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Chapter 19

Tom and Lynette were talking with their parents that Saturday night, discussing Tom’s breakthrough, after they had returned from Amelia’s house. They had briefly described how Amelia had been able to get Tom to recall his childhood trauma.

“I just can’t believe how she knew just what to do,” Lynette said with wonder in her voice. “And that session she did with us was incredible.”

“Yeah, darling,” Tom said, “but you know, I recall what you did with me—remember when you tricked me into getting naked with you?”

“Um, Tom, I wasn’t trying to trick you. I had an idea about how to help you with that damn phobia. It worked, but only for me and you, though. But Amelia, well, I’m speechless.”

Angela smiled at them. “She is certainly quite talented. No wonder she was honored by the Queen like she was. And Jeremy too; both of them seem to be amazing people. Tom, do you feel anything different about yourself now?”

Tom was thoughtful. “No, nothing feels different, except I’m kinda tired. Well, I guess I’ve got a... I don’t know, satisfied?—sort of feeling. Like after I finished a big school assignment.”

Duncan smiled at him. “You did finish a job—a major accomplishment. That was truly amazing. Say, just so you’re aware. Sometimes, after a major psychological shakeup like you had, sometimes people have a bit of a reaction. The mind has to establish a new status quo, so you might have a bit of emotional reaction in the next day or so. If that happens, just know it’s normal and let me or Mom know if it gets too intense for you.”

“Sure, Dad, Mom. Love you both.”

Lynette nodded. “I’ll watch out for Tom, Dad. Thanks. Love you both too.”

The two siblings hugged their parents and went to their bedroom. As they got ready for the night, Tom looked at Lynette.

“Darling, I just can’t believe how Amelia knew how to get me to remember what happened to me—my past shrinks couldn’t do it.”

Lynette giggled. “Um, her techniques are a bit... unconventional, aren’t they? Can’t see a shrink doing that kind of stuff.”

“I guess. Sure. But shit, she really knew how to get me to remember... Hey, she did say that she and Jeremy worked with Denise, Kevin too, and they’re apparently some kind of psychological wizards too, right?”

Lynette nodded. “I really want to talk to Amelia about her feeling people’s energies now. And speaking of energies, I’m also totally wiped out after that session.”

Tom yawned. “Absolutely. Me too; I’m gonna crash any time now. Let’s get ready for bed. What time do we need to get up?”

“It’s Sunday. Mom and Dad’re going shopping at 11. I’m going with them. If you want to go, should I roust you in time?” Lynette smiled.

“Oh, sure. If I’m not up, kick me out of bed by 9:30.”

~~~~

On Sunday morning, Tom awoke with a raging hardon. He felt around and the bed was empty; then he heard Lynette in the hall talking with her mom. Sighing, he got out of bed, slipped on his robe, and padded to the bathroom. It took some cold water in the shower to relax him enough so that he could empty his bladder, but he decided not to relieve his sexual tensions. He wanted to see how he felt today, his first “normal” day after learning about the source of his panic attacks.

Nothing unusual happened during the day, except that Tom’s parents were unusually solicitous about his mental state, to the point that he groused at one point, “Hey guys, I’m not gonna have a meltdown over what happened, okay? I feel fine, like I usually do.”

Lynette continued to watch Tom carefully, however, and noticed that he was acting like he was somewhat uncomfortable.

When they were alone for a few minutes, she whispered to him, “Darling, what’s up? You look uneasy.”

Tom grimaced. “Horny as a fuckin’ billygoat, Lynnie. This hasn’t happened before. I keep getting flashbacks to the stuff Amelia did with us yesterday and it’s driving me crazy.”

“Oh, poor boy,” Lynette giggled. “I’ll need to help you when we get home, right?”

Tom squeezed her hand. “Deal.”

~~~~

Later on, after returning home, Tom and Lynette excused themselves and went to their room. Lynette wrapped her brother in a hug.

“Still horny?” she whispered.

“Yeah,” Tom answered. “Not like earlier, though. Shit, when I woke up it was like it would never go down.”

“I noticed,” Lynette giggled. “You pitched quite a tent there, stud. But it was too late to take care of you then. But now...”

