the town prospered more from shearing our sheep or from shearing the tourists." "What village?" "I don't want to say. I haven't been back, and I have no intention of doing so. My parents are long gone, and I've no family left there. And if you or any of the rest of the family go there, I want you to make up your own mind about the place." "It was an exciting time, the turn of the century. As a young girl, I barely understood all the fuss about the new millennium. But I understood that some people were afraid that New Years Day would see the end of the world as we knew it. All I really got was that the telly might stop working, and I might not be able to play my games on the computer." "The new year came and went, and life went on. The worst part was getting used to starting years with 20 instead of 19." She shook her head at the triviality of it. "Even then, I had become a little vain. I had beautiful, fiery red hair and sparkling green eyes. I won some pageants, and generally got a lot of attention. And I took it for my due. I wasn't completely stuck up, but some saw me that way." "Then it all changed. The year I turned 14, I won another title for the regional festival. The next morning, I thought I had celebrated too much. But it wasn't that. The doctor just said it was a bad flu, and prescribed the usual drugs and bed rest." "We had heard the rumors of some people getting sick and undergoing weird changes, but they were just that - rumors. We never thought it could come to our village." "I was sick for four miserable days. When I got better, I got a shock. My beautiful red hair had turned a dull brown - all of it." Rose understood that last to mean the change was not limited to her head. "And my eyes - the sparkling emeralds had turned brown as well. I was devastated." "Some of the more jealous girls started saying it was a Judgment from God, a punishment for my vanity. Their boyfriends took up the theme as well. But things didn't really get bad until the local Father took up the theme. He was a grumpy old Scot to begin with, always complaining of frivolity and excess, but he got worse." "Then some of the others started getting sick. And started blaming me for it. There was even talk of me being a witch. Here it was the twenty first century, and you'd think it was the dark ages. Some even said I'd traded my red hair and green eyes to the devil or the Sidh - the fairies - for unholy powers." "Few people, if any, really believed it. And over time, we started learning more about MORFS. But the mood had been set. I was blamed for the other cases in the village, even though I had nothing to do with them. People got uncomfortable around me, even those who claimed they didn't believe the stories. Friends, people I had known my whole life, started to shun me." "As the months dragged on, things got worse. Da's shop got vandalized, and the police wouldn't do anything about it. In fact, we later found out that one of 'em was involved. We got shop doors closed in our faces. Families who'd known ours for generations refused to have anything to do with us." "It came to a sort of a head when one of the leaders of the attacks got sick, and then died from complications of MORFS. The family tried to blame me, but most people saw that it was their own damn fault; the doctor told them it was MORFS, but they refused to get him the necessary help." "His mother confronted me in the street, calling me a murderer. She had come prepared, carrying a big rock. I'm lucky it wasn't a gun, but the crazy old bat was too wrapped up in some religious lunacy of the scot's for that. She threw the rock at me, as hard as she could. I dodged it, and it passed me. Unfortunately, it hit a bystander." "The crowd that had gathered did not take well to the sight of a five year old girl sprawled on the walk, unconscious and bleeding from her head. With everything that was going on, it took me a minute to recognize her. She was the mayor's youngest, the fair haired girl of the village." "At first, the madwoman didn't know what had happened. She only knew she had missed me. But after she took out another stone and raised her arm to throw it at me, she saw. And then she saw the crowd. She changed her shouts, trying to blame me for the injury, stupid old bag. She tried to rally the crowd against me, forgetting that her earlier shrieking had drawn their attention - that they had seen the whole thing." "One of the larger lads stepped up behind her and relieved her of her stone, none too gently. She ended up with a sprained wrist, in fact. She was lucky at that - the crowd was about ready to do to her what she had tried to get them to do to me. The only thing that stopped them was the arrival of a panda and an ambulance, called by some of the witnesses." "There was no question about what had happened. Some tourist thought the whole thing was staged at first, some kind of historical recreation or something, and recorded the whole thing. His video made it clear