A New Beginning In A Mana Apocalypse

With the chance to reunite with Grace, her family was also very willing to help. Infact her father insisted I move them here first so he could help with the rooms.

Faster than I would have expected I found myself standing in a hotel lobby near Interstate 70 with Megan, Grace, and her family. Momma had surrendered her car keys to Joshua, Grace"s father. I also learned that Grace"s mother"s name was Kimberly, and her little sister was Hope.

Joshua had no issues booking all the rooms on the top two floors of the hotel for the next week, hearing the price that came with that my eyes nearly popped out of my head.

Joshua had chosen a nice hotel with good security and amenities to hole up in. As it wasn"t my money I didn"t begrudge him from using it, though I was certain we would only need to pay for two nights rather than a week.

Once the card had been approved we were handed a stack of key cards to the top floors to hand out to our group.

With the key cards in hand we went up to the the third floor which we had decided to give over to Michael and his group. Picking the room closest to the elevator we opened it then I created the s.p.a.ce tunnel to my old house.

Michael and his group were waiting and rushed through the s.p.a.ce tunnel like they were afraid I was gonna change my mind and leave them there.

Just to be careful I made sure to touch each of them as they came through to check on their conditions. No one seemed to be about to mutate so there was nothing I needed to do. Michael, Courtney, and Kelly came through the s.p.a.ce tunnel last.

Upon seeing me Michael gave me a big crushing hug. I was surprised and not very happy about it but he let me go soon enough and scooped his sister up and repeated the process.

While I had the chance I created the friend level bond with Michael.

Michael sensed the change immediately. He gently placed his little sister on the ground before turning to facing me for an explanation. I also chose to give Kelly a similar bond. Like Lisa, Kelly was an attractive woman with blonde hair, unlike Lisa she had a much gentler temperament, which was why I was surprised she didn"t leave with my parent"s.

"Mom!" Megan cried then hugged her mother strongly. I couldn"t blame her for getting emotional, a lot had happened in the last few days.

Kelly smiled at her daughter as she held her in her arms.

"Daryl?" Michael asked me.

"It"s much weaker than the bond I have with Megan. It will let me know where you are, and we"ll be able to talk telepathically. Just in case." I told him. "I gave one to your mother too."

"What about me?" Courtney asked.

"I don"t like you." I replied.

"You got Karen because of me." she retorted.

"Doesn"t mean I have to like you." I retorted back then created a friend bond for Courtney and set it onto Michael. "It isn"t permanent so if you want to kick her to the curb just let me know."

"Can you do the same with Jennifer?" Michael asked gesturing to the pretty black haired woman I had mistaken for Heather"s sister.

I nodded then set the bond as he asked.

"Daryl." Kelly said letting go of her daughter then pulling me into a hug. "Thank you." she told me.

"It was my pleasure." I replied with a mischievous grin.

Kelly snorted but didn"t complain as she let me go. Megan slipped back to my side. Thankfully I didn"t have to introduce Grace"s family since they had already met. The room keys for the floor were handed over to Michael so he could sort out his people then the rest of us including Kelly headed for the fourth floor where our rooms were located. As there were less people in my group Kelly decided to room with us. Apparently she and Momma had already agreed to share a room so they weren"t stuck in a room together with any of the kids and could bicker about my dad. At least that was what I a.s.sumed.

In the elevator Grace moved to my other side and leaned against me. I didn"t mind and wrapped my arm around her waist.

"We never did get to thank you or hear a proper explanation on why you came to save Grace." Joshua commented when he noticed my arm around Grace"s waist.

Megan gave Grace a glare. "Don"t be stingy, I am not making a claim on him. It"s just calming to be near him." Grace told her.

Megan nodded leaning against me.

"Can I say it is complicated?" I replied to Joshua.

"No." he replied to me.

We chose one of the suites that Grace"s family had claimed for themselves, and as they had paid I wasn"t going to argue. Then I opened s.p.a.ce tunnels to Momma"s house then a place in Buckeye I was familiar with where Arnold promised to be waiting for us. Arnold came through first followed closely by a pretty brown haired girl, her mother, and little brother.

Just like with Michael I created a friend bond with Arnold and a friend bond between Arnold and his girlfriend though I wasn"t as rude to her about it.

"This is Tammy Coleson." Arnold introduced proudly with his arm wrapped around the girls waist possessively.

Tammy didn"t seem as receptive to the overt display of affection or possession however you wanted to call it.

"Be nice or Momma will punish you." I told Arnold.

Tammy stiffened in fear until she noticed that Arnold had paled.

I gave Tammy a wink then introduce everyone. Momma took to Tammy as fast as my own girls, a glare from her and Arnold immediately started to act like a perfect gentleman. After a few minutes of socializing and greeting the room cards were pa.s.sed out. I had a room with Megan and Karen while the other girls were paired up to share rooms. Rebecca with Heather, Tracy with Calidia, Nala with Dena, and the twins obviously stayed together. Grace was staying with her family while Mary found a real potted plant somewhere, grabbed a sample then evicted it from the pot which she then moved into Nala and Dena"s room in front of the window and took root. Literally. As she was likely to be the quietest roomate in the whole building neither Nala or Dena objected. Though I did find it entertaining when I spotted a vine shoot off the plant to grab a bottle of water to water herself.

