Chapter 74: Neeka can Read my Mind... Hmmm
I nodded. That was why it seemed that Neeka could read my mind. That was why she was willing to put her life on the line. She could hear my thoughts. Neeka came up and handed me the glass. I took a drink and looked at her and thought in words ten feet tall, "I love you." She put her arms around me and kissed me. She kissed real good. I was feeling faint again by the time she let me come up for air.
I don't know if Mrs. Morgan thought she might have to pry us apart or if she just got tired of watching the show from a distance, but she was there when I opened my eyes again.
"Gee!" I said, "You kiss like you have nothing else to do for the rest of your life. You're wonderful."
Bambi asked, "I wonder if it works the other way?"
Mrs. Morgan said, "What? Kissing? Or asking for a drink?"
The silence was deafening. Neither Bambi nor I wanted to consider the implications of that innocent comment, but there it was. I was about to ask Mrs. Morgan something when the question became moot.
"You know, you are the only one to call her Neeks. When she was a baby, just learning to talk, she couldn't say Monique. She called herself Neeka, so that's what Carl and I started calling her." I guess the staring go to be too much. She said, "What? You look like you've seen a ghost."
I asked Bambi, "I don't really see that we have a choice now; do you? She's going to pick something up. And it's going to be a giveaway."
"No," Bambi said, "We have to tell them both. There is no other choice. You won't be able to keep it from Monique anyway. And it wouldn't be fair to ask her to keep it from Fiona. Sorry, Fiona. I know we're talking about you as if you weren't here, but this is serious. We'd rather not ask you to share this with us. I expect it will be something of a burden. There is no reason for Carl to know, though. We'd rather you didn't tell him unless it becomes necessary."
"Tell me what? Tell Carl what? What are we talking about?" Fiona asked.
"Mrs. Morgan," I said. "I want you to tell me what you heard a minute ago when I asked Neeka for a drink. Can you remember exactly?"
"Well, you said, 'Neeks, please bring me a drink.' At least I think that was it."
I nodded to Bambi, "That was it. Word for word."
Bambi said, "We need to investigate this. There are a lot of things that we need to know about this. But first, we have to let Fiona and Neeka know what... well, who... Oh, this is tougher than I thought. Do you want to try?"
Neeka had her arm around me, holding me. I tried to experience the moment to the fullest, in case it was our last. In case she changed her mind about me in the next few minutes. I mustered all the courage that I could and I looked and Neeka and her mother and said, "This is going to sound like I am a raving lunatic, but I want you to bear in mind I can demonstrate everything I am about to tell you, so get a real tight grip on reality, because it's about to change. As best as we can tell from what we know right now, I am an untrained, still developing, 18 year old, 5' 1", 105 pound, blonde, busty superhero, er, superheroine."
I winced, expecting laughter, derision, anything. What I got was a big hug from Neeka, who said, "Yes, I know."
Nothing could have floored me faster than that. I became inarticulate. "Hunh?" I said.
"I knew you were special when you were in the coffee shop yesterday. I knew you were going to come back. I knew what you were going to ask me. When you were talking with Mrs. Henderson, I knew what you wanted me to say and when. I knew how you planned to distract those men and what you wanted me to do to help. I knew how far you were prepared to go defending us. That's when I knew what you really are."
Mrs. Morgan was stunned more by her daughter's admission about the convicts than about me. She said, "Those men were here?"
"Yes, Mom. They burst in and took us all hostage. We didn't tell you because we didn't want you to worry. Sam beat them up and made them leave. As well as being beautiful, sexy and sweet, she is very strong, heals very quickly, and can stand a lot of pain. And I can hear her thoughts. It looks like you can, too."
Mrs. Morgan couldn't get past the idea of her daughter being in danger. She said, "Sam beat them up? Darling, what did they do to you?"
"Mom, they didn't hurt me. Sam wouldn't let them. I knew she wouldn't. I wasn't even scared. Yes, Sam beat them up. She made them hurt her instead of me and then she hurt them back much worse. You should have seen her. She was great."
"Right. Superheroine. OK. Can we sit down? I'm not feeling well."
We went back to the now deserted sofa at the other end of the room. The boys and the Henderson sisters had snuck out during all the palaver. Before they left, they had put Brute out and relocked the back door behind them. I was pretty sure where to find them, but I wasn't taking any bets on whose bedroom each girl had gone into.
Mrs. Morgan dropped onto the couch in a daze. I offered her a soda, but she asked Bambi for something stronger. "Bourbon would be great," she said. Bambi poured her a drink at the bar and brought it over to her. She gulped half of it.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone