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                Billy

was arguing. Billy didn't often consider himself smart enough to argue with

folks, but he was going to do it anyway.

                "You

can't do this alone!"

                "Sure I

can. I'm going to go and I'm going to see this through without anyone getting

in my way."

                Alexei

tried to reason with him. "My friend, I agree with this man. I understand that

you have some innate abilities and some incredible protection, but it hardly

means that you can tackle anything you put your mind to."

                "You

don't know my mind, so please don't go there."

                "You

have done some remarkable things my friend, but don't neglect the power of

having companions to support you. I believe we can lend you more assistance

than you care to credit us as being capable of providing." The Russian was

doing his best to remain calm.

                "It's

not that Alexei. It's that I don't wish to endanger any more people than is

necessary."

                "So you

decide to take everyone's troubles as your own? I'd call you a saint if I

believed in that garbage. What's your game?"

                "This

is no game. This is deadly serious. I have no intention of letting anyone else

get hurt."

                Billy

slammed his fist down. "I don't like be denied having a little fun!"

                Maggie

heard the commotion and before Edward could shut anyone up she asked, "What the

hell is going on?"

                "Edward

is talking about running off after your father!"

                Her

reaction was hardly what they expected. "I'm not surprised. It's in his nature

to go out of his way to be an a..."

                "Watch

your tongue young lady!"

                "What?

I was going to say altruistic sweetheart!"

                "I'm

sure you were..."

                "Father,

going against this guy, whether he comes here or you go to him; this is going

to be dangerous. I can feel it in my bones."

                "Can

you now? If he poses a threat to your welfare, then he has to go through me.

And that goes for any other member of this family."

                "And

you think that running off to meet him in one on one combat is a smart thing to

do?"

                "Maggie,

I've given us some time, but I can't say for how long. Your mom was right; he

managed to link his mind with hers. He's alert to the fact that she's back to

being conscious."

                "And

you know this how?" Her mild stare turned to an ugly one. "Oh, wait. You read

her, didn't you?"

                "Yes.

But it's alright for the moment,"

                "You

know, going around reading people's minds is a rude thing to be doing! I hardly

see where you get off thinking it's alright."

                "So are

a lot of things in life. Are you willing to have an argument over moral issues

right now?"

                "Wait -

what do you mean it's alright?"

                He paused.

"We're not going to have a fight then?"

                "No, no

fight."

                "Fine.

I removed the link."

                "But

how?"

                "You

want an explanation?"

                "Yes!"

                "Well I

can't give you one. Just understand that from a point earlier in the day your

mom cannot be found unless this Leeds fellow does it the hard way. If you don't

believe me, ask her yourself. See if she senses anything different."

                "I

believe you, but I'm not certain that I trust you. Your motives are your own

right now and you're withholding information, I know it."

                He

reached down to grasp her arm. She backed away. "Oh no you don't! How many

times have you been messing with me?"

                He

turned instead to leave.

"Oh no you don't!" she yelled. "Don't

you dare leave me here and don't you dare try to decide what's best for

everyone. I think you were right before; your new ability is more of a curse."

His anger was getting the best of

him. He forced himself to relax. "Yes, I've messed with your head. There are

things that just can't be known right now, not even asked about. This is more

messed up than you can possibly fathom. Coming here might have been a mistake."

Her silence spoke volumes. It took

her a moment to find even a solitary word that meant anything. As it was, she

said only this.

 "What?"

"This ability is a curse dammit. Do

you really think that I'm doing any of this just because I think it would be a

fun time? Fuck that! I'm tiptoeing across a thin tightrope right now."

"And I suppose that gives you the

right to throw the rest of us over?"

"I'm not trying to throw you over;

I'm trying to save you!"

She reached out and touched his

arm. "Listen to me for a moment. We've been through a lot together. I'd like to

think that we'd be going through a lot more before our days are done. How can

this be any worse than anything else we've been through?"