Lynette unfastened Tom’s pants and pushed them down, followed by his underpants. His penis stood jutting out from his groin, pulsing with his heartbeat. She knelt in front of him and brushed her hands sensuously over his thighs, placing small kisses on them, gradually getting closer to Tom’s penis. He groaned and lifted Lynette under her arms and pulled her into an embrace. Then they quickly stripped each other’s clothes off and fell onto the bed, moving into a 69 position.

Tom ran his hands up and down Lynette’s belly and hips and leaned in to press his face into her pubis. She sighed in delight when he began to kiss her there, and she spread her legs wider. Tom buried his face in Lynette’s vulva, immersing himself in her wet and pungent warmth. He savored all of her delights as he kissed, sucked, nibbled, and licked her everywhere, taking his time to arouse her as much as possible.

Meanwhile, Lynette was making love to Tom’s penis, licking and sucking it while stroking its most sensitive places. She moved a finger to Tom’s anus and lightly began to stroke it, making him grunt from the tingling sensation.

Then Tom’s oral ministrations reached Lynette’s clitoris and she gasped.

“Ungh! Oh, good, so good, sweetie, do my clit, lick my clittie.”

Tom captured her clitoris with his lips and worked it with his tongue, licking up, down, side to side, firmly, softly, teasingly, slowly, and quickly, moving over the little pearl and around it, while Lynette quivered, moaned, jerked, and squealed at the sensations he was producing. Her lubrication flowed copiously.

He was stimulating her so much that she could no longer focus on his penis, so she just held onto it and lapped it with her tongue every so often, between gasps. Then Tom slid a finger inside her vagina and pressed the fingertip against the front of her channel where he found her g-spot. He wiggled his fingertip on it while fondling her perineum and tickling her clitoris.

Lynette stiffened and gasped, then groaned. Tom sucked her clitoris into his lips and lashed it with his tongue and that did it. Lynette erupted with an intense shriek; her body convulsed; her hips bucked; her eyes rolled back, and then she stiffened with a long gasping sigh. Tom slowed his licking and fingering and drew out her orgasm as waves of pleasure rolled over her.

After a minute, she heaved a great sigh. “Damn, Tom, that was one of my best cums. Sorry I neglected you but...”

“Yeah, darling, it’s okay. I just love giving you pleasure.”

“But you’re as hard as an iron spike,” she objected. “Now I want that thing inside me.”

Tom chuckled. “I thought I was the horny one all day.”

“Shit, stud, after that cum you gave me, now I’m also horny! Get up here!”

“Who am I to argue?” Tom grinned as he crawled around to sink between Lynette’s thighs.

Tom positioned his penis and using his hand to hold it, stroked it over her vulva, but Lynette would have nothing to do with his teasing. She reached down and grabbed his penis, pulling the organ into her crotch as she wrapped her legs around the back of Tom’s thighs and pulled Tom into her. Lynette groaned, sighed, then tightened her vaginal muscles, trying to use them to drag Tom’s penis into her.

Lynette felt very tight at first to Tom but she seemed to loosen up quickly as he began to thrust in and out of her. Lynette began twisting and tossing under him, clutching his butt with both hands and gasping her encouragement whenever his pubis ground against her clitoris. Tom rose up and glanced at where they were joined; his penis was socketed in the steaming wet tunnel of his sister’s body and he could feel his balls slapping against her butt as they mated. Lynette groaned in passion when Tom changed his rhythm and began pounding her with unrestrained need, thrusting into her vagina with strong hard strokes.

Tom was hammering into her quickly now; he wanted to come. Their mouths were locked together in passion, breathing into each other, panting, kissing. When Tom felt that he couldn’t go any faster, he felt Lynette suddenly become as stiff as a board. Her head pulled back, her eyes flew open, and she sucked in a long, shuddering breath. Her eyes briefly focused on Tom’s, then they glazed over as her orgasm exploded in her groin, filling her with an ecstasy that spread from her belly up to her chest, her head, and radiated out to her fingertips. Tom glanced down at his thrashing lover beneath him, felt her vagina pulse around him as her eyes bore into his, filled with lust and love, and his balls gave up the fight.

