Authors Notes & Disclaimer
Okay, guys here it is. This is my first story in what I hope will be a long line of second generation stories. Yes, I mean that as in 2nd generation Tomorrow People. I'm placing this story in the Tapestry universe as well.
Disclaimer & Legal Mumbo Jumbo: The idea and the name The Tomorrow People do not belong to me. They are the property of Thames Television, Tetra Television, Roger Price, et al. They are used here without permission. The characters of Taryn, Alexander, and Alyssa, and Evelyn (who appear in name only) are wholly my creation and belong to me alone.
Copyright 1997 by Michele R Mason
As usual, all comments, questions and *feedback* is desired (and begged for). If you like the story and the characters, please tell me, because if there is interest, I would love to write more stories with these characters!
Michele Mason (chelesedai@yahoo.com) Michele Sedai's Door to Science Fiction & Fantasy http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Cavern/9012/index.html
In a family of "abnormal" people, Taryn supposed that being normal was the most abnormal characteristic she could have. She didn't possess telepathy or the ability to teleport like her parents and her younger brothers. She was a psychic dead zone. And it made her feel more out of place and alone than anything else in the world.
Taryn admitted that it hadn't been so horrible to be the only non-telepath in a family of telepaths before today. It wasn't as though she was alone: Alyssa was in the same position. Well, Alyssa had been in the same position before this morning. Before the big argument she had with her mother over breaking curfew, then getting herself grounded and teleporting in a flash of anger. Then, an hour later Evelyn teleported for the first time. It was all she had been hearing about--the strangeness of two Tomorrow People breaking out on the same day. Not that Evelyn breaking out effected Taryn the way Alyssa's break out did. She wasn't close to Evelyn the way she was to Alyssa.
Burying her head beneath her pillows, Taryn debated whether she would dissolve into a fit of childlike tears at the injustice of it all or simply try and pretend the world didn't exist for a few hours. This was one time when being a non-telepath had its advantages-- no one could disturb her when she didn't want to be disturbed.
And this was one of those times when being a non-telepath was the loneliest time of all.
She may not have been a telepath, but she had been around them long enough to recognize the electrical charge which filled the air, making the hairs on her body stand on end, which announced the arrival of a teleporter. Even with her face buried, she could see the momentary brightness that filled the room.
Taryn did not look up. The last thing she wanted to deal with was Alyssa demonstrating her new found talents.
"That's a new look for you." The voice did not belong to Alyssa.
"You should try using the door. And knocking." Taryn tossed the pillows aside, rolling onto her back and sitting up. "It's rude to teleport into someone's bedroom."
The intruder smiled, flashing a mouthful of metal, and plopped onto the floor beside her bed, tossing an unruly lock of fiery red hair from his bright blue eyes. "Now, what fun what that be?"
"What do you want, Alexander?" Taryn frowned, taking a long hard look at her friend. "My mother sent for you didn't she?"
Alexander shrugged, his face turning more serious. "What if she did? She's worried about you. She says you've been in your room all night." His eyes anxiously searched her face, a question forming on his freckled face. "This is about Evelyn and Alyssa isn't it?"
Taryn opened her mouth to deny his accusation, then thought better of it and slammed her jaw shut. Instead, she picked at her comforter, avoiding that piercing gaze of his. It wouldn't help to deny anything when your closest friends were mind readers.
Alexander nodded, picking himself up off the floor and sitting beside her on the bed. "It must be really hard on you, huh?"
That was the thing about Alexander. He was two years younger than she was, the same age as Alyssa and her brothers, yet for some inexplicable reason, he and Taryn had bonded. She had believed that would change when he broke out, that having more in common with the twins, he would drift away from her. But it hadn't happened. Alexander possessed an odd wisdom and disposition for a sixteen-year-old, which was probably why they got along so well. Alexander understood people, he understood her, on a deeper level than many people did. He perceived the world in a different way.
"You don't know what it's like, Alex. I don't think that it's going to happen to me. Ever."
"Don't talk like that Terri. You're one of us. I know it." Alex took her hand and gave it a warm squeeze. "You just need more time."
"You sound like my parents." Taryn rolled her eyes, fighting to hold back the tears that threatened to overwhelm her. "How much more time do I need? I'm eighteen. The twins broke out years ago. So did you. I'm the only freak around here."
"You're not a freak," Alex sounded personally affronted by her comment. "Maybe you're just a late bloomer."
"Or maybe I'm not ever going to be a Tomorrow Person. End of story." Taryn jerked her hand away, pulling her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. "Maybe it's time that we all faced reality."
