Chapter 31

Meeting Hannah wasn't as difficult as I worried it would be. I knew what school she was going to so I just waited with the other parents for the usual school pick up. I called out 'Jannah' which was the first keyword to get her attention. She was met by two bodyguards and I had to wait for her to convince them before she could approach.

Hannah had explained to me how telepaths normally talked to each other. It was essentially a version of shouting and listening, so I set my telepathic mind division to listening to her mind and mentally shouted 'Hello'

'Oh! Hello Josie. I'm going to call you Sophie, just go with it,' Hannah thought back to me. Generally, when telepaths talked with each other it was almost painfully obvious so she had warned me previously that if we weren't in a private place that it would be better to only use it for initial contact before talking normally. Nobody knew she was a telepath and we didn't want to give that away.

“Sophie, you made it. I can't wait to introduce you to mum and dad,” Hannah said as she moved in for a hug.

I hugged her back gratefully. I had missed her terribly. “I've missed you,” I couldn't help saying as tears escaped while I tried to hold them back.

“I've missed you too,” she said gently back. “Let's get in the car.”

When we got in the back we clutched each other and cried. I cried in relief, I think, and she cried because I was crying. We arrived at her mansion before I had finished so we stayed in the car in the garage until I managed to get myself back under control.

As we went into the house the bodyguards stayed behind to go wherever they were supposed to.

“So, I've told mum and dad the truth, they know that I am a clone of Hannah, not their real daughter. They had already mourned her so they weren't too disappointed. I told them that I wasn't the only clone and my best friend, Sophie might turn up one day. They told me that if you ever turned up they would love to meet you! I don't know if they are in yet, but they will definitely be back by dinner. It's a family thing they insist on that we all get together to eat at seven.”

“That's wonderful. I can stay for dinner, but I will need to leave after that,” I said.

“I was hoping you could stay for a while,” Hannah said, sounding sad.

“I can stay as long as you want, but I have some dependants that need help. How trustworthy are your parents?” I asked.

“Very. You can tell them anything, literally anything. They know I have some secrets that I am keeping because I have promised to keep them and they haven't pressured me to reveal anything. Just made sure it wasn't anything dangerous. They are in enough danger as it is. There is still a contract out for their deaths. They don't know who is responsible,” she said before speaking to my mind 'it's Steven's brother who is involved with organised crime and hoping to inherit everything.'

“Maybe I can help. Have you heard of Angel?” I asked.

“The man mutilator of Seattle?” she queried.

I pointed to myself. “Hopefully there should be some evidence uploaded to explain her actions,” I stated optimistically.

Hannah led me to her bedroom and pulled her laptop out of her school bag. All she had to do was put Angel into the search and the latest updates were available. We weren't allowed to see the footage unless we declared we were older than eighteen, but even the tame version made it obvious what happened.

“How do you think she found them?” Hannah asked.

“She set her partitioned mind to pick out young girls with thoughts asking for help, and give directions as to where they are coming from,” I answered. “I mean, that is what I would do,” I said with a smirk. I lost my smirk as I remembered the thoughts that had inundated me when I had made that order. “Best if she only looked for the closest one, so she wasn't overwhelmed.”

“Can you guess what powers she has?” Hannah asked, but I knew what she was really asking and I didn't want to say it out loud.

'I re-birthed Celeste,' I sent and then sighed. 'I could have really done with your council. Even with my main mind telepathy set to a minimum, I could still hear Stacy's thoughts when we were intimate. When I accidentally overheard Stacy compare me with her, I came out second best.'

'I'm so sorry,' Hannah sent with feelings of sympathy.

'It was months ago. I've come to terms with it. I re-birthed Celeste to give her love back to her, but it didn't go well. I knew I would be burning my identity, however, I didn't realise that Stacy would be angry at me for not using my ability more freely. I think I went from lover to asset in her mind and I am fairly sure she told Derek about me. If it was up to her I would be spending the rest of my days pregnant.'

Hannah just reached forwards and held me.

