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CHAPTER SIX

Marla held out a dish invitingly. "More potatoes, Cara?"

Cara looked across the table accusingly at Stephen, who wasn't helping her mood by smirking. It was, of course, the second time she'd been a guest at his house, not counting all the times she'd gone there uninvited, but the situation still struck her as truly bizarre. "No thank you, Mrs Jameson."

"It was great, Mum,"Stephen interjected.

Marla smiled and looked at Cara. "You should come again. He's on his best manners when you're here." Stephen shot her a look of annoyance which brought a smile to Cara's face. "I'll just put a plate together for Luca when he comes home, then I'll get dessert out." She headed over to the kitchen benchs.

Cara looked at Stephen and spoke to him telepathically. "I can't believe you talked me into this."

"What's the matter?"Stephen sent back. "Afraid it'll ruin your tough girl image?"

"I do not do dinners with mothers,"Cara sent firmly. "It's what…normal people do."

"Remember I can hear you,"Marla said telepathically, before turning round with a cheesecake in her hands.

Cara reddened. "Sorry, Mrs Jameson,"she said out loud.

Marla placed the dessert on the table. "That's quite all right, Cara. Would you like a slice?"

Russell stood with a clipboard in front of four teens, all aged between sixteen and eighteen. "Okay, so, we've got Carly?" One of the girls stuck her hand up. "Frank? Jean? Terry?" He was rewarded with three more raised hands. "Welcome to the Tomorrow People, everyone. Games room is that way, that's the important thing to remember. Training room is this way. We've put you in rooms on Level 6, the lift is working but most people just teleport once they know where it is."

"I can show you,"Irene offered from beside him. "And do you mind if I take a few saliva samples? It's purely for research purposes. Nothing creepy."

The four new arrivals looked at each other with the air of those who didn't know what they were getting into before nodding and following her.

"I will be in the training room for the next half hour!"Russell called after them. "Anyone who wants a workout come and see me."

"Where did you find that lot?"Astrid asked.

"One of Tim's scans picked them up. They'd grouped together, started bunking down in a warehouse. We offered them hot and cold water and they snapped us up."

Sophie and Luca came walking towards them. "Were you serious about training?"Sophie asked.

"I certainly was,"Russell agreed.

"Can I come along? Cara's a bit busy at the moment so I thought I'd give it a go."

"Are you going too?"Astrid asked Luca.

"I'm just going to watch,"he answered.

"Welcome aboard,"Russell agreed. "The more the merrier."

"Building an army?"Astrid asked.

"Hardly,"Russell replied. "Who's left for us to fight?"

Jedikiah looked with some satisfaction at the squad of black-clad soldiers standing to attention in front of him. The first of his paranormal soldiers, ready to fight for the common good. Natalie was among them, her first appearance among his group. "Squad at ease!"he bellowed and smiled as they complied. "Drill sergeant?"

The head of the group called out orders and the rest of the troops obeyed automatically, sloping arms and wheeling as directed. Finally, he stopped and saluted. "Squad stands ready, sir."

"Thank you, drill sergeant." Jedikiah stepped forward until he was standing in front of Natalie. "Why are you here?"

"To serve you and to serve humanity, sir!"she responded.

Jedikiah nodded approvingly. "Very good. Carry on."

He turned away…and Natalie drew the knife from her belt and lunged at his back with a snarl. But the blow never struck home. Instead, her arm was stopped in mid-thrust. She looked round and saw Kyle holding her arm in place telekinetically. Then the rest of the squad joined in, focusing their powers on her. Her arms and legs were pulled out in a crucifixion pose and she was lifted into the air, hovering a few inches off the ground.

Jedikiah turned round and gave a cold smile. "You know, you really should have listened to my brother instead of betraying him. This was his tactic, holding someone in place so they can't use their powers. He thought it could beat the Founder. So a nobody like you didn't stand a chance against it."

"You're the nobody,"Natalie spat. "You think you can control us but you're weak and we're strong. I proved that, right?"

"Yes, you did. I always had a feeling that your hatred of humanity was too far ingrained for the conditioning to convince you of the error of your ways. It would have been rather satisfying to see you forced to act in the service of those you betrayed." He drew his gun. "But this will be rather satisfying as well."

He fired four clean bullets into her. She convulsed in pain, giving a last gasp. The telekinetic force of the troopers kept her body suspended in mid-air for a few seconds, then she was released and crumpled to the ground.

Stephen and Cara were lying on his bed, gently kissing. "Okay, this is just weird,"she declared.

"What's weird about it?"

"We've sneaked into your room when your mother's in the house."

"I hear it's what all the cool kids do."

"I wouldn't know, I was never a cool kid." Cara grimaced. "What if she…hears us?"

"I guess we'll just have to be quiet."

"We can't even do it telepathically because she'd listen in on that too."

"If you don't want to…"

"I didn't say that. It's just the only time I've been in your room before is when I've teleported in. This is just…" She groped for the word.

"What?"Stephen asked.

"Normal,"she sighed.

Stephen smiled and kissed her. "How about we try being normal, just for one night?"

She nodded. "Okay. Try anything once." They resumed kissing and their desire for one another grew as they carefully began removing each other's clothes.

Charlotte was wandering the corridors of the Refuge. She liked to walk about early in the morning, when most people were still in bed. It reminded her of the fact that she was free. She still had nightmares about her time in the Citadel, the experiments Ultra had done on her. But her new life with the Tomorrow People was starting to seem solid and real, rather than the brief respite she'd once viewed it as. Only one thing would make it complete.

She heard movement from one of the rooms ahead. Someone else must be up. She went to the doorway to see who it was and her eyes widened in shock. "Russell! Irene! Come quickly!"

Stephen woke up to find Cara sleeping in his arms. It was a new experience and one he quite like. She stirred and looked up at him, meeting his gaze. "What's with all the strange looks?"

He ran his fingers through her hair. "I was kind of expecting to wake up and find that you'd teleported out of here."

"Not this time." She lowered her eyes slightly. "So, is this what normal's like?"

"I think so, yeah."

"I can kind of see why you think it's so good." She sighed. "I've never done normal, I've never done relationships. But I might be willing to give it a go."

Before Stephen could answer, they both heard Irene's voice in their heads. "Ah, Stephen, Cara? Can you get back here as soon as possible?"

Stephen and Cara dressed and then teleported to the Refuge, being directed towards the corridor where Charlotte had been wandering earlier. They arrived to find Russell, Irene, Charlotte and Mike grouped outside the room. "What's going on?"Cara asked. Russell gestured silently to the open doorway.

Stephen and Cara stepped forward and saw who it was standing there. He gave them a nod of acknowledgement and a grin. "Hey there."

Cara looked as stunned as she'd ever looked but did her best to hide it. "John."