Tom felt the gigantic pressure which had been building in his groin all day coming to a peak. His balls felt like they were pulsing, they seemed to be swelling and tingling, and suddenly huge waves of intense burning pleasure engulfed his lower body. His muscles locked and his thrusting ceased with his penis embedded as far as he could get inside Lynette’s body. Sheer ecstasy engulfed him as his penis spat rope after thick pearly rope of semen deep into Lynette. As Tom flooded her with his cum, Lynette slammed her hips back against his groin, her body anxious to squeeze from him every drop he could produce.

The two of them were gasping for breath as the aftershocks of their orgasms wracked their exhausted bodies. Tom was bathed in sweat and was unable to keep holding himself up over Lynette. He rolled aside and collapsed to the mattress beside her, fighting for every breath he could suck in. Lynette turned her head to look at him; she was soaked with her own sweat, her hair matted and damp, her face covered with a crimson flush, and her breasts heaved as she gulped for fresh air.

“Oh... my god... Tommie... that was... was incredible! I ... never came... that hard before!” she panted.

“Love you so much, sis,” Tom sighed as they rolled together and embraced.

They were asleep within seconds.

~~~~

On Monday at school, Lynette ran into Amelia as they both had a message from the drama teacher to stop by to see her briefly about the play rehearsals. After meeting with the teacher, Amelia asked Lynette how Tom was doing.

“Fine, I guess,” Lynette smiled. “He seems the same.” She giggled. “But jeez, was he amorous when we finally got to be alone Sunday evening,” she whispered.

Amelia smiled. “Mmmm. Jeremy and I, after you left Saturday, were... well... you know.”

They both giggled and embraced.

Lynette pulled back from Amelia, still holding onto her, hands on her upper arms.

“That was an amazing breakthrough, Amelia. Tom hasn’t had anything like that ever happen to him with all the shrinks he’s seen... umm... ohh!—except when I... ahh... first got him naked with me that time...”

Amelia looked at her sharply. “Sweetie, if you can tell me what happened with him then... that’s something that may be important for you both. Can you?”

Lynette nodded. “Umm, yeah, I guess.”

“Good. How about after rehearsal this afternoon?”

Lynette agreed, and they arranged to meet.

Later, after the rehearsal, Amelia took Lynette to her car.

“It never occurred to me that you’d have a car here,” she said as Amelia opened its doors.

“It really helps me getting to my job at the Foundation,” Amelia answered. “Let’s stop at a little coffee shop I like to go to and talk; then I’ll take you home. How’s Tom?”

“Good. Some of the guys on the cross-country team are trying to start a cycling club or team. He’s with them now.”

“Oh yeah. Jeremy mentioned that Simon’s doing that with some other track team members.”

They soon arrived at a little coffee shop, ordered, and got a table in the corner.

Amelia looked at Lynette and smiled. “So. You said you helped Tom with his nudity?”

Lynette shrugged. “It’s kinda complicated. Tom would get a bad reaction to just seeing naked people, remember we told you that? And you got him to remember what caused that to happen in the first place. So it’s like... about a year ago that I had an idea ‘cause Tom saw—oh, I need to back up. Remember we told you how Tom did all his classes by video from the school library?”

Amelia nodded.

“Well, he accidently saw a relief session. The camera got bumped and he could see it...”

Lynette went on to describe how she had the idea to blindfold Tom and to try to use his sexual arousal to overcome his panic, just like it had happened when he was watching the video scene in the library. When she finished, Amelia reached over and clasped Lynette’s hands.

“Shit... that’s quite a story,” she told Lynette. “But I have a question. You knew that Tom reacted violently when the teachers went to strip him. Weren’t you concerned that he might panic when you did it?”

Lynette got a thoughtful look as she reflected on her memories.

“Um, you know?—I was so incredibly focused on Tom then. I knew how his body reacted when his panics were building and was kinda watching out for that... and... um... I think I was telling him in my mind that he was okay... OH SHIT! Wow, I think what I must have been doing was just like the stuff you were showing us last week, you know? The joint meditation?”

Amelia got a huge smile and clapped her hands. “Exactly! Lynette, I think you were projecting your qi, your aura, to Tom, and you must have been reading his own aura to guide you so you could go at a pace that wouldn’t alarm him. I just knew that you were empathetic in that way. And I think I can sense it in Tom too, but now that the flow for his qi’s been unblocked, maybe he can progress faster in his own empathic development.”

Lynette closed her eyes and leaned back. “Damn...” she breathed.

Amelia hopped around in her seat, she was so excited she couldn’t sit still. “Oh, god. I’m so excited now. Hey, maybe we can do something else like Jeremy and I did with Kevin and Denise. This is when we were developing the Avery Program. Oh, god, if you do this, it’s way better than the Avery stuff. Oh, this Saturday...”

“Ha, ha,” Lynette laughed. “Calm down, girlfriend. What is it you want to do, now?”

Amelia took a deep breath to marshal her thoughts. “Yeah. I had an idea. And it fits in with some news Jeremy and I got. We could get together with you and Julie and Roberta—all eight of us—and do a kind of post-graduate Avery Program exercise at my house next Saturday. It’ll be kinda erotic... well, we can see how it goes. I think that Tom’s horizons can be stretched a little more and I know the other two couples’ll be okay in helping. You think you can do it? And convince Tom?”

Lynette nodded. “Well, I know he likes and respects Simon. Roberta too. And we had fun last summer when we hung with them and Julie and Harry, so okay. Probably yes.”

“Okay then. So if I don’t hear otherwise by Wednesday, let’s plan on noon Saturday at my house. I’ll have lunch ready for everyone.”

Lynette frowned. “Um, Amelia? They’re already coming? Is this a setup?”

Amelia giggled. “Not really, sweetie. But you’re pretty perceptive, you know? Actually I had planned for a lunch with Julie ‘cuz the two of us’re doing a project. And I saw her just before rehearsal; she told me that she had just spoken with Roberta who said she had no real plans for Saturday afternoon and that Roberta was wondering if Julie and Harry wanted to get together with them. So I’m sure they’ll be able to come.”

They left the shop and Amelia drove Lynette home.

