Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 19:29:38 -0400
From: Andrew Todd <atodd867@gmail.com>
Subject: 'The Chosen' Chapter 1

`The Chosen' is a sequel to my short story `Empath's Kiss' which can be
found in the Nifty Archives High School and Science Fiction/Fantasy
Sections. As always, if you are offended by romantic relationships between
men, you may not enjoy this story.


      The Chosen
      By
      Andrew Todd

      Chapter 1

      "Benjamin Abercrombie?"
      "Benji's fine, ma'am," Benji replied raising his hand as Mrs. Kramer,
their new homeroom teacher, started taking attendance.
      "Benji, then." She smiled at him and continued.
      Benji closed his eyes and tried to block out the all the chatter he
was getting from his classmates. His telepathy had become so much stronger
over the summer and his dads had spent a lot of time working with him on
blocking out the unwanted `noise' that could distract him. Blocking out a
single `voice' wasn't hard; it was all the static in a room like this that
was hard.
      It was easier for Alex, of course: everything was easier for
Alex. His telekinesis had become stronger over their sixteenth summer as
well, but he didn't have to worry about the interference of others messing
with his head.
      "Alexander Martin?"
      Benji looked over and saw his twin brother flirting with Rebecca
Thompson.
      "Alexander Martin?" Mrs. Kramer repeated.
      <<ALEX!!>>
      "Huh?!" Alex bolted. "Oh! Here!" He grinned. "And it's Alex."
      Mrs. Kramer looked between Benji and Alex.
      <<Oh, shit, here it comes.>>
      <<I got it.>>
      Mrs. Kramer thought she was looking at two identical `Ken dolls' that
had been dressed by two very different people. Both boys were very handsome
with deep brown eyes and light brown hair. Alex's was cut short and Benji's
was almost shoulder length. Both were very tanned and slender, but Alex was
definitely the more athletic and muscular. Alex was dressed in black jeans,
a t-shirt and sneakers, while Benji was wearing tan slacks, a sky-blue polo
shirt and boat shoes.
      "Sorry, ma'am. We end up having to explain this to at least one new
teacher every year," Benji started to explain.
      <<You'd think they'd just put a note in the file.>>
      <<Would you shut up!>>
      "Obviously, we're twins," Benji continued. "We were adopted when we
were babies. Our dads didn't hyphenate when they were married and when they
got us, they decided to give us each one of their last names. Of course, I
don't think they realized that we would spend the first day of school every
year explaining it to our teachers, but we're used to it by now."
      "Well, Benji, we all have our crosses to bear," Mrs. Kramer grinned
looking at Alex.
      Several of their classmates laughed knowing Alex's reputation as a
troublemaker.
      Benji noticed Alex's pen start to hover over his notebook.
      <<Calm down!>>
      <<What?>>
      Benji nodded towards the pen.
      <<Ooops.>>
      The pen dropped.
      The only time Alex lost control of his abilities was when he was
angry. Unfortunately, Alex had a short fuse and Benji was one of the few
people who could keep him from exploding.
      <<She's just teasing you, you dope.>>
      <<I wasn't paying attention.>>
      <<Well you need to; if you can't even control it in homeroom do you
think Dad's gonna let you play lacrosse.>>
      <<I know.>>
      <<There's still two weeks till tryouts; we'll put in some more
practice after I get home from work.>>
      <<Thanks, B.>>

