Ohnomore hybrid (A MORFS Universe Story) Part 6

I explained things to Andre who just showed up, and he said to go to the hospital immediately. I rushed over to the hospital where Snake had said that they had taken Maren to.

When I got there I saw Snake pacing the waiting room and I went over to him. “Any news? Do you know what happened?”

Snake shook his head, “Maren’s mom called me. She only said that she and her sister had been shot in the dance studio. She didn’t give any details though.”

Just then a good looking older woman walked up to us quickly. “Hi Snake, did you hear anything?”

Snake shook his head, “They aren’t telling me anything. Maybe you’ll have more luck, Miss Landers.”

The woman gave a wry smile and then looked at me. “Who is this young man Snake?”

I introduced myself, “Hello, I’m Gabe Kramer.”

She looked at me with a bit of surprise and curiosity, “Glad to meet you, Gabe. I’ve heard so much about you from Maren and Isabel.” She shook my hand and smiled at me.

‘How much does she know about me and Maren?’ I was about to say something when she looked around and said, “Sorry, but I’m going to ask if I can see my daughters.” She left us standing and went to the receptionist to ask where her daughters where. We held back a bit and went back to pacing and waiting. I never did like waiting in hospitals.

A little while later Maren and Isabel were wheeled into the waiting room with their mother right behind them.

She quickly got out of the wheelchair and came over to me. She threw her arms around me and started kissing and hugging me. “How did you know I was here?”

I put some distance between us so I could look at her, “Snake called me. What happened, Maren? They said you had been shot, seriously. How badly are you hurt?”

She smiled, “Oh I’m perfectly all right. Someone asked an MBE to heal us. There isn’t a mark on me anymore.”

I frowned hearing that and I was about to ask why someone would pay the hefty fee for an MBE, and so quickly. But Maren must have guessed what I was going to do and quickly said, “I’ll tell you all about it later. Now I have had enough of the  hospital, so can we leave here now?”

I looked at Snake, Maren’s mom and her sister. They were all rearing to go by the looks of it. I put my arm around Maren, eliciting a snicker from her sister. Maren didn’t care though, she just clung to my side as we walked out.

Soon we came to a hastily parked car and Maren’s Mom said, “I guess you don’t have a car right? I can only seat 4 people, so I guess we’re overcrowded.”

I interrupted, “That’s okay. I have to get back to work anyway. I’ll see you Monday then?”

Maren responded to my question, “Sure, Gabe, too bad you have to work again.”

I shrugged, “I need the money and experience. Well see you later.” I gave Maren a peck on her cheek, but she took my head between her hands and lip locked me with her lips for quite a while.

When her Mom cleared her throat, Maren stopped kissing me, with a blush on her cheeks . She turned to go to the car and I took off on a run to get back to work.

I arrived back at Everybody’s Place quite fast. As I came into the kitchen near Andre’s office, I heard a heated discussion going on. I recognized the voices as those of Andre and François or Frankie as we called him. I couldn’t hear it well enough to understand yet, especially since they were talking in French. Being Belgian Andre spoke that as his second language. As I came closer I saw the others looking in the direction of the office. I gave them an inquisitive look, but they shrugged, indicating that they didn’t know. Probably because they don’t speak French. As I got closer I could hear it better, enough at least to understand what they were talking about.

Frankie said, “Tu as commencé par le faire chef à ma place, et maintenant, tu ignores mes
idées. Je démissionne, je ne peux pas travailler comme ça.”

With that he stormed out of the office and ran past us in a hurry, not looking up or speaking to us. I knew enough French that I understood what he was talking about. He had said that I was being placed over him as chef, and that his ideas were ignored. From what I heard after that, he said that he’d quit and wouldn’t want to work here anymore.

I went into Andre’s office and asked, “Andre? What is going on with François. Why does he say that he quits?”

Andre looked at me with a weary face. “He had some ideas that I don’t think are appropriate for our business. I think that his anger has been smoldering a lot longer, though. I’m sure that he wanted the position of chef. And then you came and were a better cook than him.”

I must have shown some kind of guilt on my face as Andre continued, “But he doesn’t blame you or my decision. He’s just unhappy. I really don’t want to lose him, you know. He’s a real pro and there is nobody better at cakes and desserts than him.”

I glared at Andre and he laughed, “Well, you could give him a run for his money, I know. But he really is a professional in his speciality.”

I sighed, “I know. I can still learn a lot from him. He’s a wizard with the cakes, and his puddings are quite a hit with our customers. Do you mind if I try to talk to him?”

Andre waved, “Go ahead, be my guest. I doubt you can make him change his mind. But if anyone could, it would be you.”

I nodded and quickly left the office, going outside to look for Frankie. I didn’t have to look too long. He was sitting in the alley behind the restaurant. He just sat there looking at the ground. I sat down next to him and kept quiet for the moment. Frankie started, “What do you want Gabe? I don’t feel like speaking right now.”

Softly I said, “Listen François, I can understand enough French to know what the fight was about. I didn’t ask to be made chef.”

He sighed, “I know that and I don’t mind it that much. I know that you’re the better overall cook. I specialize in desserts.”

“Then what is really on your mind? Tell me what is troubling you. If you keep quiet about it, nobody can help you.”

Frankie sighed again, “I don’t think you can help me, Gabe. I wanted to expand the business of the restaurant to another avenue, but Andre just doesn’t see it my way.”

I grimaced, “So what big idea do you have? Do you want to start a business for yourself then?”

“Well, I wanted to start a catering business, you know wedding cakes, birthday cakes, party catering stuff like that. But I wanted to do it with Everybody’s Place, because I don’t have enough capital to start, and we have such a good reputation on quality.”

I thought for a moment, ‘It might be a good idea, but I can see why Andre doesn’t want it. This is too much off the track for a restaurant or diner or ice-cream parlor. And though we should diversify, we shouldn’t want to do too much.’ “Frankie? I need to think about it. Please do me a favor and take the afternoon off. Tomorrow both Andre and you will have cooled off. We can discuss things more clearly then. Okay?”

Frankie gave me a wry smile and said in a relieved tone, “Okay, Gabe. You’ll make a great chef. I wouldn’t have gone after an employee to have a talk like you just did.”

I grimaced again, “Go home you frog! Just come in tomorrow for work, and after my lessons I want to talk to both you and Andre.”

Frankie smiled and after getting his bag, set off. Andre was curious and asked, “What did you say to him Gabe?”

“I told him to go home for the day. I need some time to think. I want to talk about it tomorrow with both you and him, if you value my opinion on it that is.”

Andre looked relieved, “Sure Gabe, sometimes I react too emotionally. I know that. I don’t want to lose François as an employee. But we can’t afford to spread ourselves too thin. His ideas are good, just not for us right now.”

“I know that, but I think that there may be a solution. But I need some time to think it over.”

Andre agreed that both he and Frankie should calm down, and we went back to work. The solution of this problem eluded me the whole afternoon and evening. It even kept me awake for a long time. Just as I started to get up and grab something to drink, I suddenly saw a bright flash of light shoot through the night sky. It blinded me for a moment. There was no way this could be natural. I knew of only one person who had the power and ability to do something like that. I guessed that Maren lost control of her powers for a moment. I made a note to ask her about it in the morning.

Thinking about Maren, my mind wandered a bit further and I realized that her Mom’s wedding was the next Saturday. That’s when I had my epiphany. I suddenly knew what to do with the problem of Frankie and Andre. Satisfied that I had my problem solved I went back to bed and fell asleep moments later.

The next morning I met Maren outside the center. She looked a bit haggard, but smiled when she saw me. She gave me a kiss before I asked, “Hi Maren? How was the rest of your day yesterday? Give any lightshows lately?”

She groaned, “How did you know that, Gabe?”

I smiled, “I couldn’t sleep, I kept thinking about a problem at work. And then I saw your lightshow. At least I think it was your lightshow. You are the only one I know that can do that.”

She grimaced, “Yeah well I had a nightmare again. I already have an appointment with Gavin about it. Can we just drop the subject? I already feel so bad at what I did.”

“Sure, Maren, let’s get to class then.” I pointed at my Aunt Vanessa walking up to us.

The lesson was quite easy to do and I finished it quickly and read a bit more in my books to pass the time. We were almost done for the day when Aunt Vanessa said, “I’m pleased with the progress and results you both have produced. Gabe, you are finished with all your assignments already. Maren, you still have a few more to complete. One of them is that you have to bake a cake or pie for your Home-Economics assignment. Please think about what you want to bake, and tell me tomorrow.”