"Do you recall the things you saw

before, when I was out of it in Russia? The things you spoke of?"

"Yes."

"Think worse."

"Show me."

"No!"

"If you want to have a strong

relationship you'll quit turning into a macho idiot and you'll trust in me.

You'll trust in the power of family."

"I'll not have anyone's blood on my

hands but my own!"

"No you won't. You tell everyone

what to expect and you devise a plan that involves everyone who's willing to

confront this asshole. Then the blood will be on their hands, not yours. But if

you go off on your own, I'll consider it to be desertion. You go out there

alone, even with the best of intentions, you might as well never come back.

That's not the Edward I know. It's not what the man I love would do."

Billy coughed a little in his hand.

"You go girl!'

Edward and Maggie both said, at the

same time.

 "Shut up Billy!"

 Then they started laughing. Edward recovered

first. "Come here."

She did, stepping into his embrace.

"Just remember, you asked for this." He hugged her close and flooded her with

images. The flashes of possible and probable events ran through her head until

her mind was a confusion of writhing forms and twisted potentialities. He let

go of her.

She stumbled backward. Her eyes

were wide with fear. "How can you deal with that?"

"I can't. I keep trying to tell

you. All I have to do is just wonder just a little bit about something and it

starts running through my head. I keep playing it out until I like the results.

But this one; this one doesn't ever have a happy ending. There is nothing I've

seen that makes this all go away."

"Shit! Here I thought you were just

being a macho asshole." She kicked at the floor angrily. "What are we going to

do?"

"I don't know. The only chance I

see of there being a decent ending to this is for me to go it alone."

"Fuck that! If you die, I've got

little reason to go on living. So where you go, I go."

Billy found the courage to speak up

again. "What about me?"

"And you too. I think that whatever

we do, it's going to have to involve all of us, in one way or another. If my

real father want s me, he's going to have to go through this whole family, not

just one."

Edward sunk to the ground. "I don't

like it."

"Tough shit. I just got my family

back, and I'm not about to lose them. Either you take everyone who's willing to

fight, or you back off of your little prima donna attitude."

 Then she was struck with a thought. It wasn't

much of a thought, but it was still a thought. She mentioned it to him. He

actually looked mildly amused by it. He thought on it, and a small smile

crossed his face. "You know kiddo, I'm glad you have such a devious brain. That

just might work, if we can pull it together in time."

The matter went under discussion.

Anna, notwithstanding the fact that she was a were, was deemed too old and too

frail for any sort of encounter. She stood her ground, saying that any threat

to her family was one she intended to fight; to the death if necessary. Maggie

agreed. "I'm with Edward in not wanting anyone to die, but to be on the run for

the rest of our lives is as equally unappealing."

Maria stood up. "I just found y

family again, so if there is something that poses a threat to it, then I say we

stick together to fight it. I'm willing to die to keep the family line going."

Alexei had his own mind to add to

the pot. "I believe in this man. He has suffered much and he is willing to risk

even more. I think that says great things about his personality. I believe that

the invitation to fight against those of the Kind that wish us harm should be

extended even farther. Verona will fight, as will Billy's parents; if you were

to ask them."

Maggie agreed. "The more we have on

our side, the greater chances we have of winning. Verona's parents just might

join us as well."

 Edward stood up. "This is what I was afraid

of. The more people who get involved, the more there's a chance of someone

getting hurt or killed."

"We appreciate that father, but

what choice do we have? If this freak knows where we're at, he'll be heading

here now, even if you did manage to sever his hold on mom."

"What?" This mild cry of wonder

came from Kathryn. "You did what?"

"I removed the attachment he had on

you, freeing you from his ability to see what you see. I didn't know you could

even do something like that until you mentioned it."

"I sensed it was gone after Maggie

asked me about it but I knew not the reason until now. Thank you."

He bowed. "That's more gratitude

than I got from someone else in this room."