~~~~

When Tom got home, Lynette told him about her discussion with Amelia and finished with an order, delivered with a smile.

“So I told her that you’d agree to come. Now I won’t let you say no, sweetie. Just think of what she did for you—for us—so I’m sure that whatever she has in mind will be great. Now you’re gonna say yes. No isn’t an option.”

“God, Lynnie... An advanced Avery Program, she called it? And stretch my horizons? Damn, I don’t even know what my horizons are anymore, let alone stretching them. I really don’t know...”

“But you’re willing to try. I know you, darling. I think you trust Amelia—you do, right?”

He nodded.

“So, it’s good then. Someone will pick us up around noon on Saturday.”

~~~~

Tom spent a long week thinking about Saturday’s session. When he found Simon and quizzed him about what was planned, he found out that Simon was as much in the dark as he was.

“Damn, Tom, Roberta sprung that one on me, too, and she says she doesn’t know much about what Amelia has in mind. She told me to just go with the plan and that I’d enjoy the day.”

So Tom was filled with trepidation as he entered Amelia’s house on Saturday, trailing after Julie and Harry, who had chauffeured the siblings there, and looked around uncertainly.

Lynette grabbed his arm and whispered to him, “Relax! You’re acting as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs!”

Tom gave her a wan smile. “You know I don’t do surprises well, sweetie,” he whispered back.

Then Jeremy appeared from the stairs to the lower level.

“Hey. We’re all here now, so c’mon down. Amelia’s put out a light lunch.”

They trooped down to the activity room, as Tom had termed it in his mind. There was a table filled with food and drinks and a number of couches arranged in a corner. Roberta and Simon were talking with Amelia when Tom entered with the others. Amelia told them to help themselves to some food and they’d talk while everyone was eating.

They chatted for a while as they ate; the discussion ranged over the upcoming play which Amelia and Lynette were in, about the new cycling club, plans for the summer holidays, Amelia’s job in the Coris Foundation, and then finally Amelia brought up the topic of that afternoon’s activity.

“So I had an idea about something that Jeremy and I did with Kevin and Denise,” Amelia began. “Jeremy and I really liked it but we can’t do it in the Avery Program—you’ll see why when we get to it. I always wanted to do it again but it needs a group of really empathic people and until we met you guys, Jeremy and I weren’t comfortable enough with anyone else to try this.”

Amelia glanced at Tom and saw the doubt in his eyes.

She grinned at him. “Yeah, Tom, you too. You may not feel it yet, but you have a powerful aura and now that your body’s been freed of its energy blockage, you can begin to learn to feel other people’s auras too. You did that with me last time, remember?”

Tom nodded uncomfortably. Amelia got up and motioned Tom to follow her to a corner across the room.

She spoke very softly to him. “Remember, Tom, I know that you couldn’t do the bonding part of the Avery Program and I understand why. Roberta’s told me how she and Simon were also affected when they began it and that’s something that I think we need to account for in the Program design. Anyway, today I wanted to try something involving you, Tom, and so that you aren’t put on the spot when we begin, let me ask you how you felt about all of the touching we did last time, after you realized it was me holding you and not Lynette. And about your empathic abilities. Are those things you can discuss with our little group?”

“Um, yeah, I think...”

“And do you think you could do some of the Avery stuff now—the touching you couldn’t do back in that class?”

Tom thought for a few moments, then responded, “Maybe. But could we stop if I need to?”

“Oh sure,” Amelia grinned happily. “That’s wonderful, Tom. Let’s go back to the others now.”

When they returned to the others, Amelia nodded imperceptively to Jeremy and sat down next to Tom on one of the sofas.

Jeremy broke off his chatting with Simon and raised his voice a little as he looked at the others. “Well then, mates,” he began, “first, there’s a lot of news to share now. And it affects us and the school too—and you blokes as well. We’ll need your help for this. See, you know that next year Amelia and I are supposed to be in upper sixth form here. Now that’s changed; we’re going to the States for uni instead.”