that the girl was visibly in the line of fire - and visible to my attacker - when she hurled the rock. And the recordings of her rants made it clear that she intended nothing less than murder." "After that, the public attacks stopped. Anyone trying to speak out against me or the other morfs was none too politely reminded of the attack, and its results. On the other hand, I was still an uncomfortable reminder of what happened - worse than an outsider. I was socially isolated, treated with an impersonal formality like some disagreeable (and cheap) tourist. It was better than the outright hostility and threatened violence, but not by much." "I finished school - it worked a little differently there than it does here - and went off to college. My Da' had a brother in England, so I arranged to stay with him for a couple of years." "But my troubles weren't quite over. People started noticing I looked young for my age. For a while, it looked like I wasn't aging at all. These days, you probably know someone who got something like that from MORFS. But it was pretty much unheard of back then. People just didn't believe my story - or my age. My ID was always checked and double checked." "And people got jealous of that. I considered it a curse, but they were jealous of it." She shook her head. "Eventually, I worked it out that I seemed to age about three years for every ten that I lived. Ironically, that helped me meet and eventually marry your great grandfather (God rest his soul). He was younger than me, but was attracted to the way that I seemed so much younger than him. He was an American, and we ended up moving here to raise our family. It took a lot to convince Immigration that I was who I claimed to be." She sighed. "And here I am." By this time, they were home and the girls were settling her in the guest room. ************************************************************************ ************************************* The queen had her own ideas. Lena didn't like them, but in the end she gave in. The trip to the spa went as planned. Robin took the queen back in time, transported her to the spa, then brought her forward to the present. At the same time, another of Mrs. Tabor's most trusted teleporters took a direct line to the spa and appeared in an adjacent transport room. This gave the tracer something to trace, and set up the rest of the plan. Despite the best efforts of Mrs. Tabor's staff, the queen was anything but relaxed by the time she was done there. So were the friends. Lena did her best to warn Rose that she was about to be dropped into something nasty, and made her excuses to her parents. Rose went to her room, where she could disappear and return without disturbing the rest of the family. Robin briefly flicked in and out, to make sure she had a lock on where Rose was. Combining their resources, Lena, Cassandra, and Robin got ready to track the bounce. With the slight time shifts, they would seem to appear at the same time as the queen. The queen insisted that the other teleporter take her, and immediately leave. She also made sure she had mental images of the plotters and understood who had what abilities. As expected, the queen did not appear in her apartment. Instead, she was in what appeared to be a basement of some sort. The man who had intercepted her teleport barely had a chance to part his sneering lips to make some comment before his head exploded. Before the body had a chance to fall, Robin, Lena, and an avatar of David appeared and subdued the other plotters. The avatar flickered briefly, when the room shielding activated. The kidnappers' original plan was that it would happen as soon as the queen appeared, trapping her and her teleporter. They hadn't counted on a group of defenders appearing with them, or with someone on the outside who could quickly disable the shield generator by remote control. Unfortunately, that was not the end of it. Robin flitted in a folding screen, and then brought Rose. Rose took the stern instructions to stay behind the screen seriously. The rest were not so lucky. The queen had survived a number of attempts, and loyal friends and relatives had died - some horribly - at the hands of these people or their co-conspirators. She wanted names and answers, and was not in a merciful mood. Her anger was almost as hot as the effects of her powers as a heat elemental, and she wielded both expertly. Even hidden behind the screen, Rose was not completely protected. Between translating thoughts and questions for Lena and reading the truth (or lack thereof) of the statements of the kidnappers, she got a large and horrific part of the proceedings. She nearly lost it entirely when one of the translations described the nature of a sort of explosive sound she heard as having been the destruction of one man's scrotum - and its contents. Lena helped her keep it together, suggesting that it seemed unreal, like an unpleasant vid playing in another room. That, and the emotional