“I think I have already cried enough on that subject. Looking back I do wonder how good the relationship really was. I mean I had to literally change my body so that I would enjoy sex with her.”

“I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. Why didn't you come sooner?” Hannah said verbally.

“I didn't want to come to you while I was still an emotional mess. Instead, I travelled around America, took in the sights until I realised that it wasn't as much fun when I didn't have someone to share them with,” I admitted. “I was still trying to work out what I wanted to do with my life.” 'Because I re-birthed Celeste I was able to examine her DNA and incorporate some of her power. It has expressed itself quite differently but I am happy with it.' I sent. 'But it does mean I am no longer a squishy and could be a superhero, I am just not sure that I want to.'

“Steven and Joy might be able to give you some ideas. Not that I am biased but I think they both are pretty clued in,” Hannah crowed.

'How come you had this whole Sophie thing already set up?' I sent.

'You're too nice to keep a life-saving power secret for long. Someone you cared about was going to die or close enough to force you to save their life. It was only a question of when,' Hannah replied in her mind. 'That's why it might be a good idea to suggest that you are a clone of Josie. You could then tell them about all your powers and they would probably be able to help you hide it from others. I will leave it up to you what you want to reveal.'

Chapter 32

Steven and Joy returned to the house before dinner and Hannah was taking me down to meet them. I was still stewing about what to tell them. I didn't want anyone to know that I could re-birth them, especially after they had died, and return them to their youth. But... I knew Hannah was right. If she died again or anyone else I cared about, I probably wouldn't even hesitate. It would mean that I had to burn another identity unless I had some powerful help. Help that I trusted and I certainly didn't trust any government or organisation.

Hannah's only advice was that she trusted them and she had cheated by listening to their thoughts for weeks before she realised she just didn't need to. I thought about listening myself, but I wasn't used to it and the distraction may be an issue. Did I trust Hannah? Absolutely. Should I trust her judgement? Probably. Not that Hannah had told them everything. She had kept my secrets and hadn't told them she was telepathic. She had told them that she sometimes got a danger sense, which is how she had set up her mind division and telepathy, so it was also true. All she was not revealing was that it could be different if she wanted it to be.

There was a cook who was preparing dinner, so Hannah took me to a private lounge to introduce me to her parents. Joy was reading a book and Steven was working on a pad, probably on the internet. I knew who they were because I had met them before when I was working on their daughter's case, but not with this identity. Steven pressed a button on his pad to make his screen go black and Joy put her book down and both stood up to greet me. Hannah did the introductions and then we all sat down.

There was a period of quiet while I tried to work out what to say.

“How about I start,” Joy said. “We know Hannah is not our Hannah although she has the same DNA. She has told us that she vaguely remembers a life in Australia and that does match her accent, so we have come to accept her belief that her soul is not our original Hannah's soul. We do occasionally see some familiar mannerisms and in the end, whether it is our Hannah with different memories or a different Hannah with odd memories doesn't really matter. Our daughter that was, is lost to us, but we have a new daughter who we are very pleased with. Hopefully even grandchildren someday. She told us of you, Sophie, another clone, and asked us if we would be prepared to accept you into our family. Our answer was, let us get to know each other and see if it works as she hopes.”

“I have spoken to Hannah and she clearly loves you already and has a tremendous amount of trust in you. I have secrets that I am scared of sharing, but Hannah believes you guys are worthy,” I said.

“I can promise you that we will keep your secrets,” Steven assured me.

“Hannah trusts you and I trust Hannah, so by default, I am inclined to trust you, the problem is that a telepath can read your thoughts and I know telepaths are obligated to not reveal any secrets, but they still report to their governing body if the secret is important enough.” I took a deep breath. “Regardless, I am going to tell you almost everything because I need your help and just hope and pray that any telepath doesn't pass on anything they learn about me.

“I am not like Hannah, my DNA is a patchwork from other people, mainly supers, probably in the hope that I would be a powerful tool. One of the women I am based on found me, but she is very secretive.”

“Can you tell us who that is?” Steven asked.