      ***

      Damon sat at his desk worrying as he did every first day of school
since the twins had started developing their powers.
      His grandfather had always maintained that the powers and abilities
that had passed through generations of Abercrombie men had always been
something that had been passed by blood and that the gifts would end with
Damon.
      Damon was an only child and when he had come out to his mother and
grandfather at fifteen his grandfather had believed that there would be no
more `specials' in the Abercrombie family.
      Damon had had powers briefly until one night when his powers had
nearly killed him and he had lost them. As far as his grandfather was
concerned, he never should have had them. The gifts had always skipped a
generation and Damon's father had been a telepath, so Damon should have
been powerless. Damon's grandfather believed that Damon's son or sons
should have been the next generation to have abilities.
      Damon and Kai married the summer after they graduated from
college. They decided to move from their Midwest home town to Southern
California. Damon became a physical therapist and Kai was a musician and
composer. They took a year to settle into their new careers and then began
talking about adopting.
      They wanted to start the process early as they were under the
impression that it would be long and tedious and it could take many years
before they would be able to bring home a baby.
      However, fate interceded.
      Their two closest friends from college, Renee and Doug, had also
married the summer following graduation and while they had planned to delay
becoming parents for a few years, they found themselves pregnant right
before their first anniversary. They immediately asked Damon and Kai to be
the babies' godparents.
      One stormy evening in late August, Damon received a phone call that
the babies were on their way and Renee and Doug were on the way to the
hospital. Damon and Kai excitedly waited for Doug's call telling them the
babies had arrived.
      Instead, later that night they received a phone call from a child
advocate at the hospital informing them there had been an accident. A
driver had run a red light in the storm and hit Doug and Renee
head-on. Doug had died instantly. Renee died later that night after giving
birth to two healthy baby boys.
      Neither Doug, nor Renee had any living family, so their wills stated
that they wanted Damon and Kai to raise their children.
      Damon and Kai immediately flew back to the Midwest to take care of
the babies and the arrangements for their friends.
      Two weeks later, Damon and Kai landed at LAX with Benjamin Douglas
Abercrombie and Alexander Rene Martin. They had always been honest with the
twins about the fact that they were adopted and what had happened to their
parents. They always let them know that they had been wanted and loved by
all four of their parents and that if their biological parents had lived,
Damon and Kai would still have been a part of their lives.
      For six years, Damon never gave a thought to the twins receiving the
Abercrombie gifts. His grandfather had passed away shortly after he and Kai
had married and they had rarely spoken about that aspect of the family
since that fateful night years before.
      He and Kai were blissfully happy. They had successful careers that
allowed them the flexibility to spend time with their family. They had two
amazing, loving and wildly energetic sons. Benji was sensitive, sweet and
always at peace. He loved without question and trusted wholeheartedly. Alex
was sly and so smart. He was always thinking. He was mischievous, but
fun-loving.
      Then came the night everything changed. He and Kai had gone out for a
`date night' and left the boys in the care of the neighbor's son.
      When they returned home and went up to check on them, they found the
two sitting in the middle of the room with two soccer balls floating
between the two of them. Upon seeing them, Benji turned and greeted them
telepathically.
      To say he and Kai did not take it `well' would have been an
understatement of epic proportion. Damon chuckled as he remembered almost
having to peel Kai off the walls.
      Kai had always been fascinated by Damon's powers, but had been deeply
scarred by the events that led to Damon losing them. It wasn't until the
events of that night that he realized how truly dangerous the abilities
could be. Now he saw his sons in possession of those abilities and the very
idea terrified him.
      The two were up all night. Damon finally convinced Kai that all they
could do was work with the twins and help them to adjust to and use their
powers. He knew from experience that it would be a disaster if anyone was
to find out about the twins' abilities, so the first order of business was
making sure they knew to hide their powers.
      "I don't understand!!" Kai had ranted. "It was supposed to be blood
to blood. Wasn't that what your grandfather said?"
      "Actually, weren't you the one who brought up the idea in the first
place?"
      "What?"
      "That night we went out for my sixteenth birthday and you were
quizzing Grandfather," Damon replied. "You said if the powers were a gift
from the gods then they should recognize love over blood and any sons we
adopted should inherit powers as well."
      "Oh, shit!!"
      Luckily, both their jobs were something that could be done from
home. With the money that they had been left by Damon's grandfather, they
purchased a larger house on a big piece of property out in the country.
      They built a large recording studio for Kai on one end of the
property and a state-of-the-art physical therapy facility for Damon's
practice on the other. That way both dads were always around if the boys
needed them.
      Farther back from the house they built a large building that the four
called `the playhouse'. Only Damon, Kai, Benji and Alex had access to the
playhouse. It was used by the boys to practice with their powers safely
from prying eyes.
      Even though the boys were now sixteen and juniors in high school,
Damon couldn't help but be nervous on the first day of school. They had
protected their secret so far and the boys were better at controlling their
powers, but like he had, they had gained their powers early. Most
Abercrombies got them around the age of sixteen. When he had turned sixteen
he had gotten more powers and become more powerful and he was worried the
same thing could happen. He was also worried about them being twins as in
all his research he had not come across any cases of twins in the family
history.
      The twins had turned sixteen two weeks ago. Their powers had gotten
significantly stronger over the summer, but they had both gotten better at
controlling them. So far neither had shown signs of gaining any additional
powers or abilities. If Damon was honest, this was what scared him the
most. He could cope with the telepathy and telekinesis even if both boys
shared those powers, but the thought of either of them developing empathic
abilities worried him. He knew what those powers could do to you. Alex
could probably cope better with those powers as he was the stronger of the
two boys. Benji was more Damon's `son', sensitive and very in tune with the
feelings of others. Damon knew what the empathic powers had done to him and
he feared them doing the same thing, or worse, to Benji.