boosts, helped. Some. In the end, the queen had her answers. Angel was brought in to heal the survivors enough to make sure they would live through their arrests. Robin and the other teleporter flitted them to the consulate, where they were put in the hands of the queen's people. Then they did the same for the bodies. They would be someone else's problem now. Rose was the next to go. Lena briefly warned her mother that she was returning, and would need comforting. The moment she was back in her room, she broke down and cried. Her mother came in and, between Rose's racking sobs, wrapped her in a hug. Rose returned the hug so powerfully that her mother was afraid of cracking a rib. But she hung in there. Lena had warned her not to ask for details, and she accepted the advice. After a while, Lena appeared in the room. Rose was not sure whether she had teleported or walked in, but she didn't really care. With another hug, and a look to Rose to make sure it would be ok, her mother left the two of them alone. Lena talked, and thought, and used emotions, and eventually got Rose to a place she could live with. A part of her childhood had been burned away, and was lost forever. But she still had her life, and ways to enjoy it. When she was sure Rose was well on the way to recovery, she reminded her that what happened was confidential. She should not discuss it with her parents, her other friends, or anyone else not specifically cleared by Lena. Before leaving, Lena handed a note to Rose's mother. It explained that Mrs. Tabor considered the events to morally - but not legally - involve the spa, and invited her to bring Rose to the spa for counseling sessions with the staff therapists. While she waited for her daughter, she could enjoy some complimentary spa services as well. Tara was not told much. She only knew that Rose had gone through something horrible, something that she could not talk about. And that she may well have saved several innocent lives. She didn't like the mystery, but made sure her sister knew she was there for her. Physically and emotionally exhausted, Rose went to bed. She was asleep almost immediately. Her great grandmother was not content to leave it at that. *Telepath! I don't know your name, but I want to talk with you.* *My name is Lena. Or Radar. What do you need?* There was a bit of an edge, and an overtone of her own exhaustion, in Lena's reply. *I need to know that Rose will be all right. And what she really went through.* There was a pause, as Lena took a deeper look into the woman's mind. What she saw surprised and impressed her. The old lady could take it. *She will recover, but she will never be quite the same. She did some growing up all at once, and handled some things nobody should ever have to see.* *What did she see?* *Very little, directly. We kept her hidden during the action. She came in on an attempted assassination by a terrorist group, and then was there while the intended victim tortured members of the group - some to death - for information needed to stop other imminent murders. She didn't see any of it, and I'm sorry that I saw what I saw of it. Unfortunately, she heard, and translated, enough to have altogether too good of an idea what went on.* *What part did you play?* *I read their minds, with Rose's help, and helped them feel more like thinking and talking about what we needed to know. Otherwise, I just coordinated the group.* *How dare you! How could you do that to her?* *We protected her as much as we could. Lives were at stake, a lot of them. And there was no time. If there had been any other way, if we could have left her out of it, we would have. We didn't have that luxury. She means a lot to us, and we owe her a lot for this.* Gram took another tack. Something she knew from experience. *Her dreams will be the enemy, now. What can you do about that?* There seemed to be a brief, somewhat strange shift in Lena's mental voice. *I'll watch them through the night. And change what I need to.* *After you did all that, you expect to stay that awake and alert all night?* She put a lot of doubt into that thought. Lena replied truthfully, if a little misleadingly. *I am refreshed now. I will be in good shape to do so.* *How? Are you that powerful?* *An aspect of our powers helped. But I will have to pay a price.* She did not want to let her know about Robin's abilities with time, or that she had stopped in mid conversation, slept deeply for more than her usual, and then returned to the time of the conversation and finished it. She would lose a day of her life that way, but Rose was worth it. Mollified, but not entirely satisfied, the older woman let the matter drop. The next morning, Rose slept in. The school district had long since given up on having school the day before Thanksgiving - too many families were traveling that day. And too many teachers and staff members wanted to travel. She was surprisingly refreshed, and didn't remember so much as a single unpleasant dream. When she got ready for her shower, she had another shock. A few drops of blood stained her underwear. She fought back panic as she started to flash back on the events of the previous night, but just as quickly found herself calming down. Too quickly. *Lena?