"Shut up! I still say you shouldn't

go around messing in other people's heads!"

Kathryn shouted in a clear, stern

voice. "Don't rail against him for doing what he thinks is right dear. While

everyone likes to think that they are doing good, only those who have

unwavering concern for others may be trusted as being truly altruistic. You

have found a rare gem from among the many grains of sands that make up the

desert. Don't belittle him. Support him."

"But mom! He admitted to messing

with my head!"

                "As did

your grandmother. You are wise now beyond your years, but you will achieve even

greater wisdom with time. If he saw the need to hide something from you, then I

think that his reasons were sound."

                Maggie

turned sulky for a moment. Raising her eyes to Edward, she stared at him intensely

for a moment. "I love you, and therefore I must trust you. However, I also know

you well enough to get that you would lie to try and protect me. What did you

take away from me?"

                "Just a

question. A dangerous question if asked at the wrong time. I can't tell you

more than that."

                "A

question? That doesn't make any sense."

                "Just

know that it was a harmless question." He reconsidered his words. "I guess I

should say the answer could be dangerous."

                "Do you

promise that was it?"

                "Yes, I

promise. Trust me, the question is no more dangerous than a mosquito, but even

a mosquito can pass along a deadly disease."

                "Yeah, whatever.

When this is all over, will you tell me what it was?"

                "When

this is all over, you'll probably know without asking."

                Edward

spent the rest of the day doing a mixture of things, some of them mildly

incomprehensible to the rational mind. They ranged from telling stories to

staring at a calendar hanging on the kitchen wall. He would flip back a month

and stare at it, and then he'd flip it to another and repeat his actions.

                "Father

dearest, have you gone off the deep end?"

                He

smiled. "No. I'm looking at these photos on the calendar, imagining myself at

these places." The calendar was one that featured sites across America; a

different location for each month.

                "Uhhhhh,

why?"

                "I

projecting myself into these places so that your real father is picking them up

and thinking we've moved again. By this time I think he's thoroughly thrown off

as to where we are presently at. I figure it'll buy us the time we need to get

organized."

                "You

mean you didn't just remove the link from mom, you kept it?'

                "Didn't

I mention that? Sorry. Yeah, I figured removing it would tip him off to

something bigger going on. I pulled it from her and stuck inside me. I can

suppress it when I want to, and I can open it up and flood him with all kinds

of images. That's what I doing right now, messing with his head."

                "I don't

know if you're brilliant or nuts. What if he figures it out?"

                "I

think he already has. But I'll just keep doing it to be annoying. Eventually

he'll break if off and give up."

                "I

liked you better before. You've gotten a lot more complicated lately."

                "Yeah?

You try living with a supercharger stuck in your brain and see how long you

hold it together."

                "I know

and I'm sorry about that. But you can't let it control your life."

                He fell

to the floor in uproarious laughter. He soon had tears streaming from his eyes.

Maggie was dumbstruck at his behavior, and the noise attracted the attention of

everyone in the house. He rolled back and forth until his ribs were hurting,

and still he laughed until he thought his lungs would burst.

                When he

finally wound down, he cracked open an eye. "You're kidding right? This damn

thing inside my head has pretty much taken over what I do. It's not a ring I

can take off when I want to. It's part of my head now, like a symbiote. The

longer I go with it in, the more it becomes part of me. I'm still me, but I

don't always know what that means. I can see things, but it doesn't

automatically mean I can affect them. Do you have any idea how frustrating that

can be?"

                "No."

                "Good

answer. You don't. So do me a favor and quit trying to second guess everything

I do. I'm already second guessing it the moment I think of it. Sometimes I'm as

blind about things as I was before I got this mass of metal stuck in my head."

                "Metal?               

                He looked

up at Anna. "I guess maybe it's time I told my story, huh?"

                "I

think it would be helpful if you did young man."

                Billy

grinned. "Should I go out for pizza again? This is gonna take a while!"