“Yes. She is called Josie Hughes, although her nickname is Nancy for Nancy Drew, the detective. I don't know all her abilities but I know she can examine DNA which is why I know about my mixed heritage,” I answered.

“We know her,” Joy exclaimed. “She tried to help us find Hannah originally. Lovely lady. Worked very closely with a telepath. Her name escapes me.”

I had to force myself not to smile and look at Hannah.

“I think she uses her DNA detection to help solve crimes, or at least she did before she revealed her other ability. I don't know how widely known it is, but the authorities know about it, so I can tell you about it. She has the ability to do something she calls re-birth. She becomes pregnant with a clone and pulls in the soul that matches the clone. She can then speed grow that person until they reach puberty. The whole process takes time, about six weeks in all, and she has to go through the uncomfortable process of pregnancy, the pain of childbirth and then three weeks of sleepless nights with breastfeeding. The reason I am telling you this is because I have promised to help her which means at any point I may have to disappear for about six weeks.”

“Do these clones remember their previous lives?” Steven asked.

“Yes, they remember everything. Imagine if it was you, Steven or you Joy. You would experience vague memories of the six weeks, but still be you with all your memories, just regressed in age to sixteen. Josie herself is not powerful, she has no great strength or resilience so she is worried that she will become a tool for the rich and powerful, to keep them young and earn them money. That is why she is in hiding, but she can't help herself and will occasionally take pity or for some other reason go through it all again. If a telepath knows that Josie has contacted me and may contact me in the future and passes that on to the Superhero League, there is a good chance I will be put under surveillance. So if anyone asks you about Josie, please don't think about this conversation,” I pleaded.

Hannah laughed. “As soon as you tell someone not to think of something, that is the first thing they think of.” She turned to Joy and Steven. “If someone asks you about Josie, concentrate on what you remember her looking like, try and get as much detail. To a large extent, it doesn't matter if it is accurate, but by concentrating on that you won't be thinking of anything else.”

“Well, I'll try my best,” Steven responded with Joy muttering agreement. “I think you mentioned help. How can we help you?”

“I think I mentioned that I have a bit of DNA from a few supers. I don't want to tell you exactly what my powers are but I can give you a few of the basics. I can set my mind to listen for specific thoughts. Like people crying for help, or even narrow it down to the closest young girl asking for help. Not exactly telepathy but something close. My main ability is telekinesis. Only within a short range, but inside that range, I am pretty strong. Then there is the reason Josie tracked me down. I have some of her DNA and her ability to alter my appearance.” I changed my face to my masked 'Angel' face, receiving the appropriate oohs and aahs.

“I have been nicknamed Angel and have been on the news lately. Basically, I wasn't sure if I wanted to be a superhero. I mean I have the strength to be one, but I don't like fighting, or violence generally. I was in Seattle when I made my mind up to come and seek out Hannah, but I thought I might do a bit of superhero work on my way. I set my mind to listen for young girls asking for help and, unfortunately, I was inundated. I spent that entire night rescuing girls. The frightening thought was that I could only hear those girls who were being attacked at that moment which can only be a fraction of the total number.”

“And is that what you want to do?” Steven asked.

“Want to? No. But I can't bury my head in the sand and pretend it doesn't exist and that I can't do anything about it. The New York Supers have already asked me to do something similar, just less violently.”

“Less violently?” Joy asked.

“I neutered the men involved,” I admitted.

“Is that what you want help with? So you don't get in trouble with the law?” Steven asked.

“No. I took video evidence before I did anything and it would be impossible to prove that I did anything. However, there were four girls that didn't have a safe home to go to, who had been abused that night, so I took them with me. They need more care than I can give them and if I do the same here in New York, I need a place to bring any similar cases.”

“Why didn't you leave them with the police or take them to one of the state orphanages?” Joy asked.

“Because I had to save one of the girls from the orphanage. The police would just have been a stop-gap before being sent to an orphanage. They had already suffered enough.”

“Of course we will help,” Steven said firmly. “Where are those girls now?”

“In a caravan at Heckscher State Park Campground.”

“How many of them are there?” Steven asked.

“Four.”