* *I'm here. It's ok. It's not what you were thinking. Just something else - something you knew would happen sooner or later.* Rose took a second to understand what that indicated. Then she understood. *Oh! But... why now, all of a sudden?* *Sometimes stress can bring it on. Welcome to womanhood.* Rose could "hear" the ironic grin in that last comment. Her Gram insisted on making her a good breakfast, and keeping her company while she ate. Both of her parents were already at work, and Tara was out with some friends. The two of them talked as she ate, shifting easily back and forth between English and Gaelic. It was the nicest, most relaxed mornings she had in a long time. She should have known it couldn't last. *Heads up!* Lena's thoughts broke into her own, breaking the mood. *A couple of official types are coming to talk to you. It's all right - they aren't there to make trouble. They just need to interview us all about last night. I'll be here if you need me, just a thought away.* With that, the doorbell rang. "That's for me, Gram." she shrugged, as she went to get the door. "Precog?" "No, just a little help from my friends." She opened the door a little and looked at the neatly dressed man and woman standing there. As she heard her Gram arrive behind her, she deadpanned "My parents aren't home, and I'm too young and naive to buy anything from you." She twisted her mouth into a half smile. "Or are you here to save my soul?" They did not look amused. The woman sounded like a government type from the tube when she replied "Miss Reid, I believe your friend told you we were coming. May we come in?" "Who are you, and what do you want with my grand daughter?" It was a minor conceit, but dropping a generation brought her seeming age more in line with expectations. "Your great grand daughter," the woman replied, emphasizing the dropped descriptor, "witnessed something important last night. We are here to investigate the event." "It's all right, Gram." Rose assured her, in Gaelic. "They are not here for trouble. I have heavenly help if I need it." Somewhat mollified, her Gram invited them in and offered food and drink. They accepted the invitation to enter, and politely declined the refreshments. "We will need to speak with her alone." The woman informed her, pointedly. "I can't allow that. Her parents are trusting me to keep an eye on her." After a bit of discussion, they compromised. She would go to the kitchen, where she could see them but not hear them very well. They would activate a device that would block her even more from eavesdropping, while allowing their unimpeded conversation. *Don't worry. I'll be "listening" too, and help her if she needs it. And if you need to know or say something, I'll pass it along.* Lena's thought was not as reassuring as it might be. She was someone she hardly knew, and she had already put Rose in a terrible position. Lena wisely refrained from commenting on that thought, but did "help" her to feel better about the situation. The two agents (as Rose thought of them) acted in what she would call an "Official" manner. They were neither nice nor mean, neither overly polite nor rude. Businesslike. The woman took the lead in the questioning, with the man asking for additional details and clarifications. For the record, they asked her name and date of birth. After she gave those, they asked about the events of the previous evening. Even with the moral and covert emotional support of Lena, it was hard. They were not satisfied that she didn't know the identity of the victim/torturer. "I only heard her called 'the queen' and 'that royal' bad word of one kind or another." Then they got upset with her when they asked about what the kidnappers said and thought -she answered in their original language. They thought she was making fun of them, not taking things seriously. It took intervention from Lena to convince them she was being sincere. After a brief mental consultation with Lena, Rose decided to hold back the bit about knowing truth and lies. She didn't volunteer anything about it, and they didn't ask. She got the impression that they attributed the evaluation of that issue to Lena, and she did and said nothing to change their minds about it. They took her through every moment of the experience, over and over again. By the time the questioning was done, she was an exhausted, distraught mess. Her Gram stepped in to put an end to things when Rose dropped her tear covered face to her hands and slumped in her chair. The two agents accepted her intervention, and formally thanked Rose for her cooperation. The woman gave her a card, asking her to call if she remembered anything else. After they left, Rose sank into her great grandmother's arms and cried