      ***

      Mrs. Kramer was just finishing passing out class schedules and locker
assignments when Ms. Kelley, the guidance counselor came into the room.
      "Excuse me," she said to the class as she spoke quietly to
Mrs. Kramer.
      Mrs. Kramer nodded and turned back to the class.
      "Everyone, we have a last minute addition," she announced.
      Ms. Kelley went out the door and came back a moment later followed by
a young man.
      Benji looked up from his seat in the back row and immediately locked
eyes with the new boy.
      <<Eyes back in your head, B.>>
      <<Shut up, Alex.>>
      The boy looked right at Benji and smiled shyly. He was about 5'8" and
slim. He had pin straight blond, almost white, hair. It hung down his neck
and his bangs covered half his emerald-green eyes. His skin was pale,
almost translucent. He wore round wire-rimmed glasses. He was dressed
`preppy' in navy-blue slacks, a burgundy polo shirt and brown loafers.
      <<My God, he even has the same taste in clothes as you.>>
      <<A, I'm warning you.>>
      Alex turned and grinned at his brother.
      <<Do you want a migraine?>>
      <<You need to get laid.>>
      "Everyone, this is Oliver Mills," Ms. Kelley said as she introduced
the new boy. "Oliver and his family have just relocated here to California
from England. I'm sure you'll all help him to adjust." She scanned the
room. "Benji, can I borrow you for a moment?"
      "Sure," he replied as he grabbed his bag and walked towards the front
of the room.
      <<Go get him.>>
      <<Final warning.>>
      Benji gave a little push and Alex felt a slight pain in his temple.
      <<Hey!>>
      <<You've been warned.>>
      <<Ok, ok.>>
      Benji walked up to where Ms. Kelley and Oliver were standing. Oliver
was still smiling at him. Benji smiled back. Ms. Kelley led them out into
the hallway.
      "Oliver, this is Benjamin Abercrombie, Benji, this is Oliver."
      "Nice to meet you, Oliver," Benji said as he offered his hand.
      "You as well, Benji," Oliver replied shaking Benji's hand.
      "Benji, when I was setting up Oliver's schedule, I noticed that you
and he were in all the same classes, so I thought that you would be a great
person to introduce him to," Ms. Kelley explained. "That way you can show
him around and he'll know someone. I also found out in talking to Oliver
this morning that he was looking for some place to ride in the area and I
thought you were still working at the Kennet Stables."
      Benji smiled. "I sure am." He looked at Oliver. "My brother is the
jock. I get my exercise riding and mucking stalls," he laughed.
      "Same here, old man," Oliver grinned.
      "Well, I see you two are going to get along just fine," Ms. Kelley
said just as the bell rang and the hall filled with kids on the way to
their next class.

      ***

      Kai sat at the piano and played the opening of the new song that he
was working on.
      Like Damon, he tended to worry a bit on the first day of school, but
work always tended to calm him some. He had a recording session coming up
with a new young artist being represented by one of his old producers.
      When he had first started out after college, he had worked as a
studio musician. He was an accomplished pianist, guitarist and
percussionist. He played on other artists' recordings to pay the bills,
while he worked on writing and producing his own music.
      Eventually, he was asked to score an independent film. While the
picture had been a dud, the score had been noticed by the right people and
soon he was working steadily in movies and television. Over the last
decade, he had won several Grammys and after three nominations an Oscar.
      Now, writing and scoring his own music, he was branching out into
producing, trying to bring new blood into the industry.
      Music wasn't work for him, it never had been. He had always loved
making music, so being able to make a living doing something that he loved
this much and that allowed him so much time for Damon and the boys was a
blessing.
      Damon, of course, had more experience with teaching the twins how to
actually deal with their powers. Once they got over the initial awe of
being able to move things and speak with their minds they realized that
they actually had to learn to control it. Damon was instrumental in
teaching them about the ins and outs of their powers.
      At first, Kai had felt useless. He began to understand how Damon's
mother, Eve, must have felt when Damon developed his powers and his
grandfather, Arthur was the one to train him.
      Eve had re-married while they were in college and she enjoyed
traveling the country with her new husband. Kai would often e-mail her
asking advice. She told him that all he could do was be there for the boys
and for Damon like she had been for both Damon and his father, Alex, when
he was alive. She reminded Kai that he had talents Damon didn't and those
talents could help the twins as well.
      That spurred Kai into action. He took over a section of the playhouse
and began giving the boys music lessons.
      He chose instruments that they would enjoy but could also help them
with their powers.
      Alex became a great drummer. Kai joked that he had always excelled at
making noise. But in addition to learning to play the drums, as he gained
control over his telekinesis he was able to actually play using his powers.
      For Benji, Kai chose the guitar. As a telepath, Benji would sometimes
be overwhelmed by others' thoughts and feelings that he couldn't block
out. With the guitar, he could `insulate' himself. He could drift into a
corner with his acoustic guitar and play for hours calming himself and
often those around him and when the mood struck he would plug in his
electric guitar and he and Alex would jam like the second coming of Van
Halen.
       Kai spent many hours teaching the twins to read and write music as
well. They had helped him compose a few pieces earning credits on a couple
of film projects, but they preferred to improvise.
      Sharing his passion for music with the twins had helped Kai to feel
like he was more an equal part of their lives with Damon and that he was
helping them to grow and become comfortable with their powers.

