Chapter 7: A Dangerous Minefield

Our days became a repetitive pattern of Roland's questions and my attempts to answer them, interspersed with experiments, mostly to test my mental controls. Although we did take a midmorning break that second morning while he drove me to a nearby village where I could pick up some jeans and t-shirts and underwear and such. Then a quick stop at the pharmacy for some personal hygiene items and then back to the chateau for lunch. He was definitely not keen on having me out in public too much.

Phillipe continued to be friendly, but we didn't have much in common, so our interactions were limited to mealtimes and brief moments in the afternoon when I was free. Roland and I did take time to attend a couple of Phillipe's soccer games, although Roland insisted that I wear dark glasses and a ball cap pulled low over my face. And we stayed as far away as possible from the other parents to avoid any social interactions or interference with any personal electronic devices.

As for Mischa, we hardly spoke. For the first two weeks, she ignored me completely. The third week, she became verbally vicious. Her mom finally explained that she was starting her period and was unusually moody.

That night, as Mischa sat looking down at her plate while she nibbled at her dinner, I decided to experiment on my own. I don't know why I thought it might work, but I was coming to realize that any control I might have over this EMF stuff was going to be instinctual at best. So, I looked across the table and imagined that Mischa was my twin sister Jenna and that I loved her and wanted to help her.

As soon as I was able to hold that focus for about sixty seconds, weird things started to happen.

First, I noticed that my hands were starting to glow with a pale silver/white light. Next, I noticed that Mischa was starting to glow with a muted amber light. And it was growing! It quickly grew to encompass her entire upper body. I was amazed and wondered how Mischa could not help but notice. But she gave no sign of seeing the aura that surrounded her.

Roland and Phillipe did not appear to notice it either, but Carina, whether as a woman, a doctor, or as Mischa's mother, sensed something was happening and began staring at me.

Finally, about two minutes later, Carina said very slowly, "Daniel ... what ... are ... you doing?"

I looked up at her, arched my eyebrows and grinned mischievously. Then I shifted my focus to Carina.

It took her less than thirty seconds to feel it!

"Roland!" she said quietly but forcefully, causing Roland to look at his wife.

"Can you see it?" she asked him.

"See what?" he replied.

"ROLAND! CAN YOU SEE IT?" she said even more forcefully, but not quite yelling.

Now everyone was looking at her. It was Mischa that happened to look over at me.

"MOM!" she screamed. "Oh god! I can see it! Look at his hand!"

Of course, everyone turned to look at me and I lost my focus, so there was only a little after-residue to see.

"Daniel! Quickly! Tell me what you did," Roland demanded. His command didn't bother me for it was exactly what we had been doing on other experiments for almost three weeks.

"I was thinking that I once had two sisters whom I loved very much. And if they were suffering, I would have done my best to alleviate that suffering. And it just so happened that I was looking at Mischa as I remembered my love for my sister and the next thing I knew, my hand was glowing a light silver/white and Mischa's whole body was glowing amber.

"Then, when Carina interrupted me, I simply transferred that same love and that same silver/white energy to Carina without even knowing if she was hurting or not. The whole thing was done on instinct and intuition."

"Sweetheart, are you okay?" Carina asked her daughter. "Did Daniel hurt you?"

"I'm not sure. I was sitting here feeling bloated and miserable and then all of a sudden, it began to go away. And it was almost gone when you interrupted!" she said somewhat angrily.

I quickly re-directed my energy back to Mischa as her mother began to apologize.

"I'm sorry, Mischa. I wasn't trying to..."

"Carina?" I asked her very softly, trying not to break my concentration. "Look at my hand. Can you see it now?"

"MOM! I can feel it!" Mischa squealed.

"Daniel!" Roland growled a warning.

"Roland, shut up!" Carina told him, followed by a long string of French, of which I could only grasp about every sixth word.

"The pain. It's going away," Mischa reached out her hand to her mom.

"Oui, my darling. I too can feel his power," Carina told her daughter.

I was beginning to feel the strain, or was it drain? But in any case, I slowly backed the power down.

Phillipe was bored and didn't understand all the excitement, so he asked to be excused. Mischa and her mom huddled together whispering excitedly to each other and Roland simply observed, processing those observations as rapidly as possible without any signs of emotions to cloud the picture.