her eyes out. After a while, she wound down and accepted the suggestion of a nap. Especially after Lena gave them both assurances that it would be a healing sleep. After Rose had recovered somewhat, her Gram distracted her with some books in Gaelic. With her help, Rose picked up the basic rules of spelling and grammar with surprising speed. Of course, it helped that she already had the spoken aspect of the language well in hand. Even Rose was surprised at the speed with which she learned to read a language with a partly different alphabet and very different rules. The better part of a single afternoon, and she could read fluently and write passably. With some more practice, she would be able to write the new letters as well as she did the more familiar ones. She was not up to the standards of a calligrapher, but it would be clearly readable. Tara had come home during the lesson, and quickly lost interest. She went around finishing the cleaning, and otherwise getting the place ready for the next day's gathering. Privately, she admitted to herself that she was trying to avoid thinking about what her sister had gone through. Even without any details of the event itself, it was more than she wanted to face. Their parents were impressed with the language lessons, and sympathetic about the questioning (which they had been told about). They also made sure to thank Tara for her work on the house. Their own days had been pretty much as expected, trying to cram three already overfilled days' worth of work into one day. After a little decompression, the evening was filled with cooking and baking those things that could be made ahead of time. Family members would be bringing food as well, and the idea was to have as little to be done as possible when they were there. The brought in dishes would need to be heated up or finished after the bird came out. While they were working, they indulged in a widespread Day Before Thanksgiving tradition: take out pizza. Rose's father was banished from the kitchen and sent for a resupply run when a glob of half melted cheese and sauce fell into the uncooked meringue. Suspiciously, such accidents were not uncommon for him on massive cooking occasions. After a little more reading and talking with her Gram, Rose went to bed with her head swimming with Gaelic poetry and stories. For all that, she had no trouble falling asleep. The next morning, after a somewhat hurried breakfast, the ravening crowds started to arrive. Rose had never realized what she had been missing all those years, at all those family gatherings. There was a whole world of secrets, politics, and game playing going on, and she had only scratched the surface until then. The differences between what people said with their mouths and what they said with their faces and bodies would have been fascinating, if it weren't so appalling. There were some arguments that had clearly been years in the making. There were attempts to jockey for position in the family pecking order, or to suck up to the few family members with a measure of wealth or power. And the undertones and meanings of what they said to and about her were the worst. She would be turning into a teenager in a few days, and it seemed like it was all about sex. The women were bad enough. When they talked about dating, Rose could see they were really talking about sex. Even when they were talking about clothes, and how she would likely start dressing, and doing her hair and makeup. They seemed to fall into some basic camps. Some seemed genuinely happy for her, that she would learn to enjoy things in life that were denied to children. Most were unhappy in some way. They seemed to regard her as a potential embarrassment to the family (and themselves), or as a potential rival (as if she'd even want their husbands, boyfriends, or sons), or a lost opportunity (to share and enjoy her childhood). Some were excited, living their fantasies of what their own young teen years could have been like, using her as a fantasy stand in. A couple were even sizing her up as a potential playmate (as if). Some, maybe most, of the men seemed oblivious. The rest seemed to be sizing her up as a potential bedmate for themselves or their sons or other relatives. Or both, to judge by a few overheard comments about sharing, between father and son or uncle and nephew. Or one between man and wife. She certainly did not consider her enhanced hearing an unmixed blessing that day. Like the men, many of the younger children seemed oblivious. To those who were even aware of it, a birthday is a birthday. A few seemed to have some ideas about the sexual aspect but they were somewhat vague and, to them, funny. The boys were the worst. Every one of them was sizing her up and evaluating their chances of getting her in bed with them. And not just a passive evaluation. Their comments were veiled and indirect, to the best of their abilities, but they came through clearly to Rose. Double entendre, hints, comments