There were a number of exclamations of surprise at that comment.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Jeremy continued. “We kinda knew that Kevin was looking into uni options for us but we never realized how much he could do. In a nutshell, Mr Gerston, the U.S. president, his term will be over this coming January, and he’s a big part of this. He’s to be the head, probably more than just a figurehead, of a new international relations think tank, um, it’s Columbia Institute of Economics, that’s being set up and it’s connected to Westphalia University in Maryland where his old friend and college roommate, Dr Vickers, is president. Vickers was the U.S. ambassador to Indonesia several years ago and he knows Kevin from when Kevin visited there. So here’s what happened. Gerston and Vickers want Kevin to be part of that new institute and that’s where he’s gonna do his doctorate. Also Denise was given a full ride to go to med school at Westphalia. For Amelia, they’ve also offered her a full ride scholarship and in addition, under the umbrella of the new institute, she’ll be involved in setting up a program for training cultural missions in third-world countries, just like she did here for the Coris Foundation, but on a much larger scale. And they offered me a full-ride uni scholarship together with a job in the new institute too; I’ll be helping in the international law area with the idea that I’ll be going on to law school. We have to leave here in August. So that’s our news.”

“Damn, Jeremy,” Harry exclaimed. “That’s one hell of an opportunity for you both!”

Everyone else was clamoring their congratulations.

Then Julie spoke up. “Erm, Jeremy, you mentioned that we had a part of your news too. Is it because you’re not going to be here next year and we have to step up somehow?”

Amelia grinned and nodded. “See, we knew you’d be perceptive and figure it out! Yeah, it appears that after Denise and Kevin left, Jeremy and I became the resident Avery kind-of-experts. It’s dumb that it happened, I think, ‘cuz we’re like still just teenagers! School-kids.”

Roberta interrupted. “But no one in the U.K. knows more than you about it, Amelia!”

Amelia waved her hand. “Whatever. Our part was the mentor role as you know. And thanks to Lynette and Tom’s experience, there’s a whole new dimension to be considered in the pairings we took for granted for the Avery bonding exercises. So it looks to Jeremy and me that the Avery Program still has some unfinished work.” She looked at Jeremy.

Jeremy nodded at her and continued her thought. “So that’s where you guys come in; you’re to be our new mentor leaders. You guys have the highest levels of empathy that I’ve ever seen—except of course, for Denise and Kevin. And Amelia.”

Tom was looking somewhat more anxious now. He broke in, “Um, Jeremy, how do you figure me and Lynette fit in? We...”

Amelia put her hand on Tom’s arm. “Wait, Tom, we’ll explain...”

Lynette interrupted then. “Jeremy, how can you think that I, or especially Tom, given his reaction to the Avery Program, have any skills like the rest of you guys?”

Tom nodded vehemently. “Yeah, really!”

Jeremy shrugged and looked at Amelia. “Darling, you’re better at explaining what we know about this than I am.”

He chuckled when she shrugged, then she responded, “Jeremy, first tell them what you’ve noticed about Tom. Then I’ll tell Lynette what I think about her hidden skills.”

Jeremy nodded. “Okay then. So Tom, you should know that people who do well in influencing other people and understanding them have... er, call it gifts... that show in many ways. For Amelia, the most noticeable sign of her ability to do this is when she’s on stage. We’ve all seen how she just captivates her audience. And when you talk to her and she listens, you get the sense that you’re the most important person in the world to her. That makes you feel good about talking to her, makes you drop any unconscious inhibitions, and opens yourself emotionally to her. Guess who else here is like that? Tom, for sure you are, for one.”

Tom reacted, “What? Me? How?”

Jeremy grinned. “Julie, tell Tom what you noticed about him, first from that summer course, and then how he was when you tried to work with him as a mentor.”

“Cor, that was so weird,” Julie began. “During the summer, we noticed how closely Tom, Lynette too, fit in with everyone and it almost felt to us at times like they had actually done the Avery Program with our group. They seemed like we had known them for, I dunno... ages... they just had all the right vibes.”