      ***

      Benji led Oliver to an empty table in a relatively quiet corner of
the cafeteria. They were carrying trays with their lunch on them.
      "Will your brother be joining us?" Oliver asked as he sat down.
      <<Alex, where are you?>>
      <<On my way.>>
      "I think so."
      "I didn't see him in any of our classes."
      Benji laughed. "Well, when we when in elementary school, the
administrators, in their infinite wisdom thought it best if we were in
separate homerooms and classes."
      "Why?"
      "I don't know. Some bullshit about twins needing to `socialize' with
others and it being easier if we couldn't `rely' on each other." Benji
shook his head. "Then by the time we reached junior high, we just had
different interests and stayed in separate classes."
      "What he means is, Benji is college bound and Alex is in Special Ed,"
a red-headed boy laughed as he sat down at the table with Alex and a boy
with black hair and hazel eyes.
      All the boys laughed.
      "Oliver Mills, this is my brother Alex Martin, that's Matt Cooper and
the joker is Austin Riggs. Guys, this is Oliver Mills."
      "Nice to meet you, Ollie," Austin said.
      "Oliver, please," Oliver replied. "It's nice to meet you all as
well."
      "So, Oliver what brings you to California?" Matt asked.
      "My father is an historian and he was offered an opportunity to work
on a project at UCLA. It was a dream project for him, so he moved us over
here. I wasn't too keen on the idea at first as I had to leave my friends
behind, but I must say the weather here beats London any day."
      "Do you play sports, Oliver?" Alex asked.
      Oliver shook his head. "I played a bit of footie when I was a lad."
      "You mean soccer?" Austin asked.
      Oliver nodded. "Yes, for us it's football. But, now I don't really
play any sports. I do ride, but mainly for leisure."
      "Horses?" Alex asked.
      "Yes."
      "Alright!!"
      "Do you ride, Alex?"
      Benji, Matt and Austin laughed when Alex groaned.
      "He can ride," Benji explained. "But he doesn't like it. He does it
for me."
      Alex grinned. "And now he has you, so I don't have to."
      "You really don't like riding, Alex?"
      "It's not so much that I don't like riding. Horses don't like me."
      "A, that's not true."
      "Well, his horse doesn't like me."
      "That's true," Benji laughed. "I don't know why. She loves everyone,
but Alex."
      "She's just jealous cuz you love me more than her."
      "Do you want to test that theory?"
      Matt and Austin laughed having heard this argument many times before.
      "So Alex, are you really in the Special Education classes?" Oliver
asked with a straight face.
      Alex grinned. "No. I just don't like to work as hard as the brainiac
here."
      "Alex discovered that if he took the mid-level courses he could do
easier work and get better grades and have more time for play. My dads
thought it was kinda cute when he was ten figuring he would grow out of
it...he didn't," Benji explained.
      "Meanwhile, Benji is trying to take so many AP classes that when he
graduates high school he'll be able to enter college as a senior," Alex
countered.
      "And do you play sports, Alex?"
      "Lacrosse," Alex replied. "Actually, the three of us do. We were JV
last year. Hopefully, we'll make varsity this year." He looked at his
watch. "Speaking of which, we have a meeting with the coach before next
period." The three boys got up from the table. "Nice to meet you, Oliver,
I'm sure we'll be seeing more of you."
      <<Lots more.>>
      <<I may kill you, A.>>
      "You chaps, as well."
      When Alex, Matt and Austin had left, Oliver looked around the
cafeteria.
      "Those were Alex's friends, where are yours?" he asked.
      "Most of my friends are Alex's friends," Benji answered. "I tend to
keep more to myself than Alex does. He's the extrovert and I'm the
introvert. He's the jock and I'm the scholar and every other cliché you
want to think of. Basically, he likes the group thing and I tend to fly
solo. When we were kids our dads tried to get us to play soccer: Alex was
the star of the team and I was a klutz."
      "Did he give you a hard time?"
      Benji shook his head. "Not at all. Alex is my best friend. We may
threaten each other's lives on a daily basis, but we would lay them down
for each other. Even then, he would never pick on me for being the worst