ostensibly to other people about other things - all added up. Rose would have thought she was being paranoid or overly sensitive, except for two things: her power and her friend. Much of the interpretation clearly came from her power - she could recognize that. And Lena mentally "dropped in" from time to time to keep an eye on her. And when she did, she verified the interpretations and helped put them in perspective. That she was growing increasingly on edge did not go unnoticed. And it was not unexpected that some of the people there - primarily her peers - would try to take advantage of that. What was unexpected was the form it ended up taking in one case. The Donaldson boys were a handful at any family gathering. They always had been, but as teenagers, they had only gotten worse. They were not vicious, or seriously malicious - they just had their own ideas of fun. They knew better than to target most of the adults, and the very young children were largely safe from them a well. So they mostly targeted the older children, teens, and a few of the younger adults. Already that day, Tara and one of the other cousins had slapped their faces, to the approval of most witnesses. But all they had done in response was exchange grins and move on. When they had been given a talking to about one of their pranks, they managed to look hangdog throughout, but that lasted only until they were out of sight of the speaker. So nobody should have been surprised when they spotted a particularly tense victim, or that they decided to make her jump. Nor was anybody particularly surprised by their ages old approach. But when they slid up behind Rose and popped a bag, people were surprised by her scream. For a second, the boys congratulated themselves on getting such a reaction, but even they took notice when her screams continued, and carried the unmistakable sound of terror. She screamed, orally and mentally, and continued to scream until she disappeared. The family descended on the boys with unprecedented unanimity. Most had no idea what they had done, but all of them were certain that the two were the cause of Rose's reaction. Rose's mother and father hung back a moment, as though they were listening to something, then moved in to join the lynch mob. ************************************************************************ ************** Rose found herself in familiar, comforting arms. "It's all right. You're safe. Everyone is ok. It was just a noise, a meaningless noise." Lena said and thought to her, while projecting calming, reassuring feelings. The sound had brought it all back, all at once. Rose, already tense and feeling out of her element, had flashed back to that room and the interrogation. But this time, the little part of her mind that knew she wasn't there - knew she wasn't in immediate danger - worked against her. It left her free to react, as she had not dared to when she had really been there. It all came out - the terror, the anger, the helplessness... it all raged through her and left her in that anguished, primal scream. By the time she was calm enough to be really conscious of her surroundings, she had moved again. She was in a comfortable office, with Lena and another woman. "Wh... where am I?" "You're at Mrs. Tabor's spa." Lena reassured her. This is Ms. Hoffer, a staff therapist." "You can call me Kiki, if you like." the woman smiled gently. "Uh... ok." Rose replied, still somewhat disoriented. "How... long have I been here?" "A little over an hour." Lena shrugged. "You had a lot to let out." "Oh, God! What about everyone back at the party?" "Your folks know where you are and what's going on. They told your sister enough to let her cope. For the rest, I've been too busy with you to pay attention." "I'm sorry." "Don't be. You haven't done anything wrong." "But..." "But nothing." Lena insisted. "We got you involved in some things that would have bad effects like that on an adult, and then you were stuck learning more than you ever wanted to know about your relatives, in what should have been a relaxed and festive setting. Finally, you were suddenly and unexpectedly reminded of the scene in the basement. Your reaction was nothing to be ashamed of. And now you can get some of the help you need." Lena took a breath to let that sink in a little before continuing. "Mrs. Hoffer knows all about what happened, and how you translated for us." *But not about the truth thing.* she added silently. *That is for you to choose to reveal or not.