Simon broke in, “Erm, pardon my interrupting, Julie, but that hits it bloomin’ perfect! I constantly had to remind myself that he wasn’t in our Avery group in school; we all felt close to him and Lynette. Sorry, go on...”

“Sure. I recall that Tom had no problem with the physical contact in our group—you know, kind of like we all did, our intimacy after we did the Avery classes. He and Lynette didn’t stay around when our group did go into several more intense ... um, well, snogging sessions ... but he did lots of casual touching and even had some brief hugs too with lots of us in the group. I know that I did make a strong connection with him last summer. That’s what totally threw me when I tried to work with him as his Avery mentor. I was gobsmacked when he was in the Avery session I mentored. He was totally closed up; he was like a bloomin’ brick wall emotionally after he ran out of the classroom. In the summer he was all open and I could feel the warmth that flowed from him. But in that Avery session, it was like working with, well, it seemed like I couldn’t feel anything from him. It was like a blank, a total void. I didn’t know what to do, nothing prepared me for dealing with a total emotional blank, so I had to send him away. I’ve never been so uncomfortable with someone like that. Brrr. But now, he’s like the old Tom again.”

Tom looked embarrassed. “Sorry...” he began, but Amelia cut him off.

“I think I know what you felt, Julie,” she said. “Tom, I think what Julie’s describing shows how strongly you can project your emotions—your aura. I think your blanking her out like that was an involuntary defensive reaction and I’ll tell you more about what I think after you hear some more from our friends. Harry, you also told me and Jeremy about how you thought Tom fit in with your summer group. Tell him what you noticed.”

Harry looked at Tom. “Right. This bloke, who wasn’t a part of our Avery classes last year, just slid right into our group as if he had been part of us all along, like Julie and Simon said. At first he was a bit aloof, maybe, as if he felt, um, uncomfortable, but he’s got this presence about him, a kind of assurance, a confidence, and it must have overcome his discomfort, I guess. And all the others really liked talking with him; he was a good listener, a lot like Amelia. Like Julie said, he and Lynette always disappeared when we had our little group grope sessions but nobody thought anything bad of their not joining in. We all liked him—them—too much to think he or they were avoiding us. It really felt to all of us like Tom and Lynette were part of our close-knit group and that was really strange since they hadn’t done the Avery class with us. And I know that Simon saw things like that about Tom too since he spent time during school with him.”

“I did,” Simon agreed. “When Tom joined the cross-country team, everyone thought he was a great bloke, even if he never hit the lockers or showers with us. Our mates thought that was very odd, but they never teased him about it. I wondered about that, and then it twigged me that Tom was kind of ‘projecting’”—he made finger quotes—“the idea that not showering with the team was completely normal. Oh yeah. I’ve also noticed that a lot of times when Tom walked into the lunchroom, quite a few people would turn to look at him and the conversations would die down just a bit; then they’d look at him and then go back to their chatting or whatever. Tom seems to radiate a kind of charisma or presence that people unconsciously notice.”

Tom was shaking his head doubtfully. “I don’t think so... I don’t do that...”

Amelia reached over and put her hand on Tom’s arm.

“You really don’t see any of that, do you?” she asked. He shook his head. “We all do see that in you, Tom. Remember in ‘The Mikado’ when you had those ideas about doing those scenes and you got Dixon to agree? She’s a tough cookie, she doesn’t depart from the script, and it’s really hard to get her to change her mind, yet you persuaded her, kinda easily, in fact. Now I’ll mention some stuff from what I know about you from talking to Lynette. She told me about how you were pretty much an outsider in your past schools, and especially last year at your old school. You weren’t a part of any cliques and had very few friends. You were always a loner. You know how the kids bully and tease loners and others who don’t fit in? Were you ever bulled and teased in school?”

“Um... no, can’t think that I ever was,” Tom said slowly. “Except for some of the crap caused by that naked Program but that wasn’t really bullying, I guess.”