Alexander shook his head stubbornly. "No, you have to be. It's genetic. If being a Tomorrow Person comes from two recessive genes, then you're the one person who is most definitely one. Both of your parents are Tomorrow People, so you of all people have to have recessive genes."
"Maybe I was adopted," Taryn snorted, catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror and knowing that there was no way anyone would ever have believed that she was adopted. She had far too much of her father in her. His angular features stared back at her from the mirror and she shrugged. "So I wasn't adopted, then you tell me what's wrong with me."
[I've never thought there was anything wrong with you.]
"Maybe you're trying too hard."
Taryn stared at Alexander, trying to grasp what sort of trick he could be playing with her. "What did you say?"
"I said, maybe you're trying too hard."
"Before that."
Alexander paused a moment, his forehead furrowing in thought. "Both of your parents are Tomorrow People, so you of all-- "
Sometimes Alexander's photographic memory was annoying. Taryn batted him with a pillow. "After that."
"I didn't say anything else."
"You did too. I heard you." Taryn hugged her legs again. "Don't tease me, Alex. I'm not in the mood to be teased."
"Terri, I swear I didn't-- " the teenager perched on her bed stopped suddenly, his eyes widening in surprise. He gripped her hands, his words rushing over one another in an excited rush. "Taryn, think for a minute. Have you been hearing things, lately? Like hearing voices when there's no one else in the room with you?"
The eagerness flashing in those blue orbs set her back a little. 'Great, just what I need. Alex to tell Mum and Dad that I'm hearing voices.'
Even as she thought the words, the implication of them truly occurred to her. For at least a month now, she'd heard disembodied voices, snatches of conversation that made no sense; so she ignored it and chalked it up to her overactive imagination and her desire to be a Tomorrow Person. She never once stopped to consider that she might be experiencing some sort of fledgingly telepathy. Her voices didn't follow the rules; she didn't have headaches or flashes of insight that she shouldn't have; she didn't become instantly aware of her parents thoughts or whatever mischief the twins were plotting.
Alex was beside himself with excitement. That was one way in which he was like his father-- he never could hide what he was feeling, his emotions always radiated in his face and his electric blue eyes. "Yes! Terri, do you see it? You've been breaking out all along, and no one even knew it."
Taryn couldn't stop her heart from leaping. "Do you really think it's possible? That I'm breaking out?"
"Yes, you have to be-- " Alex stopped, a sly smile forming on his lips as his gaze turned glassy and distracted.
"Alexander, no!" She shook him firmly, distracting him from his eminent telepathic conversation. "Don't tell anyone!"
Alex frowned in confusion. For a moment, his face held a flash of mischief that was inexplicable under the circumstances. "Um, Taryn, you do know that breaking out is a good thing?"
"I know, but-- " Again she averted her eyes, her mind going in circles. Her father always teased her about thinking too much, of creating problems in her mind before they existed. This time was no different. Just because she was hearing telepathic thoughts didn't necessarily imply that she was breaking out.
Taryn was uncertain as to whether Alex was reading her mind or if her friend knew her better than she knew herself; however, before she could allow that particular train of thought to come to its conclusion, he began shaking his head, his eyes darkening.
"No. You are breaking out."
"But we can't be certain, can we? Remember your grandfather says that DSI has telepaths that work for them. Telepaths that aren't Tomorrow People. Maybe I'm like them- -"
"You're breaking out," Alex stubbornly insisted.
"And when did you become a precog?"
[Pessimist.]
Taryn blinked in surprise. Now that she was focusing and aware, she heard his mental voice clearly-- clearly and strongly.
Alex practically shouted in excitement. "Ha! You heard me!"
"Maybe."
"Oh, stop sulking and admit it-- "
"Alex, I'm scared." Taryn's words were a low whisper, her eyes downcast as though avoiding eye contact would prevent him from knowing what she was thinking and feeling.
"Scared? What's there to be scared of?" Alexander's eyes softened in concern, his humor vanishing in an instance.
"What if I doesn't happen? What if I never fully break out?" Tracing patterns on the comforter, Taryn inhaled deeply and slowly released the breath. "I just don't want to get my hopes up and be disappointed."
"You won't be." There was an earnestness in those blue eyes that touched her heart and soul. It made it impossible for her to not believe him.
"You really believe that don't you?"
"I know it." Again came the wisdom and maturity that went well beyond his sixteen-years.
Standing, Alexander held out his hand, holding her gaze intently. [Let's go talk to your parents. I bet they've been waiting for this as long as you have.]
Slipping her hand into his, she smiled at him. "I doubt that anyone's been waiting for this as long as I have."
Alex laughed, and after giving her a heart-felt hug, swept her off to her father's study for the third big announcement of the day.
She could hardly wait to see her parents' faces.
-- End --