A/N: Sorry it took me so long to get back to this. I've been concentrating on my Witchblade story (when I can concentrate). I hope you all like this chapter. Please let me know what you think. Thanks to those of you who have reviewed so far. Anyone interested can find all my stories (in chronological order) at my personal web page Page.htm Please be patient, it seems Angelfire is having trouble recently, and my pages don't always come up, or come up very slowly.
Chapter 3
Caitlin took one last look around before closing the door to the only home she had known for the last eight years. Her laptop was stowed safely in its padded case, and her clothes and few personal items were in a duffel slung over one shoulder. She looked over at Logan with a lopsided smile where he waited by his motorcycle, took a deep breath, and joined him.
"The laptop will fit in a saddlebag," she said uncertainly, "but what about my duffel? How do we fit that on your bike?"
"You'll have to carry it over your shoulder for a bit," Logan said, smiling at her grimace. "Don't worry. We won't be going very fast, or very far."
"I don't understand," Caitlin said, sensing his humor and anticipation. He had a surprise he wasn't sharing, she guessed. "New York is an awful long way from here."
"We'll be meeting some friends on the other side of town," he said. "They'll be giving us a lift. Come on, we have to get going if you're going to have time to stop in town."
He climbed on the bike and she climbed on right after, her duffel slung across her back with the strap across her chest from left shoulder to right hip. She wrapped her arms around his waist and held on as he eased the bike down the snowy trail that led back to the road. When they hit the road Logan sped up a bit, but his driving was still very cautious. Caitlin enjoyed the scenery as they drove, wondering if she would ever see this place again. About twenty minutes later they pulled into town and Logan stopped in front of the Post Office. Caitlin slipped off the bike, swung her duffel off her shoulder, and smiled at Logan.
"I'll only be a minute," she said. He nodded.
"Take your time," he replied.
Caitlin took a deep breath and tried to adjust to the flow of emotions around her, to block out what she could. Stepping inside, Caitlin managed to catch the attention of the elderly man behind the counter. He waved at her to wait for a minute while he finished stuffing mail into the private boxes behind the counter, then pulled her mail out from her box and came out from behind the counter to give her a hug.
"Well, well, Caitlin," he said. "You were just here two days ago. I didn't expect to see you for another five days at least." He handed her the two letters in his hand. "Here's your mail."
"Thanks, Mr. Kendall," Caitlin said. "I'm going away for a while, and I need you to hold my mail until I have somewhere for you to forward it to."
"Another book tour," he asked, a twinkle in his eye. Most people around here knew she was a writer. She smiled and shook her head.
"Not this time," she replied. "I'm going to see a man about my little problem."
"You mean your, uh, headaches," he asked, giving her a significant look. He was one of the very few who knew about her empathic powers.
"Yes. There's a Professor in New York that may be able to help me. I'm leaving now."
"You think you'll ever be back," he asked, his eyes sad.
"I don't know. It depends a lot on whether this Professor Xavier can help me or not." She smiled at him. "But I promise to write. It's not like I don't have the address here memorized."
"You better, young lady," he said sternly. "Don't forget to go by the bank, then, and get some traveler's checks. Safer than cash, you know."
"Oh, shoot! I completely forgot about the bank." She was dismayed. "I better get going. I'm not sure how much time I have. Take care of yourself, Mr. Kendall," she said, giving him a quick but sincere hug, then dashed out the door back to where Logan waited.
"Get everything taken care of," he asked.
"Do we have time to hit the bank," she asked. "I don't have any money."
"We should have time," he said. "Where's the bank?"
"About a block down," she told him, pointing. He started the bike and she slipped her bag back over her shoulder and climbed on behind him. "It shouldn't take me long," she said as he carefully drove down the street. "I'm not closing the account or anything. I just want to get some traveler's checks."
"Get them in American money," he advised. "We probably won't be making any more stops here in Canada."
He stopped in front of the bank, and Caitlin quickly dashed in, took care of her withdrawal, and dashed back out. She stowed the money in an inside pocket of her jacket, then settled behind Logan again. As soon as he was sure she was secure he took off out the other side of town. They rode for another twenty minutes, then Logan pulled off the main road onto a forest service road. They went through some trees, then the road opened up onto a large clearing. Logan stopped the bike and killed the engine. Caitlin could sense his smugness and anticipation as he swung off the bike and helped her with her things. She stopped dead when she finally got a good look at the clearing, staring, her jaw hanging.
"There's our ride," Logan said, waving his hand at the X-Jet with a big grin, his smugness an almost physical thing now. She couldn't stop staring.
The ramp came down, and a young man with red sunglasses and a black uniform of some kind came out of the jet. He was followed by a woman with red hair in a similar uniform. She felt Logan's emotions stir in response to the woman's appearance, and guessed she was the source of his earlier anticipation. Logan was quite taken with her, but it was obvious she didn't return his affection. It was equally obvious the young man was aware of Logan's feelings and resented them, but there was also respect there. Caitlin took a minute to gather herself, trying to sort out this small group's dynamics, hanging back as Logan strode forward to greet the pair.
"You take good care of my bike, Logan," the young man asked.
"Of course not," Logan replied, though it was obvious the bike was in perfect condition.