Amelia pressed on. “See, Tom? Loner kids like you were are almost always bullied or become social outcasts. You had become almost ‘invisible’ to anyone who normally would have targeted you as being ‘different.’ I think you projected a kind of psychic bubble around yourself and that kept any unwanted attention away. I think that’s what Julie encountered when she tried to work with you as a mentor; you simply blanked her out. Another thing, you’ve acted as the white knight, coming to the aid of distressed people, according to a few stories from Lynette and even from your own comments. And I’ve personally seen you do that too. Do you know that such acts demonstrate a large measure of empathy?”

“Um... didn’t know that,” Tom said resignedly.

“Well, case closed, Tom,” Amelia said smugly. “You’re highly empathic and have the ability to project your ‘aura’ to others. I could feel how strong an aura you have when Jeremy and I worked with you several weeks ago. I’m sure you remember that session. Now, Lynette, let me pick on you.”

Tom looked like he had been poleaxed while Lynette looked at Amelia, open-mouthed. “Amelia, I don’t have any special...”

“Ha. Listen, girlfriend, you are way too modest. Didn’t you see how the audience reacted to you when you were on stage in the plays we did? You brought life to your characters. You projected emotion and people pick up on that. Now let’s go back into your past. Do you know that you and Tom act like an old married couple together? I can’t tell you how many times you complete each other’s thoughts. It’s so bloody cute. You told me that you’ve been able to sense how Tom feels ever since you’ve known him; you were even able to make that breakthrough about his body shyness. You couldn’t have done that unless you shared a strong empathic link. And another thing. You know what I think about why Tom, and you too, had difficulty with that Avery bonding session? I think that you sensed his strong discomfort at doing what he considered to be an intimate act, which triggered your protective instincts, and he reacted to your projection of those feelings. You cycled each other’s increasing discomfort until he couldn’t deal with the feelings and had to run. This is something I want to explore, actually. Now, does any of that make sense?”

“Oh my god, Amelia, this is almost too much to think about,” Lynette gasped. “I suppose ... well, maybe it can be true... but I feel so normal...”

Amelia laughed. “Darling, you are normal. Absolutely normal, wonderfully normal. Both of you are. But in addition, you both have a special skill; you use it with each other and give the rest of us only tantalizing glimpses of it. Jeremy and I hope that we can open your perception so you can sense its effect on others. Tom, remember how you connected with me last time we worked together?”

“Yeah, Amelia, but I still don’t see how I could do what I think you want me to.”

Amelia smiled. “What do you think that you’ll have to do?”

“Well, be a mentor? How could I help a kid do something that I couldn’t do myself?”

“Tom, the Avery Program is way bigger than our little school. We have the pilot program for it here, true, but the real teaching of the program leaders is happening at the teachers’ programs in the universities. That is, it will when they get the curriculum completed. Jeremy and I were slated to help with that but now we won’t be able to contribute. We want you six to brainstorm what the next generation of mentors will need to know, and that’ll take your empathic skills—both latent and active, for you all. Tom, you have enormous potential, as does Lynette. Will you agree to at least try to work with us to see if you can do this?”

Tom stared at her, then shrugged. “Man, you’re damn persuasive, Amelia. In my right mind, I’d never agree. I still don’t get what you all see in me, you guys are way more impressive. But yeah, sure, I’ll try. I owe you big time for what you’ve already done to help Lynnie and me.”

Amelia clapped her hands. “That’s awesome, Tom! Thanks!”

She reached over and hugged him and Tom awkwardly returned her hug.