player and he would have kicked anyone's ass that did and they all knew
it. But, I knew I sucked. No matter how much Alex tried to help me, I just
wasn't that coordinated and my heart wasn't in it. I wanted to quit in the
worst way, but I didn't want to disappoint my dads or Alex."
      "Surely, they would have understood."
      "I'm sure they would have, but I was eight years old, what did I
know?" Benji replied. "Anyways, my dad is a physical therapist and his
practice is located on our property. One day I was stopping by to see him
and I met a lady who was a patient of his. Her name was Dale Kennet, she
had broken her arm and my dad was helping with some exercises. It turned
out that she owned a ranch near our property. We got to talking and by the
time my dad called her into his office she had invited me and Alex to the
ranch for a riding lesson. After the first one I was hooked. I quit soccer
a week later and never looked back. When I was thirteen, my dads bought me
my mare Arya; she was only three and Dale helped me to train her. Alex goes
out occasionally to ride with me, but I pretty much ride by myself."
      "Well, now you have someone to ride with."
      Benji smiled. "That will be fun."
      "You work there as well."
      "Yep," Benji nodded. "Alex thinks I'm nuts. We don't have to
work--actually our dads don't really want us to--but I like the work and
it's not a big deal. I go after school and clean stalls, groom horses,
sometimes I help Dale with training or beginners lessons. It's only a
couple hours a day. I spend more time there on weekends."
      "Do you compete?"
      "No. I think that was part of the reason I sucked at soccer. Alex has
the competitor's heart, not me. I just head into the hills and trail ride,
or `hack' as you would say."
      Oliver laughed and nodded. "Very good. I prefer a good hack as
well. I did some shows as a lad, but it wasn't my cup of tea."
      "Did you have your own horse back home?"
      "I did," Oliver nodded. "I had a cob gelding; I had the option to
bring him over here, but he was over twenty and I didn't think it was right
to make him adjust to such a different climate. My father wants me to look
for a new horse over here."
      "I'm sure we can find one for you," Benji said excitedly. "Dale has
several available for sale and lease. She'll want to see you ride. She
always wants to make sure she matches the rider and the horse. Some people
have a problem with that, but too many people show up and want a horse
based on what it looks like and not on how well suited it is to their
abilities."
      "I agree, I've seen that quite a bit myself."
      "Do you want to head over after school?" Benji asked. "I don't know
if Dale's going to be around, but I can show you around at least"
      "That would be fine, but I would have to stop at home to change."
      "Where do you live?"
      "Ashton Court."
      "That's not far. I can give you a ride there so you can change and
then we can go to the ranch. I keep a change of clothes there."
      "What about Alex?"
      "We ride separately." Benji explained. "We turned sixteen last month
and for our birthday our dads let us each pick a new ride. I went for
convenience. A Ford F-150 truck. That way I can tow Arya's trailer if I
want to trail away from the stables and I can pick up supplies and
stuff. My dear brother, went for flash, a Ninja motorcycle. Of course, that
meant I had to get my motorcycle license as well."
      "Why?"
      "Because, Alex has impulse control issues and he doesn't think
everything through. He got a motorcycle ignoring the fact that he has a
rather, uh, busy social life and his `dates' sometimes don't like his bike
and he has to borrow my truck or one of my dads' cars. Leaving me with the
bike."
      "So Alex is popular with the girls?" Oliver grinned.
      "Uh huh, very," Benji nodded.
      While Benji had come out as gay when he was fourteen, he was still a
virgin. Alex had lost his virginity to a girl just after his fourteenth
birthday and had sex with a boy a couple weeks later. While he liked to
call himself `bi-sexual', Benji called him `sexual' thinking he would screw
a knot hole if it was the right height and tight enough. Benji liked to
think he was holding out for love, while Alex was simply after a good time
and the easy gratification.
      "And you?" Oliver asked.
      "Not so much," Benji replied with a nervous grin.
      Oliver smiled back. "Just haven't found the right one."