What if I Wanted to Break? [Closed]

In the past two and a half days, Sean had gone through the five stages of coping, although he’d skipped a step or two in the process. He accepted the situation as it was; Gabriel Underwood was dead. Chase had been hospitalized, and the telepath, as usual, was on cleanup. After the first night with Josh, he was back to his usual relaxed appearance, even though he had more than his fair share on his shoulders.

He’d sworn Ethan to secrecy about the matter, he was covering for Chase at work, and he’d had to reassure James that he hadn’t unwittingly been used for this fool’s errand, because the information he’d gathered on Gabriel was locked up safely in Sean’s office and had been used entirely to help the recruiter feel useful. Sean had used independent means, both to limit those involved to merely him and Chase and also as a stalling tactic. For what good it had done.

Once again, he wished that Chase had listened to him.

There was no knock at the door; instead it opened and the telepath turned his head to find a distressed and determined Morgan in his office. Morgan, who had dated a man who was familiar with others who concerned Sean, one of whom he had passed at Underwood’s home; who dated a man who had been Underwood’s roommate at Hammel those years ago. What a mess for the young man.

“Sit down.” To Sean, Morgan sounded like he was warding off a thousand personal demons. “Now, tell me all about it.”

Sean knew as well. He had made it plain to most of the staff who it was that had attacked James, although Morgan, like Clarisse, had missed that meeting, and while he had tracked down Clarisse, Morgan had slipped through the cracks as additional problems had piled on. However, he wouldn’t say that to the young man, who was doing what he could to be helpful and who had needed to gather great emotional strength to do so. “How long have you known?” he asked, engaging him, and also trying to create a timeline for when the worst had come to pass.

“We can track a license plate.” The psychiatrist had abandoned all hope of police resolution to this problem, but he knew that they had the means to track license plates if necessary. That might become necessary since the telepath would want to speak to Jake if possible, or at the very least surreptitiously read his mind for information. Although with the revelation that they were together – and understanding what that meant – he briefly reconsidered; he already knew far too much about people’s bedroom tastes, and he didn’t need to know Underwood’s. But the safety of the school took higher precedence than his distaste and thus he would set it aside.

That information confirmed what he had learned on his own, what he knew of Underwood, what Chase and he had seen, what had happened to Willow, what the gestalt pair had done to Josh...all of it. The news about their newest student’s delay caused the telepath’s lips to form a thin line. They had been too late in changing the file passwords and that sociopath had gotten his hands on a student. The children weren’t safe.

The children weren’t safe from revenge either.

The wheels of the telepath’s mind were turning fast, as he assessed the situation. Chase was still injured, everything had fallen into his lap, and there was a clear and present danger facing them all. He could no longer shoulder this burden alone. And since it was expected that he had the answers – Morgan had just asked – he had to make a decision.

They had to be prepared for what would come. And he had to speak with other faculty members. In a closed setting, because the school wasn’t secure from prying ears. “We’re going to make sure that nothing happens to the children. I need you to keep this between us for now, but I promise I’ll find a way to take care of this.”