We still had to do something about Tracy and Heather"s family but we all agreed we could deal with that in the morning, I was also planning to visit Marshal and Derek to establish a friend bond in case things went south faster than we were antic.i.p.ating.

With everyone settled in Joshua insisted that I explain what was going on . So with the a.s.sistance of Megan, Karen, and Momma we explained all about my bonds, how I had bonded Grace during my initial awakening and the current condition of my bond with his daughter.

Finding out that I no longer had such an intimate bond with his daughter seemed to cause Joshua some relief.

"Don"t get excited yet Daddy, I am going to reestablish the bond as soon as Daryl and Megan are willing to let me." Grace told her father.

I would have thought Megan and Karen weren"t happy with the girl"s declaration given how they were looking at her, if I couldn"t feel the l.u.s.t coming off of them as they stared at her.

"Grace!" Kimberly admonished her daughter. "You barely know the boy!"

"Maybe, but he was the one who saved me, if he hadn"t we would all be dead right now." Grace argued. "Besides we aren"t rushing it anymore, we will get to know each other before the bond is reset."

"And if you decide you don"t like him, or can"t stand him having other girls?" Joshua asked her seriously.

"Then nothing. No bond, and Daryl makes not claim on her." Momma spoke up.

Joshua looked to me his eyes angry but I ignored it, I felt it was normal for him to dislike his daughter"s boyfriend normally, add a polygamy and I could understand him hating me. I nodded. "If she decided she wants nothing to do with me I can remove the friend level bond we have and let her go. Though to be clear it doesn"t mean you will have to leave our group. You will be able to stay." I explained.

"Really?" Grace added surprised.

I nodded getting a smile out of her.

With the explanations out of the way Megan and Karen quickly dragged me off to our own room while Momma went to join Kelly in thiers.

In our own room the first order of business was a shower. I hadn"t had one since I awakened my body ability and need another desperately. Of course the girls joined me making the shower take much longer than it needed to but I had no complaints.

"You really think it is going to be bad?" Karen asked me as the three of us lay together naked and exhausted.

"I am afraid it will be worse." I replied. "With every second I can feel the next wave getting closer and it scares me more than the last one did." I replied.

"You were pretty sure the last one was going to be the end of the world." Megan reminded me.

I nodded, "I know, which is why this one scares me even more. While it is hard to believe his words, Dad said that the next one won"t be limited to the area around the gates. The whole world is going to feel it."

"Do you have a long term plan?" Megan asked me.

"See what happens after the third wave and concentrate on creating my own haven. Another level into my s.p.a.ce ability should give us more than enough room to fit everyone as long as we can make the place comfortable to stay in." I told her. "Then we just need to look for supplies, and get stronger."

"You make it sound so easy." Karen scoffed.

"Are you mocking me now?" I asked pretending to be angry.

Karen didn"t fall for it as she snuggled into my side. "I am just worried you are underestimating how bad it will be." she told me.

I couldn"t refute her. I felt powerful, invincible even, no matter what my parents told me about the real dangers of the Great Realm. I had trouble believing that I could run into anything I couldn"t handle. Yet as I thought that I remembered a instant in the not so distant past where the sight of a single twisted scared me to death. It also reminded me that I had another girl with me I hadn"t checked on.

I glanced into my s.p.a.ce to check on the purple twisted I had in there. She was laying on the ground of the s.p.a.ce apparently sleeping. I could see her breathing so I didn"t worry about her to much but I did push more air into the s.p.a.ce and dropped some food and water nearby. I hadn"t decided how I was going to handle her yet but the information I got from my father about bonds should help.

A knock at our door dragged us out of our half dozing sleep. I threw a robe around my naked body as the girls pulled the covers over thiers.

Opening the door I found Rebecca blushing as she held Emily in her arms. The little girl looked incredibly sleepy but determined to stay awake.

"She refused to go to sleep unless she told you goodnight." Rebecca explained.

I smiled at the mother daughter pair then wished Emily a goodnight and kissed her on the forehead, then without really thinking about it gave Rebecca a kiss on the forehead as well.

Rebecca eyed me for a moment then as I was about to apologize she smiled at me.

Before the pair could leave Emily reached out and grabbed my robe.

"What is it?" I asked her gently as her eyes seemed like they were nearly closed.

"I want a baby brother." Emily told me then her eyes were closed.

I stared at Rebecca for a moment as she flushed a dark red.

I know I was blushing too, but tried to laugh it off. "Still to early for that." I mumbled.

Rebecca laughed at my own awkwardness then gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before fleeing down the hallway with her daughter in her arms.

Returning to the room I found Megan and Karen already asleep. It was only then I realized that I hadn"t been using protection with any of the girls. For some of them it would be fine, they were probably on birth control anyways, but what about the others? Megan, Jamie, Grace, Calidia, even Rebecca? Were they on the pill? What about Nala and Mary? Could Mary even get pregnant?

Sleep didn"t come to me soon.