* Then, aloud again, "You can speak freely in front of her. She has my full confidence." "But your dinner. Both of you." "We have time." Lena assured her. "Our families don't eat as early as yours." "My family," Ms. Hoffer confided, "is gathered in another time zone. One of the staff teleporters can get me there in no time when we are done here." "What about my family?" "I told your folks," Lena reminded her, "and they would much rather have you here getting help. They will save your food for you." She grinned. "The boys have been pointedly seated facing your empty chair. It was their mother's idea." "That sounds like Aunt Cathy." Rose admitted. After another hour of hard work and a lot of talking - and a lot of leaking body fluids from the faces of Rose and Lena - they were ready to go. Rose would be coming back to see Ms. Hoffer for some follow up, but she was ready to face the world again. Rose had changed, growing up faster than most people had to. Her old black and white world of comfortable moral certainties was gone. The world was not fair, except when people chose to make it seem so. She had faced the fact that the "good guys" can do horrible things for good reasons, and the "bad guys" can be good people who think they are doing the right thing. Or they can know they are doing bad things, and even enjoy it. She also knew how important it was to keep to her own values in the chaos of the real world. She could live with that. And with that, she would be more likely to live. When she got home most of the family had left, with the significant exception of Cathy and the boys. When the boys told her they were sorry for the prank, they were telling the truth. And they did not just mean they were sorry for the trouble they got in - they were genuinely sorry to have caused her that much distress. Sometimes, her new abilities were helpful. Without them she would have written off their apology as the usual pro forma, "Mom's making us do this" sort of thing. Before leaving, they handed her a nicely wrapped present and wished her a happy birthday. It was another family tradition, because her birthday was so close to Thanksgiving. As she sat in the living room and ate her servings from the feast, she watched recorded birthday greetings from other family members. She noticed that the recordings seemed somehow muted... flat. Then she realized what it was. Her sense of what they really intended, and whether they were telling the truth (as they knew it) was not as strong. It still seemed to be there, but only just. Or was it? these were people she knew well, people she had... what was the word Lena used? Calibrated. People she had calibrated. But how could she test it? With recordings of strangers, or broadcasts on the tube, she had no way of knowing whether her "readings" were correct. Or did she? *Uh...Lena? You busy?* *Just arguing about the game. Usual family stuff. How are you doing?* That confirmed one thing, anyhow. She could read the intentions (and probably the truth) of projected thoughts, as well. *Well...* How could she explain it? If she was sure what she wanted to "say", she abilities would kick in. Frustrating. Lena was way ahead of her. *I'm not sure it would be ethical, or all that useful, for me to read those people. But I could do something better. I'll record some people you don't know, and keep track of their intentions and truthfulness. Then you can watch the recordings and compare your impressions with my notes. How would that be?* *Great! Thank you!* *You're welcome. Now relax, and enjoy your family.* Lena was as good as her word, delivering a small stack of recordings to Rose early the next afternoon. She explained that she would have brought them earlier, but she had spent the morning with her parents and a few friends engaged in the yearly ritual of shopping the morning after Thanksgiving. Rose would have done the same, but she wasn't sure she was up to facing the crowds and noise that early. Instead, she would wait for her parents and sister to get back from the first frantic round and join them when they went out for the second, somewhat less frenetic, round of the sales. Her great grandmother, a little smug about having finished her holiday shopping days earlier, was keeping her company. Rose explained about the test, and she agreed to help. They didn't have a chance to start before they got a call from the road. The weary shoppers were on their way home. Rose and her Gram went quickly to work, preparing the traditional "Leftover Lunch" for everyone. They were almost done when the door opened and her family staggered in, looking like refugees from a mall disaster. Typical Black Friday, in other words. After food, showers, a change of clothes, and a brief rest, they were ready to go out again. Rose shrugged and agreed to join them. Before they left, Lena arrived with the recordings. The mall was a surprise and a revelation. Rose halfway expected to have problems with the crowds, but it turned out to be no more than the usual discomfort with the jostling, and the fleeting images of falling and being trampled flat. The usual. What wasn't the usual was what she heard and how. She was surrounded by a sea of voices, constantly ebbing and flowing and washing over her. And she could understand what every one of them was saying, what they intended to say, and how truthful they were being. If she focused on any voice or small group of voices, she could push the rest a little bit toward the background and largely ignore the meanings and overtones. Was this what it was like for Lena? *Pretty close. How you holding up?