Maren paled a little and looked worried at hearing my Aunt Vanessa’s words. I didn’t want her to worry too much, so I said, “Don’t worry too much Maren. I’ll help you prepare for it.”

Aunt Vanessa warned, “She has to do it herself Gabe. You can’t help her bake it.”

“I know that. I’m just helping her to show what she has to do and how she can do it. I’m the cook around here so I should help her out,” I pointed out to my Aunt.

Aunt Vanessa sighed, “Oh very well. I think that is allowed. Well, I’ll see you tomorrow Maren. Oh before I forget, what kind of present does your Mom like for her wedding?”

I could see from her looks that she was taken by surprise with the question. “I … uhm … well I don’t really know.”

Aunt Vanessa smiled, “Oh well, I’ll find something.” Then she looked at the clock. “Is that the time? I’ve got to go to a meeting. See you tomorrow then, Maren. And I’ll see you tonight,” she said to me.

I accompanied Maren out the door and asked, “Maren if you want to, I can introduce you to Frankie. He’s the best at baking pie’s and such. Even I can learn some things from him.”

She looked a bit sad and said, “I would like to, but I have the appointment with Gavin in a half hour. He called me last night after I gave my lightshow.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot already. Well give him my regards then. We do need to get together to show you how to bake something. How about coming to the restaurant, after you’ve finished with Gavin.”

She smiled, “I would like to. I’ll have to see how late I’m going to be. So don’t wait for me if I can’t make it today, okay?”

She gave me a kiss and I watched her walk off to her appointment. I sighed, ‘I really love that girl.’ Then I remembered what I had to do today and set a quick pace to Everybody’s Place. Frankie was doing his normal work and I found Andre scowling in his office. I called Frankie over and together we entered Andre’s office. He looked up at us with a scowl.

Before he could say anything I asked Frankie to sit down. Then I started, “François, you said that you want to bake wedding cakes and birthday cakes, right?” Frankie just nodded in agreement. “Okay, now Andre. You think this is too much, and too far away from our usual business.”

Andre began, “Yes that is it. It is not that I don’t like it, but we can’t handle that much pull in a different direction.”

I interrupted, “Please hear me out first, Andre.” He closed his mouth and grudgingly let me go on. “Now François I know that you are hesitating between staying to work here, or leaving and starting your own business.”

Andre began to interrupt again with an emotional outburst, but with a simple gesture, I managed to halt him.

I continued, “I also know that you like working here and we sure wouldn’t want to miss you, as well. Last night I thought about a compromise between both. How about you starting your business part time and work the other hours here? For a minor fee we could also rent you the use of the baking ovens for your business. Of course the restaurant business has priority.”

Both Andre and Frankie were about to speak agitatedly, but I motioned them to silence. “Look, this way we don’t lose your expertise and your valued workmanship, and you don’t have to get into debt already to start up a business. I even might have a first order for you as a catering job, but you should accept our help for big events as well.”

I turned to Andre. “This will save us the quarrel about going into a different direction, but we won’t miss out on it entirely. You don’t have the strain of the new business, as Frankie will handle that. But we get to keep his skilled workmanship and if we ever want to go into that kind of business, we can have a joint venture with Frankie.”

Both men were speechless after my long talk and thought hard about what I’d said. I was about to give up and get to my usual work when Andre chuckled. “Well done, Gabe! I would have never thought of something like that. I like the solution.”

Frankie started smiling as well, “Mais oui. This is something I can feel comfortable with. But how are we going to manage …”

I interrupted him, “That can be worked out later. You need to make a business plan first, right after you make your desserts for today.”

Frankie looked at me with his mouth open, and then he laughed. “Okay, Gabe. You got it. But I did hear that you said that you might have a first order for me. What is it?”

I smiled back at him, “Well, my girlfriend’s Mom’s wedding is too soon, this Saturday already, but I can talk to my Uncle to see if you can cater his wedding.”

“You would do that?” asked Frankie with disbelief in his tone.

“Sure I would. Why wouldn’t I? I know how good the food from here is and that you are a master at cakes. So why not?”

Frankie took my hand and shook it, “Merci beaucoup!”

“No problem. Shall we go to work now?” I asked in a mock serious voice.

As we went back to the kitchen I glanced back and saw Andre give me a thumbs up.

Maren didn’t show up that afternoon, so I guessed she didn’t have time. Then as the evening went on, the lights started to flicker and then all the power went out. Andre looked outside and said, “The whole block has lost power. Well, I guess I’m going to have to send the customers home. I mean, I can light the place with candles, but our equipment won’t work anymore.”

A thought sprung up in my mind, “Don’t do that just yet, Andre. I have an idea. Start putting candles on the tables and light them. Also, I need some food for myself and a cable connected to only the absolutely necessary equipment.”

Andre looked at me with a lot of questions burning behind his eyes. He was about to ask, when I already said, “You do know that I’m an Electrical Elemental. I can power several machines. So set it up, please. That way we can stay in business as one of the few in the whole block. Some others may have a generator, but most don’t.”

Old Mike asked, “Are you sure about that Gabe?”

I nodded, “We can do this. I don’t want all those customers to go home. We need to be there for them. Come on, let’s get to work.”

Soon I was sitting at a table eating some of the ice-cream that we had prepared earlier and would have melted without the fridge available. We had the switches set to disconnect us from the power grid, and a cable hooked up to the service entrance in the circuit breakerbox. Then new customers arrived, a family of four, but I only had eyes for one of them. She was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen, She was wearing a small black dress that made her figure stand out even more. And she was my girlfriend. Or at least I hoped she was. I almost forgot to keep the power going, but I remembered just in time to do just that. The control lights on the makeshift control box were already warning me to put in more power.

While I concentrated on powering and eating, I saw Maren listening to something her sister said before she made her way towards me. I smiled at her, “Hi, Maren, you look beautiful! What’s the occasion?”

She smiled back and sat down in front of me, “We’re having a dinner with the family before the wedding. What’re you doing? Why aren’t you in the kitchen?”

“Well there is a power outage, as you might have noticed. I’m powering the most essential equipment so we can stay in business.” I responded.

She looked closer at the cable I was holding in my hand. “Oh, now I see. Well, I better get back to my family. We’re out together and it wouldn’t look good if I stayed with you all the time.”

I smiled, “Of course, but do come back here again a little later. You still need to talk to Frankie, and decide on what you are going to bake for your assignment.”

She groaned before saying, “Okay, I will stop by after dinner, but only shortly tonight okay?”

I just smiled as she got up to join her family. I stayed put and continued to power the restaurant. Andre came up to me, “How is it going, Gabe? Can you handle it well enough? I don’t want you to overtax your self.”

“I’m doing fine Andre. It’s not so much a strain on me, but it does get tedious. Of course I will be tired doing this, but I can manage.”

I kept sitting and supplying power, but started to feel a bit sleepy. maybe I had overestimated my endurance to keep powering it. I asked Paco for a cola. It did give me a little boost, but I still started to feel sleepy and tired. Then I noticed that it was a bit lighter outside. I looked closely and saw that some electrical lights were on again. I called Andre over and we slowly switched the power grid back on, with me taking up the difference during the change over. We had just gone all the way back to normal power and operations when I yawned. Andre noticed, “I want you to go home and sleep. And take a day off tomorrow. You’re no good to me sleeping on the job.”

I was about to protest but saw the look on his face and conceded. “Okay Andre, I’ll go home soon, first I want to borrow Frankie for a talk with Maren.”

I could see that Frankie was a bit confused, but also curious, so I explained, “The girl I have classes with needs your expertise. I will be helping her, but she has to do it herself.”

With that I went over to where I had seen Maren disappear to. I found the family quickly enough and hesitated a bit about going over to their table. Her mother saw me and motioned me to come closer. As I did, I saw Maren turn towards me and she suddenly blushed a bit.

I halted in front of the table and asked, “Hi, is everything okay here? Did you enjoy the food?”

Isabel snickered, while Maren just looked at me. The man said to me, “It was great, even with most of the resources down, you managed to put on a very tasty meal. My compliments to the chefs.”

I smiled, “I’ll pass it on Mr. … eh?”