"Introduce us to your friend, Logan," the woman prompted.
"Oh, sorry," he muttered, a bit embarrassed. He turned to Caitlin, who stepped up beside him at this point. "Caitlin, this is Scott and Jean."
"Nice to meet you," Caitlin said, shaking hands with each of them. Scott took her duffel for her.
"Let's get everything onto the jet," Scott said. "We need to get going."
Jean showed Caitlin where to stow her laptop and helped her get strapped in for the trip while Logan and Scott took care of securing the bike. Soon they were all aboard and Scott was maneuvering the jet over the treetops and heading south. Caitlin was nervous, having never flown before. She had always rented a car or taken a bus on her book tours. The idea of being trapped on an airplane with a bunch of people and their emotions for hours at a time made her slightly nauseous. She must have been projecting because Jean, who was sitting next to her behind the men, looked at her strangely. She took a deep breath and tried to center herself.
"Sorry," she said to Jean. "I didn't realize I was leaking."
"You're an empath," Jean asked. Caitlin nodded.
"I have precious little control though," she said. "I hope the Professor can help me."
"I'm sure he can," Jean said. "He's very good with mutant powers."
"If he can just teach me to shield, I'd be eternally grateful," she said, some of her desperation evident in her tone. "I am so tired of having to hide away from people all the time."
"How much do you know about shields," Jean asked.
"There's a lot of speculation on what they are and what they do, especially in science fiction. Unfortunately, noone has ever published a definitive how-to manual on them. I've been stumbling around in the dark with no idea where to start."
"Well, if you like I can try to show you," Jean said. "I'm a telepath, as well as telekinetic."
Caitlin looked at her for a few minutes, reading her as best she could, but could sense nothing other than friendliness and an honest desire to help. She took a deep breath and nodded.
"What do I have to do?"
"Close your eyes," Jean said. "Try to relax. It may startle you when I touch your mind the first time."
Caitlin did as Jean instructed, and tried not to jump when she felt something that was not quite a touch in her mind. She took another deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to let her fear and tension drain out with it. Slowly in her mind's eye an image formed. She recognized it as Jean, and as soon as she did the image solidified abruptly. Jean smiled at her.
"Good. Now imagine somewhere where you feel safe, a room where noone can get at you," Jean prompted. Caitlin imagined the barracks room she had made her own, and the shadowy form of that room began to take shape around her. As soon as she realized what was happening her mind filled in the details swiftly. In seconds Caitlin and Jean stood together in the center of the room. Caitlin looked around and found everything in order, down to the last wrinkle in her covers. The door to outside was open.
"Now comes the hard part," Jean said. "You have to separate your emotions and thoughts from all others, and learn how to keep yours inside this room, and everyone else's outside. When you know which thoughts and emotions are yours, and you've pushed all the ones that don't belong to you out the door, you can shut the door and keep yours in and theirs out."
"How do I do that," she asked.
"That's why it's so hard," Jean answered. "You have to figure that part out. Try giving the thoughts and emotions forms or colors, or making them look like boxes or packages. Sort through them one at a time, until you have them all figured out. After a while you'll learn to know automatically what belongs to you and what doesn't. Whatever doesn't, push out the door. Just remember, this is your room, and you can do anything you want here. Noone is stronger, faster, smarter, or better than you are here, and you don't even have to play by the laws of physics if you don't want to. It's like your dreams."
"What do I do when I want to read someone's emotions," Caitlin asked.
"Imagine yourself opening the door and standing in the doorway," Jean said. "After a while it gets to be automatic, and you'll be able to do it instantly. It just takes practice and time."
"Thank you, Jean," Caitlin said, letting the other woman feel her gratitude.
"You're welcome," Jean said, smiling. "I'm going to leave you sorting out things here. I'll wake you up when we get to Westchester."
"Wake me up?"
"You're not really sleeping," Jean said, walking towards the door. "You're meditating."
"Cool," Caitlin said. Jean smiled and walked out the door, shutting it behind her. Caitlin stood quietly for a moment, then looked around the room. She decided to picture emotions like ghostly blurs of color, and all of a sudden there were dozens of swirling filmy colored shapes around her. She experimented a bit and found she could control her own emotions, making them settle one by one over on the far side of the room. She discovered the stronger the emotion the brighter the color. She also found that many of the emotions weren't hers. She noticed one of her own clouds darkening, and realized the ugly brown cloud was her fear. She ignored it as best she could and concentrated on sorting out the emotions coming from the others in the jet, gently shooing those ghostly clouds out of the room. She was still sorting through everything when she suddenly awoke to find Jean shaking her shoulder gently.
"We're almost there," she said.
"How long have I been out," Caitlin asked, noticing it was dark outside.
"A few hours. Those are the grounds below us," Jean pointed out. As the jet slowly descended a circular section of the ground opened up and revealed an underground chamber. As the jet sank underground and Scott finally cut the engines, Caitlin wondered what Professor Xavier would be like, and if she would be welcome here. Scott, Jean, and Logan were all very nice to her, and genuinely seemed to want to help her, but the Professor was in charge, and he was a complete mystery to her. She unhooked her safety belts and gathered up her things, following the others out of the jet and into the mansion, wondering what she would find.