“Now Jeremy and I were thinking how to do this. We know how to coach people to be mentors; Denise really helped us to learn to do that. Now we need to figure out how to train people to learn how to train mentors. Denise said that empathy is an inborn skill that most people have. Some folks have it in great measure and all you guys are examples of people like that. With Harry and Julie, they stood right out immediately. Roberta and Simon were slower in developing theirs, but it’s quite apparent now. And you, Tom and Lynette, yours was totally buried in your connection with each other, but now that Tom’s aura blockage is gone, Lynette’s own empathy was freed to open herself to others. So we have a core of who we think are strong empaths who can move us along,” she concluded. “Jeremy, tell them what we discussed.”

“Okay, darling. Amelia and I were kind of thinking, brainstorming. You know how we—Amelia and I—got involved in the Avery Program business at school. I think we’re told you all, at some point, how our mentors, Denise and Kevin, used us as guinea pigs to work out some of the stuff we do, and how we were part of the first teacher group.”

Everyone nodded at this.

“So Amelia and I were thinking. What we did then was brilliant and we’ve been wanting to try to sorta copy what we did with Denise and Kevin, but haven’t had the right people who could pull off the kinds of exercises we did back then. Until now, we think, with you blokes.”

Now everyone looked at Jeremy with anticipation. Jeremy glanced at them and grinned faintly.

“I see you’re wondering what we’re gonna try. We think that to pull off what we’ll try doing needs a group of compatible people and the eight of us seems ideal. Everyone here seems to have a strong empathetic sense and the ability to relax your inhibitions a bit, and... Tom, you’re making a face?”

“Um, relax inhibitions? That’s where I had my problem, you’ll recall. I couldn’t...”

Amelia grabbed his arm. “Tom, you’ve changed. I felt it happen. Just keep an open mind and go with us.”

Tom nodded uncertainly. “Okay...”

Jeremy continued, “So the Avery Program is based first on bonding exercises which are intended to establish a kind of close link among the group members. It develops a connection, a trust, between the various partners, a regard for each other. In the very first training sessions with Denise, Kevin, and the first uni student teacher group, we discovered that we had to be very, very careful ‘cause if we let the contact get too intense, things moved very quickly to sexual and erotic activities. We actually created bondings which were highly emotional and romantic. Everything moved way too quickly and got out of control. Obviously we can’t let that happen in school, right?”

Everyone giggled. Jeremy and Amelia had been part of the first Avery teacher training group which had been taught by Kevin and Denise and some wild rumors about what had happened in those training sessions had been circulating....

Jeremy resumed talking. “Now we think we’ve got a more moderate path to get emotional bonding without getting too sexual. That’s the main advantage of having you blokes here to do this with us; you’re all committed couples with long histories of commitment to each other. Our object is to see if couples with strong emotional ties and strong empathic senses can use those abilities actively rather than passively. So far we know that Harry and Julie can; we’ll try to see if it can be brought out in you other blokes. So that’s what we’ll try. Amelia will start us out after we get ready. I hope you can go along with this—the Avery sessions use P.E. kits but for this we’ll need skimpier togs. Gals, how about wearing just your bra and panties; guys in your boxers or briefs; is that okay?”

There was a great sigh of exhalation as everyone looked around at each other; then Roberta giggled.

“Hey, this don’t show any more skin than a cozzie, does it. My bikini is way briefer than my undies.”

Everyone slowly began to strip and Tom, after glancing at Lynette and getting a reassuring nod, dropped his jeans and reluctantly pulled his tee shirt off.

“Trainers and socks too,” Amelia called.

Everyone shed them too and stood, nervously looking around.

Amelia continued. “Now everyone, we’ll rearrange partners to do the first set of exercises we’ve planned. Remember, I advertised this as a post-graduate Avery Program, right?”

Everyone chuckled.

“We need a much more intimate connection than we do with the kids in the Avery Program to see how you can work together. As Denise told me and Jeremy, for this intensity to work, we need to connect on three levels: social, spiritual, and physical, and force some boundaries and inhibitions. Are we ready to try?”

There were murmurs of assent from most of the group; Lynette glanced at Tom. He had set his face in an expression of determination.

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