“Gannen, Shane Gannen. This is my fiancée, Naomi, and her two daughters Isabel and Maren. But you know them already, I guess.”

I smiled, “Yes I do. If you don’t mind, I would like to steal Maren away for a while.”

Shane narrowed his eyes, but a smile crept over his face, “Oh? What are your intentions with her, young man?”

I hastily said, “I mean to introduce her to Frankie, our expert on cakes and pies. Maren needs advice on her cooking assignment for school.”

Maren quickly got up and said, “Sure, Gabe, let’s go.”

I took Maren’s arm and escorted her to a table near the kitchen where Frankie was enjoying a drink on his breather. I introduced them to each other and we started talking about the various kinds of simple cakes or pies that were suitable for Maren to bake.

They started talking about all the kinds of pies and cakes to choose from and I offered my suggestions. Maren already had an idea in her head, and together with Frankie she decided to try to make an apple-pie. Frankie explained in detail how to make it, and Maren jotted it down in a notepad. As we wrapped it up, Maren kissed me goodbye and I said, “Don’t forget to take your swimsuit tomorrow. We can go swimming again.”

The next few days I picked Maren up from her class and took her swimming, and then to the restaurant to learn how to cook. She wasn’t very good at it, but she could remember our instructions well enough to make something reasonably good. On Thursday, she baked her own pie, with a lot of help from me though. And I watched on Friday as she baked the pie all by herself in class. She almost ruined it by not taking the pie out of the oven in time. I was happy for her that she did get a good enough grade on it.

Then it was Saturday, I had a day off from work, and after a shower, got dressed in the nice suit that Uncle Frank bought for me. We had to wait some time for Aunt Vanessa to get ready, but finally were on our way to the church where the wedding would be held.

I saw Maren standing just inside the entrance talking to a guest as we waited to sign the guestbook. I cleared my throat and Maren turned around to face us. Uncle Frank introduced himself and us, “Hi, I’m Frank Kramer, this is my fiancée Vanessa O’Dale and my nephew Gabe.”

Maren smiled, “Welcome, Mr. Kramer. I already know Miss O’Dale and Gabe. I had summer classes with him.”

Uncle Frank smiled back, “I should’ve remembered that. But please, call me Frank.”

He wrote all of our names into the guestbook and he went inside the church with Aunt Vanessa. I stayed behind and leaned over to Maren. She evaded my impending kiss and said, “Not now, Gabe, I don’t want to ruin the make up. Besides, we’re going to start soon.”

‘She is turning me down? Oh well, whatever she wants.’ I gave her a disappointed look for a moment before smiling and followed my uncle and aunt into the church.

I watched as the girls and their mother walked down the isle. I noticed that Maren was looking a lot in my direction. She even missed a step where she had to stand, and almost fell down. Her sister whispered something to her, and she paid more attention to the ceremony.

After the nice ceremony, we followed the other guests out to the party and I sat down with Uncle Frank, Aunt Vanessa and another couple. The man said he was a fireman in the groom’s brigade. He told us some stories about him. I didn’t listen to most of it, though one story caught my attention. He talked about a mystery girl that ran into a burning building and spectacularly blew out the fire. They had never managed to identify the girl though. I thought, ‘That sounds like something only a fire-elementa,l or maybe a converter can do. Maybe it was Maren. I think that something like that would be her style.’ I asked the man a few questions , “So what did that girl look like?”

He said, “Well all of us were so busy with the fire that few people saw her, and then, only at a glimpse. There was some footage taken by a camera crew, but they still haven’t been able to identify the girl. The only thing we know is that she had quite long black hair, and some kind of belt hanging loosely on her.”

Quite casually I pointed at Maren and said, “So, someone like her.”

The man looked, “Yeah, well she looks a bit like it, but then again, so do half the girls here.”

Then he started another story about the exploits they had encountered, while I was having my own thoughts about the previous one. Then the Bride and Groom were asked to start the dancing as the first couple on the floor. I had a feeling that Maren would come seek me out to dance. It wasn’t a happy prospect, as I couldn’t dance if my life depended on it. I was still seated between my Uncle and the wife of the fireman, so I tried to wriggle my chair a bit backwards. Sure enough, Maren looked for me at the end of the second dance and was made a beeline towards me. Suddenly I saw a way out. Lance sat just to my right and was looking at Maren coming my way with a longing look. I gave him a slight electric jolt. As he rose from his chair thanks to the zap, he started turning towards me. I managed to push him towards Maren. She was blocked from reaching me and Lance quickly asked her to dance. I was safe again, but only for a short time. Quickly I slid the chair backwards, and as unobtrusive as possible, made my way outside. I walked around the building and sat down on a wall looking at the lake behind the building.

Suddenly I noticed someone behind me, but didn’t turn around. Maren sat down next to me, keeping quiet and sipping some fruit punch. I didn’t look at her, but just kept staring out over the water. ‘How can I start telling her that I can’t dance?’ Then she said, “Why are you all alone here, Gabe? Did I do something wrong? Is there something the matter?”

I turned to her with a wry smile, “There is nothing wrong and you didn’t do anything wrong. It’s just that I can’t dance. That’s why I came out here.”

Maren started laughing, making me a bit upset. ‘She’s laughing at me for not being able to dance? How dare she?’ Before I could say or do something, she quickly said, “Gabe, that’s nothing to be ashamed about. And I can help you with that. How about I teach you how to dance? It’s the least I can do to pay you back for teaching me how to swim.”

Putting my arm around her I said, “Sure, Maren, if you can stand having your toes stepped on a lot.”

She laughed again. “I’m sure that it won’t be that bad. I’m just glad that you’re not mad at me for not letting you kiss me earlier.”

“Why would I be mad at you, Maren? I can understand that you didn’t want to damage your make-up. Or even kiss me in front of all the other people there,” I exclaimed a bit indignantly.

She gave me a dirty look before replying, “I don’t mind kissing you in public. What gave you that idea?”

As I was about to say why, she kissed me on my mouth smothering my reply. I was taken back with her initiative, but didn’t want to turn down the opportunity, so I responded in kind and we kissed for what seemed hours.

Finally she withdrew and said, “I think we better get back into the party. And I need to repair my make-up a bit.”

“Okay.” I helped her up and we walked back together to the party, where she disappeared to the ladies room.

We enjoyed the party for sometime, even when the newly wed couple left to be alone in a hotel, and the firefighters got rowdy. Snake offered to drive Maren, Isabel and Lance home, but not before she kissed me goodnight. I drove Uncle Frank’s car home, as he’d had a little too much to drink.

The next day I slept in late, and went to work as usual. Maren came in and had a talk with Andre about a job as a waitress. She was hired on a trial basis, and would start on Monday afternoon. We did kiss for a moment, but I had to get back to work and she went back home early.

I finished my shift and arrived home in the middle of a debate about their upcoming wedding. I saw as a good opportunity and said, “I told a colleague of mine that I would recommend him for the catering. Francois wants to start up his own business part time from Everybody’s Place, and he’s really good with cakes and such. So would you consider him for the catering?”

Both Uncle Frank and Aunt Vanessa looked at me. Uncle Frank said, “I would like to see an estimate first. I’ll have a talk with him then.”

“Fair enough. He’s still working in Everybody’s Place. You can have a talk with him there.” Uncle Frank nodded at my reply and I felt tired, so said goodnight and went to my room to get ready for bed.

Like I usually did now, I met Maren before class on Monday. She hesitantly went into class leaving me outside. I just wanted her to feel not too lonely, so I stayed within sight of her. I passed the time reading some cookbooks from renowned chefs. Afterwards we went to the restaurant together to start working. I was busy in the kitchen, so I didn’t see much of Maren. But at some point Andre called me up front and told me that Maren wasn’t working out as expected. She forgot too many things and he didn’t have the heart to tell her that he was thinking of letting her go.

I watched her myself for about ten minutes, and though she wasn’t lazy or just plain stupid, I could see that she just couldn’t get into the flow of the job. I’m sure she would have picked it up eventually, but I thought she would be better off in a different line of work.

I called her over and asked her, “Maren, let’s take a breather out back.”

She argued, “But I still have things to do, I’m not ready yet.”

Putting my arm around her I said, “That’s okay, we’re not that busy at the moment.”

I was wondering how to tell her the bad news. I think she already felt it coming, so I tried to soften the blow to her confidence. I started, “Maren, how do you like the job?”