* Rose knew the question was largely pro forma, since Lena could tell how she was doing. Still, she appreciated her asking. *Better. Are you watching me all the time?* *Not closely. If you get upset, or call me, I'll notice. Otherwise, you are largely in the near background. I have my own shopping to do.* *How do you stand it? The voices...?* *Practice. But now your sister is asking you a question.* Rose shifted her attention to Tara, picking up the missed parts of the question from the context. A little later, they passed a small knot of older teens who somehow made Rose uncomfortable. She didn't understand why until she (along with Tara and her mother) came out of their next shop and saw them again. They were using a sort of personal code, combining seemingly meaningless words and gestures to converse. And they were getting ready to rob someone. Rose barely had time to think what she should do about it, when she was interrupted. *Don't do it!* Lena commanded. *But...* *I know. They are planning a crime. Someone might get hurt. Someone will lose their stuff. Believe me, I know.* *Then why...?* *First, because it could get you killed. Second, because even if they get caught, it could get them off the hook.* *That's nuts!* *It's true, anyhow. We talked about this. Under the law, you are not all that different than me.* *But I can't just...* *I'll do something.* Lena almost sighed. *An undercover mall cop is aware of them now, but he doesn't know why. If they try something, he will step in. And we don't have anything to do with any of it.* Rose wasn't very satisfied with that, but knew it was the best she would get. The rest of their time at the malls was a real education for Rose. Overheard scraps of conversation, complete with her special understanding of their meanings and truthfulness, exposed her to the good, the bad, and the downright weird. As some of her peers were fond of saying, waaay too much information. She was so distracted by it all that she almost missed her mother's evasion. Almost. The girls had separated from their parents for a little gift shopping, and to give their parents a chance to shop for presents for them, and were rejoining them for a trip to the car. In the time honored tradition of parents and their offspring, Rose asked her mother what was in one of the larger bags. "Party supplies." came the unsurprising answer. Rose expected the answer, and even expected the usual double meaning and evasion. The intention was to convey that it was party supplies and presents for her upcoming birthday party. And that she was not going to be told the specifics. But there was the tone of significant equivocation in the answer. Her suspicion grew even deeper when she caught her father blushing. Clearly, they were up to something. Before she could think of a way to ask some pointed questions, they were swept up in the crowds as they made their way to the doors and then their car. If she was confused by that, she was really thrown by the too casual question her mother asked in the car. "Will you be inviting your new friends to your birthday party?" "Um... I don't know. Would they even be interested in a middle school party?" After spending a little time with the older teens, she wasn't even sure how she felt about partying with people her own age. What's more, she could tell there was something else behind the question. Something that was being deliberately hidden from her. "Well, you'll never know unless you ask." There it was again... something unsaid - deliberately unsaid. But she was right. Rose liked the idea of having them at the party. *Uh... Lena?* *I wouldn't miss it for the world!* came the amused reply. Rose picked up the same overtones of something being deliberately unsaid. But somehow, she felt ok with it. *Would the others want to come?* *If they don't have a conflict, I'm sure they would.* *If you think so...* Rose couldn't shake the feeling she was being set up for something. Nothing dangerous or the like, but something. But at the same time, she trusted them. Her mother would not be party to something really bad, and her new friends were, if anything, even more protective. After they got home and put away their purchases, Rose called the others and invited them. Angel and Robin had to work after school, so they would be a little late to the party. But they made it clear that they wanted to come. The others accepted without reservation. Rose noticed something different about the call to David. With all the others, she had the sense of some hidden meaning. With him, it just seemed like a routine invitation and acceptance. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he was a man - the "simpler sex" as her mother and Gram called them. Her mother's reaction when she told her about the acceptances only reinforced her suspicions. She was being set up. End part 3