Carina escorted Mischa from the room and Roland was still 'processing', as Carina called it, so I asked the server for a glass of wine. She hesitated as she looked at Roland, and when he nodded, she brought me a glass of the Cabernet Sauvignon they had served with dinner.

I had just about finished the glass of wine and was debating another when Carina returned. This caused Roland to quit 'processing' and start paying attention as his wife pulled out the empty chair next to me and sat down. Then, taking my hand, the one that had been glowing, in both of hers, she looked into my eyes and asked me so softly, I could barely hear her words, "Daniel, do you have any idea what you have done, mon chérie?"

The muscles in my body tensed and my eyes became hooded as the fear began creeping in. The chandeliers began swaying as their lights flickered, and the cell phone in the holder on Roland's hip began a strange humming sound. I hadn't meant to hurt anyone!

"I'm so sorry..." I began.

"Non! Non! No-o-o-o! Do NOT be sorry, for you did no wrong. I just I miss-stated myself," she told me.

"Misspoke," corrected her husband. "You misspoke."

"Whatever. I was just trying to discover if you understood just what you had done for Mischa?" she asked.

"It's obvious the poor boy doesn't understand, Sweetheart. Remember, he is only eighteen and has not been married for twenty years," Roland chided his wife.

Suddenly, understanding dawned on her face as she looked into my eyes. Now I was really confused.

"Daniel?" she asked me softly, "Are you a virgin?"

I quickly jerked my hands away and turned my head as I realized what she had asked.

"What-the-fuck! I thought to myself. Why would she ask me about that!" But the more I thought about it, the more embarrassed I became. I could feel my face flaming.

"Okay, sure ... YES! I'm still a virgin, but what business is it of yours!" I growled. "You people are crazy! I'm outta here!"

Suddenly, the light bulbs in the chandeliers cracked and exploded.

As glass started to rain down on us, Carin looked at her husband, then quickly straddling my lap to keep my from standing, she took my head in both hands and began kissing me passionately.

Less than thirty seconds later, the explosions had ceased, and the room became deathly still as Carina released my lips and then my head.

"Please forgive me!" she begged. "I am so sorry, Daniel. I forget that European culture can be vastly different than American culture. I am so sorry. I know that even Phillipe has already been sexually active, and he is only fourteen. So, I just assumed that you had already been active as well. It never occurred to me that you might still be a virgin..."

"Carina! Be careful what you say. Discussing a boy's virginity in front of him is a dangerous minefield on which you tread," Roland told her.

"I know. That is my point, exactly, Roland. All these feeling of sexual frustration HAVE to be causing some of Daniel's emotional upheaval."

Roland was processing what his wife had just told him, while she became distracted by her thoughts. And since Carina was still straddling my lap with her short skirt nearly up to her hips and her silk panties rubbing my crotch, I found myself staring at her bra encased breasts and trying to imagine what they would look like exposed. It then occurred to me that she had to be well aware of my feelings for her as those feeling were pushing up against her panties at this very moment.

Roland didn't say anything, but it was obvious they were communicating with their eyes.

"Non. Kissing him like I did was almost too much. I cannot, I will not, risk our relationship in the name of science," she told her husband.

Obviously, she had read her husband's thoughts.

"Mischa?" he ventured.

"No. That would be an even greater risk. And it would be asking too much of her," Carina stated.

"I could take him down to The Abbey?" Roland suggested.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Carina told him. I later learned that The Abbey was what the locals called the red-light district of Cannes because it surrounded a centuries-old abbey.

"Well, that leaves Phillipe, and I don't think Phillipe leans that way," Roland said drolly. "However, might I suggest that you remove yourself from his lap before either of you do something that both of you might later regret."

"Daniel? Are you okay now?" she asked. "If I get up, will you get angry again and cause further destruction?"

I placed my hands on her waist and lifted her off my lap.

"Thank you for your assistance, Doctor. I'm sorry about the chandeliers. I think I should go to bed now," I told them and strolled stoically from the room.

On returning to my room, I packed my meager belonging in the gym bag they had given me and then sat down on my bed to wait until they were all asleep. I wasn't sure where I would go, or how I could get there, but I knew that I had to leave. I knew that when Carina kissed me, I had fallen for her even more than before and I didn't think I could stand to be around her anymore. I was deathly afraid of what my emotions might do.

"Lord help me! Was I falling in love with a married woman?" I wondered.