Hesitantly she answered, “I like the job just fine, I’m just having some starting trouble. Why?”

I didn’t know how to start giving her the bad news, so I looked down and stammered, “Well eh… I eh… I don’t really know how to bring this.” ‘Damn I hate giving her bad news. And it’s worse because I love her.’

Sharply she asked, “Are you firing me?”

Now I was really in trouble. I looked at her with a feeling awkward, “Yes, I’m sorry. But Andre feels that this isn’t your forte. I really wish it was different, but we just don’t want you to look stupid.”

She roared, “I’m not stupid!”

With a small voice I started, “I didn’t say that you are.”

Then she interrupted, “Yes you did. Don’t deny it.” Then she zapped me with an electric charge.

I was stunned, which turned to fury as I thought, ‘She zapped me? Is she really out of control now? Good thing I’m an Electricity Elemental.’ I snarled, “That’s quite enough, Synergy.” I gathered some energy and released it at her, the lightning sparking from my fingertips towards her, with arcs and alternative paths snaking about.

I suddenly felt twice as heavy, it was anchoring me quite effectively to the ground, next I was bombarded with a blast of air with heat and light as well. I was hammered fiercely by that. But then I felt my weight diminishing and suddenly I flew through the air for about 15 feet and landed hard on the concrete.

I fell down hard and just wanted to lie down there groaning a bit. Before I knew it Maren had rushed over to me and while kneeling next to me asked, “Gabe, are you all right? I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.”

I groaned again, but sat up. “You got that right, Maren. Boy, remind me never to let you get really angry at me.”

She smiled sheepishly at me, “I’m really sorry about that Gabe, I just felt very angry and … and…”

I interrupted her because I knew that she hadn’t meant to hurt me, “That’s okay, Maren. I shouldn’t have released my electrics on you as well.”

Maren kissed passionately me before saying, “I was so charged up by that, which was also a reason to assault you directly. You pack quite a wallop with your power.”

I looked at her, “I wasn’t anywhere near my full strength yet.”

She looked back at me with her eyes wide open. “You can generate even more power?”

I just nodded and started getting back on my feet. I looked myself over for any damage to my clothes or myself and dusted my clothes off. Satisfied that I was quite all right, I hugged her. “Maren, I’m sorry we both got carried away. Look, we’re not exactly firing you. We do feel however that you won’t be happy in this job. But if you still want to try, we will give you the chance.”

Maren looked at me, “Thank you for the offer Gabe. I think you’re right, though. I don’t think I have what it takes for the job. Besides, I made the classic mistake of thinking that working near you might be fun. But we would both be too busy, right?”

I just nodded thinking, ‘We both made mistakes with that. It’s good that she’s taking it this well.’

She continued, “Then I won’t continue  as waitress. But thanks for giving me the opportunity.”

She kissed me again before we went into the restaurant to take care of the details to put Maren out of a job again. But I would help her with whatever she wanted to do next. We talked shortly with Andre about our decision and he said that he was sorry for not being able to help. Maren assured him that it was okay, but Andre insisted that she would always get a discount in his establishment.

I waved her off before getting back into my job. I ate there as well and was home quite late. Uncle Frank and Aunt Vanessa were kind of fooling around on the sofa and acted like they had been caught in the act. I laughed at them, “Hey I’m only a guest here. You can do whatever you want. You’re adults, so don’t mind me. I’ll go up to my room and get ready for bed.”

Uncle Frank got up, “You’re not only a guest here, Gabe. He gave me a pat on the shoulder before disappearing towards the bathroom. I was about to follow him towards the stairs when the phone rang. I slowed down to find out at least who was calling this late.

Aunt Vanessa answered the telephone, “Hello? Yes this is Frank Kramers house. No he is.. .”

She paled a bit at listening to the phone, “Oh I see... How, why... I ... sure.”

She walked up to me and gave me the phone, turning away.

I took it with wonder and I said, “Yes who ...”

I shut up when I heard a familiar voice say, “Gabe, ...dyn heit leit op stjerren.” [Gabe, … Your Dad is dying.]

I knew it was Mom talking, but her voice was very gravelly.  I could hear her grief and desperation all through it.

With a coarse voice I asked, “Hoe kin dat, wat is der bard?” [How is that possible? What happened?]

With her grief stricken voice she answered, “Hy hat in aneurysme in syn holle, de MBE kin net folle dwaan want syn natuerlike genezingskreft besyked it te meitsjen, mar dat makke it allinne mar slimmer.” [He has an aneurysm in his head. The MBE can’t do much because his natural healing power is trying to fix it. But it is only making it worse]

I almost couldn’t say it, “Hoe lang hat er noch te libjen?” [How long does he have to live?]

With a sob she answered, “Se hâlde him in libben, dêrom wol ik graach datsto hjir hinne komst.” [They are keeping him alive, that’s why I would like for you to come here.]

I assured my Mom that I would go there as soon as I could. As I put the phone down, Uncle Frank came up to me. “Vanessa told me that there is something serious, but she went to the bedroom before saying anything more. She was really upset. Is there something wrong Gabe?”

I looked at him, “My dad, your brother, is dying. That was Mom on the phone. She asked me to go there. I would like you to come with me, if you wouldn’t mind.”

Uncle Frank looked at me with concern, “Sure I’ll go with you. I thought that his healing power could handle any disease and injury though. What happened?”

Looking down I answered, “Apparently he got some kind of aneurysm that is not only not fixed by his power, but his power makes it worse, and an MBE can’t do anything either, because of his healing power.”

From behind Uncle Frank, Aunt Vanessa spoke up softly, “Why don’t we all go there? I would like to accompany you both as well.”

Thinking of something I asked her, “What about school? Maren still has some classes. Darn it, I have to tell her that I will be out of town for a while. And I’ve got to ask Andre for some days off.”

Aunt Vanessa gave me a wry smile, “Maren’s lessons are almost done, I’ll give her the last few days.”

Thanking her, I picked up the phone again and called Andre, “Hallo Andre. Je spreekt met Gabe. Ik hoorde net dat mijn vader op sterven ligt en wil graag een paar weken vrij vragen om naar hem toe te gaan.” [Hi Andre. You’re speaking with Gabe. I just heard that my father is dying and would like to ask you for a few weeks off to go to him.]

Andre quickly gave me all the time off that I would need, and offered his sympathies. I thanked him and went to my room to get ready for bed and to start packing for the trip. I looked on the Internet for some flights going there, but couldn’t find one till later the next day. Instead, I went to bed thinking about my father. Sure, he’d chased me out of house the last time I saw him, but he was still my father.

Early the next morning I got up and walked over to the community center to meet Maren. Aunt Vanessa decided to join me, so we ended up walking towards Maren together. She saw us coming and must have seen something as she asked, “Gabe? Is there something wrong?”

I looked down and hoarsely answered, “I have to leave for a few weeks Maren. My father is dying.”

Her eyes went wide with shock. Then she asked, “How? why? Oh I’m so sorry for you Gabe.”

“Thanks, Maren. My Mom called me, and asked me to go there. Both Uncle Frank and Aunt Vanessa will go with me.”

Maren looked in wonder to Aunt Vanessa, “But my lessons?”

“You are almost done, so I’ll cancel the rest of your lessons. As of now, you’re free till you go to college.”

“Thank you, Miss O’Dale. Would you like some company Gabe? I would like to go also, if you don’t mind.”

I looked at her, “Are you sure Maren? We are going north of Vancouver, Canada.”

She nodded, “I’m sure. I want to give my support to you. Besides, maybe I can combine it with a visit to someone else that I owe a lot to.”

Quickly I agreed, it would be nice to have her around. “Okay, Maren. If you want to come with us, I would like you to.”

She did say thoughtfully, “I do have to ask Mom, of course. We can go to her now already, if you can.”

It was agreed and the three of us went to her Mom’s dance studio . Mrs. Gannen heard our plans and asked for a bit more detail from Aunt Vanessa. She told us, “Hold on for a moment” and disappeared into her office to call someone. Soon she came out and said, “Well, if you have room for two more, we would like to come as well.”

We all looked at her, ‘What is she talking about?’ and Maren asked, “Mom?”

“Shane and I were still debating where to go on our honeymoon. I wouldn’t mind driving around there, so we’ll go there with you, hire a car and drive around in that neighborhood.”

