Part 13
You reach for Stephen with a strength born of desperation.
[Stephen! I'm going to hurt them! I can feel my shields slipping and they're not strong enough!] Your panic floods into the older Tomorrow Person and he stops in his tracks, his movements becoming uncoordinated.
[Don't panic, Jay!] He gasps and it's more of a plea than an instruction. You ignore it and as your mental barriers collapse under the strain of the minds pressing in all around you it is into Stephen that you pour your mental power.
At first you are aware of little except the pain that even the small overflow of your powers is causing the children all around you but then you feel Tyso buffering your mind and Stephen's.
[Jay!] Tyso's usually amused and playful voice is stern and anxious. [Jay! You have to let go of Stephen's mind! You're crushing him!]
Slowly, you do as Tyso instructs, aware only now that the native telepaths have teleported out and only the three of you are left on the hillside. Stephen appears to be unconscious on the ground but you can feel his mind trembling from the effort of absorbing the power you poured into it. In that moment of deep telepathic contact you received a host of images and impressions from the other Tomorrow Person and you know he picked up as many from you. You stagger backwards a few steps as Tyso squats beside Stephen and places a hand on his forehead. You feel a telepathic whisper through some residual link and then the pressure begins to lift from Stephen's mind as Tyso helps him dissipate it.
You sit down heavily and bury your face in your hands. You can sense every mind in the city below you and you know that Stephen and Tyso are receiving every thought from you. There is no way the weaker telepaths like Tam and Freda and Svrian would have been able to take this kind of mental imagery without collapsing. Finally, Tyso leaves Stephen sitting pale and shaky and turns to you.
"Jay?" He says aloud. "Jay, you're going to be okay and so is everyone else. With your focus on Stephen all the others were able to escape with little more than headaches."
"Stephen...?" You ask and you see both men flinch at the remorse and pain in your thoughts.
"I'll be alright." Stephen manages to say a little hoarsely. "Jay, I know you're sorry, I can feel it. You don't need to say anything."
"We should have been watching you more closely." Tyso says regretfully. "You're a long way from being ready for a telepathic link with that level of pressure. Linking with a few other Tomorrow People and with a link table as a buffer is another matter entirely." He looks at you and raises his hands as if offering a link. You look at the hands a little nervously. "Trust me, Jay."
Your link with Tyso helps you build rudimentary mental shields quickly but you are thoroughly exhausted when the three of you jaunt back to the Trig. You are asleep on your feet even before an anxious Mike welcomes you back and helps you to your room.
*****
You wake in a comfortable bed and in near total silence. For a moment you just lie still, too relieved that the room is not turning somersaults to risk provoking it by moving. It takes you several long moments to register that you are, in fact, in your room on the Trig. The clean white sheets below you feel cool against your skin and you turn your head to press your forehead into them. You're nursing the worst headache you've ever experienced short of your breakout itself.
"Sip this." Someone is holding a cup to your lips and you do as they say before trying to figure out who it is. The headache begins to subside as you drink and you turn around slowly to face your visitor. John, you realise, the name coming to you on a deep and instinctual level as you study the rich brown eyes of the man beside you. You remember how the others have spoken of this man, you remember the affection and respect in their voices. Even in this first encounter you can feel the tightly restrained power in the man. You can feel his anxiety and his curiosity about you. "How are you feeling, Jay?" John asks quietly.
"Like a truck hit me." You murmur and then you frown. "John, what are you doing here?"
"You've had a busy couple of days, Jay." John smiles gently, his occasionally harsh exterior softened by his obvious concern. "I wanted to meet you and see that you and Stephen were alright with my own eyes."
"Stephen?" You ask, your voice rising with concern, "Did I...?"
"You overloaded his senses rather." John tells you calmly, putting a hand on your shoulder to stop you from trying to rise. "But then your own senses were overloaded at the time. He's a bit pale and shaky but he'll be fine."
You scan the older Tomorrow Person's face anxiously but relax as you realise that he's telling you the truth.
"John, I'm so sorry."
"You're going to have to be more careful, Jay." John tells you with a frown. "It's never a good idea to enter a mental link when you're already tired. Especially not with a group of half-trained children at a completely different telepathic level to yourself! Our gifts aren't something we can treat lightly."
"I see." You tell him, chastened. "It wont happen again."
John frowns again.
"It had better not. Once is too often."
"Let the kid alone, John." Mike is standing by the door to your room and he comes to your defense. "We all make mistakes at first."
John rolls his eyes but you can feel the warmth between the two of them.
"And you made more than your fair share."
"At least Jay didn't rob a bank." Mike agrees leaving you utterly confused.
"The people I was with?" You ask, suddenly anxious.
"No worse than a few with headaches." Mike assures you. "You didn't focus on any of them the way you did with Stephen so none of them were caught badly enough to actually be hurt. Tyso's gone back there now, just to make sure there were no after effects."
"Good." You say a little faintly as the exhaustion you've been feeling begins to kick in.
John tucks the sheets on your bed up around your shoulders.
"Get some rest, Jay." He says softly. "And don't worry. We'll see you in the morning."
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