Maren at her Mom in suprise. “You mean you want to have your honeymoon there? With me around most of the time?”

Mrs. Gannen smiled, “Well it won’t be that kind of a honeymoon. And I doubt Shane is the type for going to a beach or something. So I thought we’d go with you and keep you company if you like. But if you want some privacy, I can understand it.”

Maren suddenly blushed heavily. I could understand why. Her Mom was implying that she would like to be alone with me.  So Maren agreed to have her parents join us, and since I had no objection, we soon made a plan and booked our tickets online for the next day to Vancouver.

During the long flight I thought a lot about my family. ‘Mom sounded like she really wanted to see me again. Is Dad still conscious enough? What will he say when he sees me? And what will they think about my cat girlfriend? I really missed them, but I’m not crawling back to them if that’s what they think. Man! Maybe Dad will already be dead when we get there. What will Mom do if he dies? She always leaned so heavily on Dad. Maybe I can persuade her to come with us to Savannah? What if she doesn’t want anything to do with me after Dad dies?’ I kept fretting over what might happen and what we should do.

I looked at Maren a few times, but she kept herself busy with a movie and some games. I thought she worried about Cyn. The poor Squog had been left all alone in a small cage in the luggage compartment. At long last we descended into Vancouver International Airport. Maren was out quickly to gather her Squog, while I went with Shane and Uncle Frank to rent some cars. After renting the cars, we found a inexpensive but good motel to get some sleep.

Very early in the morning, after a quick breakfast, we got underway, with me driving the first car, because I knew the road and where we had to go. We had little trouble getting through the traffic in Vancouver, and soon made it up the Sea to Sky Highway. We made some sanitary stops on route, but made good time and arrived in Whistler late in the afternoon.

We left the arrangements for staying in town over to Shane and Naomi, while we went straight to the hospital. The nurse at the desk asked us our business and I replied, “I’m Gabe Kramer. My father is here in serious condition. And these are family members as well.”

She looked suspiciously at Maren for a moment, and I was glad that she had her tail wrapped around her middle like a belt. Then the nurse looked at her tablet, “He’s in room 204, that way.” She pointed to her left.

I quickly let the way to the room and as I arrived, I saw Mom sitting in a chair next to the bed where my Dad lay, seemingly sleeping. He was connected to several machines though. As soon as she heard us, Mom got up. She saw me and came directly towards me. I noticed she had been crying, as she hugged me tightly and sobbed, “Gabe, ik bin sa bliid datsto hjir bist!” [Gabe, I’m so happy that you’re here!]

I held her tightly as she cried on my shoulder. My guess that this would hit her hard was right. After a few minutes, she looked up and wiped her tears away. Only then did she notice the other people that had come in with me.

“Oh, Ik hie jimme nog net sjoen. Frank, danke wol datsto mei kommen bist.” [Oh, I hadn’t seen you yet. Frank, thank you for coming along.] 

Then she saw the other people, “I’m sorry, where are my manners? Hello, I’m Amarins Kramer.”

I introduced them to Mom, “Mem, this is Vanessa O’Dale, Uncle Frank’s Fiancé. And this is Maren Johns, my girlfriend.”

As Mom saw Maren she backed off slightly before growling, “She’s a cat?”

I saw Maren’s expression change from happy to scowling. I guess she hadn’t expected this kind of treatment. I put my arm around her and growled, “Yes Mom, she’s a cat hybrid. She’s also a converter and a very nice person. So I want you to treat her nice.”

Mom was a bit put off. I can’t say I blamed her though. She looked down and sniffed. “I’m sorry. I just have that reaction to cat hybrids. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Maren reached for her hand. “I can understand that, Mrs. Kramer. I still have a reaction to flee from dog hybrids myself.”

Mom looked at her with a look between astonishment and appreciation. “Thanks Miss…”

Maren interrupted her, “You can call me Maren, Mrs. Kramer.”

Mom smiled slightly, before I interrupted their conversation, “How is Dad doing now?”

Her smile quickly disappeared, replaced by the sad expression once more. “He’s in a coma, but we can talk to him sometimes with the help of a telepath. It takes a lot out of Mira to do that, so she went home to rest. She’ll be here again tomorrow morning.”

I understood, I went over to his bed and just looked at him. He was always so big and indestructible. He was still quite a large person, but I could see that he;d lost weight and he looked kind of fragile in the bed. I grabbed his hand and said softly, “I’m here for you, Dad. I’m sorry for all the bad things in the past. Wish I could bring you back and see what I’m going to make of my life.” I thought I felt him squeeze my hand a little, but I could have been mistaken. Maren came up next to me and put her hand on my shoulder. I really appreciated that gesture. Uncle Frank sat down in a chair on the other side of the bed and motioned to me to go out for a moment.

I turned and put my arm around Mom. “Let’s go get something to drink, Mom. Uncle Frank will watch over Dad.”

We went to the waiting area and had a long talk about all the things that had happened after that fateful day when they threw me out. Several times Mom cried, and together with Maren, I made her feel a bit better. We all felt much better after that and Mom even smiled a few times hearing my adventures with the restaurants and Maren.

Later, Maren’s Mom joined us in the waiting room and we went with her to get some sleep. I was back in the hospital early the next morning, alone. I found Mom sitting asleep in her chair next to his bed. I woke her up and sent her to the motel to sleep a bit. She didn’t want to, but I insisted and she finally agreed. A few hours later Maren joined me and we both sat there talking a bit. She said that she liked the looks of my father, though it scared her as well, being so close to a wolf hybrid.

It wasn’t until about 10 o’clock that Mira, the telepath from the enclave joined us. At that time Uncle Frank and Mom had joined us again. I knew Mira from before and greeted her reserved. She’d always made me feel uncomfortable. She shook Mom’s hand and looked at her peculiarly. I guess they were talking telepathically. I did know that Mira is a tactile telepath. So I wasn’t surprised that she moved to the bed and put her hand on my father’s head.

She concentrated for a moment and said, “He is glad that you came here, Gabe. He heard you speak and thanks you for coming. He feels sorry for all the things that happened as well. He regrets that he made you leave.”

I cleared my throat before saying, “Thanks Dad. I just wish you weren’t dying. There is so much to show you.”

Mira responded for him, “He knows. He heard you talking to your girlfriend. He wishes that he could see her.”

I narrowed my eyes and responded, “Why can’t you, Dad? I mean, your optic nerves aren’t damaged or anything, right?”

A doctor that was passing by, stopped to answer my question, “Even if we lift his eyelids, he can’t focus right now. The only thing that can do that is a weak current to the appropriate nerves. And we are not going to administer that, I can assure you.”

“What nerves are you talking about, where are they located?” I asked frantically.

“Like I’m going to tell you that, young man!” said the doctor indignantly.

I took Mira’s hand and in my mind asked her, *Mira can you get the location of those nerves from his head? I would like to make that last wish come true for my father.*

Mira nodded and took the the doctor’s hand. He froze for a moment as Mira entered his mind looking for the information. As she broke the connection, he screamed, “I’ll have you arrested for that,” and he took off, almost knocking Vanessa down as she came into the room.

She asked in wonder, “What was he ranting about Frank?”

Uncle Frank shrugged, “I don’t really know, I think Mira looked into his mind.”

Mira in the meantime held my hand and showed me the exact spot where the nerves were and how to stimulate them. Then as she turned her attention to the group, she said, “Gabe asked me to make it possible to make his father’s last wish come true.”

I was standing at the head of his bed and put my fingers on the sides of his head where I knew I should insert the currents to stimulate his nerves. I also knew from the information Mira passed on to me how much I should charge, taking into consideration my fathers unique body. So I carefully released the currents from my fingers and he suddenly snapped his eyes open. He seemed to stare into the ceiling but then focused and looked first at me, than at the rest of the group.

He looked at them for several minutes before his eyes closed again. Mira rushed over and put her hand to his head. She said with a voice full of emotions, “He likes your fiancée, Frank. To you, Gabe, your girlfriend looks real nice and pretty he says. He thanks you for making this happen.”

Some people barged into the room. A doctor yelled, “What the hell is going on here?” Meanwhile some security men were about to move in and grab Mira away from Dad.

I growled, “Stay away from Mira. She only did as I asked her. We made my father’s dying wish possible. If you have a problem with that, then sue me.” With that, I let some sparks dance between my fingers, showing the security men that I wasn’t going to let them do anything.

Maren stepped over to me and had a steely look in her eyes. “Even if you manage to subdue Gabe, you’ll have to answer to me.” And she powered up as well, shooting some sparks towards me.

Mira said, “Jan Keimpe says that there is to be no fighting over him. He thanks you Gabe for making it possible, and really appreciate you and Maren for defending me and him. He needs some rest and wants to talk to Amarins alone now.”

I powered down, as did Maren and we all went out of the room, except Mira and Mom. Uncle Frank closed the door and asked the doctor, “Can we discuss this as adults, please?”

The doctor, whose name tag said he was doctor Blake, looked at us and dismissed the security men before asking me, “What happened in there with my colleague, and afterwards?”

I explained to him about my father’s wish and how we’d made that possible after the colleague refused flat out. Doctor Blake scolded me and Mira for being unethical, but he also said that his colleague should have been more diplomatic. He was correct, though in the sense that none of the medical staff could do such a thing. He said, “Let’s say it is done, and not blame anyone or ask for repercussions. I will ask my colleague to let it go.”

I thanked him, “Thank you, Doctor Blake. I really appreciate this. But my father wanted it, and I couldn’t do anything less.”

“Well don’t make a habit of this, or there will be repercussions.” Doctor Blake warned.

We all agreed, and that’s when Mira opened the door with tears streaming across her face. With a coarse voice she said, “He just died.”

I could hear Mom wailing in there, and rushed in. Mom was hugging Dad fiercely and cried her heart out. I hugged her myself and just waited till she could let him go. I don’t know how long I waited hugging Mom, but I did feel Maren hugging us as well. Finally she let go of my father’s body and turned to cry even more on my shoulder. I let Mom cry and just kept holding her. Meanwhile, Uncle Frank said his goodbye to his brother and started a conversation with Doctor Blake. Probably about arrangements that needed to be made.

Slowly I guided Mom from the room and managed to guide her to the motel where we stayed. She wasn’t approachable for sometime, even then, but we did manage to get her to take a nap. Maren and I took turns watching her.

The next day we made all the arrangements for the cremation and though still crying a lot, Mom did seem to be dealing with it a bit better.

After the cremation, Maren and her family left for a trip into Idaho. We decided to stay in town for a little while longer.

*************************

Somewhere in the town Whistler

A badly scarred man took out his eCom. He cursed as he had trouble taking it out. He really missed his left arm. Well maybe now he could get payback. He had recognized the girl responsible for his burns and missing arm. He still didn’t know just how she’d survived the blast that she’d initiated. Maybe she ran out just before the blast. At long last he managed to operate his eCom. With his throaty voice he rasped, “Outlook 3 here. I just saw an old acquaintance of ours. It’s our portable generator, the one that blew up the place. She’s heading back into our backyard. Stand ready to intercept. And I also have spotted the other generator we were going to nab here as well. It looks as they were together, but separated again.”

He listened for a moment to the shrill voice, that made him shiver, then answered, “She’s travelling in a new hybrid SUV with two adults, probably her parents. I will keep an eye on our other source. Outlook 3 out.”

*************************

“What am I going to do now? I don’t want to stay here anymore,” Mom said sitting in our motelroom.

I looked at Uncle Frank and he nodded as if he could read my mind. To my mother I said, “Mem kin mei us mei gean nei omke Frank. We binne dan wêr in  familje.” [Mom can come with us to Uncle Frank. We are a family again then.]

Reluctantly, she agreed with that and we made the necessary preparations for it. Uncle Frank left for the house in the enclave with Mom. Aunt Vanessa needed to do some shopping so I walked by myself through town. As I walked through town I came past the Constable’s office and decided to go in.

We talked about what had happened, and my case. He told me that the boys hadn’t learned a bit of good from the court’s decision. Their parents had agreed to pay me the appointed money, and the kids were back in school and on the streets, still harassing MORFS survivors, though they did it more carefully now. He told me that though I looked fully human now, I should be aware of them. They might want to take revenge for their conviction. I told him that I had nothing to fear and could take care of myself. He looked at me suspiciously, “I heard rumors about you. Do you have powers?”

Nodding agreement I showed him some sparks between my fingers. He warned me, “Be careful with that, I don’t want to lock you up for attempted murder or manslaughter.”

Grimly I replied, “I have no intention of harming anyone. But I will defend myself. Don’t worry though, I have enough control over my power to only deliver a stun charge similar to the old style Taser guns.”

“Well if you say that you have control. Just remember, that you’ve been warned,” the Constable concluded our conversation.

In thoughts I left his office  and wandered through town. I decided to window-shop a bit and see if I could find something nice to give to Maren. After walking several streets I hadn’t found anything that I thought would be good enough to give her. Then I heard some shouting, one of pain, others encouraging someone else. And they sounded familiar.

I rushed towards the sound and as I rounded a corner I saw some very familiar boys standing around an obviously MORFS survivor. Even from a distance I could see that he was a raccoon hybrid. I quickly walked closer to the group and shouted, “Hey, assholes! Leave him alone!”

The leader of the attackers, who was standing aside and telling the others where to beat the hybrid, turned around. “Who the hell are you, interfering in our business?”

I smiled a cruel smile at Alan Weems. He was still harassing hybrids, just like the Constable had said, though now he didn’t do the beating himself anymore. He just oversaw others who did his work for him. “Didn’t learn a thing from your conviction, did you Alan?”

Now Alan stepped closer towards me, with his cronies following suit, leaving the hybrid free to get away. However to my disappointment he didn’t run. He sagged a bit towards the low wall he was leaning against and just continued to watch me facing the group. ‘Well better not disappoint him, then.’

Alan stopped about 5 yards before me, “Who are you that you know me, and about the ridiculous charges from that sick puppy.”

I narrowed my eyes, “I am not a hybrid anymore, but I used to be the dog hybrid that you and your pitiful bunch of losers tried to kill.”

Alan had to think about it for a moment, but then he got it. “Gabe Kramer? That is you?”

I nodded with a grim smile. Then Alan shouted with a catch in his voice, “Get him! He’s responsible for getting us in trouble the first time.”

I warned them with a growled, “Don’t come near me if you value your consciousness.” And as I started a lightning show between the fingers of my right hand, I added, “I’m an Elemental now, so don’t even try to mess with me.”

One big guy who called himself Meat, didn’t listen and tried to punch me. I caught it with my left hand which was already electrified with a charge. He yelled out in pain and fear as the charge ran through his body. Then his limbs didn’t work properly anymore and he crumbled in a heap on the ground.

I laughed, “I told you not to mess with me.”

The others just looked at me with pure hatred in their eyes. I stepped forward, “Now scram, the lot of you, and take this piece of shit with you,” pointing at Meat.

The boys didn’t know how fast they could get away, Alan ran the fastest of course, like the coward he is. He didn’t even bother looking at Meat. One of the boys that I used to be friendly with, Marvin as his name was, helped Meat up and dragged him away from me. I called out to him, “I’m really disappointed in your choice of company, Marvin.”

He stopped to look at me with a pensive gaze. Then he turned around and dragged Meat with him. I watched them go before turning my attention to the hybrid. “Hi there, are you all right?”

He looked at me, “Are you really Gabe Kramer? The dog hybrid from the camp?”

“I used to be a dog hybrid, but yes, I am Gabe Kramer. Who are you?”

He straightened up, “I’m Simon Vanderveere. I was in your class as well.”

I recognized the name, but not him. “You went through MORFS recently then?”

He nodded, “Right after you went away. I almost wish I lived in the camp like you did.”

“Well, it isn’t always easy there as well. So how are you doing now? Should I have you checked out at the hospital?”

Simon shook his head, “I’ll be fine.”

A new voice behind me said, “Maybe it would be better if you let yourself get checked, Simon.”

I recognized the voice, “Hello again, Constable.”

“Glad to see that you heeded my warning. I watched the last part of the altercation. Too bad I can’t do anything about it.” Then to Simon he said, “Unless you want to press charges against them Simon?”

Simon thought about it, but shook his head, “It won’t do much good, and they would seek revenge. And next time I might not be so lucky.”

“Well, whatever you say Simon! Take care, both of you.” With that, the Constable walked away in the direction most of the boys had fled.

I helped Simon get his bag and walked with him into town. He asked, “Where have you been, Gabe? You never returned to school. Some even said that you were dead.”

I told him that I been thrown out by my parents, and only now was back because my father died. He expressed his sympathies before saying, “I really appreciate you saving me from those goons. How can I ever repay you?”

“There is no need for that, Simon, I would have done it even if you would be mad at me for doing that. I really don’t like those guys.”

Simon didn’t stop with wanting to repay me and he mentioned, “I am a skilled metal-elemental, just don’t have a lot of power. But I can make good jewelry, maybe something for your girlfriend?”

This got me thinking, I was indeed looking for something for Maren. “How did you know I have a girlfriend?”

He smirked at me, “Just a lucky guess. Besides, a good looking guy like you would have a girlfriend, right?”

Well, he did have a point. We talked about his ideas and settled for a pair of earrings that he would make. He said that he could make it so that they resembled real lightning bolts and with some magnetism he could make them move sort of like lightning. I would really like something like that to give to Maren, so we agreed on that. I gave him my address at Uncle Frank’s where he would send the jewelry to when it was ready.

We parted company and I looked at a few more stores before returning to the motel. As I walked towards the motel a man came out of a store in a hurry and we bumped into each other. He profusely apologized and asked, “Are you alright, mister?”

The collision wasn’t that hard so I acknowledged that I was quite alright. After some more apologies the man continued his way as did I. I failed however to see the smile on the man’s face and didn’t hear his whispered, “So far so good, hope this pans out okay.”

Some time later I drove with Aunt Vanessa to the enclave camp to stay there a few days before heading back to Savannah with Mom. The guards at the gate recognized me and with a scowl, allowed me passage. I arrived at my former home and got out, looking at the house with a bit of nostalgia. I had lived there for a few years. It had been a home for me. Just as I was about to go in, I heard someone skipping on the street behind me. A high girl’s voice exclaimed, “Are you back?”

I turned around and faced little Britney. Well’ not that little anymore. She had grown quite a few inches since last time. “Hi Britney. My, have you grown, how are you?”

“I’m okay, and you?” she said inquisitive as always.

“Oh I’m fine. Just here for a few days, I’ll be going soon again.”

“Why do you have to go Gabe? I liked you much better than the sitter they have for me now,” pouted Britney.

I smiled, “Well for one, I’m not living here anymore. I’m only here to help my Mom pick up her things. You have heard that my father is gone?”

Britney nodded, looking sad. “Mommy said that he’s in heaven now chasing the nasty cats.”

I grimassed, “She is right about that. But not all cats are nasty though. I have a girlfriend that is a cat, and she is really nice.”

Britney’s face lit up in excitement. “Can I meet her? Is she here?”

I shook my head, “Sorry little bunny, she had some other things that she needed to do. So she’s not here.”

Britney looked disappointed, but I got saved by her mother coming to get Britney. “Hello, Gabe. I’m sorry about your father. Our condolences to you and your mother.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Peasly. At least I got to see and talk to him one last time. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some things to do.” I felt a bit uncomfortable.

“Oh, sure, Gabe. Come, Britney, it’s time to go home.” Mrs. Peasly took Britney’s hand and guided her back to their home.

Before she went with her mother, she looked back at me, “Bye, Gabe, I hope to see you again someday.”

I just nodded to her. I thought it was very unlikely, but you could never know. I went into my parent’s home and found Mom sitting on the sofa. Aunt Vanessa was sitting next to her while Uncle Frank was somewhere upstairs, judging by the sounds I heard. Aunt Vanessa told me that Mom was still a bit lethargic. I sat down with her. After a fruitless talk, I shook her and told her to snap out of it. She did seem to get back into the world a bit again. I told her to gather the things that she wanted to keep. She gave me a dirty look before leading us upstairs.

It took us a few days to gather the stuff and have it sent to Savannah. I went into town to manage a last few things, where I was approached by a grimy man who had been in a bad accident some time ago. He was missing an arm and had burn marks all over his head. I scowled at him, not really wanting to talk to him. He said, “I have seen you before with a girl, haven’t I?” He didn’t wait for me to answer, “I mean, that cat girl. Well I heard she was kidnapped in Montana.”

Now he had my full attention. I snarled, “Who kidnapped her? Tell me what you know! Where is she?” I powered up and had the lightning dancing between my fingers in no time.

He looked nervously back at me, “I don’t exactly know who has her, but a friend of mine told me that she is being held prisoner near a place called Alta.”

I didn’t really believe that he didn’t know who had her. I had heard enough from Maren about her previous kidnappers. He had probably been in that mountain base himself. I grabbed his coat and lifted him slightly up. “You know more! I know about the blown up mountain. Tell me where she is, and what I’m up against!”

He swallowed visibly. “I … I really don’t.”

I interrupted him, “Don’t you dare lie to me. I’ll make your previous injuries look like bruises.”

He actually started whimpering, “They didn’t tell me, other than to tell you where the girl is held. I think they will ambush you, but I have no idea how and where.”

“Fine,” I said. “You’re under citizen’s arrest.” I dragged him over to the constable’s office. There I threw him into a bench and said to the constable, “He’s part of an organization that kidnaps MORFS survivors. He just told me that my friend Maren Johns has been kidnapped again by those people.”

The constable looked at me in wonder, “Again? You mean it happened before?”

I explained in short about the previous kidnap and the blown up mountain. The constable did know about that. He locked the grimy man in his cell while ordering me to stay out of this. This was a police matter. Well I was mad enough to start a war, so of course I didn’t listen.

I didn’t tell the Constable that, of course. “You are right, Constable. I just want to get my girlfriend back safe and sound.” I think he didn’t believe me, but he just sent me out the door, probably hoping that I wouldn’t pursue this matter too much further.

As I walked out the door I noticed a motorcycle parked on the curb with a note attached, with my first name in big letters. I looked around, but other than a few people walking out of a store some distance away there wasn’t anyone watching me. ‘Weird, either someone is helping me, or someone is setting me up! Either way I’m going along with it  for now.’ I got out my old style cell phone and called Uncle Frank, “Hallo Omke Frank? Maren is ontfierd, Ik gean efter har oan. Ik nim letter wol wèr contact op.” [Hello Uncle Frank? Maren has been kidnapped, I’m going after her.I’ll contact you again later!] For Security reasons I had done the call in my native language, You never knew who would be listening in.

As I put on the helmet provided with the motorcycle I examined the machine. It didn’t have a normal key ignition, instead it had a biometric lock. I frowned, ‘Who knows me well enough that someone can put in my bio-metrics?’ I thumbed the scanner and the engine softly rumbled to life. ‘Well, who ever this is, they sure went to a lot of trouble.’

Again I looked around to see if someone was watching me, but still didn’t see anything suspicious. Shaking my head I put the bike into gear and rode out of town, trying to make my way to a place called Alta. As I was driving along I noticed something just below the steering bar. I stopped for a moment and saw a navigation system had been installed on the bike. I programmed it quickly to take me to Alta. It came with directions quite fast, so onward I went to get my girlfriend.

*************************

A sidestreet across the Constable’s office in the town Whistler

The man that had bumped into Gabe a few days earlier, looked with satisfaction as Gabe climbed on the motorcycle that he put there for him. He was well out of sight of Gabe, but still had a view of him on the motorcycle. As Gabe was driving off, he glanced on the screen of his eCom. A red dot was shown, going on the road out of town. He pushed a button and briefly, a blue dot showed on top of the red dot. He smiled and said to himself, “So far so good. I hope they still are after him and that they can catch him, or that he can catch them.”

Then the man grabbed his satellite communication gear, punched in a code and said, “Operation SynergyBlitz is underway. I missed the first placement due to familiarity, but had no problems with secondary placement. Follow my movements, but wait till we make contact.”

As he logged off, the door of the car opened and another man got in with some snacks in a bag. “Did I miss anything?”

The first man shook his head, “Nothing much. Blitz is on his way, both devices are working perfectly. So hopefully we can wrap this up very soon.”

The second man laughed, “Well, okay then. What are you waiting for, an engraved invitation? Let’s go.”

*************************

I raced along the highways and other main roads to my destination. I didn’t much care for the speed limits, and one time I got a cop chasing me. He pulled along side me, indicating that I should pull over. He shouldn’t have bothered, I already got that hearing him chase me with a siren on. In any case, I wasn’t about to stop. I couldn’t afford the time and I don’t actually have a license to drive a bike. So I shot a lightning bolt into his cruiser, effectively killing his electronics and engine.

I arrived tired but still going strong in Alta, Montana. My adrenaline levels were dropping, but I still had plenty left. ‘Now where should I start looking for Maren? I suppose there isn’t a sign saying “bad guys that way”. Or for that matter, something indicating where Maren is being held.’ I parked the bike in front of a general drugstore and walked in to buy a snack. While eating and drinking a soda I walked down the street of the small village. You couldn’t really call it a town. Then I saw someone exiting a bar. He didn’t have hair on his head, but it didn’t come from shaving his head. It had been burned off, and whatever it was that burned him left some gruesome marks.

‘Bingo, I’ll eat my shoes if he’s not a victim of Synergy on her breakout.’ I slowed down a bit and followed him as he walked out of the village into the woods. I almost lost him a few times, but managed to keep him in sight till suddenly several canisters dropped out of nowhere on the ground around me. There wasn’t a target in sight for me to blast at, and the last thought I had before I succumbed to the darkness, was, ‘Oh shit, I was right about it being a trap.’

I groaned from a splitting headache as I woke up. Then I felt someone lean over me and someone kissed me on the mouth. I was confused as to who that could be, till I opened my eyes and to my joy recognized her. ‘I had found Maren.’ Well in fact I had been captured by the same persons. At least I was with her now. Now we only had to find a way out of here. I said to her, “I’m happy to see you, Maren. What’s the lowdown on this place?”

I started to power up my electrical energy but as soon as I got some substantial amount, it got sucked out of me by some unknown process. I felt quite weak as I stopped generating it, and puffed from the exertion and hunched over.

She helped me up and I could see more of the place, while telling me, “Don’t try to generate your power. I already tried that. The woman that built this place has a machine, she calls it a leecher,  that reads our power build up and sucks it out of us.” To one side was a window and I could see Maren’s Mom and her husband in a cell on the other side of what looked like a corridor.

She hugged me, which felt really good, so good in fact, that I hugged her back. But we were rudely interrupted, as a man outside in the corridor yelled, “Start generating again, you mongrels. We need more power.”

I thought, ‘You want more power? I’ll show you more power.’ I whispered to Maren, “Synergy! Alone neither of us may be powerful enough to overload this machine, but what if we power up simultaneously? I’m betting that together we can generate more energy than that thing can handle.”

Maren looked at me and said, “Okay how do you want to procede?”

We were interrupted again by the man outside. “I said, start generating more power!”

I growled, “Fine, you got it.” Then I winked at Maren,  “In five, four, three, two, one, GO.”

At that time I focused on generating all the electrical energy that I could muster. My energy level went up fast, and though the machine followed quite well in sucking it out of me, I felt that it was lagging behind. A little at first, but then more and more.

Before I knew it, the sucking action had stopped and I heard a large explosion. As I looked up I saw that the sucking machine had blown up, taking most of the roof of our cell with it, and also a part of the side. Behind that wall I could see something that looked like parts of a electric power conduit holder. And because of all the lightning sparking around those things I guessed that those were the storage banks that contained the power the machine had gotten from us. Those things were dangerous too, as they started to send lightning sparks everywhere. I quickly went between them and Maren and channeled the electrics through my body towards the door to try to blow it up. Didn’t work though, but it did take most of the dangerous lightnings away. I saw Maren look up to the window and did the same. I saw that there were some clouds of smoke flying down the corridor, getting thicker and thicker.

I felt quite faint from the exertion, but fueled myself from the lightning I channeled from the storagebanks. I gritted my teeth and watched Maren. Like her, I heard muffled sounds. It sounded a bit like explosions. Maren rushed to the window, while I went to the faint outline of a door in our cell.

I heard something like gunfire and right after that there was an explosion from the direction of the cell on the other side  I heard Maren shout, “Mom!” and remembered that her Mom and stepdad were locked up there. I had just managed to find the electronic lock of the door and was about to try to fry it with a charge when Maren came up to me.

I guessed that she wanted to blast us out of here, so I pointed out the spot where I had located the lock. She disintegrated a part of the door where I pointed and a nice tiny hole appeared while the door moved a little inward. She had just stuck her finger into the hole to grab it and swing it open, when the door started swinging in already.

Despite my fatigue I powered up, ready to fire a lightning bolt at whoever it was coming in. As I recognized Naomi and Shane, I stopped and powered down. There was an armed man behind them, but he had a flak-jacket on with big letters saying FBI printed on it.

Maren was looking around quite distressed, I think she had too much energy inside her. I was about to tell her to put it as an electrical charge into me, when the FBI man said, “Synergy, blow that wall.” And he pointed into a direction of a wall with his gun barrel. At that, she blew out the entire rock face of  the whole mountain that we were in. After Maren examined her handiwork she turned and said to the FBI man, “Hound? What are you doing here?”

Hound, as he seemingly was called, smiled. “Hi, Synergy, I was trying to capture this group. And when I learned that they were after you again, I had another reason to come here.”

“But how did you know where we were?” Maren asked with questioningly.

Hound explained, “I put a transponder tracer on Blitz here. He neatly led me here where I could organize the rescue and capture with my fellow agents.”

I thought about it and it finally made sense. I had seen the man before. He’d bumped into me in Whistler. So I said, “So that’s why you bumped into me in Whistler. And I guess you also provided the bike for me?”

Hound smiled, “Guilty as charged. Sorry to use you for bait, but you can handle yourself pretty well and we were following you every step of the way.”

Then another voice said behind them, “Hound? We’ve got them all. Let’s round this up quickly okay? Oh, hi, Synergy! Is everything okay?”

Maren smiled brightly at the new arrival, “Yes, it is now. Thanks, Slick.”

“Don’t mention it. Nice exit you made though!” joked the man Maren had called Slick.

Maren looked back at the hole she had blasted. “Sorry!”

Hound answered, “That’s okay, Maren. I showed you were to release your energy. And you contained it pretty well this time. You should be proud of your control. But I have to ask you, how were you able to gather that much energy? Wasn’t this room designed to siphon your energy from you?”

Maren smiled at him, “Yes it was, but Gabe came up with the idea to counter that. Alone, neither of us was strong enough to overload it. But together we soon were too much for it. It really was a Synergy.”

I shrugged, adding, “Yep, our combined power was too much for that thing. I don’t think neither one of us wouldn’t have been enough, but as we did it at the same time, it worked perfectly.”

Hound commented, “Well I can see you two really blitzed this place.”

We all laughed at that. Then Shane asked, “What about Owen Newman and Maggie Waters? Are they alright?”

Hound nodded reassuringly, “Colleagues of mine found them and are with them now. They were just too late to follow the kidnappers with Maren to their hide-out. We’ll take you there now. We can debrief you there, I for one, wouldn’t pass up on a meal from Maggie.” He laughed and we joined him in it.

Maren asked suddenly a bit concerned, “How about that evil woman, did you get her?”

Slick answered, “Yes we did. Professor Verity Magrav was killed in the crossfire.”

She grimaced, “Good, if she was alive, I might have killed her myself.”

I looked at Maren. I didn’t think she would have been that vindictive. Then again, if I had been kidnapped twice by someone, I might think the same way. Her mother though, looked at her worried, “Maren!”

“Sorry, Mom, but that’s how I feel. I only hope that now I can put it all behind me,” Maren defended herself.

Shane put his arm around Maren and I followed suit on the other side. The man called Hound said, “I’m sure that now you know that she is really dead, you’ll have fewer nightmares.”

I really hoped that Maren would have fewer nightmares now. She had endured enough, and didn’t need being haunted by bad dreams any more. Then we followed the government agents out of the now exposed base of operations from that nasty organization to the vehicles of the agents.

Epilogue

The bad guys that were still alive, were taken away by agents, while Agents Carl ‘Hound’ Bings and Ben ‘Slick’ Weathers escorted us to Maggie’s cabin. There, we had a nice reunion, followed by a cooking contest between me and Maggie. Maren couldn’t really make a decision as to who was the better cook, but she gave the honor to me, probably because I presented my cooking to her with a kiss. We enjoyed Maggie’s hospitality for another day. She was very taken with the gifts from Maren. Not too long afterwards we parted, and having enough adventures went home quickly.

The entire MORFS  Universe can be found at http://morfs.nowhere2go.org/

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